Scrapbooking and Sugary Treats

Last night was good. I really feel like I've achieved something. I finally completed my baby's 1st year album!!!! I've been piecing together his 1st birthday party page for what feels like forever and now it's done. Sure maybe I mixed and matched some embellishments that should probably never be seen together and sure there are a few things that are slightly skewiff (is that even a real word?) but it's done. D.O.N.E and I'm so happy!

Will I be posting pictures of this final page achievement? Ummm, the answer to that would be a firm no. No-body need to see that. I do have a couple of pics to show you though.

The title of this page is 'Come On Mummy'. Early one morning my sister MRD( I'll explain another time) and I were out on an early morning photography adventure and of course Harrison (my almost two year old) was tagging along. It didn't take long before he got sick of watching us taking photos and he kept grabbing me by the hand trying to drag me away and saying, 'Come on Mummy, come ON'. So I turned and snapped a one handed photo of him trying to pull me over to where ever it was that he wanted to be. Here is the result.

Before......... Papers chosen but still no real idea of what I'm going to do with it

And............TaDa! The finished product. Nothing too fancy. Nice clean lines. I'm happy with it. And I just LOVE The photo. The photo on the page I mean. Not the photo of the page.
What do you think? Don't hold back. I can take it.

Now as promised.....the cupcake recipe. They are so delicious. So moist and sweet. So PINK! I love hot pink icing. There's just something about it. Of course you can make yours any colour you like but seriously, after seeing the hotness of the pink, how could you resist?

Enough babble and on with the recipe. I found this recipe on a website a long time ago when I was looking for a different Vanilla Cake recipe to make a birthday cake for a friend. I would love to credit the site but alas, I copied it by hand and have no idea where it came from now. If anyone does feel free to let me know. What was that I said about not babbling any more?

OK the recipe - Vanilla Cake

• 2 cups of sugar


• 4 eggs


• 2 1/2 cups of all purpose/plain flour


• 1 cup of milk


• 3/4 cup vegetable oil ( I didn't say there was anything healthy about it did I?)


• 2 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder


• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C (350F). Line your muffin tins with muffin papers or if you're making the cake version line two 9x13 inch rectangular baking pans


2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until they're slightly thickened (about 1 minute). Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder and vanilla. Beat for another minute, just until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Don't overbeat. Pour batter into prepared pans.


3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40mins (for the cake version) approx 20mins (for the cupcake version) or until the tops are golden brown and skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Let cool completely before covering with frosting.

And that's it, How easy is that? And so delicious.

Now as for the frosting, I just used a simple icing/powdered sugar, butter and milk combo. I'd like to give you the recipe but the simple fact is, I didn't measure. I'm going to have to start measuring if I want to share recipes aren't I? So go ahead and use your favourite frosting recipe. If I have enough butter in the house I love to make this butter cream frosting

• 2/3 cup of butter (room temperature)


• 4 cups of powdered sugar


• 1 tsp vanilla


• 2 Tablespoons milk

1. Beat butter until creamy and light in colour


2. Add powered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time and beat well


3. Add vanilla, milk and your chosen colour and beat well. This should make about 2 1/2 cups of frosting.

And here's that picture again, just so you don't have to scroll all the way to the top to have another look.

Enjoy!

Now I know this post has been hideously long. Perhaps it would be a good idea in future to stick to one topic per post. But I did promise. And a promise is a promise. I'll be back with more soon.

Love Kylie