make up month

have some good news and bad news.........

so firstly the bad news is that we are getting a new kitchen fitted into our house starting in the next week. unfortunately due to this i will not be able to bake for at least a month. so im sorry to say there will be no posts about cooking for a while however i do have some ready to go up soon  and also i still have my weekly food technology classes, so will try and post about them.

the good news is i have decided to do a makeup month starting in march. so keep an eye out for new posts. most of them will probably feature drugstore makeup however i will try and fit in higher end brands when i can.

lots of love

Annabelle xx

beautiful valentines rose cakes

Just because i am single doesn't mean i cant enjoy valentines day and what better way to enjoy valentines day by doing a spot of baking. i thought of making these hearts in a biology lesson wearily  but im so happy with how they turned out. 

i used my silicone heart mold unfortunately i don't no where this was from as it was a Christmas present. i used a basic chocolate sponge recipie and a thick chocolate ganache

chocolate heart cakes

chocolate sponge
100g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
75g self raising flour
25g coco powder
1 tablespoon milk

chocolate ganache
150g dark chocolate
140ml double cream


method

1. preheat the oven at 180 degrees (160 fan)
2. place all the ingredients for the sponge in a bowl and mix together.
3. grease molds and spoon the mixture into the molds about half full.
4.  place in oven for 15-20 minutes
5. take out and leave to cool
6. while the cakes are cooking, heat the cream till it is just about to boil. add the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted. 
7. leave the ganache to cool and thicken up(this may take a while)
8. using a piping syringe use a rose nozzle (5 point flour like nozzle) pipe small circles are around the cake until covered  

My beauty wish list

so many new beauty products are being release this year. As soon as i find out about them i instantly want them and i wont stop till i get them.with my budget as well its not like i can go and buy these products straight away. all the high end beauty brands have revealed the delights they will be bringing in already. one of the more expensive things that has cached my eye was this Dior blush for spring 2014. as soon as i saw this

product i instantly new i wanted it and I WILL NOT STOP TILL I GET IT!!! everything about this blush screams beautiful. the color , the design, the detail. its like its screaming out to me "im worth the money"

now enough about one product:

• too face chocolate bar palette
• naked 3 palette
• naked lipgloss
• bobbi brown blush
• mac eyeshadows
• real techniques eyeshadow brushes
• benefit porefessional primer
• sleek makeup products (all of their products)
• Essie nail polishes
• max factor false lash effect mascara
• L'Oreal Paris Color Riche Collection Privée
• Bourjois Paris Color Edition 24h eye shadow
• soap and glory kick ass concealer
• maybelline baby skin primer

i know not all these products are new for 2014 but this list has been building up for a while i'm sure i will be adding many more to my wish list very soon.  leave me any comments on products you hope to try in 2014  
:)

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Welcome

Hello. welcome those readers from my old blog and hopefully some new readers. I hope you enjoy reading this blog. this blog will be a mixture of recipes, makeup and general life. i will try to post at least once every week on a Sunday. As i am in London over the weekend i will not be able to post on sunday so i will post either tomorrow(Friday) or Monday

i hope you enjoy reading this blog
lots of love
Annabelle xx

great british bake off: overall review

i think most foodies can agree great British bake of is what we look forward to every year and this year was the same. this years contestants were:

• Kimberly 
• ruby
• glen 
• Francis 
• Howard 
• Toby 
• Deborah 
• Christine 
• Rob 
• Ali 
• Lucy 
• Beca 
• Mark

Idont normally like to have favorites but this year it had to be ruby sorry people but i loved ruby. not all her recipes were perfect but i loved her personality. being from Sheffield i had to support Howard.

my favorite recipes from this year have been 

• Francis squirrel cake http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/secret_squirrel_cake_49338
• Rubys peacock bread http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/white_chocolate_and_69528
• Christine biscuit clock http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bavarian_town_clock_63624
• Howards peach buns http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/peachy_buns_and_german_49575
• Mary Berrys http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hazelnut_dacquoise_98875
• Rubys picnic basket http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/picnic_basket_pie_50454
• Francis wedding cake http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/midsummer_dream_wedding_07048
• Pauls apricot couronne http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/apricot_couronne_12975

i have yet to try these recipes but will let you know when i do. although ruby was my favorite, Francis deserved to win. Her creations were amazing and so creative. overall the right person won. 

it takes 3 attempts...

In my garden we grow quite a couple of fruits in our garden(blog post to follow). One of the fruits my dad grows are pears. however these pears arent very good to eat plain. so my mum found a recipe for a pear tart tartan. so this was the first attempt 

as you can see the first attempt didnt go well even though we followed the recipe. the recipe used a lot of butter. however my mum didn't give up and tried again.

 second attempt......

as you can see this time it went much better (even though the edge got a little burnt). My mum altered the quantities of butter sugar and pears and it turned out very well. 

And the third attempt you will have to wait and see till tomorrow to see how it turns out.....