Friday Procrastibaking - April 10th

It is the end of my first week of our term break. I have three assignments due first day back. But I wanted to share with you a recipe I made this week, or last week really.

Yes it is Easter related!! I love Easter it is such a nice relaxing time to catch up with family. However for me it does not symbolize spring, as it is the start of autumn....

So I found a cute idea on (you guessed it) Pinterest. You may have seen it. It was these cute little chick cupcakes. So I thought I could easily whip up something like that for our Easter Sunday lunch. I found the original idea here.

 I made my favourite cupcake recipe which I shared last week, and just tinted the icing yellow and covered the cupcakes. I then dipped them in yellow tinted sugar. I then put chocolate drops on for eyes. Then drew little wings and covered them in sugar too. Remember to tap off the excess. I then added a little bit of red food coloring to the icing to make orange and drew a beak and feet.

I think that they turned out really cute, and everyone loved them!

How did you celebrate Easter? Any special recipes you love to make for Easter?

How I Study

Hi all,

It is getting to the intense part of the semester for me. We are now our half-way break (where did the last six weeks go?) and that means that assignment after assignment are needing to be handed in. So I thought that I would focus today's College Series post on How I study.

I am lucky this semester I only have one exam and one of my courses is mainly taken up with a group project so I don't have many assignments. But I do like to stay on top of all of my work and studying.

I called this post How I Study because it is just that, it works for me but you may find that it doesn't for you, so... 

I always make sure that my desk is tidy, this helps me feel like I want to use it as well as being able to use it. Therefore when I do sit down and do some study I don't need to move like three thousand things out of the way and get distracted (it would happen every time). I shared what my desk set up looks like here.

 I find that setting aside time to study really helps me in actually getting it done. So for every class that I have I set aside an hour of study before the next class. This way I get everything done before it needs to be done and things like readings done before the next class.

I also like to have a set amount of time that I like to do certain tasks. So if I do get off task I can move on and do the next thing. This way I am not wasting time and get on with other things.

I like to make sure that I have a snack and a drink of water when studying. Because I find that if I have everything I need then there is less distraction and I can focus on the things that I need to do.

As soon as assignments are released I like to print the instructions out and put them in date order at the back of my folder. This ensures that I have the instructions and can get started straight away when I study. I also like to keep my assignment schedule at the front of this folder, so I know when things are due.

How do you like to study? Are there any techniques that you use to study? Any special ways that you use to stay on track?

Friday Procrastibaking - 3rd April

Happy Easter everyone! I am the first to admit that when I have a lot of things that I need to get done I tend to not do it. Instead I prefer to clean, organize and bake. So I decided to start this new feature of what I like to call "Procrastibaking". What is it you ask, well, it is simple it is just how I describe how I bake while procrastinating.

Because I have no lectures on Fridays I tend to think that I have three days to get this stuff done, I will make a cake/ some cupcakes/ a pie/ whatever I see on pinterest that looks really really good.

So this weekly feature will show the things that I made, which will not always be my own recipes but I feel are really great that I should share them and you should try them.

Anyways, this week I made cupcakes, cute little cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles or 100s and 1000s as I call them (must have been feeling really girly this week), so here are the pictures (sorry were taken with my phone...):

 These cupcakes were absolutely perfect, super fluffy and the icing was so good (like lick the bowl good). I got inspiration from a photo on Pinterest which linked to here. And I also think that I fell in love with everything on this blog.

 I made my standard vanilla cupcake and butter-cream recipe. I iced the cupcakes with a number 30 Tala icing tip.

So here is the recipe:

Vanilla Cupcakes With Butter-cream Icing: Print

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Softened Butter
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 3 Large Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup Milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line 12 muffin cups with cases
2. In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
4. With the mixer on low, add a cup of the flour mixture and mix until combined, then the milk until combined, followed by the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until well combined and when the mixture has a mousse like texture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 17-20 minutes or until just set and a toothpick inserted into them comes out clean. Remove from oven, and allow to cool in tin for 10 minutes. Then place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled ice with buttercream.

Buttercream:

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Confectioners Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Softened Butter
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• pink food colouring

Method:

1. In an electric mixer beat together the butter for 2-3 minutes until soft and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat on medium until well combined.
2.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and add the vanilla and milk. Beat for 3 minutes until everything is nice and creamy, but stiff enough to pipe.
3. Add the food colouring and mix until well dispersed.