DIY Tutorial: Ice Cream Cone Cookies

These vanilla ice cream cones where inspired by the week of sunny weather we had. Sadly looking at the weather now you wouldn't believe we had a whole week of sun. Maybe that is a reason to make these tasty treats; recreate the taste of summer in your own home when the forecast lets you down... 

I actually bought a ice cream shaped cookie cutter a while ago but I felt that the cookies themselves still needed some definition. If you are not lucky enough to have one of these fun shaped cookie cutters then I would recommend making yourself a stencil out of baking parchment. 

What you will need:

150g plain flour

50g caster sugar

100g butter

1tbsp custard powder 

2tsp vanilla extract

2tbsp milk (optional)

Preheat your oven 170C (fan) and prepare two baking trays with grease proof baking parchment.

The first thing we need to do is make a simple vanilla shortbread by creaming the butter and sugar together. Once smooth add the flour, custard powder and vanilla extract. Rub the mixture using your thumbs to create a breadcrumb-like texture. Once this has been achieved you need to squeeze the mixture into a ball. If it is too dry add the milk bit by bit, you should be left with a soft dough. 

Roll out your dough on a floured surface and cut out your ice creams. I managed to get eighteen cookies (and a small ball of dough) out of this recipe using my cutter which was approximately 3.5"tall. 

Once you have cut out your ice cream shapes you can then start creating your cone cross-hatch design. Use a knife to make the markings by gently pressing into the dough, leaving no more than a firm indent. Start by making two lines showing a separation between the ice cream and the cone. Then from the bottom line create diagonal lines to the right as in the photograph below. Go over the diagonal lines with opposite line (diagonal to the left) to create a criss-cross pattern. 

Repeat this on all of your cookies and place them in your readily prepared trays. Bake them for 15min or until golden brown. Once ready, transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. 

Once your cookies are all baked and cooled you are ready to decorate them. -Hurry! The icing I used for these biscuits is royal icing (soft peak) as it is good to pipe and holds shape well. As you can see below I have used a selection of different sprinkles that I associate with (and enjoy on) ice creams. I guess this will change for each and every one but I feel that the chocolate sprinkles worked quite well. 

What you will need: 

2 egg whites

250g icing sugar

1tsp lemon juice

2tsp vanilla extract

yellow food colouring

sprinkles

Combine the egg whites, icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and gently fold the ingredients together.   Now whisk (using and electric whisk is much easier and faster) your mixture until it becomes thick. It should have a similar consistency to whipped cream and form soft peaks when tested. Add in your vanilla extract, the tiniest drop of food colouring and whisk. The food colouring will take the whiteness out of the icing and give it that vanilla colour ice cream has. 

Now you have created the ideal icing you need to load up a piping bag. Cover the area on top of the cone giving the sense that you have a scoop of ice cream sitting there. Once you have iced one add your sprinkles and allow to dry. If you ice all the cookies and then try to add the sprinkles, the icing will be to dry and the sprinkles will not stick. 

-Enjoy! 

DIY: Glitter Nail Varnish

DIY: Glitter Nail Varnish

I saw a lovely glitter nail varnish in the chemist the other day, £4.99 it was. I looked at it and thought that I could make it a home for a lot less! -And that is exactly what I have done. :)

So here is a quick and affordable tutorial to make this awesome glitter nail varnish. I used things I already had laying around the house so this was completely free for me but you can pick up a clear nail polish for around £1.99. If you are like me, and have an old varnish laying around, it is a good opportunity to give it new life.  

What you will need:

Top coat varnish/ clear nail polish 

Glitter, sliver is always a win but any colour will work

A small strip of paper

Tape

First we need to roll up our paper to make a paper cone and tape it to fasten. As you may have guessed this will act as a funnel so make sure one end has a hole big enough to pour glitter through. 

Now to pour the glitter. I advise doing this on a sheet of paper as it gets a bit messy! Use a little bit of glitter at a time and gradually build up the amount you want. I had half a bottle of small nail varnish and found that about a teaspoon of glitter was ample. 

Give it a good shake and you are ready to go (you will need to shake it before each use). It lasts for a good amount of time, the same as all other nail polishes. It has an oddly gritty texture, as does shop bought, so I would advise using a layer of clear top coat over it. 

DIY: Upcycled Heels.

Give the 'wow' factor back to a old and forgotten pair of heels. Don't we all have a pair somewhere; a pair of shoes that we no longer wear but we have clung onto anyway? I know I do... And now I have found a way to restore them, giving them new life. An affordable technique allowing me to wear shoes until every drop of life has been used up. -What could be better than that? 

What you will need: 

An old pair of heels

Flat back clear rhinestones (8mm, 6mm & 3mm)

E-600 glue or some other strong, quick drying glue

Shoe polish

What you will need to do: 

The first thing we need to do is clean your shoes up a bit. So using your polish rub away any scuffs and blemishes your shoes may have encountered over their life. 

When they are all shiny and looking new-ish we will start applying the rhinestones. I have used the three different sized in layers to create this design. Starting with two rows of 8mm, followed by three rows of 6mm and three rows of 3mm. They should gradually get smaller forming a triangle as portrayed in the diagram below. 

The amount of rhinestones you need on the first row will vary depending on how wide the heel is. 

To attach your rhinestones simply apply a small amount of glue to the back and firmly press onto the heel. Hold it there for a few seconds before moving onto the next one. Make sure not to apply too much glue otherwise it will seep around the edges of the rhinestones and you will loose your neat finish. 

Allow to dry completely before wondering around the house in your new shoes!

DIY Tutorial: Carrot Cake Toppers.

In the past I have made many carrot cakes but it is only recently that I have made the little icing carrots on top. Now I look back on my previous ventures with my unrecognisable cakes and think "why didn't I just add these signature little things on top?" -Maybe because they are so expensive to buy... But now that I have made them once I will never go back to bare carrot cakes. My cakes will look pretty for the rest of forever! This is not only fun and easy but friendly to your cake decorating budget. So, as promised in my previous post (where you will find the recipe for the carrot cake squares in the photograph above), here is a tutorial to make edible carrot cake toppers. 

DIY Tutorial: Carrot Cake Toppers.

What you will need: 

Gel food dye (yellow, red and green)

Cocktail sticks

50g ready to roll icing 

Icing sugar, for dusting

What you will need to do:

Dust your working area with icing sugar. 

Take a third of your icing, roll it into a ball and make a small well in the middle. Using a cocktail stick apply a small amount of yellow food dye and the tiniest drop of red into the centre. Fold the corners in until the dye starts to spread around the icing then knead it until your icing is completely coloured. Continue to add food dye and knead your dough until you have a bold colour. 

Repeat this process with the remander of your icing and the green food dye. 

Taking some of your orange icing and shape it to the body of a carrot.

Using a cocktail stick, score lines across your icing.

Use the cocktail stick to hollow out a small hole at the end of your carrot.

Take some green icing (about a third of your carrot body in size) and divide it into three equal balls.

Roll each ball into a little line. (Not too thin or it will be flimsy and useless). 

Join the three lines at one end to create the top of the carrot. 

Place the top of the carrot into the whole you made earlier and there you have it. The first of many carrot cake toppers that will change your carrot cake forever. Repeat this step until you have enough carrots or until your icing runs out. 

If you have spare icing then you should store it in an air tight bag, it will last longer this way. 

The Perfect Spring Treat > Carrot Cake Squares.

This is, in my opinion, the perfect cake for spring. Maybe because the supermarkets are packing away their chocolate eggs and are now promoting home grown herbs. I am very excited to get growing things! -Already planted up some tomatos and some lavender. So, for a inspiring start to lots of home grown treats we have a tasty and pleasantly nutty recipe for carrot cake. 

In the next post I will be showing you all how to make the little carrots on top, so stay tuned! 

Carrot Cake Squares

Makes around 12

You will need: 

100g butter

100g dark brown sugar

2 eggs

3tbsp orange juice

80g wholemeal flour

1tsp baking powder

1 pinch salt 

2tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp mixed spice

25g ground almonds 

50g chopped walnuts

150g grated carrots

You will need to do: 

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4/ 180C/ 350F and grease a rectangular baking tray. 

Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until soft, light and creamy. 

Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the mixture, then stir in the orange juice. 

Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and spices) and fold into the mixture. Add the ground almonds and walnuts, gently stir. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold into the mixture. This is a really key stage as if you do not whisk them enough your cake will not rise at all. -It will be as flat as a pancake. 

Stir in the grated carrots until everything in mixed together, then spoon into the baking tray. 

Bake for 50- 60 minutes or until cooked through. Cool in the tin for a short while before allowing to cool completely on a wire rack. 

Once completely cooled decorate with butter icing and learn how to make the carrot cake toppers in our next post. -We are very excited about this!

[Recipe adapted from 'Carrot Cake', Cake Decorating Magazine, Issue 2.] 

DIY: Nature Imprinted Easter Eggs.

This is a great easter surprise as you get to experiment with the nature in your garden and make a imprint on an egg. The whole process feels very home grown and organic which is always a feel good factor. Fun traditional eggs ready for easter! 

What you will need (per egg): 

  

Muslin cloth

Hair band/ elastic band

Pale coloured egg

Nature, something small such as flowers and leaves

A few drops of red food dye

1/2 tbsp salt

What you will need to do: 

In a pan, boil around 4 cups of water (you will need to make sure that the water is deep enough to completely cover your egg). Add the salt and food colouring to the pan. 

Whilst your water is reaching boiling point, lay out your muslin cloth.

Place your leaf in the centre of the cloth.

Place your egg on top of the leaf.

Use the hair band to tie the cloth tightly around the back of the egg. Place the egg into the pan and allow to simmer for 20-30 mins. Remove your egg when the shell has visibly turned a deep red, if you leave it for too long then if will go brown.