Sunday, 27 September 2015

Doctor Who - Review (Sort of) Episode Two

Episode Two - The Witch's Familiar
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS 

Clara isn't dead! Missy isn't dead! 

Davros isn't dead... 

Last night was the second episode in the newest series of Doctor Who and we got to see what exactly happened with the Doctor and 'young Davros'. Like last week I will just simply be talking about what I liked about the episode and also discuss anything that I may have not enjoyed - maybe with a few questions thrown in to! 

So first of all, Missy. I don't know exactly what it is, but I love her character! She is funny, witty and slightly crazy. However last night saw a little bit more of a sinister edge to her, particularly the moment where she told the Doctor that Clara was dead. I still feel we don't know enough about her and I feel that she's going to be more of a enemy that an ally, with that particular moment being a good example of my reasoning's. (Anyone?) Or she could just be very jealous of Clara and wants to be the Doctor's companion and so would say or do anything to get rid of her.

This leads me to another element of the show that I liked - the sinister/chilling moments. This stood out the most for me when Clara was trying to control the Dalek and the only words that were coming out were 'Ex-ter-min-ate!' when she was trying to say a variety of things. It just emphasised just how emotionless the Daleks are.

Overall the episode was really good and I really enjoyed it but those two things (albeit little things) were noticeable things that I liked this week.  Now onto things that I'm not too keen or not too sure on...

Sonic sunglasses?????? This can't be the end of the sonic screwdriver can it? I mean I understand that the Doctor perhaps needs to get a little bit more with current technology but the sonic screwdriver is just something that people immediately associate with the Doctor (naturally). And yes, Peter Capaldi looks pretty cool in some shades but I don't really know if I like this idea that the Doctor MAY (we don't know for sure) have sonic sunglasses. He can wear them for sure! It could be like what the bow-tie was for Matt Smith or the scarf was for Tom Baker - but please, don't get rid of the sonic screwdriver. Just update it! Maybe this time with the ability to deal with wood... But anyway that's all for dislikes!

Finally, AGAIN this week I was reminded of Oswin Oswald - especially when Clara was inside the Dalek. I don't know how it could work but I have a feeling somehow that the two stories could connect? I'm not sure but if anyone had a similar thought let me know! Maybe Clara will have a similar demise or .. ah I don't know! Regardless, the episode was awesome and I can't wait for next week!

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings, I really appreciate it! Sorry if there were any spelling errors of confusing parts - just let me know if you find any.

Have a lovely day or evening!

Ricicle x

Friday, 25 September 2015

Wand-derful Harry Potter Cupcakes!

Get it? Wand-derful? As in wonderful? But with wands!

I am a huge Harry Potter nerd and I thought it was about time that I tried to make some cakes that were Harry Potter themed. These cakes were super easy and I personally think they look awesome! Dobby approves! If you'd like to decorate your cakes like this too you will need;

- Red, orange, yellow and black food colouring
- 110g Unsalted Butter
- 400-500g Icing Sugar (your call)
- 1 tsp of Vanilla essence
- Red Candy Melts
- Black Candy Melts - (Or white chocolate and use the black food colouring to dye it black!)
- Grease proof paper!

Method


1. Whisk up a batch of cakes using your favourite sponge mixture. I made a total of eight cupcakes - the seven in the picture were the best ones! (If you would like to use my cake mix it can be found on my most recent cupcake post - which can be found on the 'BAKING' tab at the top of the screen).

2. Once your sponge mixture is all mixed and done - put a little amount of the mixture in a separate bowl. Dye the majority of the mix orange and the minority red. This is just so the sponge goes with the Gryffindor colour scheme. I attempted (it didn't work out good) to make half of my batch polka dot and the others striped. If you'd like to try this too firstly place the orange mix in your cupcake cases so that each cup has orange in, then with a piping bag start either placing very small dots or thin lines.

3. Put your cupcakes in the oven for their required time!

4. Whilst the cupcakes are in the oven (or you can do this while they are cooling its up to you) go onto google and get some images for both the lightning bolt scar and Harry's glasses - get enough lightning bolts to go on one half of your batch and then the same for the glasses. I therefore copied four lightning bolts and four pairs of glasses. Put them on a word sheet and print it out. Then get a sheet of grease proof paper and cover the print out. Also make sure they are a good size so they wont get lost on your cakes!

5. Melt your red candy melts and put them into a piping bag (I just use a disposable one) and snip a little bit off the end of the bag, this this will make sure that you will get nice thin lines of chocolate and also make it easier to trace your pictures. Use the red chocolate to go over and fill in the lightning bolts. If you have some red chocolate left over make some little lightning bolts to accompany your glasses (this looks really cool!).

6. Then melt your black candy melts (Or your white chocolate with black food dye) and do the same step with the piping bag. This time outline the glasses, making sure each line is connected otherwise when it comes you decorating it will all fall apart... and no one wants that. (That would be like 'getting killed or worse.. expelled') Once you've done all the lightning bolts and the glasses, leave them for around 10 minutes at room temperature and then put them in the fridge until you need them again.

7. Onto the butter cream - put your 110g of unsalted butter into a bowl and mix with an electric whisk until it is pale and creamy.

8. Then gradually sieve in your icing sugar (i.e. add a bit in mix it, add a bit in mix it, etc) I normally use 400g however the recipe I follow says to use 500g. 400g works fine for me but its your call! ^_^ If after you have sieved in all of your icing sugar the butter cream is a little dry just add a little bit of milk or water to loosen it up.

9. Add in your 1 tsp of Vanilla Essence.

10. Add your yellow food dye to your butter cream mix. Then place the butter cream into a piping bag and pipe your butter cream on top of your cake. Make sure you go from the very edge round into the middle. This will allow orange/red sponge to be a little Gryffindor surprise! Then simply take your chocolate decoration and place them carefully to the centre of your cupcakes!

And as if by magic you are done!






































These cakes would be perfect for any Harry Potter fan (like me!) and would be exceptionally good for parties as they are so simple to do. Also, I'm sure Harry, Ron and Hermione would like these cakes too!

I hope you enjoyed my little post about my Harry Potter cupcakes - I'm ever so proud of them because I've been waiting and waiting to make some Harry Potter cupcakes - but I guess I just wanted to do my favourite books and films justice! If you do have a go at this design please let me know as I would love to see them! But thank you all the same for taking the time to have a nosey at this post - I really appreciate it.

As always have a lovely day.. or evening!

Ricicle x

Saturday, 19 September 2015

Doctor Who - Review (Sort of) Episode One

Episode one - The Magician's Apprentice  (Contains spoilers!)


Hey 'dudes'! As you are of no doubt aware - Doctor Who is back! And for the first episode of the new series we are greeted to our old enemies - the Daleks (dun dun dun). And more specifically Davros - who wants to meet with the Doctor one final time.

I wont do a summary of the episode - partly out of fear for spoiling it for anyone who may not have watched it and because if you have seen it you know what happened! This review will mainly be just me talking about what I enjoyed about the episode, what excited me and anything (if there is anything) that I didn't enjoy about the episode.

So firstly one thing that I enjoyed in this episode was THE DOCTOR ON THE GUITAR. The Doctor seriously rocked out in this episode and what could make this better? It was actually Peter Capaldi playing it. How cool is that? The Doctor is a rocker at heart! Yes, yes I know that the return of Daleks and the planet Skaro is pretty damn exciting (and scary too) but perhaps it was because we haven't seen this side of the Doctor - it was just so cool to see. And bravo to Peter Capaldi you cool dude. Who knew that the Doctor introduced the word dude centuries earlier too? #themoreyouknow

Another thing that I enjoyed was the 'good bad' jokes the Doctor tried to pull off just after rocking out. I'm a sucker for 'good bad' jokes and that tank one was just great although he just didn't get a very good reception. That's probably one thing me and the Doctor have in common - our awesome jokes just don't get the laughter they truly deserve.

Regarding jokes, Missy provided quite a few laughs for me in this episode which I found really surprising. So far, I like her character - I find her interesting, eccentric and of course slightly mad. I also loved this idea that she wanted to be the Doctor's best friend yet also his arch enemy at the same time. However, I'm still questioning who she really is, I know last series she said she was 'The Master' but I don't know - I'm still not sure. Regardless, I like her, she's entertaining.

Was there anything I didn't like about this episode? Not really no. If anything the ending was something that confused me - especially if the Doctor really does go ahead and kill young Davros. I know that Davros created the Daleks and by killing him they wouldn't have been created (and Clara and Missy wouldn't have been killed) but if the Doctor does go ahead I'm just going to be needing a lot more questions answering. It also doesn't seem like something the Doctor would do (killing a child not saving his friends). But anyway, this is all for next week's episode which I can't wait for!

Just some questions - If the Doctor kills Davros this would mean the Daleks wouldn't have existed. So could Rose come back? Could this be a thing? Could the Doctor be able to see Rose again? (I don't know)
- Also throughout this episode I couldn't shake the memory of Oswin Oswald, maybe this is nothing but I just thought Daleks were there and now they are back. Maybe I'm trying to connect something that just isn't meant to be connected. But hey its fun to speculate!

I am so happy that Doctor Who is back and I hope any of you reading this enjoyed this post. As usual I am sorry if there are any mistakes or spelling errors and if you'd like to share your opinions on the episode feel free too! I really appreciate anyone who reads my blog - I don't really know what it surrounds yet but I'm having so much fun with it.

Have a lovely day or night dudes!

Ricicle x (You can follow me on Bloglovin' or tumblr - links are on the right side of the page! ^_^)

Friday, 18 September 2015

D.I.Y DOCTOR WHO Bookmark & Coaster! (Using Hama beads!)

OOOOOOOWEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Yes it's that time of year again, as school begins and nights get darker we get a new series of Doctor Who. And I for one am pretty damn excited! So in my excitement and anticipation for the new series I decided to make myself a little bookmark and coaster which were Doctor Who themed. And here they are;


The bookmark idea simply came from me wanting a little Tardis peeking out from my book. I started with the Tardis - making it more of a square shape and then once I'd done that I tried to make a little scarf similar to that of Tom Baker's - the fourth Doctor. The scarf allowed the Tardis to still be the main element of the book mark but also still managed to keep to my Doctor Who themed book mark!



The coaster on the other hand was inspired by the discs that are in the Doctor Who Series 8 DVD. I might insert a picture but basically they have clock faces on them and I really liked the design and thought 'hey! these would make cool coasters!'. Once I'd got a idea in my head I went on a pixel generator (I recommend this for any Hama design) and made a little template. For the middle of the clock I thought long and hard on how I could decorate it and decided to make a reference to the creepy nursery rhyme 'Tick tock goes the clock even for the Doctor' - simply because it again linked with Doctor Who in some way and it went really well with the clock design! I also added clock hands because well - you can't really have a clock without hands can you? 

And that's really it! I was just so chuffed with the outcome of both of these creations that I immediately wanted to come and share it with you guys! They were super easy (once I had pictured what I wanted) and also super fun! Like I said these were made with Hama beads (or perler beads) and the size I used are the 2mm - the mini beads.

Here are the templates I made to guide me, you are welcome to use them! -


Instead of the brown colour I opted instead for a white outline of the clock!




















So if you are a Doctor Who fan like me I hope you enjoy the new series which airs tomorrow and if you would like to let me know what you think of it we can discuss our opinions and have a real good chat. Either way enjoy the show. Also I hope you've enjoyed this post and if you make either one of these creations be sure to let me know!

I hope you have a lovely day or night -
Ricicle x

P.S. Just as a heads up you can now follow me on TUMBLR and BLOGLOVIN' (If you would like to!)


Thursday, 10 September 2015

CURRENTLY PLAYING (Admittedly rather late)- The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2)

First of all - I'm so sorry that I haven't posted much recently, I have been really busy and I honestly just haven't had the time to type something that I would deem good. (So sorry! ♥) But I'm back with a post about my thoughts on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The last time I did a post on this game I think I had just completed the tutorial and started the prologue. I liked the controls and I mentioned that the game reminded me a lot of the Dragon Age games. I don't intend to include any but just be prepared that THIS MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS! Just in case you still haven't played the game and want to!

This time I have now completed the prologue and Chapter 1 - (I think... maybe not). My first thought on the game is that specifically during the prologue I felt a little bit confused as to what was actually happening, I'm not sure if this was because I haven't played the first Witcher game or because I may have missed something crucial during game play but I couldn't quite grasp exactly what was going on.

The prologue was Geralt going through the events that led him to being imprisoned. It was only until the last memory that everything - almost - made sense! (for me anyway). Basically Geralt was accused of murdering the King but it wasn't him. The aim of the story is to find this 'Assassin of Kings' hence the title.

So now we start our mission to find this assassin. I won't spoil the story here of who you meet and what you do but obviously this is when the story gets interesting and you really do start the game. From here you can either follow the main quest or follow some side quests - I chose to do a few side quests - simply because I was still getting used to everything - and then I followed the main storyline which was to ultimately kill the creature - The Kayran. Which is basically the 'boss' character of Chapter 1.

And that's really it, I've defeated the Kayran and that's basically where I've left the game for now (it took me a few tries to kill the Kayran - I needed a rest... heh!) So far I am really enjoying the game, like I said it reminds me of a mix between Dragon Age and Skyrim  and the story is intriguing me. I will type up some more when I've played more of the game.

I hope this post was okay, I'm still not sure how to type up this kind of post. I just wanted to post something because my blog has been a little dormant this past week (again sorry!). I haven't forgotten about my 'Take on a Bake (Off!)' posts - I'm hoping to do this weeks bake by the weekend. (The past two that I haven't covered will be done at the end!) I'm also hoping to reviews on the new Doctor Who series! Eeep! But anyway thank you for reading - I really really appreciate it! *hugs*

Have a lovely day or night!

Ricicle x

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

POWERPUFF GIRL CUPCAKES! (With homemade marshmallow fondant!)

'Sugar, spice, and everything nice, these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect little girls...'

Okay, so maybe the sugar, spice and everything nice was more like caster sugar, flour and eggs - buuuuuuuut we still have three perfect little girls - Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup - they're just in a more edible form! 


So this idea started when I decided I wanted to have a go and making my own fondant icing! And after having a good ole' google it seemed that marshmallow fondant was the way to go - and 'thus the powerpuff girl cupcakes were born!' (get the reference? heh) The Powerpuff Girls was one of my all time favourite TV shows when I was younger, I had all the toys, played all the games and people used to compare me to Bubbles a lot - she was my favourite too which made it even better! Basically I HAD to try and make some cupcakes powerpuff themed!

If you'd like to make my powerpuff girl cupcakes you will need -

FOR THE CAKE - 
- 110g Self Raising Flour
- 110g Caster Sugar
- 110g butter (I use Stork!)
- 2 eggs
- 2-3 drops of Vanilla Extract
- Food colouring - (Blue, Green and Pink!) I use ProGel!

FOR THE FONDANT - 
- 450g little marshmellows
- 600g-900g icing sugar (reason I put it between 600-900 is because when I made the fondant I only used 600g and it turned out fine however the recipe I followed said 900g!)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract!
- 1 1/2 tbsp cooled boiled water
- Food Colouring - (Yellow, Blue, Green, Orange, Red, Black, & Peach)
- Some white fondant - (just in case your homemade fondant goes pink - if you used pink marshmallows!)
+ I used some Betty Crocker butter cream for the fondant just to ensure it was all stuck together!

HEADS UP -  I just thought I'd better mention that these cakes are quite time consuming. For me these cakes took up two days - so be prepared! But have fun! 



♥ METHOD ♥ 

(For this recipe I wont put pictures on detailing the cake mixture - if you are unsure for the cake mix on how it should look my previous posts (Whimsical Rainbow Cupcakes + Cute as a button cupcakes) have the cake mix well photographed ^_^) I'll still put the recipe on here so don't worry! Okay so lets fight crime by making some powerpuff girls!


FOR THE CAKE - 

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4.

2. So first things first you will need to cream your 110g of caster sugar and 110g of butter together until it looks nice and fluffy & lightly coloured!

3. Beat your eggs in a separate bowl and then add them to your mixture gradually - at this point you can add in your vanilla extract too!

4. Now you'll need your 110g of Self Raising and sieve it into the mixture gradually (add some, fold it in, add some, fold it in - the cycle continues!) For folding I normally use a spatula as it just guarantees that every bit of the mixture has been dealt with and it also makes it easier to get every little bit of the mix into the cupcake cakes!

5. And that's the mixture itself done! (Yay) Now you need to split your mixture roughly into 3 bowls, and add the different food dye's to the different bowls. So one bowl with have blue cake mix, one will have green and the other pink!

6. Now all there is to do is to put your coloured cake mix into the cupcake cases! You can use whatever colours you like however I used 2 yellow and 1 blue for Bubbles, 2 orange and 1 pink for Blossom and 3 green cases for Buttercup! This is only because it fitted with with the PPG theme!

Nine Powerpuff Girls coming your way!
Normally this cake mixture would make 12 perfect cakes however because of how I wanted the decoration to look I wanted them to have a domed appearance on the top so I added more mix into the cakes than normal. (I hope I worded that right..)










7. All there is to do for now is to put your cakes into the oven for 15-20 minutes! My cakes are normally done around the 15 minute mark however they have been known to need a little more. Basically just keep an eye on them after 15 minutes! ^_^

♥ 15 minutes later... 

And here we have nine coloured cupcakes! Now it's time for the fondant! Dun dun dun! 








♥ THE FONDANT 

Remember when I said this recipe would be a little time consuming? This is where it happens! But its fun and we like to try things so lets go! Also, this is the recipe I followed as it was my first ever time making my own fondant! Aaah!


1. So to begin with you need to put your 450g of marshmallows into a microwaveable bowl and put in the microwave for 30 seconds. (this filled up my entire bowl and after microwaving it didn't appear like anything had happened - so don't worry if yours does the same!)

Look at all those marshmallows! (I might have pinched one or two to eat... sh!)











2. Now add the vanilla extract and the 1 1/2 tbsp of cooled boiled water. (I literally boiled it and put it in the freezer for a like a minute) Then grab a spoon - put some butter on to grease it - and stir the mixture so far. (The reason you need to grease it is because it goes SO sticky)

3. Put your marshmallows into the microwave for another 30 seconds and keep doing this until the marshmallows have all melted and are nice and smooth. (so basically heat in microwave, stir the mixture and see what its like, repeat if need to). I tallied the time I did this step and I had to put my marshmallows in the microwave three times until it was nice and smooth. 

 <- In mid melt!
<- All melted (and in a different bowl)
















4.  Gradually add in the icing sugar ('stirring after each addition'). For this step I added the icing sugar in 200g intervals and even that seemed a lot. I tried to fold it in the best I could have and then proceeded to add another 200g. The recipe I followed said to use 900g of icing sugar but by 600g I had icing sugar that was not going into the mixture at all and my fondant seemed to be pretty firm anyway, so I just used 600g of icing sugar in the end. However it is up to you and whether you want to go all in for the 900g or cut it a little short is your call! (Sorry, that step was a bit 'waffley' wasn't it?)

5. So in the recipe I followed it said to 'grease hands and work surface. Turn out and knead until smooth and no longer sticky' - I didn't do this. (Rebel) All I did was treat it like a normal fondant and I sprinkled icing sugar on my work surface and onto my hands and kneaded it that way. It worked out fine however I provided the actual recipes step so you can follow it in whatever way you wish. ^_^

<- My fondant! 















6. For the normal recipe this is where your marshmallow fondant is done! However because we are making powerpuff cupcakes we need to add some colour to this fondant! Here is where the food dye comes in. First of all split your fondant into the amount of colours you want to use - so for me I had to split it into 8 chunks (I kept the biggest chunks for the main colours - blue, pink and green!). Add a colour to each chunk and knead it in. This step can get messy for your hands so be prepared!

<- And there are all my colors! (I think I needed to knead some of the colours in better in retrospect - but hey for a first time it wasn't bad right?)





7. And now you are done for the day! Wrap up your fondant tightly in some clingfilm and place in a airtight container and leave to firm up overnight!

♥ DECORATION 

And here we are! The last and most frustrating (but fun) part! I will show you guys how I made my favourite powerpuff girl (Bubbles) and then you can just simply follow the steps regarding the eyes and background for the other girls. (Just remember to change the colour). This was my first time making my own fondant and this was my most ambitious idea ever regarding cakes so some of the steps may not be done in the best way it can - but here is how I made these super cakes! 


1. So Bubbles - the 'joy and laughter'. Her main colour is blue and that was the first colour I used in order to make the background for the faces. I kneaded my fondant first just to get it all soft again and then rolled it out until it very thin. (Simply so when they were eaten no one would get a big mouthful of fondant!)


Once it's all rolled out and smooth you need to cut out a circle (or three as that's how many Bubbles' there will be in total) that fits nicely over your little cake. I luckily found something that was exactly the right size.

Then put a little bit of butter cream on your cake (So it acts like glue) and pop your circle on the top!




                                                           



                                                           Like this ->











2. Put the blue fondant away for now but keep it nearby as you will need it again for the eyes. However for now you will need the peachy colour fondant as this will be the face. Cut out a circle that is smaller than the circle you did for the blue - as you want the face to sit nicely in the middle - not so its squished in. Cut out nine of these circles. You can use the other 6 for Blossom and Buttercup!


(This reminds of that episode of Doctor Who where people had no faces? Anyone?) 












3. This is where it gets 'fiddley'. For this step I used an edible black pen (these can be purchased at Hobbycraft) and drew on the outline for the face. I drew where the hair would be and the mouth and also filled in the black parts of the eyes. If you don't have a edible pen the same can be done with your black fondant - it will just be a little harder. 

Left - The just drawn out face. Right - the filled in with icing faces!
4. This is where you need to bring back your blue fondant and also get the white. With the blue fondant first get a teeny little bit of fondant and make a little sausage shape big enough to fit in the outline you have drawn - or iced - on your eye. Do this again for the white. For the pupil I made a hole and then made a little white fondant ball and simply put that where I made the hole. Do this carefully as if you have filled in the black with edible pen it may not be dry yet. (I realised this too late and one of my Bubbles went a bit smudged!)

5. Next step is the hair! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during this process (Sorry) But Bubbles' hair was pretty simple! For the fringe I cut out two almost 'tear' shaped pieces of yellow fondant and fitted them into the outline I had drawn on the face. (If it doesn't stick on by itself use some butter cream to help glue it on!') And then all that's left was the pigtails. Which again were like a tear shape just more curved at the ends. (I'd recommend using a image for reference).

6. And that's a Bubbles face done! All there is to do is to put a little bit of butter cream on your blue background and stick the face on! The pigtails might also need a little bit just to ensure they stay where they should be! I also used a icing instrument (but you can use anything with a sharp pointy end) to place little dots around the edge - simply for no other reason but just to add a little 'something'.


AND NOW YOU HAVE DONE A BUBBLES!

You can use the same steps for the background, faces and hair for both Blossom and Buttercup. Just make sure to use their colours and their hairstyles. (Also Buttercup tends to have a more angrier looking face), But hopefully I've shown you the basics! (I've tried my best hehe) 

P.S. When making the circles for the background - I made a sort of triangle shape (for each colour) so that when they are all together with a cake at the top they look like they are flying. (in the style that the powerpuff girls would fly!) Like this; 









Cool huh? 












So that is it! I really hope you enjoyed my powerpuff girl cupcakes post - I tried my best to make it seem as simple as possible and I'm sorry if there were any mistakes or confusing parts! I am personally really proud of myself as these were my first attempt at fondant faces and my most ambitious cakes to date. I felt they came out really good and were better than what I could have imagined! 

Yet again thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy your own Powerpuff Girl cupcakes! Maybe we should make some Rowdyruff Boy cupcakes too... 

Have a lovely day.. or night!

Ricicle x



P.S. I am now on Bloglovin'!

POWERPUFF!

Thursday, 27 August 2015

D.I.Y ZIGGS BOMB! - (using mini Hama beads!) 8-bit appearance

'TAKE COVER!'

'Explosions first, questions later'


Hey guys! Earlier this week I had a sudden urge to buy some Hama Beads - I used to have them when I was younger and I remember making some pretty cool things with them. Today was the first day I used them and I decided to make something linked to one of my favourite champions from the online game, League of Legends. 

Ziggs - he is one of my favourite champions in the game (alongside Annie) and I just find him really fun to play and so whilst I was playing around with the hama beads I thought I could try making a little Ziggs Bomb - and so I did! By the way, by little I mean little, the photo to the left I enlarged however my real Ziggs bomb is around 3.5x4.5cm in size! 


So if you'd like to make a little Ziggs bomb too this is what you'll need; 
(The top left picture is meant to be the pegboard)
- Hama beads! (I use the mini beads but use whatever size you wish)
- A pegboard (which matches your size beads - obviously heh)
- Some tweezers (this will depend on the size of your beads, the larger ones you can place with your fingers however as I use the mini beads I just find the tweezers more helpful)
- Some ironing paper
- And an affinity for Ziggs! (Who couldn't love this crazy little laughing guy)



♥ ♥   ♥    ♥  ♥  ♥    ♥    ♥    



1. Okay so the first step I took for making my little Ziggs bomb was to go onto Google and look at different styles of how the bomb had been portrayed. I found a photo that I thought I could (sort of) recreate and I used that as a guide.

<- this was the photo I tried to recreate. The link to the source can be found here.










2. Once I'd found a picture, I then tried to rummage through my beads to find the colours that I thought would look best - I chose, light grey, dark grey, white, dark brown (I tried to use this colour to make it look darker around the edge like in the real image - I'm not to sure on how that part worked out but oh well!), a sort of maroony - dark purplely/reddy colour, yellow and some orange shades. All I then had to do was to try and work out how to get it -sort of - like the picture.

3. 'Bombs away!' (A.K.A. try to shape it like your chosen image). Unfortunately I don't have any photos of how I shaped my bomb, because I didn't know at that point I'd want to do a tutorial on it. However I have tried to make a little template on a pixel generator which I hope shows you the placement of colours and overall give you guys just a vague idea of how I shaped the bomb!

<- This is a rough template of my Hama Ziggs bomb. I thought the pixelated image would help you see near enough where everything was positioned as I find everything made with Hama looks a bit pixelated anyway in appearance! (Which I love) I also tried to use the same colours and indicated where they go. ^_^

(The bright aqua colour was to indicate where I used the transparent beads. - I used one for support just so the bomb didn't break after it'd been ironed and I used four more so I could maybe make it into a key chain if I wanted to.) Cool right?

4. After you'd placed every bead where it needs to be you can do the easy part - the ironing! This will mould your creation together so it wont all fall apart. All you need to do is to place some ironing paper over your work and ensure your iron is on high heat with no steam. Then move the iron slowly over your work for around 20-30 seconds - (just be careful you don't melt your pegboard). Then when this step is done I'd recommended - before peeling of the ironing paper - to place a heavy book or something over your work - this will just ensure that it will come out flat. I'd suggest leaving it like this for around 5 minutes. Then remove the heavy object and ironing paper and gently peel off your bomb (it feels so weird just saying bomb - but you know what I mean!). And that's it. You have a little Ziggs bomb! So 'TAKE COVER!'

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed my little DIY tutorial, I felt it worked well with the games current 'Arcade theme'. Also, if you'd like me to try and make anything else using Hama beads just let me know and I will most definitely have a go! I also made today this super cute 'extra life' icon - another idea inspired by gaming;

<--(This is super easy!)



Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a lovely day or night! (As usual sorry if there were any mistakes)

Oh, and 'Look out below!'

Ricicle x


Tuesday, 25 August 2015

'Cute as a Button' Cupcakes (with edible buttons)

Eeee hello there! Today I made these super cute button topped cupcakes - with edible buttons! (How cool is that?!)

I think they would be perfect for parties, as a little gift or for just a bit of fun!











If you'd like to make these adorable little cakes you will need;

FOR THE CAKES - (This cake recipe is my usual cupcake mix - I used it last time in my 'Whimsical Rainbow Cupcakes' post and the link to the recipe is on there. I will list everything you will need to mix and do on here for ease but just remember the original recipe is on that post! ^_^  )

Anyway - for the cakes you will need;

- 110g Butter or Margarine (I used Stork)
- 110g Caster Sugar
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 2-3 Drops of Vanilla Extract


FOR DECORATION -
- 110g Unsalted Butter
- 500g Icing Sugar
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- A little bit of milk if you need it
- Pink Food Colouring (I use Pro Gel Rainbow Dust)
- Writing Icing
- Candy Melts! (I used blue and yellow candy melts but any colours of your choosing will look equally as cute - if you'd rather keep it simple you can also use just plain chocolate!)




And here we go! (Just remember that the original recipe for cake mix can be found in my 'Rainbow Cupcakes' post) Photo's will be posted alongside the steps to give you a vague idea of what it should - sort of - look like!

FOR THE CAKES -  ♥ ♥   ♥    ♥  ♥  ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥  ♥  ♥   ♥ ♥  ♥ 

1. First of all you'll need to preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. You can also at this point place you're baking cases into a cupcake tin. (I normally do this step right before the mix is completed, but its completely up to you!) 

2. Now you'll need to cream together the 110g of butter and 110g of caster sugar until the mixture is light, creamy and fluffy! Like this;

3. Once this step is done you'll need to beat the two eggs in a separate bowl and then add that to the mix. This should be done gradually. Once the eggs have been added then mix in either two or three drops of Vanilla Essence. 

<- You should have something that looks a little bit like this.














4. Now you'll need to sieve in the 110g of self raising flour. For this method I normally fold in the flour with a spatula as I know that way every bit of the of the flour will be added into the mix. (It also makes it a lot easier to use all of the cake mix when it comes to putting it into the baking cases as you don't waste any)

All mixed in and ready to go into the cupcake cases!















Step 5. Finally all that is left for the cupcakes is for them to be added into the baking cases! You can either do this in spoonfuls or by piping them in. I used to do the piping method as it did allow the mix to go in a lot neater however I just opt for adding the mix in spoonfuls now - purely for speed.

Here are my cupcakes before going into the oven. I used brightly coloured baking cases as I wanted every bit of the cake to stand out colour wise. However of course - the choice is up to you! ^_^








Step 6. Your cakes will need to go into the oven for around 15-20 minutes or until they are a nice golden colour. Normally my cakes are pretty much ready by 15 minutes, but sometimes I have needed to leave them in up until the 20 minute mark. Best advice is to just keep an eye on them and keep checking!



And that's your cake mix done! You should be left with some pretty yummy looking cakes - but they're not done yet! They need some decoration! 


FOR THE DECORATION♥ ♥   ♥    ♥  ♥  ♥    ♥    ♥    ♥  ♥  ♥   ♥ ♥ 

1. What I did firstly for the decoration was to make the chocolate buttons. (This can be done while the cupcakes are cooling) For this step I used a silicone button mould that I purchased recently (from the Range) and the chocolate coloured candy melts in the colours blue and yellow. You can use normal chocolate if you'd rather or different colours!

These are the candy melts and my silicone button mould!

2. The next step is to then melt your chocolate - this step for me was a bit of a estimated guess as I didn't know how much chocolate would be needed for my silicone mould. It was a bit of a trial and error but my best advice would be start with small amounts of chocolate first. Its easier to start with a little and add more than to use too much and waste it! Unfortunately my camera lost charge at this point so I don't have any pictures of this step. Sorry :(

3. Once you've melted your chocolate and poured it as best you can into the mould you'll then need to leave it at room temperature for around 10 minutes, then put it in the fridge for however long you need.

4. Now it's time for the - dun dun dun - buttercream! For the buttercream I actually had the help of THIS recipe. What you need to do firstly is to add the 110g unsalted butter into a bowl and cream together until it is light and creamy. Like this; 


5. Then you'll want to add in the 500g of icing sugar and gradually sieve and beat it into the creamy butter. For this I also used a spatula, its my weapon of choice when it comes to anything that needs a thorough mix!

^ Above is how my buttercream looked after the addition of the icing sugar!

6. Add in the 1tsp of vanilla essence and mix well again. At this point you can also add a little bit of milk if you need too to help loosen your mixture. But if you don't consider your buttercream ready for some serious colouring!

^- And that is the kind of colouring I am talking about! How amazing does that look! 

7. Okay so for this step add in only a small amount of pink food colouring (you can add more if you need to) and mix this into your buttercream until you have a colour that you are happy with. When you are, its time to grab a piping bag and get ready for piping! 

Ready for battle - of the cake variety!
And here are how your cakes should look - or something similar! All colourful and fun!

8. Once your cakes have the buttercream on, its now time to get your chocolate buttons out of the fridge and very carefully popped out of the silicone mould. If there are any parts of the chocolate that are sticking out you can just carefully slice them off with a knife.


^ Above is a photo of me just taking my chocolate button out of the mould. And to the right is a photo of all of my lovely colourful chocolate buttons! (I was really excited at this point)












9. All that is left is to simply add to the buttercream with your chocolate buttons, place them anywhere you like and however many you want on each cake. Either way they will look super adorable.

To the left is some button ideas that I tried out just to see how they would turn out. The far left one is done simply by placing some normal cake sprinkles in the mould before I added the melted chocolate. It left me with a very funky polka dot button! The other button has the same sprinkle method for the spots, however I used some writing icing to give of the effect that its been sewn onto the cake! Cool huh?



And that's it! You should hopefully have some 'Cute as a button' cupcakes!

I am so happy with these cakes - they turned out better than I could have hoped! Thank you for taking the time to read and if you do make these adorable cakes please let me know as I would love to see them!

As always sorry if there were any spelling errors or confusing parts, this is my first ever post where I add my own instructions so I hope it was okay. Any advice or tips would be appreciated! But anyway, thank you for reading regardless!

Have a wonderful day and I hope to see you soon! 

Ricicle x

P.S. Just as a disclaimer I am in no way a professional baker, baking is just something I enjoy to do in my spare time. ^_^ 

Take On A Bake - (Off!) / Cranberry and Orange (Sweet) Soda Bread

This week I wanted to try a Soda Bread or 'Quick Bread', which I think was the first challenge attempted by the contestants this week. (Okay technically it was last week, but for the purpose of this blog it was this week - heh)

We are using Paul's  recipe this week - as in the contestant... not Hollywood, although they weirdly look alike??? (weird) I found that this recipe was so easy to follow and it was really quite quick too. Honestly, the longest process was the cooking time!

Anyway, for Paul 'not Hollywood's recipe you will need;

- 400g Plain Flour
- 50g Caster Sugar
- 50g Caraway Seeds (I found these at the spices section in my local supermarket)
- 50g Unsalted Butter
- 100g dried cranberries
- 175ml Buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 Unwaxed Orange (only the zest)
- 1 tsp table salt
- 2 tsp baking powder

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
^ First step was nice and easy wasn't it - 'easy peasy lemon squeezey'. Onto step 2!
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, caster sugar and caraway seeds. Using your fingers, rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the cranberries and orange zest.
Here we go, as always I will put images of my attempts at each step on here for you - to simply give you a vague idea of how it should - or kind of - look like!

This is the flour, salt, baking power, caster sugar and caraway seeds looked after being mixed together.












This is the butter before it ended up looking like breadcrumbs! I cut up my butter into little cubes simply to make it a little easier as it wouldn't be very pleasant to try and rub a whole block of butter between your fingers... *shudders*.

As a side note I always loved doing this at school when we did cooking - I don't know why there is something kind of soothing about the whole technique. I don't know. I'm weird.





Admittedly its not the best picture but is after rubbing in the butter.

Ta-da breadcrumbs!






Okay so all that is done lets go for step three!



3. Mix the egg and buttermilk together then stir into the dry mixture using a wooden spoon. Use your hands to bring the dough together, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball.
 Basically this is just a very weird picture of the egg and buttermilk before being beaten together.













And this is the egg and buttermilk combo being added to the original mixture.

As you can see the cranberries have just appeared magically, this is because someone silly - A.K.A. me, forgot to add them when I should have in step 2. However, FEAR NOT, this didn't ruin anything, I just mixed the cranberries and orange zest in with the egg and buttermilk. It just meant a little more mixing in to make sure the cranberries were separated into the mix well.



The orange zest decided to make an appearance.














And now we have our soda bread dough, on the lightly floured surface, shaped in a ball with no missing ingredients, all ready to go into the oven. Hooray! Now we head to the final step - step 4!











4. Place the dough on the prepared baking tray and cut a cross into the top using a sharp knife. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.
This is how my soda bread looked before being placed into the oven with my cross in the middle. Looks a little bit like a Hot Cross Bun doesn't it?







30 minutes later...


Voila! Soda Bread! Sweet Cranberry and Orange Soda Bread!





Just as a side note Paul 'Not Hollywood's recipe said to leave it in between 30-35 minutes, I personally had to leave mine in a little bit longer than that as at 30 minutes my dough wasn't quite cooked. However I'd just suggest cooking it for the recommended time and just keep checking it.


















And that it for today! Yet again I am super excited by how this bake turned out as I've never made a soda bread before. I felt it looked nice in appearance and it tasted delicious!

Thank you again for reading and I hope you have a lovely day... or evening!
If you do try this bake let me know and see you guys again next week for another Take On a Bake -(Off!) post. ♥

Ricicle x