Birthday Butterscotch

Fancy a spot of baking? Natasha from Nevie-Pie Cakes has a wonderfully delicious recipe that she would love to share with you all on this dreary and dismal January afternoon.

Natasha says, "A few years ago I made myself a birthday cake, which did not go down well with Mr Lemon Drizzle (Natasha's husband) as he had already bought me a cake, which while incredibly generous and thoughtful, was a SHOP BOUGHT CAKE!!!

Last year I did not make a cake so as not to rain on his parade, and of course no cake arrived.
This year I made the first strike and actually asked if there was to be a cake.
"I'll buy you one" he said
"I will not have a SHOP BOUGHT CAKE for my birthday!!!! Are you prepared to make me a cake?"
"No I am not"
So I let it be known to my family that I will make myself a birthday cake. However as they are suffering from cake fatigue I decided to go with cupcakes.
I have adapted this recipe from a Nigella cake to make 12 cupcakes."

Beat the butter and sugars together until creamy.  Add the eggs and then sift in the flour and mix together. Mix in 2-3 tablespoons of cream until a soft dropping consistancy is achieved.  Divide between 12 cupcake cases.

Cook in a pre-heated oven 175 fan for 15-20mins, until golden brown and springy to touch.

For the frosting disolve the sugar in the water by heating gently, do not stir as this crystalises it.  Once disolved boil until it becomes a dark golden caramel.  (I use a sugar thermometer as it stops me worrying about temperatures.)  Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the cream, then leave to cool.

Beat the cream cheese and a third to a half of the caramel.  

You may need to leave it to harden a bit before you top the cupcakes.

For a little extra naughtiness drizzle some of the caramel onto the cakes!

Enjoy!

Thank you Natasha, what a yummy recipe and we hope you had a lovely birthday. Have a read of Natasha's fabulous blog over at Amelie's House and keep up-to-date with her wondrous creations. Don't forget to take a look at her husband's truly witty and engaging blog too, Lemon Drizzle.

The More Than A Mama team will be having their first meeting of 2010 next week, so keep checking back for details of our next exciting event.

Too much snow?

If you are suffering from cabin fever over this long snowy patch then why not make an indoor snowman?

Marie from Heartfelt Handmade has been making these marshmallow snowmen with her 2 little girls, Marie says,

"I don't know about you but my 2 girls have had enough of all this snow. They have been pretty reluctant to go out in it any more, even after me begging them to come make another snowman with me! So, after a quick look around on the internet for suitable snowy day crafts I came across a different kind of snowman, one that didn't involve getting cold and wet, so I thought we should give it a go."

"All we needed were some large white marshmallows, silver balls and some sprinkles and we were well away. I made up some white icing to use as 'glue' to stick the marshmallows together and stick their 'buttons' etc. onto them. Being snowed in we didn't have a huge array of ingredients to hand but they tasted great nonetheless."

"We used dried spaghetti for the arms but you could use pretzels, chocolate matchmakers (yum). I've seen orange tic tacs used as noses before which looks fab and instead of white icing glue you could try melted chocolate. Now for the fun bit...........scoff scoff!".

Thank you Marie for sharing this with us. We hope everyone is coping well in the snow, stay warm and safe and we will be back with exciting news of our next More Than A Mama fayre soon.

Christmas Cheer

With Christmas music playing and mulled wine warming, Berkhamsted Town Hall was full of Christmas cheer as the stall holders set up their tables on Wednesday evening, getting ready for the final festive fayre for the year.

Boxing Clever

Richard Roscoe Photography

Precious Memories

Prize Draw Basket - winner announced at the end of this post!

Happy Days Designs

Jamie at home

Make Do and Mend Quilt Co.

Millsy Designs

dolly blake

Edgartown Sourcing

Coup de chocolate

Bespoke Verse & Food to Heal

Vie at home

Pampering from Sharon of Vie at home

Katy Leigh Designs

Heartfelt Handmade

Emma from Rockabye Baby visiting Heartfelt Handmade's stall

Stealing Candy

Thirtyfive Flowers

Vintage Clothing from Mary Casserley

Clothes from Love Shack

Nevie-pie Cakes

Isla B Baby

Eco products and cosmetics from Pam Johnstone

Rockabye Baby

Marie Jahn - Funtabiedozie

Bijoux-Bijoux

It was a fabulous evening with a wide variety of sellers, a huge number of visitors, fantastic helpers, our wonderful cellist, Clare from Chroma, played beautifully and the More Than A Mama team were ecstatic that the fayre was supported so well. We are looking forward to a short break over Christmas and then we shall be planning our next fayre dates for 2010.

The Winner of the Prize Draw from the fayre is Sally Leppington, congratulations, you win a basket full of More Than A Mama goodies!

The Winner of the blog giveaway is Bridget from poppyart, Bridget turns out to be a seller from our September fayre we held in Harpenden! Congratulations Bridget!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of you!

Love

xxx