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Merry Christmas bloggy friends! Wishing you a peaceful and safe holiday whever you are. See you in the new year x

 

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Egg-free stress-free lemon cake

It was my little girl's 5th birthday yesterday and for her family dinner she requested homemade pizza (a girl after my own heart ;-) and a lemon birthday cake, so I went in search of an egg-free version that her allergic sister could eat too.

The previous week the birthday girl had a celebration with a few little friends and I'd made a special cake that had caused me no end of problems and a very very late night the night before trying to get the b&@;/! thing to work :-( So for the family dinner I wanted something very simple. With no chocolate. And no lollies. And definitely no late night preparation.

And can I just say that if you're reading this and thinking of having a baby, can I suggest that if you have any way to control it, I'd not plan a due date around Christmas! Trying to get organised for the holidays and a birthday is not my idea of fun. But anyway, we survived... and we have a new egg-free cake to add to our repertoire. Yay! Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it too.

Stress-free, egg-free lemon cake, decorated by birthday girl

Egg-free lemon cake Recipe from www.spiceupthecurry.com

1 ¾ cups plain (all purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

115g/1 stick/½ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1 ¼ cups plain yoghurt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Lemon zest from 1 lemon

1 cup icing sugar (Confectioner’s sugar)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F (180 degree C). Grease and paper a 9 inch round cake pan and keep it aside.

Mix flour, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Put softened butter in a separate bowl and beat it with a mixer til light. Add sugar and beat til light and fluffy. Add yogurt and beat til mixed. Add lemon juice and lemon zest and mix well again. Add half of the flour mixture and beat it til incorporated. Then add remaining flour mixture and beat well.

Pour batter in prepared cake pan. Lightly tap on counter top to remove any air bubbles.

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or a toothpick inserted in middle of cake will come out clean. Let it cool for 5 minutes in a pan then remove it to a cooling rack and let it cool completely before icing.

Icing: Sift powdered sugar in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and stir until you get thick and smooth glaze. When you drop glaze from spoon it should be smooth and runny. Add more lemon juice or sugar as needed. Pour icing over top of cake. Spread it with butter knife and let it drip down from sides. Let the icing dry before you serve or cover and store for 3/4 days.

Linking up to my creative space over here.

 

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Making and knowing when to draw the line

In my creative space this week I printed some more of my 'lights' design, this time using a different colour palette. I loved the neon design I printed last time but was keen to try another colourway. This one feels more like me.

I had fun experimenting with printing on different woven fabrics and love how different the inks and design can look on different materials. I found that when I printed on the coarsers fabrics (more open weave) the texture comes through really nicely and becomes an element in the design. I love the coarse linen but really love the effect on the hessian (burlap ). It's the first time I've printed on it and loved the effect, experimenting with mixing inks directly on the screen. I've got lots of ideas around this. Hopefully one day I'll get to explore it further.

As with the neon colourway I made some purses and also a larger clutch purse, all gone to The Sweets Workshop for sale.

So that's it for me on the 'making to sell' front at the moment. I really love doing it, and enjoy people enjoying my designs, but I've found it pretty hard going juggling my 3 littlies and household, and the myriad of activities, needs and wants of everyone. And I know from past experience that when the super late nights start to stack up I end up being grumpy mummy and no one is happy :-(

For the next couple of weeks I need to get organised and make those special homemade gifts that I have in mind.

How are you doing in the run up to the holiday season?

Visit my creative space for lots of creative goodness.

 

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