Surprise Cake for my Wedding Anniversary

I am married to the most amazing and caring man in the world :)

July 10th is our 7th wedding anniversary and my husband has surprised me with a beautiful cake for the occasion & I love, love, looooovvvveee it.  At the actual wedding I couldn't decide whether we should have a little bride & groom on top of the wedding or flowers.  We decided on flowers in the end but I always wanted little people on top too, lol.  So hubby had asked one his colleagues who also bakes and decorates cakes (as well as her current job) to do this.  I have also uploaded some photos of our wedding and a couple of our cake too so you can see them and also because I am so very proud of my handsome husband. 

We are going away for a week to celebrate & we're taking the cake too.  We can save the top layer and the figures too which I really want to but hubby says he wants to eat his own figurine! lol, will have to see. I'll keep you posted.

Hope you like the photos & wish you are all having a nice week,

Lily

Christmas Plum dessert

Yesterday I made these lovely plum dessert jars for Christmas.  I got the recipe from "Cooking for Christmas" by Martha Day. This book is full of lovely ideas.

You add 2 & 1/2 cups of brandy, 1 & 2/3 cups of sugar and a cinnamon stick together in a pan and warm on low heat until the sugar gets dissolved.  Then you add plums (or peaches or pears if you prefer) plus zest of a lemon and poach the fruit until soft.  Then remove the fruit and rapid boil the drink until syrup like and thick. Then pour in sealed jars & store in a cool, dry place for 6 months.  Then you have a Christmas dessert ready :)

It was so easy to make & i had a little taste of it as it is and it's very yummy.  I added a ribbon and a bauble to the jar cause I think I can make some more as gifts.  I think it will be a really nice dessert (with whipped cream) after a ham joint on Christmas Eve. We have our turkey dinner on Christmas Day.

Hope you like it,

Lily

Cream cheese pies

First of all, I want to welcome all my new followers, it is very nice to "meet" you. 

This afternoon I made these Cream Cheese pies (mostly for my hubby as he treated me to a lovely meal out last night) :)

It is a total bliss to be using my kitchen properly again now that uni is done, after many months of ready-ish food.  We don't ordinarily have dessert but i found this recipe on "Betty's Kitchen" channel on youtube. I have altered it a little bit I must say but can't take full credit :)  I love Betty's recipes, so simple to follow.

For this I bought 12 Brandy Snap Baskets (Betty recommends using one large pie crust)

Then you beat 8oz of mascarpone cream cheese and 1/4 cup of sugar plus a tea spoon of vanilla extract.  In a separate dish beat 16oz of double cream, then fold the cream into the cream cheese mixture and rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Then choose, wash & slice the fruit. I used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries as I wanted a summer fruit flavor and had some strawberries in the garden to use.  You can use sliced nectarine, peach or apricot for more of a tropical taste. 

Then separately add a tea spoon of orange extract to a half a cup of strawberry jam and mix well.  Once the cream cheese mixture has cooled down, serve it in your individual cases or large pie crust, add the fruit and then top it with the jam & orange extract mixture. Rest in the fridge for another couple of hours before serving.  It is possible to make it as long as 8 hours before if you are making them for guests, that way you can get it done first thing in the morning and forget about it :)

It is so quick to make & delicious.

Hope you all are having a great week, I am looking forward to the weekend.  Have received all of my university results and am happy with them.  Just have to wait for the graduation ceremony in January.  This will be the first weekend in a long time to not be thinking about any studies or results :) So I'll be spending it planning for Christmas (never too early, TeeHee)

Thanks for stopping by,

Lily

Ingredients: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Sugar, Vanilla extract, Orange extract, Strawberry jam, Mascarpone cream cheese, Double cream & brandy snap baskets. 

The finished double cream plus cream cheese mixture

Holiday Challenge on Ellen

Have you ever seen this? To be honest I have watched this many times as it makes laugh so much but this time I was watching it cause the set design is inspiring.  I am starting to plan new ideas for this Christmas, never too early, TeeHee. I thought I'll share the video with you & hope that it makes you laugh too.

Are there any particular holiday related clips that inspire you to decorate?

Hope you all are having a lovely weekend,

Lily

weekend in London :)

We spent this weekend in London :)

It is so lovely to visit your favourite city in the world (at least so far, I may change my mind with various holidays in the future, TeeHee).  We were visiting friends who have just purchased an apartment so we didn't get to do many tourist things but for the first time just before we were about to cross the river Thames through the Tower Bridge, they opened it up for a ship to cross!  I was so excited as I hadn't seem it in action before so I took a few photo but they didn't come out that great.  We also took a walk at sunset along the river on the south bank looking at the skyline & it was breath taking :)

I have found a video on youtube that shows the London Tower Bridge opening, so if you wish to check it out please click HERE.

The photo follow the Tower Bridge as we drove through it, hope you enjoy them 7 hope that you have had a lovely weekend. 

Lily

You can just about see it in the distance opening up.

Tower of London & the famous modern glass building is the Swiss Re Building ( referred to as the gherkin) 

The highest sky scraper in Europe being built, the Shard.

River Thames at sunset, on the left you can see the Shard & to the right of it you can see the Gherkin!

Underground!