Dark Chocolate Cake - Free From

I can't believe this week was the final of the Great British Bake Off but it was and so it brings me to my bake for the week: a single tier wedding cake.

The final saw 3 hopefuls battle it out to win the Bake Off title and one of these battles included a three tier wedding cake. Now, going for three tiers in this challenge would be wasteful on so many levels which is why I decided to stick with the theme but be sensible with the amount. Here's what I came up with:

A dark chocolate chip sponge cake which is, as usual, both gluten and dairy free.

This sponge is completely straight forward in that you use:

• 6oz doves farm self raising flour
• 6oz Caster sugar
• 6oz soft dairy free butter
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3-4 tablespoons coco powder
• 1 packet of dark chocolate chips

I added all my ingredients together and stirred until I had a good, runny consistency. I placed my cake in two separate, greased sandwich tins for 20 minutes on 180 degrees.

To decorate, I used most of a packet of fondant icing to include my attempt at two little bird cake toppers! I used white icing to finish off the bottom of the cake and write 'Mr & Mrs' sadly not in the best handwriting I've ever done on a cake but it's not bad.

I've really enjoyed joining in with Jenny and Helen and I think there may be more baking on my horizon! I'll leave you with a photo of the cake after it got 'Little A'd!'

CupcakeMumma

Wedding 8 Months and Counting..

I thought I'd start blogging about my wedding count down now that the year has finally arrived. Of course I'm excited and nervous all at the same time and the anxiety dreams have already started. In one dream we had totally forgotten to buy our wedding rings and now all I can think about is making sure I have those damned rings.
Dearest Other Half seems to enjoy my stress of not knowing who to put on his list of those he would like the pleasure of seeing at our Big Day and also at not having a Best Man yet considering this wedding has been planned for some considerable time.

He believes these problems are his but actually, and I think I am quite right here, I could agree with the Best Man being his 'problem' (or lack of) my only concern is having my son who would be 18 months old gurgling away at the top table or even worse- an empty seat because no one is close enough in Other Halves life to make the cut. And I feel sad about that fact.
After thinking about this I have realised that if it wasn't for my sister whom I love and adore, I wouldn't even have a Maid Of Honor. No one in my life makes the cut a part from her. I have nieces, cousins and of course my beautiful daughter to surround me though so still not a complete loner unlike Other Half...(Sorry dear)

My biggest complaint however has to be not having an up to date final draft of the guest list. I don't have many friends (who i consider friends) to put down therefore my list is majority family...Other Half has a rather large family and yet still cannot put pen to paper.....

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On a lighter note with 8 months to go (yes! 8 Months) I am surprisingly calm and in control. The only thing causing me stress is my reception decoration. We won't be able to decorate the venue the night before, (quite common) so that means *gulp* relying on someone else. 

How can anyone know EXACTLY what I want? 

I have solved this problem by deciding I will draw a floor plan with pretty little diagrams showing EXACTLY what goes where...However, being a control freak this has hit me hard. I still won't pity the soul who has this decorating job because I am not a diva, I am not a bridezilla and I am far too shy to speak up and say anything more than 'Oh that's nice' but inside I feel bitterly disappointed. Why? Because I am a perfectionist. Enough said.

Anyway, I have faith in the hotel staff and I'm sure they will be able to read a simple floor plan. There won't be any ridiculous asks in there, just lots of balloon drawings, and centre piece labels, tables to go in certain places...I'm sure my toddler could do it.

As for everything else I have enlisted the talents and kindness of my family. A family car for transport, lovely handmade save the dates, I'm making the invites, my sister in law is a dab hand with cakes so has been enlisted to make some centre pieces.

 A friend is the DJ, family are making favours, paying for a wonderfully gifted photographer friend, Mother in law could feed the 5000 and my aunt is paying for my cake- and I can design the whole thing myself.

I have picked all my bridesmaids (Sister, Little Miss, my niece and cousin) I have already started making my artificial flowers which is something my sister in law did for her wedding and they looked lovely.

I bought my wedding dress on line from an overseas company and my Mother is going to be the one with the biggest challenge- take up and in any bridesmaids dresses which don't fit, but more crucially take up MY dress! I have no worries as Mum made her own wedding dress.

A friend has made some lovely necklaces for my BM's which will act as their keepsakes and I hope they like them. I bought tiaras ages ago from a closing down bridal store and I am wearing my Mums veil which is nearly 25 years old.

Now all I need is my something New and Something borrowed and I am sorted.

I may post some pictures at some point, but I am still debating how much people should see!

Hannah

X

Google image

I'm in a funny place today. I've been thinking about weddings. Yup weddings. It was when my Other Halve's sister got married that I watched her coming down the aisle, meeting her groom with tears in her eyes and everyone thinking she looked beautiful that I thought 'I want that.'At the time Other Half didn't want that really even though he had proposed a fair while ago, before his sister was engaged any how. He has this irrational fear of marrying me and then dooming our relationship to divorce.

Anyway, earlier this year we finally had a long and drawn out discussion. I have a real idea in mind of how I want it all to look, to be like, to feel like and all the rest. I don't know if I know the reality is that the time will hit us so fast, I'll blink and before I know it I'll be the one linking arms with my Dad and walking slowly down that aisle towards my groom.

Maybe it's nervousness? Anxiety about the whole thing? Do all men make you feel like you're pushing them into the whole thing or is it just mine!? 

Of course we'll get married. We love each other, we have 2 beautiful children we don't really have any more plans for our future other than to be happy and live together for as long as we are blessed to be. That's all you need really isn't it? Sure if we end up having our own home that would be wonderful, and adding another addition while that is not in my plan for a very long time if at all I'm sure we would welcome another if it happened in the future.

Sometimes I sit there though and I think about Other Halves feelings before he agreed to all this. He loves me and wants me as his wife but he is also of the mind that marriage is a piece of paper and he feels, as I said above that it may just 'curse' us. How very cheerful of him. I personally feel this is just nerves and maybe feelings from his own experiences with friends and family. However, you can't help but feel your marriage has been written off before even exchanging those vows and sometimes you can't help but think 'maybe he's right?' Do we need this? Is it just paper? After all I changed my name long ago, something no one was shy to say was a 'stupid idea' not that I cared much, makes my life easier for a fact.

I'm starting to freak out already at all those eyes on me. Other Half can't think of a Best Man because he doesn't let anyone close enough to share anything with them. His closest friend turned out to be a total waste of space which was a great shame, that's a dead friendship and I think this fall out from a year ago has some what made the choice of picking a right hand man a bit bitter for him.

I've spent a fair bit of money already and bleated on about this that and the other when really inside I'm thinking, are we just doing this for you now? Is it because everyone knows we're getting married that we feel obliged to go ahead and do it? Surly if things went tits up it's nothing but a coincidence, for all we know we could separate in a few years and be unmarried so it makes little difference I believe.

I'm not entirely sure where this has all come from. Too much thinking most likely. I've had a lot on in recent months and thought of planning this wedding actually bores me to tears now..I thought the woman was meant to be all excited about this wedding planning malarkey but the truth is, when Other Half shows little interest in something I fall quickly in with him and become totally unmotivated. A big issue we're facing at the moment in this household is our lack of motivation and we have locked horns a good few times over recent weeks.

I'm aware this is a very deep post, a very unusually revealing post for me. I hope no one reads this and panics that we are no more or soon to be no more that is not the case rest assured! I think right now we're just in a comfy spot, too comfy, so comfy we're forgetting things that we really want. We're starting to become just 'Mum and Dad' again and loosing ourselves as individuals and a couple which puts great pressure on a relationship hence these thoughts and feelings I suppose.

For now I'll continue my budget wedding plans, involving friends and family as much as possible not only to relieve cost if I'm honest, to also cut down on hassle, worrying and the fact that I cannot be arsed! I've chosen my dress and my bridesmaids are sorted, that's the important bit for me...Although, if we don't pull some pennies out of our backsides soon there will be no wedding! Don't even get me started on Church costs...!