Fat Friday #24 Mulled Wine Cupcakes

 Its been 24 weeks since Fat Friday has graced this blog. Do you remember the first Fat Friday? The title did not even grace the screen at this stage. But here we are! I'm hoping that in 2015, there will be more blog posts will continue and there will be plenty more! But back to this Fridays post.
If your feeling the January blues, why not bring back some of the Christmas magic? These mulled wine cupcakes have a hint of spice and chocolate. Along with the icing it makes these cupcakes a real festive treat... in January...

Recipe Name: Mulled Wine Cupcakes (Recipe adapted from Primrose Celebrations by Lisa Thomas and Martha Swift)

Recipe: 12 cupcakes 

Cupcakes:

·90g butter

·200g soft dark brown sugar

·50g granulated sugar

·1 egg plus an egg yolk

·175ml mulled wine (try this recipe)

·1 teaspoon orange juice

·¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

·1/2 teaspoon baking powder

·¼ teaspoon salt

·½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

·50g cocoa powder

·140g plain flour

Buttercream:
·50g unsalted butter
·Juice and zest of ½ orange
·¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
·175g icing sugar
·125g mascarpone

Equipment:

·12 hole muffin tin lined with tins
·Hand whisk/wooden spoon
·Bowl x 3
·Knife
·Chopping board
·Saucepan x 2
· Jug
·Sprinkles
 Cake
1.Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Line the muffin tray. 
2.Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3.Add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time and mix,
4.Add the mulled wine and orange juice and mix until evenly combined.
5.Fold in the dry ingredients with a metal spoon until just combined.
6.Carefully spoon the cake mixture into the paper cases. Add a piece of chopped up galaxy bar to each cupcake and push it down into the cupcake.
7.Bake for 20 minutes until slightly raised and golden. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the muffin tray for 10 minutes. Then place on a wire rack to completely cool.

For the butter cream
1.Place the butter, orange juice, zest, cinnamon and half of the icing sugar in a bowl and beat with a hand whisk until smooth.
2.Add the remaining icing sugar and beat again.
3.Beat the mascarpone on a medium speed for about 30 seconds until just combined.
4.Place in the fridge until you’re ready to ice the cupcakes.

To finish

1.Ice the cooled cupcakes with a swirl or with a piped rose and sprinkle with sprinkles or glitter!  

Do you keep the festivities going after Christmas? Hope your all having a great New Year so far!

Fat Friday #22 Homemade Mulled Wine

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas fellow food lovers. Do you overstuff your faces on chocolate and turkey? I hope so! (Just not at the same time at least!) I'm still in a festive mood and am still enjoying my mulled wine left over from Christmas. If you've never made your own, its worth making some as it is really easy to make. Mulled wine solves everything.

Got unexpected friends coming over and want to served something special? Mulled wine solves it. Talkative relatives? Mulled wine solves it and dulls the noise coming from their mouths. Had a rough shift at work? Mulled wine solves it. Even at 3pm in the afternoon.... I don't have a mulled wine alcohol problem!

Recipe: Makes 4 servings (Recipe inspired by Boutique Baking by Peggy Porschen)

Ingredients:
·       1 orange, plus a extra orange slices to serve
·       1 bottle red wine
·       1 teaspoon of ground ginger
·       100ml water
·       45g sugar
·       1 teaspoon ground cloves
·       2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
·       ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
·       1 star anise, crushed

Equipment:

·       Saucepan
·       Fine sieve
·       Serving glasses or mugs
·       Peeler
·       Knife

Method
1.    Peel the rind from the orange and cut the orange in half.
2.    Place the peel, orange halves and the rest of the ingredients into the saucepan. Warm for about 20 minutes. Don’t allow to boil.
3.    Take pan off the heat and cover the saucepan with a lid and allow to infuse for 30 minutes.
4.    Strain the mulled wine through a sieve to remove the solid ingredients.
5.    Serve warm in glasses with slices of orange. 

Have a great Boxing day and a happy Friday! 

Penny's Top Ten Tips #3 Party Prep for a Graduation Ball (or some other special occasion!)

Hi and welcome to the third Penny's Top Ten Tips! I hope you enjoyed last weeks post. This week I'm focusing on party prep. I've been and gone to my own Graduation Ball it seems like a good idea to tell you my top ten tips for being uber organised before and on the party night itself. Of course this can apply to any special occasion or party.

1. Sleeping Arrangements...-
Ok keep your jokes to a minimum here by sleeping arrangements, I mean having a place to stay for the night. If the venue is not near home then you need to make some early arrangements for where your going to crash for the night. Find a hotel near you or stay with a close friend that you feel comfortable with, as most likely you'll be getting ready for the party here.

2. Dress Sense-
Dress for the occasion by selecting a suitable outfit-dress, playsuit or whatever. In this case, this occasion was a graduation ball, so formal and dressed to impress. Although I'm going to offer some advice here as much as a big puffy dress would have been lovely, and princessy, its sadly not practical. I knew Was going to bust out some moves on the dance floor so a long puffy dress... not so good. If your planning on dancing, short or 3/4 length dresses are perfect. The same applies with shoes, if you know your on feet (or doing the macarina) high-heels are the enemy. If you must have killer heels carry some blister plasters and a pair of roll up shoes that can get stuff into a purse for emergencies. 

3. Save Money-
As much as you want to pay for the £350 dress that you know is perfect and you'd so wear it for other occasions. No. Put that purse down and move your mouse away from the PayPal button. Look at other options, check out Ebay, Amazon, charity shops, or ask your sister really nicely to borrow that nice dress that your lusting for or do what I did- pop to a dress hire shop and check the options. Reuse jewellery that you already have to glam up your outfit. I purposely chose blue and silver as I have tons of silver coloured jewerally and I look damn good in blue. 

Dress Hired £30 from Cinderella's Lifestyle (£20 deposit which I got back) 
Shoes-Dorothy Perkins £15 (marked down in the sale from £22)
Bag- Dorothy Perkins £0 (Already had this bag and just reusing it) 
Earrings-Accessorize £0 (Anniversary rom my boyfriend 2 years ago)
Bracelet- Accessorize £12 (I think it was a little while ago I bought this.) 
Ring-Accessorize £0(Christmas present) 
Total outfit cost: £61 

4. Saving money on party prep-
If you can do the party preping yourself then you'll save mega bucks on expensive treatments like facials. If you have a beauty therapist friend who needs to practice on, be the test dummy. It will cut costs and help out a friend. If not be your own beauty therapist. Here's what I spent when I did it myself. Again like tip 3, I used make-up that I already have so I didn't need to spend loads. 

The Prep:
Body Shop Shower Gel in Grapefruit  £0 (Already had this but otherwise £4) 
Nivea Invisible Black and White Clear Deodorant £0 (Gosh I really hope you  have deodorant but just on the off chance its £1.64)
Lush Love Lettuce £0 (Free as I brought back 5 black pots into Lush- normally £6.25 but can be used for more than one facial) 
Veet Hair Removal Cream£8.99 (Great investment as its a massive bottle which will last a while)
Revlon Nail Polish in Blue Eyed Girl  £0 (Already had this-Normally £3.69)
Barry M in Silver Foil Effect (Already had this and I think it was a limited edition however Rimmel has an alternative for £3.69) 
Hair Styled £17 (I knew a professional hairdresser who was happy to offer a friends and family discount)
Lush Shimmy Shimmy £4.75 
Total Cost: £30.74 (If buying new £42.63 in total)

Make-up
Benefit the POREfessional Primer £0 (Already have this-normally £24.50) 
No 7 Beautifully Matte Foundation £0 (Already use this-but £13.50) 
Benefit Theyer Real Mascara £0 (Already use this- £19.50)
Benefit High Beam Highlighter £0 (Got this as a Christmas present but normally £19.50) 
Benefit Hervana Blusher £0 (Again another Christmas present-normally £23.50) 
Urban Decay colours £0 (Received this as a present for my birthday) 
Total Cost: £0 Spent nothing on new make-up as I felt I had enought to get me through (If buying new its a massive £100.50!! If you use the products often and they work for you its a worth while investment.) 

5. Pack what you need for the evening-
Obviously if your staying somewhere overnight pack a sensible bag of toiletries, party prep stuff etc. In your going out bag or purse you will need the following: phone, ticket, to get in venue, keys to house/hotel, hairband, lipstick/lipgloss, facepower and plasters. That is it. Don't be tempted to chuck everything in, its a hassle to worry about if you've got a purse full of make-up.

6. Have some spare money just in case-
There's nothing worse then realising you don't have enough cash on you for food and drinks out. I don't bring my cash card as it can get lost or stolen more easily on a night out. Take out the cash you plan to spend for drinks, transport home and at least £10 as emergency money. Keep this money somewhere different from your purse, so if your purse gets lost you still have some cash to help you get home. 

7. Fully charge your phone before the night-
Common sense really. I mean you are most likely going to take photos, update your facebook status, texting and the list goes on...   

8. Don't forget to eat!-
You know those people who say before a night out- "If you're having booze, eating is cheating". You know what I say to that? Screw you. I love my food too much to give it up for alcoholic drinks. You go out on an empty stomach, you get drunk easily. You get drunk easily, you look like someone who can't handle their drink. And who looks stupid now? Don't ruin a good night because you forgot to eat beforehand. Have a meal with pasta or rice to absorb the alcohol. Also milk is good before a night out as it lines the stomach and helps absorb alcohol. 

9. Stay as a group while partying -

This is a kind of safety in numbers type of hint. Stay in twos when going from place to place like restrooms or getting taxis home. In my opinion partying as a group can be a laugh as well as safe. 
  
10. Arrange your transport home-
Arrange beforehand when your planning to get home and how. Booking a head of time takes the hassle out of fumbling around for a taxi number in the middle of the dancefloor. Also its one less thing to worry about. Little hint, book your transport 15 minutes later then you normally would, just so you can round up your group or have one last dance.

Most of all, have an excellent time and remember the party prep should be fuss free and add to the excitement.

What's your favourite party tip?