New Video! Hyper Japan Christmas Market Haul 2015

Happy Friday! Check out the latest video. Just watching for the kawaii-ness is enough for me! I hope you enjoy it and have a great weekend!

Fat Friday #29 Quick Valentine Hearts (plus more 4 bonus cheap valentine ideas)

Its Friday the 13th and your forgot Valentines day? Unlucky huh? Opps you're in trouble now, well don't worry. You've got just over 12 hours to do something special. This weeks Fat Friday is a quick and fast Valentine recipe to impress your date. You can bake them a cake or use a plain shop bought cake if your super stretched for time. But by decorating with dark velvety ganche, you'll add a special touch to your cake. Also featured in this post are 4 more cheap and cost effective ways to spend Valentines day!

Heart Shaped Cake covered with chocolate ganche recipe:
Your sweethearts favourite cake baked into a square tin: Try using one of these recipes:
Salted Caramel Brownie
Red Velvet Cake
Blondies

Chocolate ganche recipe (my own)

• 200g dark chocolate
• 285g double cream

Equipment:

• The baking equipment needed or a pre-made cake to cut
• Saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Heatproof bowl
• Cranked palette knife or plain knife for spreading ganche
• heart shaped cutter
• Sharp knife

1. Bake your huni buni their favourite cake (Robs favourite is Salted Caramel Brownie) and let it cool completely.
2. Once cold, using a heart cookie cutter, cut out a heart shape, using a sharp knife. You should be left with lots of yummy off cuts and heart shaped mini cakes.
3. To make the ganche, heat up the double cream in a saucepan until its hot but not to boiling point.
4. Pour the hot cream on the dark chocolate and mix in until combined with a wooden spoon.
5. Once thickened up, spread on top of each heart and smooth until the sides and top are evenly coated.
6. Place your coated hearts in the fridge and serve with raspberries or strawberries and ice cream or whipped cream.

Other great (cost effective) valentine ideas
1. Create a date night jar- Grab a small jar and a some paper and write down some suggestions for a perfect day between you and your partner. You can class them by price or location if you like. Fold them up and place them in the jar. You can decorate your jar with glitter, sequins or anything you see fit.
2. Lazy meal deal- Many supermarkets now offer Valentine Meal deals, in which you pay, lets say £20 for a 3 course meal and wine. This is a cheap alternative to a meal out. Shop around the supermarkets for the best deals. Most of the time the meal deals are a 'throw in the oven' type of meals ensuring that you and your other half can enjoy some time together.
3. The scenic route- Do you have a park or a beach near you? Take a walk together without your mobile phone (or at least on silent) so your not disturbed. Get re-acquainted with your other half.
4. Movie night in- Grab a cute jar/box, add popcorn, crisps, a bad for you cheesy dip, chocolates, fizzy drinks and a couple of decent films. Instant night in, plus a great gift! Get films that you and your other half will really enjoy and veg out on the sofa.  

Have a Happy Valentines Day whatever your doing!

What I got For Christmas 2014

I'm very lucky to have friends and family who know me very well. They know that getting food and baking related gifts is always a winner. I'm so grateful for all my gifts this year, and I thought I would share with you readers what I got. (Its also a thank-you post as well :))  

One of the coolest notebooks that I've ever received is the 'Notes of a Baking Genius'. Which sums me up perfectly! Which my friends Lucy and Ben got me. I'm also in love with my cute cupcake little diary which I'll be documenting my blog post dates and college deadlines (Thanks Nan and Gramps). The baking dvd and book combo my mum got, when I have a moment I'll have to watch it (Thanks Mum!) Also, the tea towels my Mum got me as well, which are very pretty.

 I got the Great British Bake Off Showstoppers (thankies Sofia!) which I've been browsing for my next bake. Also, I got the latest Primrose Bakery book which is all about Christmas cakes and bakes (again thank you Mum). I haven't had a chance to look at this one, but I'm looking forward to reading it. Another fantastic gift is the green tea-towel which has written on here: "1. Bake Cake, 2. Accidentally eat it all myself." Again, Lucy and Ben nailed it, thank you!

Another couple of lovely gifts I got were from 2 good friends of mine, unfortunately I was too stupid to take any pictures of them. I opened them up at different times before Christmas and, I tend to get a bit over excited, so I ripped them to shreds. Firstly, I received a pretty blue owl mug and Instant Chai Latte mix that I got from Chloe. I wish I had taken a picture of the whole thing wrapped up because it was so pretty. Many thankies Chloe! Also, my friend Zoe knows me very well in my love off all things coffee related and she got Starbucks Hot Chocolate Mixes *Homer Simpson Drool*. Thanks Zoe!! I'm also very lucky in getting my first ever blowtorch, which is a girly pink! I also got 2 adorable little heart shaped crème brulee pots with the blowtorch! Thanks Chantelle and Nicky, I can't wait to use this!

Lastly, Rob got me the coolest thing ever: a Rice Cube! (didn't take pictures was to busy being a child and opening them up). Its a cute little device that makes sushi simple. I can't wait to start playing with it. Rob also got me a traditional bamboo steamer, presumably to go with my Rice Cube. Thank you so much Rob!

The next gift has nothing to do with baking at all, but it definitely deserves a mention. Its a zombie desktop shooting set! I've got a pencil gun with rubber band shots and zombie rubber targets. I keep getting distracted cause they need to be shot at! (Lucy and Ben woo!! Thank you very very much for this!)

I did get more pressies but they were more skincare related and there are plenty of blogs that showcase beauty and make-up bits. This be a foodie blog and make-up is not really my domain anyway.

Did you get any food related gifts this Christmas?