My Gift Wrapping

This year I wrapped my Christmas presents in a combination of brown craft paper and snowflake printed foil wrap. I decorated my packages with MT masking tape, tied them up with spotty ribbon, rik-rak and yarn. The To's and From's were written on a mix of mini luggage tags and hand made doe tags. A post with free downloadable graphic is coming soon, ready for next year!

The little house boxes from Target were filled with coloured tissue-wrapped stocking fillers to introduce colour at the windows. I bought an extra set of the house boxes that I want to pop LED tea lights into next year and make a feature of them.

Have a sweet day!

Gluten-free Cranberry & Almond cupcakes

Cranberry & almond cupcakes (makes 12 muffin size cakes)

Ingredients
125g (4.5 ounces) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon (1/6 ounces) vanilla extract
150g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
2 eggs
170g dried cranberries
50g (1/2 cup) slivered almonds
150g (1 cup) Gluten free self-raising flour
60ml (1/4 cup) semi-skimmed milk


Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160-180 deg C (325-350 deg F).
2. Line muffin tray with paper cases.
3. Beat butter, eggs, vanilla extract and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour.
4. Stir in fruit, nuts, flour and milk.
5. Divide mixture among cases.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes
7. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool.

Above are pics of my cupcakes on "My Winter Woodland Dessert Table".



I also made an extra set of gluten-free cranberry & almond cupcakes that I packaged up in a hand printed box and gave as a Christmas present.

Have a sweet day!

2010, My Autumn & Winter Months

Afternoon sweets!

I thought I would share with you some of my highlights of 2010 here on Torie Jayne. Here are my favourites from the Autumn and Winter of 2010:


In September I finally finished my garden. I am so looking forward to enjoying it this year. I envision lots of tea, cake and ice cream soirees in my garden lounge!




I was also one of ten blogs picked to be a "favourite blog of The Conran Shop". Thank you.



In October, Halloween was pretty low key for me this year as I was traveling with my day job. However, I did make and decorate a Halloween cake and tried my hand at Candy apples.



November saw me prepare for my Winter Woodland Christmas with lots of lovely inspiration in Scrapbook Dreams.



December, of course, saw me put my dreams and ideas into action with my Winter Woodland dessert table. I was overjoyed when my cake won the Christmas Yule - Blog bake.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful sponsors: Simon at Tonic Studios for sending me an endless supply of cool craft equipment. Anurag at Hotel Chocolat for providing lots of yummy chocolate. Sarah at lifestyle publishers Ryland Peters and Small for providing me with gorgeous craft, interior and baking books to review. Clare and Alex at Camel and Yak for my beautiful Christmas deers and Amy at we are social for her cool link ups.

Also a big thanks to Liam McCormick, a wonderful guest at my Winter Woodland Christmas party who took some of the photos.

Have a sweet day!

Candy floss white chocolate truffles

Candy floss white chocolate truffles (makes 16)

Ingredients
200g white chocolate drops
3 tbsp double cream (heavy cream)
1 tbsp candy floss (cotton candy) flavoured syrup
Bowl of Wilton pearlized sprinkles for rolling them in.

Cooking instructions

1. Place the chocolate drops and cream in a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat.
2. Stir until chocolate has completely melted and has a smooth texture.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in candy floss flavouring.
4. Pour into small bowl and refrigerate for about 1 1/2 hours, or until set.
5. Scoop 1 tbsp of chocolate mix into your hand and roll into a ball shape.
6. Roll in sprinkles to coat.
7. Refrigerate to store, for up to a week (but best served at room temperature).

Hotel Chocolat sent me some 40% milk chocolate drops and some white chocolate drops to play with. Knowing how much my older sister loves Hotel Chocolat chocolate I thought I would make some chocolate truffles to sit on my Winter Woodland dessert table. I started off with rich milk chocolate ones, then went onto mixing other flavours in them like the delicious Baileys ones and seasonal toffee apple ones and covering them in shimmering shades.

Then it was time to turn my attention to the white chocolate drops! I again started off with simply indulgent plain white chocolate ones, then tried lemon meringue, and lastly here are some candy floss flavoured ones. I had picked up a bottle of candy floss flavouring on a trip to Paris and had been itching to try it out. I love the subtle flavour they give them.



Here they are on My Winter Woodland dessert table

Don't forget Hotel Chocolat giveaway end this saturday!

Have a sweet day!

2010, My Summer Months

Afternoon sweets!

I thought I would share with you some of my highlights of 2010 here on Torie Jayne. Here are my favourites from the Summer of 2010:


May was spent researching ideas for my new kitchen, which I promise I will be sharing here soon!



I joined Pinterest in June. I adore it as it is such an easy way to share, store and categorize all the gorgeous images you find on the internet. I hope to share more of my pins with you in 2011 with my new "Inspirational Pins" mood boards.



July was spent poring over gorgeous garden pictures in my Scrapbook dreams and visiting the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.



In August we celebrated my adorable niece Molly's birthday. I hand painted a jungle bench for her and made a matching jungle birthday cake.



I also fell in love with Vintage at Goodwood and the best bit is it returns this year on August 12, 13, and 14th. My top must for 2011!

Thank you my friends for reading and commenting, this blog wouldn't be anything without you!

Have a sweet day!

Lemon meringue white chocolate truffles

Lemon meringue white chocolate truffles (makes 16)

Ingredients
200g white chocolate drops
3 tbsp double cream (heavy cream)
1 tsp natural lemon flavouring
8 small meringues, crushed
White chocolate vermicelli for rolling them in.

Cooking instructions

1. Place the chocolate drops and cream in a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat.
2. Stir until chocolate has completely melted and has a smooth texture.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in lemon flavouring and crushed meringues, until you have a smooth consistency.
4. Pour into small bowl and refrigerate for about 1 1/2 hours, or until set.
5. Scoop tsp of chocolate mix into your hand and roll into a ball shape.
6. Roll in vermicelli to coat.
7. Refrigerate to store, for up to a week (but best served at room temperature).

Hotel Chocolat sent me some 40% milk chocolate drops and some white chocolate drops to play with. Knowing how much my older sister loves Hotel Chocolat chocolate I thought I would make some chocolate truffles to sit on my Winter Woodland dessert table. I started off with rich milk chocolate ones, then went onto mixing other flavours in them like the delicious Baileys ones and seasonal toffee apple ones.

Then it was time to turn my attention to the white chocolate drops! I again started off with simply indulgent plain white chocolate ones, then as my favourite fudge flavour is lemon meringue I thought I would try lemon meringue truffles. They taste delicious and I am so happy with how they turned out.

Have a sweet day!

My 2010 from the beginning

Evening sweets!

I thought I would share with you some of my personal highlights of 2010 here on Torie Jayne.

Here's what I got up to from the beginning of 2010:


January's highlight was visiting Copenhagen for my birthday. I got to see and purchase a few of my favourite pieces from the Danish interior designers and brands I had blogged about in the weeks before.



February's highlight was the Christening of my adorable niece, Molly, which we celebrated with a butterfly themed tea and cake party.



March's highlight was getting ready for Easter. Oh, how I love decorating and making dessert tables for the holidays!



April's highlight was organizing a woodland themed baby shower! I love decorating gingerbread bird houses.

Thank you my friends for reading and commenting over the past year, as this blog wouldn't be anything without you! Know that you are all beautiful, special friends to me and I feel blessed to have you touch my life.

I will be kicking off 2011 on Sunday, 9th January by announcing the winner of the Hotel Chocolat giveaway which closes next Saturday, 8th January. So until then I will be writing about my hopes and dreams for my blog and planning my year ahead.

Have a sweet 2011!