Dotcomgiftshop

Today on shops i love I bring you Dotcomgiftshop, the purveyor of all things by Rex International. I have featured Dotcomgiftshop before and it is my go-to place when I am looking for all kinds of whimsical party supplies, cute kitchen tools or great gifts for friends and family alike.



I love the mini milk bottle crate I got from there last year, and I use it time and time again, accessorized with hand designed labels, striped paper straws and ribbon.

Easter milk bottles

Dotcomgiftshop currently have a Summer sale on with 40% to 90% off, which I made the most of and bought some pretty spotty melamine party pizza plates that would work brilliantly for slices of cake in the garden! Originally £1.95, down to 59p each!



I also bought some metal hearts to hang in my garden, originally £3.95 each, down to 39p!

Have a sweet day!

Hello Kitty raspberry jelly candies

This Summer I will be making my niece Molly's third birthday cake. For her first birthday, I made a pastel coloured jungle themed cake to match her gift of a jungle bench I hand-painted in pastels with matching cushion. For her second birthday, I made a cute little house cake to match all the gifts I made and gave her for her playhouse. This year she has asked for a Hello Kitty cake. I'll be making a few other Hello Kitty treats, too. In preparation I have started playing about with ideas...

After a few attempts at making fruit flavoured Hello Kitty jellies, I finally got the taste and texture right. Here's how...

Raspberry jelly candies (makes 24 jellies)

Ingredients

• 1 pack of raspberry jelly (Jello) (135g)
• 4 sheets of gelatine
• 80ml water
• 3 tbsp condensed milk

Tools & equipment

• Hello Kitty mould x2
• Pipette

Cooking instructions

1. Place gelatine sheets in cold water and leave for at least five minutes
2. Place raspberry jelly cubes in a microwaveable jug
3. Add 80ml of water
4. Heat for approx. 1 minute
5. Stir until completely dissolved
6. Remove soaked gelatine sheets from bowl of water and add to dissolved raspberry jelly mix and stir till dissolved
7. Using a pipette, carefully squeeze melted jelly mixture into Hello Kitty bows & noses
8. Place the moulds into the fridge
9. Add the condensed milk to the remaining melted jelly mixture and stir thoroughly till you have an even colour
10. Remove moulds from fridge and pour jelly mixture into moulds
11. Place in fridge overnight to set
12. Carefully turn out Hello Kitty raspberry jellies

Now I want to play with the colour, as I think the pink looks too dark against the red bow!

Have a sweet day!

Pretty garden seating

Source 1-6, 2

Today on Inspirational Pins I wanted to share with you these pretty garden seating ideas. After ten years our little bistro table has to go as the English weather has finally taken it! I am on the lookout for a new bistro table and whilst looking for ideas I came across these pretties. So now I need to decide, wood or metal?

Have a sweet day!

Paper Tuesday

This week on "Wonderful World of Etsy" I wanted to show you the gorgeous paper tissue fan kits and honeycomb ball kits from Paper Tuesday. I immediately fell in love with the Clarissa white and ivory honeycomb kit and just had to have it!

So I emailed Ian, owner of Paper Tuesday to see if he would ship to the UK.

I had seriously fallen in love with these stylish pretties and started to imagine them hanging in my house in all their dreamy white gorgeousness. To me, they are a perfect mix of colours and sizes and would look great hanging in my house and garden in the Summer to add light and airiness, as well as being absolutely perfect for a snowy white Christmas...

Ian promptly got back to me and kindly let me knew he would ship to the UK and what the cheapest postage cost would be and set up a custom listing for me. Thanks Ian!

I immediately ordered them and I can't wait to start decorating with them.

Have a sweet day!

Gluten-free blackcurrant swirl cupcakes

To put on the bottom layer of my pretty cake stand from Tala I made blackcurrant swirl cupcakes topped with cream cheese frosting and decorated with funfetti. I used a mixture of edible decorations to create my pastel funfetti. I just love how happy and cute funfetti looks!

Gluten-free blackcurrant swirl cupcakes (makes 20 cupcake size cakes)

Ingredients

• 150g (1 3/4 cup) gluten-free self-raising flour
• 90g butter, softened
• 110g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp natural vanilla essence
• 2 tbsp semi skimmed milk
• 3 tbsp of good quality blackcurrant jam

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 165C/325F
2. Line baking tray with cases
3. In a food mixer, beat all of the ingredients except the blackcurrant jam, until you have a smooth, soft batter
4. Divide batter between the cases
5. Place 1/2 tsp blackcurrant jam on to top of batter and swirl jam into batter using a skewer
6. Bake for about 20 mins until cakes bounce back when lightly pressed
7. Place on rack to cool

To decorate (for 12 cupcake sized cakes) Ingredients

• 200g cream cheese
• 400g icing sugar, sifted
• 70g butter, softened
• Shimmer purple decorating sugar crystals
• Shimmer turquoise decorating sugar crystals
• Shimmer blue decorating sugar crystals
• Lilac nonpareils
• Natural lilac star sugar shapes
• Natural baby pink star sugar shapes
• Natural blue star sugar shapes

Instructions

1. Beat the butter until super soft and creamy
2. Add the cream cheese and beat until well combined
3. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat until you have a soft, well combined icing
4. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle
5. Pipe a swirl of cream cheese frosting onto top of cupcakes
6. Sprinkle with funfetti

Have a sweet day!

Gluten-free orange creamy cupcakes

As promised, here is my gluten-free orange creamy cupcakes recipe. I topped these with a swirl of creamy vanilla buttercream frosting using a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and decorated them with a pastel mix of funfetti.

Gluten-free orange creamy cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 90g butter, softened
• 90g cream cheese, softened
• 200g unsalted butter
• rind of one orange, finely grated
• 150g caster sugar (2/3 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 125g (1 cup) self-raising flour

Cooking instructions

1. Heat oven to 180C (fan 160C) or gas mark 5
2. Line baking tray with cases
3. In a food mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar, orange rind and eggs till you have a light and fluffy mixture
4. Add flour and beat on low, until you have a smooth batter
5. Divide batter between the cases
6. Bake for about 20 mins until cakes bounce back when lightly pressed

Have a sweet day!

A Tala review

I was thinking the other week how I needed to get myself a new bun tray as I only have one and I often want to make more than twelve cupcakes at once. So I couldn't believe my luck when I was offered to review some of Tala’s baking products to coincide with the launch of their new Tala bakeware website. The website allows the community to discuss their Tala bakes, and to add photos and recipes. You can also find their own added recipes, top tips and pictures of their pretty collection of bakeware:

"Tala is the British home cooking brand that has been an integral part in kitchens nationwide since 1899, known and loved for its innovative baking, icing tools and gadgets"




The lovely peeps offered to send me a bun tray and a pretty card, three-tier, pastel cake stand to review. I, of course, said yes!

The 12 hole bun tray is perfectly sized so you can bake both cupcakes and muffin sized cakes and has a nice weight to it that makes it feel feels robust and strong. With a double layered non-stick coating, the other great news is that it is dishwasher safe!

The Tala 3 tier card cupcake stand is made from thick card that is easily collapsible for easy storage and transportation. I love the idea of taking it with me on my next bicycle ride picnic. If only the sun would come out to play! The cake stand is easy to clean with a wipe of a damp cloth and cam be reused over and over again.




To sit on my pretty new cake stand I baked twelve gluten-free creamy lemon cupcakes and twelve gluten-free blackcurrant swirl cupcakes in my new bun tray. I topped the orange ones with creamy buttercream frosting and the blackcurrant ones with a cream cheese frosting. After Saturday's post, I just had to decorate them with funfetti! After rifling through my baking cupboard I made a mixture of funfetti using colours that matched the cake stand. Later this week I will of course share with you both of the recipes for my funfetti cupcakes!






*I was not paid for this review - I was sent a bun tray and a three tier card cake stand. Torie Jayne does not accept payment for any of her posts.

Have a sweet day!