Recipe: Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

Thursday, 22 March 2018

recipes

Recipe: Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

I love Chai tea. No, really, I loooooooooove Chai tea.
I genuinely own about 4 or 5 different types of Chai with which to make tea.
Do not underestimate me here, I am seriously obsessed.

I've just gotten back to my flat after spending a few days at my parents house, as I'd ended up with more time off than expected when I came back from Versailles, during the last few days, I just didn't know what to do with myself & so out of boredom, I baked, much to my parents enjoyment!

I've made cupcakes with tea flavours before, a favourite being Earl Grey cupcakes or lemon & ginger in a lemon drizzle cake. And I've made Chai tea cupcakes a few times in the past, but this time I definitely aced it with my quantities!

Chai is just such a fabulously warming, comforting mix of spices that are just packed full of flavour, so why on earth wouldn't you want more ways with which to use & consume this wonderful mix?


What you'll need :-
For the cake;
100g unsalted butter, softened
50g caster sugar
50g soft brown sugar
100g self raising flour, sifted
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of strongly brewed chai tea
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves

For the icing;
100g icing sugar, sifted
50g butter, softened
2 tablespoons of strongly brewed chai tea
a pinch of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves

Method :-

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC

2. Brew a small mug of chai tea - usually I pour about half a cup of boiling water over two teabags & let it steep for as long as possible.

3. Mix the butter & sugars together, then adding eggs & chai tea alternatively with the flour until all mixed together throughly.

4. Add the extra spices & vanilla essence - I've listed what I'd recommend using, but obviously you can use as little or as much as you like.

5. Line a cupcake or muffin tray with cupcake cases & spoon in the mixture.

6. Leave to bake for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Then removed from the over and allow to stand & cool while you make the icing.

7. Beat the butter for the icing with about half the icing sugar, then add the Chai tea & mix until combined.

8. Add the spices & the rest of the icing sugar - again, add the spices to your own taste. If the icing mixture is too runny, add more icing sugar. Mix until all combined & is light and fluffy.

9. When the cakes are fully cooled, pipe or smear on the icing & decorate as you like - you can sprinkle with more of the spice mix, add a small stick of cinnamon or simply used some sprinkles.

10. Sit down, relax & enjoy a cupcake with a giant mug of chai tea. (And don't forget to let me know how they turned out for you!)

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The Palace of Versailles - A Photo Diary

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

france

The Palace of Versailles - A Photo Diary

I didn't even know where to begin when it came to talking about my time at the Palace of Versailles, and so to avoid me writing you all an what would turn into a history essay, I figured I'd let the photos tell you all you need to know - that it's basically one of the most beautiful, aesthetically pleasing places on earth, and you should definitely try to visit one day.

Although I will point out that Versailles is steeped in so much history, (honestly, if the beautiful marble columns could talk!) I would totally recommend doing a little bit of homework before visiting, it'll make it so much more thrilling knowing who lived here, ate here, slept here & loved here. Also I feel like knowing the history of a place makes a visit feel less like you're going just to say you've been, there's more substance behind the visit & you'll appreciate it all so much more.

The Château

(Doorway of dreeeeams)

The Hall Of Mirrors

(Photos really do not do this room justice!)

Hot Chocolate at Angelinas

The Gardens

The Grand Trianon

(The bedroom of my childhood dreams)

(Ridiculously beautiful, and really expensive jade room accents - as you would, naturally)

(Where do I buy this wallpaper?!)

Le Petit Trianon

(The Queen, Marie Antoinette, herself)

It was painfully difficult to narrow down my photos, I genuinely took hundreds over the two days I spent here, everywhere you look is picture perfect - I'm sure I'll be posting many, many more over on instagram (@almostemilyjane) for weeks to come.
I am still throughly made up that I've finally gotten around to spending some time here, I'd have quite happily pointed a tent in the gardens to stay longer! Although I do definitely intend on revisiting one day as it would've been amazing to see the gardens in full bloom (and the statues in the gardens uncovered), although I deliberately visited in March knowing it was less likely to be heaving with visitors.

Who else has visited Versailles? What was your experience like? 

Where is that one place in the world that you've always been desperate to visit? & have you been yet? 

[You can buy many of my photos as prints on my etsy shop, click here.
Use the code ALMOSTEMILYJANE10 to get 10% off any print!]

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#internationalwomensday

Thursday, 8 March 2018

lets talk feminism

#internationalwomensday

I spent my teenage years growing up in the early 2000s, the years of female celebrity feuds, paparazzi upskirt shots, the rise of social media, 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' & young womens magazines with articles such as 'out of these 5 women which body type does the man on the street prefer' (I shit you not, I remember reading this article and actually thought it was important.)

I remember it feeling like we were being taught, how to pitch ourselves against other women. We were constantly hearing & reading about feuds between two female celebrities. The media would compare the girls & their work like it was a spectator sport, their latest albums or movies or whatever they were doing or even wearing at the time was compared against each other & wether it was intentional or not, it fuelled this toxic competitiveness between girls.

Female celebrities would be featured in articles because of what they wore, or what awful photo was taken of them without their consent, or which man they were dating, very, very rarely would an article be written about a female celebrity that focused solely on their work.

There were also magazine articles telling us to be skinnier, but not too skinny, have curves, but stay slim, wear makeup, but not too much, wear short skirts, but not too short, show off your cleavage, but not too much. Depending on your body type you can only wear certain cuts of jeans, or your skin tone can only take certain colours, you face shape will only suit certain haircuts. Don't forget how to disguise your little bit of belly fat, and don't forget these tricks to make your legs look longer & slimmer.
But also, be confident, confidence is attractive, but not too confident, obviously.

It felt like a never ending tirade on why we, as females, weren't good enough, our work didn't matter & if you weren't pleasing to men then you were useless.

Speaking as a 20-something year old that grew up extremely influenced by these things, the new rise of feminism over the past few years has meant so much. It's opened my eyes to just how toxic and harmful the things I, and other girls were eventually telling ourselves as a young teenagers were, and it makes me furious.

Our young, impressionable minds should have never been taught to think these things. 

We should have been told about the inspiring work of other women, taught more about the fight of the suffragette movement, we should've viewed each other as sisters not as competition for a boyfriend, and most of all we should have been taught that to be strong, kind, intelligent women is more important than being deemed pretty enough by society.

International Women's Day has been a thing since the early 1900s. I am 27 years old & I only learnt about it three years ago.
In some countries, as I discovered while talking to a friend of mine today, it's a yearly event, on March 8th in her home country, she is given flowers & wished a happy women's day by men, she spent all day today receiving lovely messages from male friends & family, which is utterly lovely, but at the same time, in the same country a single woman would struggle to get a mortgage on a house because she's on her own, she even said that adopting as a single woman just wouldn't happen there, you couldn't do it. From where she is from, women are homemakers & wives, there to keep their husband fed & happy - and yet, Women's Day is a whole thing there, but only for the one day - it really made me stop & think.

Now I haven't even started on what is going on elsewhere in the world when it comes to feminism & the daily struggles of other women. I am 100% aware that many have had it much worse that some toxic magazine articles infecting their mind. But International Womens Day is an excellent day to talk about these subjects, share your story & shed your own light on it all, wether we like it or not, we have all be effected in one way or another & I think it's important to share our stories because we are all on the same side.

To any and all women - I hope you know how important, extraordinary & relevant you are regardless of what you've been told in the past. You are beautiful because you are entirely yourself & that is & will always be enough.

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A Skin Refresh from The Body Shop

Saturday, 3 March 2018

beauty

A Skin Refresh from The Body Shop

My skin care has felt like an ongoing battle since I was a teenager. I've been self-conscious about the state of my skin for, what feels like, forever now, and so I work really hard to keep it in the best state possible, from what I eat & drink to what I use to apply my makeup, I take it all into consideration.

One day I'd like to be able to confidently leave my flat without foundation on, I've learnt the hard way, with a ridiculous amount of frustration, that, unfortunately, there is no quick fix product that'll transform your skin over night, but, a good skin care routine with products you know work with your skin is important, as is understanding what your skin needs on a day to day basis.

One of my main issues with my skin, is it just looks dull & tired most of the time, probably due to working stupid shifts and drinking too much coffee & not enough water, both of which leave it looking dehydrated.
Also, I wear a full face of make-up, pretty much daily at the moment & while I do try to use a lighter foundation than I used to & I religiously make sure I have every scrap of makeup off my face before I go to bed, your skin will still build up a certain amount of crap (for lack of a better word), causing it to look dull & congested.

On a recent trip to The Body Shop one of the shop assistants approached me & my friends to recommend one of her favourite new(ish) products the Drops Of Light Liquid Peel.
Now the word "peel" in skincare, just takes me back to that Sex and the City episode when Samantha ends up wearing a veil to an event because her skin was so raw after a facial peel, so it's kinda a worrying process for me, so it's a product I would've in the past totally ignored.

Straight away after the girl found out that none of us had ever used a product like this before, she showed us on her own hand how it worked by rubbing it in a light circular motion we watched in pure wonder at how it peeled away the dead skin so painlessly & with such ease. We all took our turns trying it out and then without any of the after effects Samantha suffered in that episode of SATC, we all took our turns in purchasing it.

Basically, it's a gel-like peel type exfoliant, that just strips away all the dead dull skin & any other crap still on there after cleansing & takes your skin right back to it's base. It's almost like a reset button for you skin.
It also contains red algae extract which is rich in vitamins & minerals & just loaded with vitamin C, which really helps your skin feel healthier and super soft, and, well, your skin just glows after use.

While the liquid peel does make your skin feel super soft, it's still a fairly abrasive procedure on your skin, so it's important to moisturise afterwards, so I find this Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil to be the perfect product to use afterwards.

It's actually a product I'd had my eye on for years, I love using overnight serums & oils and waking up with my skin feeling refreshed, and since my last one had just ran out, I figured it was about time to try this one out.

It's a really lightweight, non-greasy formula, thats packed full of skin nourishing ingredients, including wheatgerm oil, sesame seed oil, almond oil & jojoba oil. It leaves your skin feeling completely nourished & refreshed.

The perfect conditioner to use after the exfoliant, to wake up the next morning to better skin!

Both products are really reasonably priced & available to buy online here -
Drops of Light Pure Resurfacing Liquid Peel - £18.00
Vitamin E Overnight Serum-in-Oil - £16.00

Has anyone else used a liquid peel product & been completely blown away by the results? What products do you use to help refresh your skin when it's feeling dull & dehydrated?

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