Sharing the Handmade love is going to be a bit different this week.
I mentioned a while back that I had made a present for my friend Julie over at The Life of a Cupcake and I showed you a little preview. Well, she finally received it.... it takes a while for stuff to get to Canada from England apparently! So now that she has it I can tell you all about it and.... give you my first free embroidery pattern! Hopefully I will make a few more in the future, so keep your eyes peeled.
I made Julie a pin cushion as she bought herself a sewing machine and I wanted to encourage her to sew more. Also, Julie LOVES cupcakes and everything to do with them. I drew out a sprinkled delight and embroidered it on to while felt. I then cut around the shape leaving a small seam allowance. Using the first piece as a template I cut out a second piece of white felt. I placed the right sides of the fabrics together (ie the embroidery on the inside) and stitched them together by hand leaving a small gap. I turned this through to the right side, then stuffed it with toy filling. I turned under the little bit of fabric left out around the gap and handstitched this shut. Voila! A cupcake pin cushion!
Here is the pattern I used for my embroidery. I used split stitch for the outline of the cake case and the icing, back stitch for the cake case detail, seed stitch for the sprinkles and french knots to decorate around the top of the cake case. Feel free to use whatever you like best though! Click on the image and it will take you to a full size version you can download :-)
Seaglass junk bracelet by Deezie
Blue Handmade Beaded Necklace by TheRetroRainbow
Ever After Button Bracelet by magpieandbutton
Circle Cell Ameoba Hand Embroidered Quilt Square Applique by KBKExtras
Upcycled Button Ring by jennifermagnesi
Secret Garden Button Necklace by SmallButtonBigHeart
PS... Salvaged Mutiny is now listed at the Home Based Jewelers Showcase here
I’ve been working on a present for my friend Julie over at The Life of a Cupcake. I can’t show it to you yet though, as I have to send it to her and I want it to be a surprise! Instead, I decided to give you a recipe for scrummy chocolate cake to tide you over!! I found this recipe for Double Chocolate muffins online a few years ago and now use it all the time. Don’t worry that it has coffee in it – it doesn’t taste, it just makes the cake moist. And if you wrote the recipe, send me the link to it so I can credit you as I can’t remember where I got it from. I use it to make a big cake, not muffins though ;-)
Ingredients
Cake:
9oz/225g plain flour
3tsps/15ml baking powder
3oz/75g cocoa powder
9oz/225g granulated sugar
6oz/150g butter, melted
12fl oz/300ml black coffee, cooled
3 large eggs
Buttercream Filling:
2oz/50g butter
1oz/25g cocoa powder
5oz/125g icing sugar
Chocolate fudge icing:
4oz/100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
2tbsps/10ml milk
2oz/50g butter
2oz/50g icing sugar
Method
Combine the first four ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir together well. Add the melted butter then, in a mug, beat together the egg with the cooled coffee, and pour on top of the butter. Whisk briskly with a fork until all the ingredients are just combined. Share out into two sandwich cake tins and bake in a preheated oven at 200C/Gas Mark 5 for around 20 minutes.
While the cake is baking and cooling make the filling and icing. For the filling mix together all ingredients until smooth. You may need to add more icing sugar for taste. For fudge icing heat the chocolate, milk and butter in a saucepan, stirring until melted. Removed from heat and beat in the icing sugar. As with the filling, add more icing sugar according to taste. With the fudge icing you will want to chill it for at least an hour until it is solid enough to spread… unlike I did on my first try above where it was a bit runny!
When the cake is cool spread the buttercream on one half and sandwich on the other. Swirl on the fudge icing to finish. The cake can be eaten as it comes or is amazing with cream too!
I made this with my 2 year old nephew, we had a lot of fun!
And just to keep you happy, here’s a sneak preview of Cupcake’s pressie….
