I've always been one to get very excited about a royal wedding, and this is the first one since I started blogging so I couldn't not do a post on it could I!? In light of that, I'm sharing with you my recent discovery that will make sure you celebrate in style!


So, lets talk about cake! Recently, I discovered a gorgeous little cake company called BakerDays and they really kindly offered to send me a cake to share with you lovely lot! They're an incredible brand that lets you customise your own cakes - you can add any photos and text that you want and all of the styles are utterly gorgeous!


I got a letterbox cake which, as the name suggests, fits through your letterbox! It's literally the best idea because you don't even need to be in to take delivery! This size is designed to give 3-4 portions, but they also do: cupcakes (12 portions), small (10-12 portions), medium (18-25 portions) and large (40-55 portions), so you can get a cake for anything from a small family party to a huge street party!


My cake has a gorgeous union jack design, with a picture of Harry and Meghan in the middle, and  you literally cannot get more Royal Wedding than that can you! They also do the best range of flavours - including gluten free and dairy free cakes, so there's something for everyone for any occasion as they have designs for over 40 different events! I went for chocolate and it tastes incredible! It's so rich and velvety but not in a really heavy, sickly way!

If you want to order your own cake go to www.bakerdays.com and use the code LOULOVES15 at the checkout for 15% off your order - the code's valid until June 30th! If do order a cake be sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see which style you went for!

So, now you have the best cake for your party, here are some really useful posts I've found with all the essentails:
- Brides
- Best Products
- Real Simple

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post, and I'll see you all next week!

Lou Loves x

*This post may contain sponsored/gifted content, but all opinions are my own*

You guys always go mad for my "late minute" posts every year... so this year is last minute diy gifts.

Gooey Cookie Mix
This DIY has been around for quite a few years now but it's still one of my favourites! All you have to do is get the dry ingredients for cookies (I use Tanya Burr's Triple Chocolate Cookies(the link is to an old cringey post so have a read if you want a good laugh!)) and fill a jar with the right quantities. Then write a label with a few instructions of what to add to make the cookies! It's such a simple thing but looks really effective!

Pamper Hamper:
Everyone loves a good pamper at this time of year so what could be more fitting; and you can personalise it as much or as little as you like.

• Wicker Basket (of any size)
• DVD's
• Body Scrub
• Body Lotion
• Bubble Bath
• Bath Bombs or Bubble Bars
• Snacks
• Face Masks
• Cleanser
• Moisturiser
• Candles

Gingerbread Body Scrub:
Leading on from the pampering theme, this gingerbread scrub is perfect for a last minute secret santa (or for putting in you pamper hamper)!

• 1 Cup of Sugar
• 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup of Coconut Oil
• 1/4 Cup of Almond Oil
• 1/2 tsp. of Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp. of Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. of All Spics
• 1/2 tsp. of Nutmeg
• A Mason Jar with lid

In a medium size bowl combine all ingredients (apart from oils).Gradually add the oils until it's your desired consistency - you may need more or less than the stated amounts. Scoop all the scrub into the mason jar. Decorate the jar and print out a little label to stick on et voila! How easy was that!

Hot Chocolate Kit:
I love having hot chocolates at this time of year and this kit is the cutest!

• 1 tub of your favourite hot chocolate
• A cute mug
• Marshmallows
• Candy cane (optional)
• Wicker basket.

In the basket put the mug and the hot chocolate. Wrap some marshmallows in cellophane and put them in the top of the mug and slot the candy cane over the side of the mug. If you want you can wrap the whole thing in cellophane as well!

Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I'll see you tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

A recipe that combines two classic Christmas flavours - what could be better?

Ingredients - makes 48:
225g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
100g dark brown soft sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
300g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
225g chopped cranberries
60g chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
3 tablespoons orange juice
200g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 190 C / Gas mark 4.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg until well blended. Mix in 1 teaspoon orange zest and 2 tablespoons orange juice. Combine the flour, bicarb and salt; stir into the orange mixture. Mix in cranberries and if using, walnuts, until evenly distributed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking trays. Cookies should be spaced at least 5cm apart.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

For the icing: In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, 3 tablespoons orange juice and icing sugar until smooth. Spread over the tops of cooled cookies. Let stand until set.

Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxx

*The recipe and photo are not my own*

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a huge lover of chocolate truffles so I couldn't not share this recipe with you!

Ingredients (Makes 20): 300ml double cream
330g dark chocolate
A bit of butter
1 tsp. sea salt
Cocoa powder
Chopped hazelnuts
Chopped pistachios
Edible gold glitter
Popping candy
Freeze dried raspberries
Desiccated coconut
Ground coffee beans
Hundreds and thousands

Heat the cream over a medium heat in a pan until bubbles begin to form at the sides. Whilst it's heating, break the chocolate up into pieces and place in a large bowl.

When the cream is ready, add a bit of butter and stir until melted.

Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and stir until it's all melted and combined. Add the salt and mix through, then put in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

About 30 minutes before you are ready to make your truffles, take the mixture out of the fridge so it has warmed slightly.

Pop all your preferred toppings into separate bowls and have a plate at the ready to put the truffles on.

Use a teaspoon to scoop up the chocolate and use your hands to form 2cm truffles. Roll them in your topping of choice and ensure each one if fully coated, then put onto the plate. Keep them into the fridge until it's needed.

This recipe would be great for a last minute secret santa! Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post and I'll see you again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

*This recipe is not my own*

If these cupcakes aren't the best thing you've ever seen, I don't know what is!

Ingredients:
1 batch of basic cupcakes
1 batch of buttercream
120g white modelling paste
Various sprinkles/black sugar pearls
20g grey modelling paste
20g green modelling paste
20g red modelling paste
20g sky blue modelling paste
10g chocolate fondant
2g orange modelling paste


Bake and ice your cupcakes. Roll the white modelling paste out to 2mm thick and cut 12 scalloped circles with the scalloped side of the cutter. If you have a drying sponge, leave them here to dry. Greaseproof paper is good for drying too.

To make the jumpers, roll the coloured paste out and cut a 5cm x 5cm square.

With the circle cutter, making sure you use a big enough cutter to miss the other shoulder as you cut.

To make the arms, trim 1cm in on both sides of the jumper and then trim the tips of the sleeves off. Keep the offcuts and they will be the trim.

To make the trim, cut really long strips out of the leftover paste and stick it on the jumper, trimming if needs be. You can emboss the little knitted lines with the edge of the knife.

You can make round neck lines too, just use the 3.5mm cutter. Add the jumper to the white toppers and leave to dry while you’re getting on with decorations.

To make Rudolph, cut a 3.5mm circle and shape it into an egg shape with the tip of your finger. Roll a tiny ball of red paste for the nose and roll tiny beige sausages for the antlers and use black sprinkles for the eyes.

Add the decorations to the jumpers and then use the sprinkles to add snow.

To make the tree jumpers, use the sprinkles to add patterns on the paste - this looks really complicated, but it’s not. Use a damp water brush to add a line of water where you want the pattern to go and then using the brush again, pick up the sprinkles. They will stick to the end of the brush and once you’ve added the sprinkles where you’d like, you can then push them into the paste with a cocktail stick. It takes a bit of practise at first but you’ll get faster the more you do it.

To make the polar bear, it’s all made with flattened balls of paste. Use a cocktail stick to hollow out the ears and dust the cheeks with dusky pink petal dust.

Once all the toppers are glued and finished, the toppers can then be placed onto the iced cupcakes.

So, thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

*Recipe and photo is not my own*

And what would baking week be without a Christmas classic like mince pies?!?

Ingredients (makes 12):
60g cold butter
340g plain flour
110g cold vegetable fat
350g mincemeat
a splash of full fat milk
icing sugar


Preheat your oven to 200 C/400 F/Gas mark 6. Lightly grease your cupcake/muffin tin.

Mix the flour, butter and fat between your fingers until crumbly. Add 6 tablespoons of water and combine to make a ball of pastry.

Roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 3-4mm. Use a fluted round pastry cutter to cut 12 circles, each big enough to fit the holes in the tray.

Press the pastry down firmly into each hole and fill with a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat.

Cut out a further 12 circles to fit over the top of each pie, or use a festive cutter such as a star or Christmas tree to form the lid.

Using a pastry brush, brush the milk over the exposed pastry. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. When cool, dust with icing sugar for a snowy look!

Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

*This recipe and image are not my own*

I found this recipe recently and I knew straight away that I had to share it with you all!

Ingredients (makes 15):
160g ground almonds
160g icing sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
120ml egg whites (approx 3 large eggs)
160g caster sugar
100g brandy butter
100g royal icing sugar
Red and green gel food colouring


Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment, drawing 30 x 2cm circles on the back to help make all the macarons the same size.

Place the ground almonds, icing sugar, cinnamon and ginger into a food processor. Blitz until ground into a fine powder, then pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Add half the egg white to the finely ground nuts and icing sugar, and stir until a stiff paste forms. Set aside while you make the Italian meringue.

Add the caster sugar to a small saucepan with 3 tbsp of water. Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Heat until the syrup registers 118°C on a sugar thermometer. Meanwhile, put the remaining egg white into the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. As the syrup is nearing 118°C, whisk the egg white on high speed until it reaches soft peaks and just holds its shape on the whisk.

Remove the syrup from the heat as soon as it reaches the right temperature and slowly pour down the side of the bowl into the egg whites in a steady stream, whisking continuously. Continue to whisk on high until the mixture has cooled slightly and the bowl is no longer hot to touch. The mixture should be thick and glossy. Mix drops of red and green food colour together to make a brown colour, then add a small amount to the meringue.

Scrape the meringue into the mixed nut paste in the large bowl. Fold together until the mixture runs in a thick ribbon from the spatula, disappearing back into the mix within 10 seconds. Transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm round piping tip and pipe circles onto the baking parchment, using the drawn circles as a guide and smoothing out any peaks.

Leave the macarons to dry for at least 30 minutes until a thin skin has formed on top; it may take a little longer if the kitchen is humid. They should no longer be sticky to touch and will have a matt appearance. While you are waiting, preheat the oven to 150°C, gas mark 2.

Bake in the centre of the oven, one tray at a time, for 10-15 minutes. The shells should not have started to brown, but should be firm and sound hollow when lightly tapped. Leave to cool for a few minutes before peeling from the baking parchment.

When the macarons are cool, pipe a small amount of brandy butter into the centre of one half and sandwich them together. Mix together the royal icing sugar with enough water to make a thick paste. Colour a tiny amount of the mixture green and a tiny amount red and put in 2 disposable piping bags, then leave the rest white. Decorate the macarons to look like miniature Christmas puddings by piping them with the white icing (you may need to thin it down a tiny bit with a splash of water) and allow to dry. When dry, use the coloured icing to pipe holly and berries on top, then leave to dry completely.

Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxx

*This recipe and photo is not my own and is a Martha Collinson recipe on www.waitrose.com*

For the second day of baking week, I couldn't not include a chocolate orange recipe!

Ingredients (serves 8-10):

Welcome to Baking Week! This is probably my favourite week of blogmas as it's the week when I share with you my top 7 festive recipes! Today I'm sharing with you the BBC GoodFood recipe for a salted caramel yule log!


Ingredients (serves 10) :

3 large eggs
100g golden caster sugar
100g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
150ml whipping cream
100g slated caramel spread
red currants and mint leaves, to decorate

200g unsalted butter, softened
400g icing sugar, sieved, plus extra for dusting
200g slated caramel spread

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line a 24 x 32cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment so it hangs over the edges, then butter well. Whisk the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk for 3-4 mins or until pale and thick.

Fold the flour, baking powder and vanilla seeds into the egg mixture with a large metal spoon until there are no pockets of flour visible. Gently spread into your tin and bake in the oven for 12-15 mins or until lightly golden and springy to the touch.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 1-2 mins or until cool enough to handle, then carefully roll up the sponge lengthways while it’s still warm (keeping the baking parchment attached). Leave to cool completely in its rolled-up shape.

To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth, then mix in the caramel spread. Set aside. Whip the cream to soft peaks.

Carefully unroll the sponge, then turn it so one long edge is towards you. Dot lumps of the caramel spread and caramel icing over the sponge (don’t use too much – you need the rest to ice the cake), keeping the last centimeter at the end furthest from you clean, as the filling will spread as it rolls. Spread the cream over the top using a palette knife. Using the parchment, roll up the sponge.

Cut one end off a few centimeters in at an angle to make a branch. Put the roll on a plate or board and add the branch so it fits on snugly. Use the remaining icing to ice the cake, making bark lines in the icing using a fork. Dust with icing sugar and decorate with the redcurrants and mint to serve.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxx

*Disclaimer - This recipe is not my own and was found on www.bbcgoodfood.com*
*Disclaimer - The image included is not my own and was found on www.bbcgoodfood.com*

I did this post last year and you guys all seemed to love it so I'm back doing it again for you all this year!
The first product(s) up are the two Liz Earle mini gift sets. I think these are the perfect thing for someone who you know loves more high-end skincare or maybe someone who's never tried it before because I feel like these sets are the perfect introduction to luxury skincare. The first set is called the "Smooth Escape" set which has a mini gentle face exfoliator, a mini intensive nourishing treatment and a muslin cloth. The second set is called "Find Your Balance" and has a mini gentle face exfoliator, a mini deep cleansing face mask and a sponge. Both of these sets are £10 - really pushing the limit there!!


The next set is from Sleek and has a 6ml Matte Me Up lip cream and a 11ml nail varnish (I think they're both full size products but I'm not 100% sure!). They're both in a gorgeous classic red which is perfect for the festive season! This set is £8.50 but compared to the price of Sleek's regular products, that's pretty good value.


The third product I have chosen is the Jack Wills set of 8 English Velvet shower gel pods. This is a new thing I've seen this year and quite a few brands have been doing it this year. Basically the concept is that each pod has enough shower gel for one use which I think is such a good concept for if your going away for a couple of days and don't want to take a big bulky bottle! This set of 8 is £6.

I also thought that I'd put a men's product in here as well! I chose the Ted Baker Duo set (£8.50) which is exclusive to Boots. It has the refined and invigorating hair and body gel as well as a body spray. I really liked the packaging of this as well because I think the black and gold makes it look really sleek.

This final product is probably my favourite of them all! It's a festive hot chocolate mug that comes with 2 packets of hot chocolate powder and marshmallows which makes it absolutely perfect for a the perfect Christmas hot chocolate! And, it's only £8.50!

I hope you're all enjoying Blogmas so far and I hope this post helped you. Thank you all so much for reading and I'll see you all again tomorrow,

Love Lou
xxxx

All links are on each individual products.

*Disclaimer - None of these photos were my own and were all found on www.google.com*

As it's nearing December, I thought I'd making things a bit more festive and share with you Tanya Burr's recipe for a gingerbread loaf!



Ingredients (serves 6-8):
22cm loaf tin

100g unsalted butter
100g golden syrup
150g self-raising flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150ml milk
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas mark 4. Line the loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Melt the butter and golden syrup together in a pan and set aside.

Mix together the flour, ground ginger, sugar and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl, then slowly whisk in the milk and egg, followed by the syrup mixture, to form a smooth batter.

Pour in the loaf tin and back for 30-35 minutes, until golden and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.

So, thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you all again soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

Blogmas Countdown - 1 Week

You all know how much of a big fan I am of Tanya Bakes so today I'm back with a recipe that I've been dying to try!


Ingredients (makes 10):
200g unsalted butter, softened
300g caster sugar
1 large egg
325g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
200g Nutella

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/Gas mark 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg until combined, then gradually add the flour and salt until a dough forms. Add the Nutella and gently marble the chocolate spread through the dough using a wooden spoon or palette knife.

Divide the dough into 10 balls, the squash them down gently onto the baking trays. Make sure to leave plenty of space between each cookie, as they will definitely spread in the oven.

Sprinkle with sea salt, then bake for 12 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool and let set for 20 minutes before eating.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you very soon,
Love Lou
xxxx

If you've followed my blog for a while, you will now I'm a huge fan of Tanya Burr and her baking book Tanya Bakes. So today I'm back with her recipe for pop tarts, I just know you're gonna love it!

Ingredients (Makes 6):
250g plain flour
2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
200g cold butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

1/2 jar (225g) strawberry jam
1 tablespoon cornflour

200g icing sugar
pink food colouring
sugar strands
ready made strawberry sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.

To make the dough, mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingertips to a breadcrumb consistency. Mix in the egg and a tablespoon of milk until a dough forms - add a little more milk if it looks too dry.

Heat the jam and cornflour over a low heat until it's loosened. Set aside to cool slightly.

Roll out the dough to 3mm thick. Cut the dough into 8cm X 14cm rectangles - you should get at least 12 rectangles.

To assemble, lay out six rectangles on the baking trays. Add a teaspoon or two of the jam filling to each square, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Brush the edge with egg and lay the remaining pastry over the top. Use a fork to press down around the edges, then poke a hole in the top of each one. Brush each tart with egg and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire to cool.

To decorate, combine the icing sugar, food colouring and a little water into a bowl until you have a think icing.

Spread a layer of icing over each tart and sprinkle with the sugar strands. Drizzle with strawberry sauce, if desired.

So, let me know if you recreate this recipe! Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I will see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

*Disclaimer - This recipe is not my own and all ownership foes to the original author*

I did this post just after I started my blog, but this is my favourite recipe of all time so, I thought I'd share it with you again so all my new readers can recreate them as well!

I am a huge fan of Tanya's baking book "Tanya Bakes" and I always love sharing amazing recipes with you that I find there. That's why today I am back with a brownie cake!

Ingredients (Serves 8-10)

21cm round loose bottomed cake tin

175g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate
200g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs
70g plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g milk chocolate chips

To decorate - cocoa powder or icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 160 C/ 320 F/gas make 3. Grease the cake tin with butter.

Break the chocolate into chunks and place in a medium pan. Add the butter and sugar and melt over a low heat, stirring, until fully combined. Remove from heat.

Whisk the eggs, then add into the chocolate mixture.

Stir in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Pout into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Cool slightly in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. To serve, dust generously with cocoa powder or icing sugar before cutting slices.

So, I hope you all liked this post. thank you all so much for reading and I will see you soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

As you'll all probably know by now, I have a true passion for baking and I know that some of you out there do too! So, I'm sharing with you my top 26 recipes!

Apple and Rhubarb Crumble (let me know if you want the recipe for this)
Blueberry Scones
Candice's Cornflake Tart
Doughnuts (again, let me know if you want a post on it!)
Easter nests
Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake
Gingerbread Cake
Hot Cross Buns
Iced Gems
Jammie Dodgers - with a secret twist...
Kit Kats
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Melt in the Middle Chocolate Pudding
Nigella's Cookie Dough Pots
Oreo Cupcakes
Pumpkin Pops
Quick and Easy Risotto
Reindeer Cookies
S'mores Cupcakes
Tanya Burr's Triple Chocolate Cookies
Unicorn Ice Cream
Viennese Whirls
White Chocolate and Nutella Pinwheel Biscuits
Xylophone Cake
Yoghurt Ice Pops
Zesty Orange Drizzle Cake

Congrats you made it to the end! So, that's all for today but make sure you subscribe to my blog to get updates of when I post. I hope you all enjoyed this post, thank you so much for reading and I'll see you very soon,

Love Lou
xxxxxx

I stumbled on this recipe when flicking through Tanya Bakes not long ago and it was so easy I knew I had to share it with you.


Ingredients (makes 8):

1 ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry sheet - at room temperature
75g milk chocolate chips
1 egg - beaten


Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/Gas Mark 6. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Unroll the pastry and cut the sheet into four squares. Cut each square in half so you have 8 triangles.

To roll the croissant, take a bottom corner of the pastry towards the longer, pointed end. Don't roll too tightly or the pastry won't puff up properly. Curl the ends down into the shape of a croissant.

To make a pain au chocolat, sprinkle a small handful of chocolate chips at the bottom of the pastry, before you start rolling and roll it up with you as you go.

Transfer to the baking tray and brush with the beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes until puffed and golden.

Yes, it really is that easy! I hope you enjoyed this post, thank you for reading and I will see you soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

I don't know about you, but when I was younger I loved iced gems. So, I thought I'd share with you how to make your very own iced gems!

Ingredients (Makes 40-50):

35g unsalted butter, softened
15g caster sugar
50g plain flour
150g royal icing sugar
25-30ml water
Your choice of food colouring gels

First, line a baking tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper and place to one side.

Place the softened butter and caster sugar into s medium-sized mixing bowl. You can either use an electric hand whisk or a wooden spoon to cream the two ingredients together. If you're using a wooden spoon, make sure the butter is super soft to make it easier to mix.

Weigh the flour into the creamed butter and sugar and stir to combine. The mixture may look dry and crumbly at first. Use your hands to bring the mixture together and form it into a ball.

To avoid a mess, roll out the dough between two pieces of cling film. This means that you will not need to flour the worktop or add unnecessary flour to the dough as you roll it out.

Roll the dough to around the thickness of a pound coin. Use either a cake corer or the round end of a piping bag to cut out the small circles. A cake corer is easier to use though as the plunger makes it easy to push out the dough. If you use a piping bag, you may need to use a cocktail stick to carefully push the dough from the nozzle.

Place the circles of dough onto the lined baking tray and place into the fridge to chill for around 30 minutes. This will help to stop the dough spreading or using it's shape in the oven later on.

Preheat the oven to 180 C/Gas 4. Take the tray of dough from the fridge and place the tray straight into the preheated oven. Cook the biscuits for 8-10 minutes. They should stay a pale colour, so keep an eye on them! Once the tiny biscuits are cooked, place onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, make the royal icing to add a pretty finishing touch. Place the royal icing sugar into a mixing bowl; there isn't really any need to sieve. Carefully measure out the water and pour it into the bowl.

Start to whisk the royal icing sugar and water together with an electric whisk, on a low speed. Slowly increase the speed once the water has been incorporated into the icing sugar. Keep whisking for around 2 minutes, until the mixture starts to from stiff peaks. It will need to hold it's shape when piped.

Separate the royal icing between a few bowls. How many bowl depends on how many colours you're wanting to use. Stir the gel food colouring into the icing - you only need a little to make a bold colour.

As you will only have a small amount of icing for each colour, you can use small piping bags or sandwich bags, fitted with a small flower nozzle.

Simply squeeze a little icing onto each biscuit in a mixture of colours, otherwise keep things simple and use just one colour. Leave the royal icing to set for a few hours before giving them a try! The biscuits will keep in an airtight container for 2 days.

So, I hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past, thank you so much for reading and I'll see you soon,

Love Lou
xxxx

*Disclaimer - The recipe nor photos are mine and were found on www.goodtoknow.co.uk *

As you guys will know all too well, I was a huge fan of the Great British Bake Off when it was on so when winner Candice released her new cook book "Comfort" I couldn't not share a recipe with you!

Ingredients (Serves 8):
Pastry:

Filling:


Original Recipe Found on the Daily Mail website.
*Disclaimer - The recipe and photos are not my own*