What else to do but bake!

So i'm still meant to be dieting...but it wasn't the most stunning of bank holidays, infact it was around 2pm when I got hailed on during an afternoon walk that I decided to head back and fire up my unpredictable oven and try out my rather fancy new dualit electric hand whisk that O's parents bought for my birthday!  My £5 Argos special gave up about 2/3 weeks before my birthday, which couldn't have been better timing really!

I'm still struggling with the small issue of getting my cupcakes to rise to the top of the cases,  it's becomming something of a problem for me to be honest... I'm following the recipe to the nose and yet still after numerous attempts it is complete hit or miss as to how they turn out!  O tells me to blame the over, but I've always followed the mantra a bad workmen always blames his tools!

Anyway, this time I didn't have the volcano eruption look and they were all level... just 1cm to short!  Hey Ho... icing always makes them look better and as I've also invested in a piping set from John Lewis I was hoping for some pretty radical results.  Thankfully they appear to have turned our alright and despite making a god awful mess in the kitchen i'm super happy with how they look... I just now have to try and not eat them! 

PS: Thanks Gran for the cake stand - just hope one day my baking will be as good as yours! x