DIY: Hippy Tie-dye cake

My lovely Dad is a true, authentic hippy. Or he was back in the day. He collected thousands of bootleg Grateful Dead tapes (tapes!) and grew an impressive ponytail. When I was a kid in the 90's he was still occasionally rocking the TIE DYE t-shirt look and the vibrant colours were a huge hit with me. I love the iconography of this era so when Dad asked me to make him a cake for a meet up with his old hippy chums I decided to make not one, but two versions of this hippy inspired design. 

I marbled the cake mixture with garish colours to give the inside a tie dye effect and used ALL cake decorations I own to create heart and ban the bomb symbols on top. 

The recipe only is a version of a simple victoria sponge. Its amazing what a few sprinkles can do!

Watch my YouTube video..

Here is what you will need...

For the cake

200g caster sugar
200g softened butter
4 egg beaten
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk

For the filling, icing and decorations

100g butter, softened
140g icing sugar, sifted
drop vanilla extract
Strawberry jam
cake board
gel food colouring 
Decorations... sprinkles and sweeties galore!

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5.

Butter two 20cm sandwich tins and line with non-stick baking paper. 

In a large bowl, beat all the cake ingredients together until you have a smooth, soft batter.

Separate batter into individual small bowls for each colour you want to use. I made and add gel food colouring a little at a time cocktail sticks can be helpful for adding the colouring into the batter.

Blob your colours into your tins and swirl together with a knife. then bake for about 20 mins until golden and if you insert a skewer into the cake it comes out clean. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the buttercream icing, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in icing sugar. Beat in vanilla extract.

Use some of the icing to stick your first cake layer onto the cake board. Add a layer of jam on top, and then a layer of icing onto the bottom of your second layer. Sandwich them together. Cover the whole cake in a thin layer of icing and then refrigerate  this helps to stop your top layer of icing getting too crumby!

Add more icing and than get creative with a whole heap of decorations!!

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EAST LONDON LOVE: Canal Walk

EAST LONDON LOVE; Canal Walk

The sun was lighting up East London last week and it felt like summer had arrived. After the gym one day I decided to just stroll a while, and strolling along the canal is so calming in the sun. This is the De Beauvoir section of the canal which boasts some great cafes so stopping to sip a coffee is essential.

 The best thing about this stretch is the variety and contrasts. The modern architecture lives alongside crumbly moss covered bridges and buildings. Keep an eye on that water because you can spot eels, terrapins and huge fish. But this little snail was a great little friend. I chose him for my study from the walk but I tried to incorporate the bright colourful textures from his surroundings.

DIY: Feather Crowns

I'm pretty sure flower crowns will be around for a while longer. They have been such a fun trend, great for kids and teens as well as adults too. They brighten up any cloudy day! 

Well the NEXT thing is for sure going to be THE FEATHER CROWN!

 I have never really been able to wear hats because my hair is so pouffy they pop right off my head! These crowns are the perfect wearable solution.

Watch my YouTube tutorial...

OR 

See instructions below!

Supplies Needed

• sewable decorations
• feathers
• ribbon
• elastic
• clips
• sewing machine
• PVA glue
• scissors

First, fold then iron your ribbon in half lengthways so it becomes a nice crisp binding.









Cut off the long feather stalks.



Opening the binding out and tac the feathers inside with a small amount of glue. 
Be sure to spread them out nice and evenly.

Tac pom pom trim along the upper edge of the ribbon and leave glue to dry completely. 

Once dry, secure feathers and pompoms into place by sewing all the way along the ribbon.

Sew sequin trim along the front.

Clip elastic onto the crown and check the fit on your head before sewing the elastic into place.