Wednesday 20 January 2016

Brit Decor Bakes/ Uber-moist choc cakes







This one is the deliciously gooey type of comfort food for those moments when calorie counts can really go take a hike! This is also a great bake to whip together when the cupboard is looking a little bare as there is no milk or butter in this recipe. The secret is in the olive oil, which delivers the super-moist component.

There's something rather simple and elegant about a chocolate bake dusted in icing sugar don't you think?

Ingredients
50g cocoa powder
125g plain flour
200g caster sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 eggs
150ml olive oil

How to make
Preheat the oven to 170oc and line a 6-case muffin tray. Sift the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and add the vanilla extract and olive oil - mix into a paste, then add the salt and bicarbonate of soda. In a separate bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs for several minutes then slowly introduce the chocolate paste. Finally, sift the plain flour into the mixture and stir together.

Spoon even amounts of the mixture into the muffin cases and place into the oven for approximately 20 minutes (there should still be a very small amount of mixture left on the knife after gently inserting the blade into the centre of each cake).

Once the cakes have been removed from the oven and cooled, lightly dust them with icing sugar.








Images / Mike Ahern

Friday 8 January 2016

Styling the Seasons / January








For this, my second #stylingtheseasons post, I really wanted to think carefully about my 'take' on January. Yes it's traditionally a time when people can feel blue about the end of the Festive season, but for me, blue is a much more positive colour - it has so much depth and reminds me of endless blue skies or the deepest of oceans.

I am really big on curating collections of treasured objects (new and old) from around the home for the ultimate in personal touches, and today's little corner of my office at the Brit Decor cottage brings together some of my favourite blue 'things' set against the perfect back drop of Farrow & Ball's 'Stiffkey Blue'.

I'm absolutely smitten with the smokey tones of my new blue and grey 'Time' hourglass from Hay, which seems highly appropriate given the recent passing of time from one year to the next. As you might expect, my workspace is filled with colour charts and I like to leave particular colour cards laying around if I'm mulling over a scheme, like this blue palette from Little Greene. These are also really useful for picking out co-ordinating accents when choosing accessories.

Speaking of colour schemes, I think it might be time for a workspace makeover to herald the start of a new year...

#Stylingtheseasons



















Images / Mike Ahern

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Brit Decor Loves/ Artifact Uprising










Forever a devoted fan of paper and all things photographic, I've wanted to share this project with you for a while - except it was a Christmas gift to @simonwatsonpt and a memento of our trip to Vienna, which meant I was unable to spill the beans until now!

I'm sure it's a common first world problem, but my phone is now laden with photos I've snapped on the move and it seems such a shame that I may never look at them again, so taking time to curate my favourite images for printed media is fun and has a meaningful purpose to it.

I stumbled across the Artifact Rising App last year and whilst there are now a multitude of Apps & websites offering to turn our photos into beautiful books, prints, and just about anything else, not all tick the design aesthetic box like this one does.

The graphic layout of both the App and website is elegant and minimal, and importantly, it's incredibly user-friendly. I decided to put the service to the test and create a 5x5 soft cover book using the 'Instagram friendly' option. In a matter of minutes I had completed my book and checked out - needless to say, I'm really pleased with the result.

This isn't a sponsored review, merely a 'show and tell' and I hope you've enjoyed it!























All Images / Mike Ahern

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...