FLOWERS & CHOCOLATE CAKE
INTRODUCING DIY SPRING WREATH KITS & FLOWER NEWS
Missing chocolate this month? This is perhaps the easiest Chocolate Cake to make, recipe below…………….
As 2021 gets underway, let’s hope we all share a positive year ahead and enjoy a return to a more healthy, happy, and rewarding time with family and friends. I can't wait to share a hug and enjoy a meal cooked by someone else - I'm keeping everything crossed for this to happen!
Our house always seems so bare after the Christmas decorations are taken down and packed away, but I can’t quite part with the fairy lights and faux greenery decorating my silver birch branches in the kitchen (further information on my Instagram highlights), so they are staying for the foreseeable future and I'll add in other decorations throughout the year. Watch this space!
As we try and make the most of the new lockdown and are once again staying safe in our homes, perhaps a few faux flowers or a faux plant would freshen up a corner, or why not add a splash of vibrant colour to brighten up a room?
So, what’s new in the faux flower world?
To me, blossom always signifies the start of spring and I have faux stems arriving next week in pale pink or cream. Also, vibrant yellow forsythia and pussy willow, both of which add interest and texture to any flower display, fabulous tulips which look stunning on their own. and roses in a variety of colours, together with new plants, and trees, including an incredibly realistic faux olive tree and a few fiddle leaf fig trees. The elegant and simplistic hellebores, in either white, pale green, or aubergine, are now back in stock, and are a perfect addition to your home for the late winter/early spring months.
You can never have enough tulips!
Alternatively, if you are looking for a particular faux flower, why not let me know and I’d be delighted to help?
If you are local to St Albans, and would find it easier to let me have one of your vases or containers (and a budget of course), I’d be more than happy to create an elegant creation for you – perhaps a spring display or an arrangement to enjoy all year round?
Thank you to all those who bought a DIY Christmas Wreath kit. I was so thrilled by your response and positive feedback. As many of you have asked, I will be offering a DIY Spring Wreath kit - this will be a living wreath created on a wireframe, packed with moss and seasonal bulbs (which can be replanted for enjoyment year after year), bright spring flowers, and lots of twisted wood for added interest. Full instructions will be included, together with a link to a demonstration video. This is a very natural, rustic wreath and further details will be available in the coming weeks.
I’m hoping that as Easter arrives and if government guidelines allow, this would be a perfect way to catch-up with friends in a 'creative social bubble', fingers crossed again! If not, there's always Zoom.
Finally, January can be a tough month after the excesses of Christmas, however, the weekend is always a good time to enjoy a slice of cake or two – after all life is too short! So, I thought I’d share an incredibly easy Chocolate Cake recipe that is a big favourite in this house. Give it a go and let me know how you get on?
Chocolate Cake
5oz self-raising flour
3oz Cadbury’s drinking chocolate (the best one to use I find)
3 medium eggs
6oz margarine
5oz caster sugar
3 tablespoons of boiling water
Place all of the above ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat well for 2 minutes until well blended. Pour into a lined loaf tin and bake at 170 fan, or the equivalent, for 35-45 minutes, until risen, the top should just spring back when lightly poked!
Allow to cool and decorate with chocolate buttercream and your favourite chocolates. Devour!
You can easily adapt this recipe by adding mashed banana, chocolate chips, or raspberries to the mixture before baking to give it a different twist. It also makes a fabulous Easter cake by decorating it with chocolate mini eggs!
Please get in touch with me if you’d like any fresh or faux flowers, how about updating a few stems you’ve had a while, or just fancy a chat? I’m always happy to do that!
Thanks for reading this, please leave any comments below, and I look forward to catching up with you soon.
Love Sarah x