PonyChops meets Cheryl Cobb

I've been meaning to share this picture with you for a while now. I got the most amazing present from one of my fav human beings, Wensdi, for Christmas. Wensdi is an illustrator with a mischievous imagination, you might remember her work from this post.

Recently Wensdi created a character called Cheryl Cobb, a creepy but well meaning little boy who just wants some friends to play with! For my present, Wensdi gave me a framed illustration of me meeting Cheryl and his dead cat friend - Mr Soot. Don't worry, I won't be taking any shoe design advice from Cheryl - I think he took "cat shoes" a little too literally.

This is one of my fav presents I've ever received. Wensdi even drew tiny bears on my shoes (like the first ever set of shoes I painted!).

You can follow Cheryl's adventures on his blog or on his facebook page

Etsy Shop Crush - Hello Dodo

Hello Dodo is such a fun shop. It's vibrant and full of witty and playful prints, bags & vests.

Hello Dodo are based in Brighton, England, anyone who's been to Brighton will know it's a totally rad and fun place to be, I think Brighton definitely shines through in Hello Dodo's prints.

[Etsy] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Blog]

I came across this street art on i-am-bored. I don't know where it's originally from but I like it lots.

Sticky Toffee Teddy Cupcakes!!!

I've wanted to make some teddy bear themed cupcakes for a while. So when I had a day off work I got baking! Here's my recipe for sticky toffee teddy cupcakes (adapted from this recipe.) These cupcakes are light, moist and mouth watering. Seriously, they are probably my favourite cakes I've ever eaten, and I've eaten A LOT!:

Ingredients (makes 12 large cupcakes or 16 smaller ones):
For the cakes:

• 3 medium carrots (peeled and finely grated, for a more airy cupcake use 4)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 120g unsalted butter (I like to use pure soya spread instead for a lighter cupcake)
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 180g self raising flour
• 2 medium eggs (beaten)

For the Buttercream and decorations:

• 180g sea salted butter (just normal salted will do if you can't find this)
• 200g icing sugar
• 4 tablespoons dulche-de-leche or canned caramel
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Large chocolate buttons
• Pink dotted balls/large sprinkles
• Turquoise balls for the eyes
• White chocolate
• Paint Brush

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 170 for fan ovens
• Cream together softened butter and sugar in a large bowl until thoroughly mixed.
• Sift the flour and the bicarbonate of soda in a separate bowl.
• Add the beaten eggs to the sugar/butter mixture, add a tbsp flour while mixing. Add the rest of the flour/bicarbonate mixture and the grated carrots. Mix it all thoroughly.
• Spoon into cupcake cases, bake for 15-20 mins, the cakes should spring back up when pressed with a finger when they are done.

For the butter cream:

•  Soften the salted butter, mix with dulche de leche and the salt. Gradually sift in the icing sugar while stirring. 

To decorate:

• Melt some white chocolate. Lay out the large buttons on a tray with greaseproof paper on. You will need 2 buttons for each teddy cake, 1 for the ear and 1 for the nose.
• For the noses, paint the melted white chocolate on the back of your pink sprinkle and place in the top half/centre of your button.
• For the ears, paint the melted white chocolate as a circle in the centre of the ear. Once the chocolate has set, cut the ears in half with a sharp knife.
• Frost your cupcakes, add the ears, nose and eyes (unless of course you want your teddies to be blind) then SCOFF THEM. om nom nom

My dog decided I was paying FAR too much attention to baking and not enough time paying attention to her. So she spent most of my baking session posed like this expecting tummy rubs:

Poor Effy didn't even get to sample any cupcakes! :(

How to spoil someones wedding

The humorous paper artist Linus Hui shows how to spoil someone's wedding, dress for a cocktail party and avoid sour grapes with his wonderful creations here.