Blog Watch 07/08/13

Now that I have a little more time to invest in my blog again, I want to start doing blog watches every couple of weeks again. I feel a little disconnected lately and I haven't been reading nearly enough blogs, so I'm hoping this blogwatch will help me discover new blogs and allow me to read more of my fav blogs too.

Do you have any exciting features coming up on your blog? Tell me about them, I may feature you on one of my blog watches :)

Kasia from Coeurs de foxes looks angelic in this beautiful, pale pink heart dress. I love the beautiful scenery in the background too.

Ginge from Cosmos and Crayons shows us how to paint BMO nails!!There are no words for how cute these are.

Becca from Ladyface shares her Lemon Blackberry cupcake recipe with us! It's vegan too! Yum.

Miss Billie Jean outshines Mickey with her flamingo inspired outfit in her newest outfit post.

Explorer Danny from Lady Explorers  shows us how to make a delicious watermelon t-shirt.

It's official, Nerd Burger had the coolest tattoos.

I'm not the only one with a new blog design, GypsyBeee has a beautiful new floral design. I think this fits in with her style so well.

Vegan Apricot and Carrot Cupcakes

Every year me and Ash make each other birthday cakes, this year he asked for carrot cake - his favorite. I've already done a few vegan carrot cakes before and was bored of the old recipe I was using, so I decided to play around with ingredients and this is the result. The dried apricots add a great flavor to the cakes. I like to soak and simmer them in orange juice so when you bite into them you get a tangy, juicy taste of orange.

This recipe is based on this wonderful recipe from The Ethical Chef.

Ingredients:

• 225g Grated carrots
• 170g Dried apricots, cut into little pieces
• 280g Self raising flour
• 150g Cane sugar
• 80g Desiccated coconut
• 1 tsp Ground ginger
• 1 tsp Ground nutmeg
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• 200g Vegan margarine
• 200ml Orange juice
• Pinch of salt
• A few walnuts to decorate (optional)

Frosting:
I used this recipe for the frosting.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (325F).
2. Simmer the orange juice and chopped dried apricots in a pan for 5-10 mins (until the apricots begin to soften). Allow to cool.
3. Mix the margarine and sugar together in a bowl. Add the grated carrots.
4. Add the cooled juice/apricot mixture, sift the flour, salt and spices in and mix.
5. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cakes and bake for 12-18 mins.
6. Allow to cool before frosting & decorating.