Mmmm chocolate and cakes!

Well we survived another storm last night - just about.  Thankfully the electricity didn't fail but I hear on the news that Cornwall was pretty badly hit.  We are used to storms from the SW but this one was blowing in from the SE at one time and I feared the solar panels on the roof might be dislodged.  As it is the system keeps tripping today so I will have to see how it is once the wind dies down .. .. but the weather man says there's another storm, or two, just waiting in turn to blast us some more.

Surprisingly, on Sunday it was calm and mild so I managed to do a little moving about of plants in the garden, not too wet either as we hadn't had any rain for 48 hours!  Being high on a hill not far from the sea the wind dries things out quickly, and thankfully there's no risk of flooding here.  This morning though the wind has damaged a few plants and unless it's something growing low to the ground, like the snowdrops, everything else has developed a decided lean towards the North - will it ever end.

I have managed to make a few cards with LOTV mice stamps I got in the recent sale, although sadly I still have a couple of uninked ones from last year too - I am going to try and do a run on them over the next few days so you can see them all.  This first one is called The Chocolate Factory and I've stamped with a very dark brown Momento then coloured with my Copics and finishing with a clear Stardust pen here and there, which isn't showing up.

It's a simple little card, I think my mojo got blown away on the wind!  I've been good again and cut my 5" base card from SU! card in my stash, used a piece of digi paper (Cuddly Buddly) from the basket and simply matted between with white paper.  It's another flat design and I've edged the layers with the faux stitching created with Marianne Design die LR0161.  I found the flower lace in my stash along with a piece of satin ribbon so created a pretty layer then simply stamped a generic text and added the little pearls to the centre of the lace flowers - simples!

Just a couple of challenges that I found to enter: Crafty Catz have an anything goes theme running, and Live and Love Crafts are looking to see love and lace.

A quick update on the GF/LF - not going so well but I discovered that lactose is more of a problem than gluten, although the worst is a combination of the two - traditional cauliflower cheese is a definite NO NO! Last night I cooked a savoury vegetarian mince dish and realised afterwards, when I read the packet, that it had gluten in the quorn, but I was ok with it, I think. I did tweak a recipe and make some little buns with a couple of over-ripe bananas and bashed up walnuts, and they are GF and LF free but I didn't get as many of them, just 21 buns instead of the 24 the mix should have made. I think next time I will stick with 20 as a couple of mine are smaller than the others as I was trying to eek out the mix.  What you think? I didn't want to go overboard with the butter cream topping so just dolloped it on - not a winning presentation I know, but they taste delicious all the same!

For anyone wanting the tweaked recipe this is what I did:
put 20 bun cases in your bun tins and set oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
mash two very ripe bananas and leave to one side
cream together 115g/4oz Lacto spread and the same amount of caster sugar with half tsp vanilla extract.
beat 2 eggs in a bowl and gradually add to the creamed mix (I always add a spoonful of flour with each egg addition to stop it curdling).
Add mashed banana to mix plus 2-4tbsp Lacto cream (my bananas were small so I added the 4tbsp)
Sift in 225g/8oz Gluten Free plain flour with 1and half tsp baking powder and half tsp bicarbonate of soda.and fold the mixture together adding in 55g/2oz chopped walnuts (or any nut you like).
Stir to make sure all the ingredients are mixed - it should be quite sloppy so it falls off the spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases - I found a dessertspoonful was about right, they are supposed to be little cakes not big muffins.
Bake for 20 mins then allow to cool on a wire rack.
For the buttercream topping mix 3oz Lacto spread with the same amount of icing sugar and a dessertspoonful of Lacto cream. Swirl on to the top of the cooled buns then sprinkle with chopped nuts. I find the Lacto buttercream goes very soft at room temperature so I keep my buns in the fridge - not that they will last long in there anyway!

Make a cuppa and enjoy!