A Classic Homemade Vanilla Sponge cake with Home Made Vanilla Butter Cream

 I do love my vanilla cakes, but I have never made homemade Vanilla buttercream to go on top!
This homemade cake is so light and fluffy and the texture is so nice and soft! It is simple and quick to do also and I we are getting ready for summer I am just brushing up on my baking techniques so I can bake many cakes for the upcoming events and parties and family gatherings etc.!

I used 2, 7 inch pans to bake this in the a pre heated oven of 180 degrees C.



Ingredients:

Plain flour (270 grams)

Granulated sugar (265 grams)

Butter (120 grams)

1 cup of milk 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 teaspoons of Baking Powder

I then Baked at 180 C for 40 minutes

For the Butter Cream:
Butter (120g)

Icing sugar (300g)

2 teaspoons vanilla (10mL)

4 tablespoons milk (60mL) 

If you would like me to do a tutorial on how to bake this cake on my second channel, please let me know! For now check out this pics and consider as food porn! I admit I need to work on my buttercream application because its a mess! I iced one cake, leaving the other plain so you had a choice of 2 to indulge, but with the ingredients above its enough to cover both of the cakes.
Store the buttercream based cake in a fridge and the plain can be kept in a cool dry place

My Foundation Collection

 I am a huge foundation collector! Honestly, like the way some girls like to purchase shoes or bags, or even lipsticks or eyeshadows, I plan on having every brand of foundation in my skin shade. I had more but they were old so here is what stands and I am still building. I just posted this and lots of my amazing followers recommended I purchase Dior and YSL to add to my collection!

This Friday on my YouTube Channel, I would be uploading a video all about foundations. Particularly for women of colour and I would be covering different topics such as what it is, why and how to wear it and most importantly, undertones and matching up. I also explain my knowledge on the MAC NW/NC system to the best of my ability.

Foundation, is a staple product in any girls makeup kit. Some may choose to not wear it, but I think it is always good to have especially for special occasions. I know some people also prefer CC or BB creams, but I am not the biggest fan of BB creams as I love coverage. Foundation not only works as a base but it conceals and corrects so that is my theory!

From Left to right here are the list of the foundations seen in this picture:

Lancome: Teint Miracle Bare Skin Foundation in shade no.14
Giorgio Armani: Luminous Silk in Shade 14
Chanel: Perfection Lumiere in shad 154 Ambre
Makeup Forever: HD Foundation in shade N180
NARS: Sheer Glow in Dark4 Tortuga
Mary Kay: Time Wise in Bronze 7
Illamasqua: Skin Base Foundation in no.17
MAC: Matchmaster in 9.0
Iman: Stick Foundation in Earth 7
MAC: Studio Fix Fluid in NW50




Luxury Designer Foundations:
These foundations are high end, they definitely have a nicer finish, quality and coverage also the packaging is always fancy thats why i like them apart of my collection! I desire to add Dior and YSL to the collection

These foundations are Retail Foundations:
Easily to find on the market and online. They are the most popular foundations general people tend to purchase. The foundation is basic however in my opinion it 'gets the job done'. They are the foundations that you by instantly to top up rather than the above foundations which I tend to use on special occasions.

Women of Colour Foundations

I added the Fashion Fair two way foundation which didn't make the group shot because I forgot! But these particular foundations are particularly formulated for women of colour. Excusing the Mary Kay which of course do shades for caucasian, but there Bronze shades for black women are remarkable. These foundations to me come between the Retail and Luxury in my opinion because the price range is reasonable yet they are not your average, pick up one and just go type of foundations. I would have added a foundation by BlackUp to this as well, but the shade is not great for me at all so it couldn't make my collection at the moment. 

Nigerian Pepper Soup!!

Ok, so I guess the most exciting thing about being married to a Nigerian is the urge to cook food out of my own comfort zone which is of course Ghanaian food. I have never tried doing any Nigerian dish for several reasons. 1) I am not a big fan of Nigerian food and tend to take a selected few of their dishes happily! 2) I have been slightly intimidated about preparing Nigerian food because it is totally new to me and I am afraid of making mistakes!
However, I could not help but notice how EASY it is to prepare Nigerian Pepper soup. I have tasted it before, and you know what, it tastes great. However its not an everyday type of soup like Ghanaian light soup, although the dishes are relatively similar (you just add tomatoes for light soup and less pepper!) LOL! 
So I had a go, with once again the help of a few Nigerian cooking channels on YouTube and my husband LOVED it! It was so easy- all you need is meat, water and seasoning! Now, I am pretty much ready to explore more Nigerian food- NEXT STOP- Afang Soup, the Egusi mmmm hmmm!!

Check out the pictures... ps: I am yet to work on my garnishing techniques ok! lol

For main ingredients used check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuY5SA5Dcq0

Valentines Dinner: Duck Legs and Persian Rice!

Hey Everyone! I am honestly an 'at home' wife as well as a makeup artist and business owner! Infact, I spend a lot of time at home with my son and doing domestic things in this house such as DIYs, cooking, cleaning all that good stuff. So, you would be seeing A LOT of that from now on my blog and YouTube channel. 

This here is what I cooked over the weekend. I thought I would step out of my typical African food cuisine and head over to the Eastern part of the world and do a lovely Persian Rice. I might say, for my first try I done an awesome job. My mum was even inspired. So with the great help of one of my favourite YouTube chefs 'Chef John' from foodwishes.com http://foodwishes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/persian-rice-sorry-measuring-cups.html I put this dish together. The only thing I tried is I added plantain.. and thats what made it a bit more tropical I guess! I loved how the rice turned out. Not clumpy at all and just perfect for a family meal or a meal for two if you add what I added which was 'Duck Legs'! Duck Legs you say? mmmm hmmm... it tastes succulent and just fresh! 

Check out the ingredients and recipe below: and full step by step tutorial (above) by chef john.

-2 Fresh Duck Legs
I bought these in a pack of 2 from Tesco for £3.75 (pricey but yummy!)
-Plantain (ripe) but NOT over ripe, you need it to be a little hard so it can make a great base for the rice.
-Potatoes- I also added thin sliced potatoes as the base for the rice

-The Duck Legs have been lightly seasoned with Salt and Pepper and Chicken Seasoning, I would have used Paprika or something else but I ran out! Use any seasoning you want. And just Fry it

Now.. as You can see the above I cut it to see what the inside looked like. And SOME people like it pink like this. However I popped it in a preheated oven on 180 for 20 minutes so it was WELL COOKED through. I am not a fan of bloody meat! 

-Saffron seasoning- £4 from tesco, very pricey but you only need a tiny bit to make part of the rice yellow like I have done here. Check Chef Johns recipe for the exact precise method

Velvet Smokey Eyes for Valentines

Hello lovers!
Its just one day away before the Valentines madness, wether you are staying at home, going out for the evening or whatever- I have put this look together for the more daring girl. This is an intense smokey eyes, super easy to achieve.

Here are the list of products used:

Eyes:
Eyeshadow Primer: MAC Prep and Prime in Medium
Brows- MAC- Strut Brown Pencil
Concealer- LA Girl Pro Concealer in Toast
Brow Highlight: MAC Cork
Transition/Bridge Colour: MAC Embark and Sleeks Sahara
Base: Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Liner
Lid (black)- Matte Black from Sleek's Diva Palette
Kohl Pencil: MAC Feline
Lashes: Double Stacked- Kara 118 and Red Cherry #43

Face:
Primer: MAC Prep and Prime
Foundation: Lancome Teint Miracle SPF 15 in No14 with BlackUp Paris Complexion Enhancer
Highlight: La Girl Pro Concealer in Toast
Contour: MAC Embark
Cheeks: Sleeks Sahara 
Shimmer Highlight- MAC Gold Deposit
Highlight setting powder: Ben Nye Topaz
Powder: MAC Studio Fix NW50

Lips:
Liner: MAC Current
Lipstick: MAC Ruby Woo

Valentines Makeup: Grey Eyeshadow and Deep Plum Lips

This look is for the daring girl. Its also a look that is definitely for one who is perhaps been with their partner for a while as it is quite the bold look and first time dates... stay away from this! LOL! But perhaps when you get the guy... bedazzle him with the glorious makeup look!

Products used:

Moisturiser and Primer: The Body Shop Vitamin C SPF30 Daily Moisturiser and Motives Perfecting Face Primer

Brows: MUA Brow Pencil in BROWN and Toast by LA girl Pro Concealer as highlight and concealer

Eye Primer and Base: Urban Decay Eye primer potion and Milk Jumbo Pencil by NYX

Transition shade: Studio Fix NW50 by MAC

Tear Duct (silver)/ Lid and lower lash line (grey): Sleeks GLORY Palette (limited edition however search on ebay for stock. 

Out V- Carbon by MAC

Lashes: Double Stacked Ardell WSP and Red Cherry 43 Lashes

Liquid Liner: La Girl Pen Liner

Face:

Foundation: Makeup Forever HD Foundation in N180 

Highlight and Setting: La Girl PRO Concealer in Toast and Ben Nye Topaz Powder

Powder: NW50 Studio Fix by MAC

Cheeks:

Nars Exhibit A blush and BlackUP Paris no 06

Lips: Current Lip liner by MAC and Sleeks Smother Lipstick