Earl Grey and Lemon Cupcakes

Last weekend I had the girls over.  We were all running low on our Neal's Yard supplies, so I threw a party, sent Steve to play football, invited Stella to be our consultant and filled the house with feminine voices, soft music and the scent of geranium and frankincense muddled with cups of steaming tea and the aroma of freshly baked earl grey cupcakes.

The rain pounded down outside, but inside my small living room we were perfectly content, hands cradled around our mugs of tea and coffee as we pampered and preened ourselves until our skin could not cope with any more creams and unguents. 

To match such a gentle afternoon, I wanted a gentle cupcake.  I didn't want gaudy colours or gauche flavour combinations - no peanut butter and caramel this week.  I wanted something that was sophisticated, that could have been enjoyed whilst taking the waters of Bath with Catherine Morland. 

Admittedly my decoration isn't the most sophisticated in the world.  I sometimes think that my cakes would look better if I just handed over the icing bowl to Steve's 2 year old godson, but it is the flavour combination that was important here!

Earl Grey and lemon is such a classic afternoon tea combination, and it translates so well into cupcake form.  The cupcake is lightly scented and the lemon icing is sharp and cool and combines perfectly with the earl grey.  The cake itself is light, moist and crumbly; it is a famous recipe I've appropriated so it should be really!  It was the Primrose Bakery cookbook that came up trumps for the cupcake (although they suggest combining it with the plain vanilla icing - I think the lemon goes one better).

Ingredients: 
125 ml semi skimmed milk
4 Earl Grey tea bags (or you could sub with your favourite variety)
110g unsalted butter
225g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
125g self-rising flour
120g plain flour

Icing:
Dash semi skimmed milk 
Juice and zest of 1 lemon 
500g icing sugar 
Few drops of food colouring

Method:
Preheat oven to 180c/ gas mark 4.  Line a 12 hole tray with cupcake cases.  This will make enough for about 20 small cupcakes or 12 large ones.

Heat milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and add teabags. Cover with a lid for about 30 minutes and allow the milk to infuse and turn a dark coffee colour.

Cream the butter with sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale and smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Scrape the bowl down with a spatula to make sure that the mixture is well combined.

Combine the flours in a separate bowl. Add a third of the flour to the butter and sugar mixture and beat well. Pour in a third of the milk/tea mixture and beat. Repeat until all the flour and milk has been added.

Carefully spoon mixture into cupcake cases, filling each one two-thirds full.  Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Test to see if they are cooked. Leave in tins for 10 minutes, then place on wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, beat the milk, lemon juice and zest and half the icing sugar until smooth.

Gradually add the rest of icing sugar to produce a creamy and smooth consistency. Add a drop of colouring (sepearating the mixture into bowls if required for separate colours) and beat thoroughly.

Decorate any way you see fit!  I used pearlescent food spray and some edible sprinkles I didn't even know I owned.

Tuck in!  Best served on the same day as you make them, although they will keep for a day or so in an air tight container if you have leftovers to bring into the office!

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Neal's Yard Pamper Party

When I was younger I went to lots of 'brand at home' party's.  Ann Summers, Body Shop and more recently a Jamie At Home (cookware has never been so much fun!)

Move over though cos this party just blew them all out of the water.

Neal's Yard have started doing pamper parties.  The British brand famous for its all natural, organic, luxurious skincare treatments can now be indulged in the comfort of your own home, with friends and tea and cake. 

Now if you are looking for games, feather boas and drunken challenges, a Neal's Yard party is probably not going to be for you.  Instead you are treated to a multitude of clever little lotions and potions, trying them out and sampling them on your hands.  And arms.  And shoulders.  And legs when you ran out of space everywhere else.  This is a much gentler and lazier type of afternoon party where you feel utterly spoilt.

Stella bumped into Beki, our consultant, at a yoga retreat.  Beki normally covers more of the Midlands area (there apparently isn't a consultant in Kent at the minute, although after this party I think there may be a few appearing as a lot of the girls were VERY interested in signing up!) but she traveled down to us one very rainy Saturday afternoon in Whitstable.  We crowded into Stella's living room and munched on home-baked cakes (Great British Bake-off was about to restart and we were all quite excited) and drank huge mugs of steaming tea (it was freezing outside).

PS - I'm getting the recipe for these little blackcurrant and almond cakes from Claire as they were seriously good.

Once everyone was settled (it took a while, there were a lot of us!) Beki started the party.  We had a brief history on Neal's Yard and the ethos behind their brand and then we started testing the products.  Beki told us about what different products and chemicals do to the skin, how the different layers are affected and also how different smells affect hormones and emotions.  We did a blind smell test on different essential oils passed round on a cotton bud (I loved the frankincense but couldn't bear the geranium).

Then came the really fun bit.  Beki started passing the various tubs and pots around, explaining a little about each one as they went.  Ladies got to try lots of different creams, tinctures and oils and compare notes with each other on how they felt, how they smelt and whether they would work for their own skin type.

As the hostess, Stella got a free facial using some of the different products.  She looked utterly relaxed during it and said her skin felt amazing afterwards.  Beki showed us different techniques for applying cream and oil to encourage stimulation of the collagen (apparently you don't just slap it on and rub it in in every which way as I do) and the correct place to put eye cream (which should stop me waking up with streaming eyes in the future).

I must confess, I have never used Neal's Yard products before but this party made me an utter convert.  The sheer scope and variety is a little bit daunting for a beginner to start to work their way through so having Beki there to guide you and give you personal advice was really helpful.  I was leaning more towards the Frankincense range for my skin (based purely on the smell) but when I explained what results I was hoping to see I was told that the Rose products would be much better for me and I should stick to those.

Now, I'm not going to lie.  There is an opportunity to buy the products and Neal's Yard is not cheap.  However as I'm getting a bit older now I've decided to invest more in my skin and actually treat it well (and in the week and a half since the party it is already looking a lot fresher and more revived with the samples I have been using).  I probably spent a bit more than I should have but the products look like they will last for a long time.  Self-justification is going on here a bit but strangely for me absolutely no buyers remorse!

We also got a little gift if you bought two products so I chose a small bottle of Rose face-wash to match the other products I bought.  As an additional bonus we were handed a goody bag filled with about 20 different samples of Neal's Yard products as we left which was wonderful and I am still working my way though now.  Each sample has had enough for a couple of applications in it.  This is a rather sneaky tactic by Neal's Yard  as I have fallen in love with a couple of them that are now on my lust list!

Bessy, Stella's cat was the only one less than impressed with the party - I think that was down to both the number of people in her house and the rich, sleep inducing smells that permeated everywhere.

We spent a good hour after the party going through the products, discussing what we would be buying with friends and then placing the order.  My purchases haven't arrived yet and I can't wait for them to - it will be a bit like an early Christmas!

This is such a different type of event to do with friends and I think it would be lovely for a day time hen party activity or new or expectant mum party as it is the type of event that fits all ages and interests.

After all, who doesn't love a good pamper!