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Coconut – raisin cake recipe

Posted on March 11th, 2013

Yesterday I baked this delicious cake and I thought it would be perfect to share its recipe with you. It’s super easy to make. You just need to stir all of the ingredients in a bowl. No mixer needed!

 

coconut-raisin-cake
photography by Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

Here’s what you’ll need for this solid, moist cake that serves 8 people:

  • 100g raisins
  • 200g butter
  • 175g white caster sugar
  • 55g  grated coconut
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbs brown syrup
  • 200g self-raising flower
  • icing sugar for garnish
  • baking tin (24cm)

Preheat the oven to 180C

  1. Let the raisins soak in a bowl with 500ml hot boiled water. After 15 minutes drain the raising in a strainer.
  2. Butter the baking tin and cover the bottom of the tin with baking paper.
  3. Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Be careful not to brown the butter, it should only melt.
  4. Grab a large bowl and a wooden spoon or a spatula and stir the raisins, sugar, coconut, eggs, syrup & flower all together. Add the butter and mix to a batter.
  5. Poor the batter into the tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. Check if the cake is done by gently poking a wooden skewer in the center of the cake, until it touches the bottom of the tin. If the skewer comes out clean & dry, your cake is done. If the skewer doesn’t, then bake the cake for another 3-5 minutes. If you leave the cake in the oven for too long, it will get too dry, and this should be a moist cake. So, I don’t recommend baking the cake for longer than 35 minutes. Let the cake cool, and generously dust with icing sugar before serving it.

Enjoy!∗

 

 

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Not Antoher Bill post (real post)

Posted on December 18th, 2012

Don’t know what to get your friend, sister or mother - who seem to have everything already - for Christmas? I may have found the perfect gift!

You know how you don’t get anything good in the post anymore? It seems as if everything we receive through our real life mailbox are bills, bills, bills. It would be so nice to receive something good from the postman every once in a while. Not Another Bill takes care of exactly this: every month you get sent a carefully curated & beautifully wrapped surprise present. I really like this idea!

 

Here are some examples of their past presents to give you an idea of what to expect:

 

ohh deer
Two limited edition prints and a notebook by Ohh Deer Collective
studio fludd
Handcrafted wooden necklaces by Studio Fludd
verso design
Felt bowl by Verso Design 
barret alley
Leather hand crafted bracelet by Barrett Alley
beck sondergaard
Scarves by Beck Sondergaard
hadiee drew
Handheld mirror by Hadiee Drew

Pretty nice stuff, huh? And this is just a tiny selection of their past presents. Not Another Bill ships their exclusive, unique presents worldwide and they make sure the parcels fit through your letterbox. Wouldn’t receiving beautiful items like these through the mail just make your day?! ∗

 

 

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Liebster Blog Award nomination

Posted on December 4th, 2012

I’m truly honoured to be nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by Marloes Schut of the blog Things I Love. It really came as a surprise to me and I can’t tell you how happy it made me when I found out! So, thanks again Marloes!

 

The Liebster Blog Award is an award that bloggers give to other up and coming bloggers. This way bloggers get the opportunity to get to know each other better, as well as our visitors.

 

Now it is my task to answer 11 questions Marloes asked me and I get to nominate 11 favorite blogs of mine. In return I have to come up with 11 new questions for my nominees.

 

 

So, here are my answers to Marloes’ questions:

  •  Who’s your favorite blogger? Joy Deangdeelert Cho of the blog Oh Joy!
  • Who’s your big hero? I’m lucky to have several heroes in my life: my husband, my father & my eldest brother.
  • Paint or wallpaper? Painted walls with one wallpapered wall for contrast or a patterned accent.
  • What’s your favorite song? I went to a concert of The Maccabees recently. They totally blew me away! The song Heave is my favorite one of their latest album. But you can also make me happy with Empire State Of Mind by Alicia Keys. Most of the time I have a memory with a song what makes the song special to me.
  • Sunday, it’s a perfect day to..? Sleep in for a bit, have breakfast with fresh croissants & caffé latte. Then go for a walk in the woods. Inevitably do some chores around the house, or write a blogpost. And definitely end the afternoon with a good red wine by the fireplace and then cook a delicious dinner together with my love. OR we drive to Antwerp to sip a wine at the winebar Pasta Hippo Vino and end the night with a lovely pasta dish at the same restaurant :D. (By the way, if you would ask me this during summer, you would get a totally different answer!)
  • Summer or winter? Summer. But to be honoust, I’m happy to live here in the Netherlands, where we get to experience the change of all 4 seasons so distinctively.
  • Which interior event don’t you wanna miss? Interieur Biennale, Belgium
  • What are your dreams for the future? To live happily ever after… ;)
  • What’s your all time favourite movie? Gosh, that’s a tough one. I’m not a big movie watcher and I always tend to forget about movies as soon as they’re finished, or at least I forget the titles. I don’t have an all time favorite I guess (that I can think of now…), but I do like The Dark Night, Crash, A Series Of Unfortunate Events & Amelie.
  • Facebook or twitter? Twitter

 

I hereby solemnly nominate the following bloggers for the Liebster Blog Award ;)

French By Design // Lottie Loves // Frufly // Fair And Softly Goes Far // Moois & Meer // Zo Wie So // Binti Home // Heeerlijk // Currystrumpet // Villa d’Esta // AestheticYou //

And these are my questions:

  • What gives you a true feeling of joy?
  • Who’s your favorite designer or brand?
  • What’s the most delicious food you can think of?
  • What’s the scariest thing you have ever done?
  • Coffee or tea?
  • What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?
  • What inspired you to start blogging?
  • Do you have any advice for people who want to start blogging?
  • What’s your favorite book?
  • Cupcakes or macaroons?
  • What’s your special (family) tradition during Christmas, if you have one?

{images: 1. Tissue paper garland by Ruffled / 2. Love glittered banner by BHLDN / 3. Quote via Pinterest}

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Wedding bliss

Posted on November 27th, 2012

Have I mentioned I love weddings yet? ;)

Last week my dear friend Rosan got married to Erwin and I had the honour of making them a cake topper.

 

 

They hosted a themed wedding “at the movies” which was carried out wonderfully by all of the guests. Jack Sparrow, the Little Mermaid, the Joker, and Cruella De Vil were present and I spotted a lot of red carpet-worthy outfits. I myself went as Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It was the perfect opportunity to dress up & wear my own wedding shoes again! :)

 

photos: Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, without lacking any humor, perfectly suiting the bride & groom. After a grand buffet we all danced the night away at the magnificent party venue. A lot of blissful memories were created this day, I’m sure.

 

All the luck in the world to the newlyweds, Rosan & Erwin! ∗

 

 

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Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31st, 2012

photo: Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

Although unfortunately we don’t really celebrate Halloween here in the Netherlands and Belgium, I will not let this opportunity pass by to bake me some pumpkin pie! To all of you who do celebrate this day: happy Halloween!

Here’s what you need for a pie that serves 8-12 people:

  •  1 serving of sweet shortcrust pastry (for this pie I used shop bought pastry, but there are tons of easy recipes to find online)
  • 1 large egg
  • 425g pumpkin puree
  • 235ml evaporated milk (skimmed coffee milk)
  • 220g sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra to garnish
  • 1/4 ground ginger
  • 1 tbs flower
  • whipped cream (if you wish)
  • pastry tin of 23cm diameter

Preheat the oven to 170C / gas 2-3

  1. Start with the pumpkin puree if you want to make this yourself. I promise, freshly made pumpkin puree will make your pie taste a lot better than canned puree and it is not hard to make at all: cut the pumpkin in half, remove the seeds with a spoon and cover the tops (the sides that are cut) with tin foil. Place the two halves with the foil facing up in the oven and bake for 1 hour, or until they are soft. Scoop out the soft pumpkin flesh with a spoon and puree it with a blender. That’s it!
  2. Butter & flower the pastry tin to cover it with the shortcrust pastry. Remove the excess pastry hanging over the edges of the tin with a knife. I used shop bought pastry to save me some time. Personally I don’t find it worth the effort of making this pastry myself for these kind of pies, because it’s really the filling that makes the taste, isn’t it..?
  3. Place the egg, pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, sugar, spices, salt, & flower in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to combine everything. Gently stir until all lumps have disappeared.
  4. Pour the filling into the pastry base and bake for 35-40 minutes, by which time it will puff up round the edges but still feel soft in the centre (not wobbly!).

Remove the pie from the oven and place the tin on a wire cooling rack. Serve chilled (stored loosely covered in foil in the fridge) with some whipped cream, but at room temperature will be fine too. Enjoy!∗

 

 

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Wedding palette

Posted on August 24th, 2012

{1. “I do”, pinned here / 2. Cake by Montage Beverly Hills - executive chef Gabrielle Ask, pastry chef Richard Ruskell - photography by Samual Lippke, via Grey Likes Weddings / 3. Cutlery packaging photographed by Chelsea Davis Photography, event designer A Style Collective, via Ruffled / 4. Stationary by Paper Made Design, photography by Samual Lippke, via Grey Likes Weddings / 5. Table decor photographed by Scott Clark Photo, via 100 Layer Cake}

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It’s time for presents again!

Posted on August 20th, 2012

It’s been awhile but I’m back! Although it’s just going to be a small post on a little present for today…

I actually used a simple paper napkin to wrap this gift! I love the print of the napkin and I thought it was time to use something other than brown paper for gift wrapping for a change… I still had some pompons left from the high tea party of a few weeks ago so those came in handy too! For the gift tag I used washi tape on brown cardboard.

 

photos: Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

I made this cute pouch for the birthday of a very dear friend of mine, Claudia. She loves bags & purses so I made her this little case in which I’d put a note telling her I was going to take her to Rotterdam for a fun girls day out. And fun we sure had!

 

Are you interested in making a pouch like this for yourself? Please do let me know by leaving a comment. If I have a few requests I will make a tutorial for it explaining you step by step how to make it! ∗

 

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High tea party table

Posted on July 30th, 2012

Last weekend a few of my nieces and I organised a surprise tea party for our aunt who turned 60. We had a lot of fun in the back yard of my brother and my sister in law, enjoying all of the delicious sweets. We all baked something different and displayed everything on one table which I decorated with brown paper & doilies and I made sure there were enough miniature pompons & flags for all of the dishes. My niece Andrea made the pretty garlands. It’s obvious that the creative genes run in the family! :) ∗

 

 
 healthy carrot-zucchini-walnut muffins
 mini cappuccino cupcakes with pompon topper

 

photos: Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations

If you like, you can see more photos on the Mintstudio Facebook page. Click here.

 

 

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Gift wrapping inspiration with free gift tag printable

Posted on July 9th, 2012

Giving presents is always fun, but what I especially like about it is the wrapping part of it. I mean, who doesn’t like to receive a gift that looks pretty? I really have a soft spot for beautiful paper, boxes, labels and ribbons, so when I buy something at a store of which I know it uses beautiful gift paper, I always ask if they can wrap what I bought as a present. …Uhm yeah, even when it’s for myself… I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who does this! :D

Just admit it - even if you don’t do it for the paper or the ribbons - you like to buy yourself presents too!

 

Here are some gifts I’ve wrapped lately. I love to use brown paper, as you can tell…

 

 play around with washi tape & printed paper
I filled a lined box with several small gifts to give to a mom-to-be at a baby shower
 use washi tape & twine to make a mini garland
with the right packaging, even homemade cupcakes & cookies make great gifts!

There’s one web shop I know which does a particular great job at nicely packing their products. Honestly, for me the packaging alone is enough  reason to buy something there. I’m talking about TiS Lifestyle: they sell beautiful home accessories and cute clothes & gifts for babies. I’ll get more into the actual products another time, first I want to show you their packaging! It’s obvious to see how much care they put in it. When you order something online, opening the package should be exciting, and with TiS Lifestyle it really is! Check out their cool and original packaging:

 

All photos: Noortje Emmerink, Mintstudio Creations
TiS Lifestyle uses “take out” boxes! and my favorite: the silver polka dot tissue paper, which is also great to reuse on your own gifts!

Make your own gift tag

A great way to make your present a bit more special is adding a tag. Simply write or stamp the name of the receiver on it, or write a personal message. Success guaranteed!

Click here to download the free gift tag printable I made for you

Tell me, what do you do to make your presents look good?∗

 

 

 

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Fun and frisky wedding palette

Posted on June 6th, 2012

 

Why not add some color to your wedding? This doesn’t necessarily mean that you as a couple have to go crazy & loud with color. Use these fun & frisky colors in the bride’s bouquet and the groom’s boutonniere alone and you will look perfectly matching already. If you’d like to take it a step further you could give the groom a colored (bow)tie as well. 

Another fun idea is to give each groomsman a different colored pair of socks and match the bridesmaid’s dresses or just the flowers to the socks of the groomsmen.

Stick to these colors and repeat them in your wedding invitations & decoration, like ribbons, balloons, lanterns and flowers. The key to using so many colors and still keeping it a whole is to repeat the colors as much as you can and use each color equally.  ∗

{images edited by Mintstudio Creations, credits: 1. paper lantern + tissue flower decoration via Green Wedding Shoes / 2. wedding bouquet via Ella Bella Floral / 3. watercolor heart by A Creative Mint / 4. Table decor via Sitting in a Tree }

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