thej

June 28, 2015

holiday clothes shopping

For the first time in four years (yes, really) I have not one, but two holidays coming up. The first is to Croatia in just over a week where we will be also taking a day trip to Venice for my 21st birthday. The second is to Marrakech at the end of August, and I can't quite contain my excitement for both. Two holidays is of course the perfect excuse to go overboard when it comes to stocking up my summer wardrobe, but this year round I opted for most of it from H&M rather than spending a fortune in Topshop. I still have plenty of evening dresses already in my wardrobe so didn't go too cray and instead went for daytime options. 


| H&M Watermelon Sequin Tee (£12.99)


| H&M Blue Patterned Dress (£7.99)   


| H&M Navy and Cream Floral Dress (£14.99)


| H&M Patterned Playsuit (£12.99)


| Jack Wills Tithby Playsuit (£49.50)


| H&M Anchor Sleeveless Top (£7.99)


 | H&M Oversized Tank Top (£12.99) - This is the perfect beach coverup!


| H&M Red Floral Dress (£12.99)


| H&M Navy Polka Dot Dress (£12.99)


| H&M Lace Crop Top (£12.99)


| Nike Stone Internationalist Trainers (£67) | Beach Towel: H&M (£12.99)





June 13, 2015

rainbow cake


I promise that soon I will be back in the full swing of things with plenty of travel and fashion related posts, rather than continuing to overwhelm you all with food, food and more food. But for now, here I am to make your tummy rumble once more. A couple of weeks ago my mum hit the big 50, so I went ahead and dedicated a whole 8 hours(!) to baking up a rainbow cake. I made a few mistakes along the way (always allow your cakes to fully cool before taking them out of the tin as they will crumble before your eyes), but all in all, I was one happy bunny with how it turned out. I unintentionally created a mixture of bright and pastel shades which ended up looking even better than the colour scheme I had in mind. 

For the recipe, I followed this Crumbs and Doilies video which I'd recommend to absolutely everyone wanting to give the rainbow cake a go. I'd say invest in three cake tins, so that way it will take you less time than just using two at a time (as I did) but you won't have to spend a fortune on them by getting six either. Using a cake leveller is absolutely essential to cutting away the browned parts of your cake slices and probably the most essential tool in making the cake. My other top tip is that liquid food dye just won't work for this, invest in some gel colours by Wilton and if you want super bright colours then add about half a teaspoon's worth. They may seem a little pricey but I've been using mine for ages and they are still almost full.

I estimate the cake cost around £20 in buying all of the tools and colourings needed, all of which can be used again and again so I consider them to be more of a cake making investment than one off cost. The food ingredients came to just over £10 so depending on what you already have in the way of tools and ingredients, expect to be spending around £10-30 to cook up this beauty. 

Side note: I've changed my blog name (once again!) and can now be found on all social media at: thejessicalife, I hope you are all a fan of the change.

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