Online! Yay! (and Lemon-Poppyseed cuppycakes)

Hi guys!

We really have been pretty much MIA lately, at least partly because we've had some Internet Troubles. And Mom had another essay to hand in yesterday so not much time to play with the computer and wires hoping to fix it. But looks like she fixed it now. Paws crossed.

We've got some silly and yummy stuff to share with you for later. But first here's the reciepe for what Mom made as a treat for herself and auntie Anna today. They had Thai curry (with free range chicken) and brown rice and then Lemon-poppyseed cupcakes. They are furry yummy. Since there were no chocolate I got to taste - so this I know for sure.

Here's the recipe if anyone wants to try. They are simple and yummy. Mom doesn't bother with the frosting. She's not to big on frosting (or dressings or sauces or.. see a pattern here?), but she made it once and it tastes nice and tangy. It's from the BBC Good Food magazine and you can see it with the furry cute picture and efurrything here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/470636/lemon-and-poppyseed-cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 225g self-raising flour
• 175g golden caster sugar
• zest 2 lemons
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds , toasted
• 3 eggs
• 100g natural yogurt
• 175g butter , melted and cooled a little

For the icing

• 225g butter , softened
• 400g icing sugar , sifted
• juice 1 lemon
• few drops yellow food colouring
• icing flowers or yellow sprinkles, to decorate

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake or muffin cases. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds together in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs into the yogurt, then tip this into the dry ingredients with the melted butter. Mix together with a wooden spoon or whisk until lump-free, then divide between the cases. Bake for 20-22 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean - the cakes will be quite pale on top still. Cool for 5 mins in the tin, then carefully lift onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
2. To ice, beat the softened butter until really soft in a large bowl, then gradually beat in the icing sugar and lemon juice. Stir in enough food colouring for a pale lemon colour, then spoon the icing into a piping bag with a large star nozzle.
3. Ice one cake at a time, holding the piping bag almost upright with the nozzle about 1cm from the surface of the cake. Pipe one spiral of icing around the edge, then pause to break the flow before moving the nozzle towards the centre slightly and piping a second, smaller spiral that continues until there are no gaps in the centre. Slightly 'dot' the nozzle into the icing as you stop squeezing to finish neatly. Repeat to cover all the cakes, then top with sugar decorations or scatter with sprinkles.

Oh - and let us not forget a picture of ME to make your Friday perfect.

I can help with the baking, too!

The downside is that afterwards you have to take a shower...