Frome Independent Haul

Yesterday, I ventured over to The Frome Independent Market, one of the simple pleasures of each of my complex months and came back with some wondrous new items which have lead me to introduce you to some superb new local brands.

One of these brands is Hive Originals, a Wiltshire based company who produce all things bees. I couldn't resist their gorgeous set honey which truly is one of the most pungent, rich, creamy set honeys I have ever tasted. I'm a huge advocate of set honey anyway, but this makes me fall in love with it all over again. On the back it states that it takes twelve bees a whole lifetime to produce one teaspoon of honey and so, to you bees, I say well done. Consider it a lifetime well-spent. 

From this company I also bought a mango flavoured beeswax lip balm. I'm often sceptical about lip balms with beeswax in them as they can often smell and taste a bit fusty and, as much as I love honey, I do not like the constant smell and taste of bee produce on my lips. However, this lip balm smells amazingly tropical and offers a sheen on your lips, as opposed to a matte, Chapstick type consistency. It's gorgeous. A daytime cocktail, with none of the embarrassing aftermath. 

The second company I found was Glover & Smith, a husband and wife team who create gorgeous, simple but iconic jewellery. I plumped for a pair of acorn drop earrings, being a lifelong fan of the quote, 'Mighty oaks from little acorns grow'. 

I always love a little bit of every day jewellery that means a little something extra to me.

These new brands I think will be regular features in my life and I thought I should probably introduce you to them too. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Frome Independent Market Bakes

On the first Sunday of every month, The Frome Independent Market takes place and it's fast become something I wait the remaining 28-30 days to come around again.

The whole of Frome becomes a sea of stalls selling a lot of locally produced foodie goodness, cute little trinkets, handmade candles and fantastic pictures, paintings and drawings created by local talent. It's an inspiring place to be for a few hours. 

When I went I came back with a haul that included a gorgeous hot air balloon notebook, a heart shaped brie (the one thing that could make brie any better is being heart shaped), a vanilla scented candle in an old milk bottle which, by happy coincidence, had my boyfriend's name on it, a homemade jar of 'slim jim' marmalade, a box of bath melts and bath bombs from Herbs on the Hill and lastly, the showstopper, a box of Earl Grey marshmallows, made by EatToastDunkMe.

These gorgeous marshmallows are cubes of white with a unique purple swirl throughout eat piece, making them as visually appealing as they are delicious. I simply had to bake with them, they near enough begged for me to.

I decided to make earl grey and lemon cupcakes, with an earl grey marshmallow chunk aloft and it resulted in one of the nicest moments of what I like to call 'afternoon-tea-me-time', I've ever had.

I'm going to share my recipe with you all now, but I must insist you invest in and use the EatToastDunkMe marshmallows for the top - nothing else will do. For my cupcakes I used two-tone icing (theres a post a few months back on my blog on how to do this!) this is of course optional, but it is wonderfully in keeping with the marshmallow on top.

Recipe

Ingredients for the Sponge:

• 4 Earl Grey Teabags
• 3 tbsp boiled water
• 80g butter
• 280g caster sugar
• 240g plain flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 200ml whole milk
• 2 large eggs

Ingredients for the Frosting:

• 80g of unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 250g icing sugar
• The zest of five lemons
• A few drops of yellow food colouring (optional but pretty!)
• 25 ml of whole milk 

Method:

1. Firstly, pop four earl grey teabags into a mug, with three tbsp of boiling water and just leave to stew while you prepare the rest of the mixture. A lot of recipes will tell you to use less teabags or not leave them to stew for as long, but I don't think the flavour comes through strong enough otherwise, especially with the rather citrusy icing I have in created for the top (you're in for a treat with that, lemon lovers!)
2. Then choose your cupcake cases/any decorations you wish to use - for regular bakers this is arguably one of the loveliest parts of the baking process, so feel free to take your time with this - then place them into your cupcake baking tray and heat your oven to 170 degrees (based on a fan assisted oven.)
3. Lastly, beat together your sponge ingredients, until smooth, adding the earl grey brew last, before spooning into your cupcake cases. Only fill each cupcake case to about half full (of half empty, depending on your life viewpoint) otherwise the mixture will spill out while cooking and cupcakes simply must be beautiful, dahhhhhling.
4. Cook your cakes for around 30 minutes, until cooked through before leaving to cool completely. I usually allow about an hour for this - just enough time to take a bath or watch a couple of episodes of the Big Bang Theory or, on the right day, have a self-indulgent afternoon nap. Whatever you do with you time, enjoy.
5. Once completely cool, get zesting those lemons and beat together your frosting ingredients. If you do decided to go two-tone (and why wouldn't you) simply spoon half of the mixture into your piping bag and add purple food colouring to the remaining half, before spooning into the other half of the bag.
6. Then simply pipe onto the cakes, starting from the edge and working your way in or, if you like a little less icing then simply pipe straight onto the middle to create on 'iced gem' sort of shape. This looks beautiful too. Then decorate as you wish. Serve and enjoy.