Cake Maternity Bra and Lingerie Review

Today's guest review comes from Hayley from Bracknell who is mum to a two-year-old and is expecting her second child in November. Hayley has been reviewing Cake maternity lingerie from lingerieplease.co.uk.

We Love...

We tried two different sets of maternity bras and briefs by Cake Lingerie. The quality of the fabric on both sets was really impressive and they are certainly a different to my current M&S ones!

The lingerie sets are both really good looking and a lot prettier than the nursing bras that I have just got out of the loft from my first pregnancy.

The bras are easy to unclip when needed for nursing and I would also be happy wearing them throughout pregnancy.

The maternity briefs are really comfortable, they look great and are great quality. I've never worn a dedicated maternity brief before so they felt like a little bit of luxury - perhaps a bit of an extravagance but a must-have if you want a great-looking matching set. The briefs are lowered at the front to accommodate your bump.

We'd Prefer It If...

... the sizes were a little more consistent. I found the sizes to be very different to my existing bras and the sizes even differed between the two bras from the same Cake Lingerie brand.

Mascaras on Trial

Mascara is just about the only make up that I regularly wear. It is surprising just how quickly I get through mascara. For some time, I was a loyal Maybelline mascara wearer but when my last one ran out, I decided to be a little more adventurous and try some of the new masacaras on the market this summer. Did any of them live up to the challenge?

L'Oreal Lash Architect 4D Mascara

The L'Oreal Lash Architect 4D Mascara sounds and looks like it means business. It comes in a long, chunky, metcallic tube (err... what is the thing that mascara comes in called?). I actually do think it is the most impressive of the mascaras I have tried this summer.

The mascara itself is quite a lightweight one and doesn't hang too heavy on the lashes. Additionally, the brush seems to only hold a small amount of mascara so you don't end up plastering it on.

Lash Architect has a really nice long brush with a slight kink at the end which seems to make application so much easier than normal - you can really get to the root of the lash.

I don't think I would go so far as the packaging does and claim to have a 'false lash effect' when I wear it, but I do think it is the only one of the mascaras I have tried this summer which genuinely increases the look of volume in my lashes. I am also not entirely sure that volume, length, texture or curve strictly qualify as dimensions (hence the 4D name tag).

Despite the bling packaging and the overstated title, I'm happy to have the Lash Architect mascara in my bag, mainly because I think it represents good value for money.

Alva Coleur

The Alva Coleur Mascara is an organic mascara available from mypure for £14.35.

The colour is a really nice deep black with no glossiness for a really consistent look. It is a really creamy texture with a very traditional brush so can be a bit lumpy to apply.

I found that the Alva Coleur Mascara was the only one of the mascaras that rubbed off during the day; actually, I don't think its do much that it rubbed off, but that because it is so creamy, it takes an incredibly long time to dry so if you blink, or accidentally rub your eyes before it is dry, you end up with panda eyes.

The Alva Coleur organic mascara features vitamin E and rosehip oil and is free from parabens, phthalates and sulfates.

Estee Lauder Sumptuous Waterproof

The Estee Lauder Sumptuous Waterproof Bold Volume Lifting Mascara really surprised me. I've a fear with waterproof mascaras that they will never come off, even with hardcore eye-make-up remover... this one comes off really easily and yet is still true to it's waterproof title.

On my holiday earlier this year, I swore by this mascara at the pool and on the beach. It isn't a dramatic mascara by any stretch of the imagination - I wouldn't say that it offered dramatic volume or deep colour, just a little bit of something noticeable that you would miss if it weren't there.

The Estee Lauder Sumptuous Waterproof mascara comes in black or brown. I've tried the black which is a nice inky, matt black. The brush is quite traditional in shape but has very soft bristles and a nice long head so I found it easy to apply.

At £19.50 it isn't the best value for money in terms of volume but I think I would definitely buy it again for future holidays.

Cooking With Children : Raspberry & Rose Cupcake Recipe

Cooking with children isn't all about baking cupcakes... but I'll admit that cupcakes are a fun and simple recipe with which to start. For a toddler such as Lara, mixing the cake batter and then decorating the tops of the cupcakes is great fun and a brilliant way to introduce them to cooking.

The cupcake recipe that Lara and I cooked at the weekend was inspired by a recipe in a Dr. Oetker recipe collection. Dr. Oetker sent Lara a few different types of cake decoration to try out and this recipe seemed a little out of the ordinary so we gave it a try. I think these are the moistest, fluffiest, softest, cakiest cupcakes I've ever made - a great success.

Rasberry & Rose Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS








For the cakes:
115g soft margarine
115g caster sugar
115g plain flour
2 medium eggs
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
65g (about 12 teaspoons) raspberry jam

For the decoration:
100g unsalted butter
1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon essence of rose water
Sugar decorations of your choice

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees (170 in a fan oven, 375 F or Gas Mark 5). Prepare 12 baking cases (we used silicone cases sprayed with Dr. Oetker's ingenious Cake Release Spray.


2. In a great big mixing bowl, beat the margarine with the sugar until pale, creamy and light in texture. Little ones will probably need some help to get it to this stage but they can start it off


3. Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and then gradually beat them into the margarine mixture


4. Sift in the flour and the baking powder and then, using a large spoon, fold the dry flour into the sloppy egg mixture. Don't worry about being too precise with your folding, toddlers and folding are not a great combination!


5. Spoon a teaspoon of the mixture into each of the cake cases. Then add a teaspoon of jam onto each. Finish off by splitting the rest of the cake mixture evenly between the cake cases. Bake in the center of the oven for about 16-18 minutes until they are a golden colour and are just firm on the top. When you take them out of the oven, put them straight onto a cooling rack and they will firm up as they cool.


6. Make sure the cakes are totally cool before you ice them. But the butter in a bowl and beat until soft (for some reason, Lara hated this bit!)Sift in the icing sugar to make a smooth creamy icing. Stir in a really tiny amount of rose water to give the icing a distinct floral taste (a little rose water goes a long way).


7. At this point you could put the icing into an icing bag and let your littlies loose on the cupcakes. I thought Lara was a little young to master an icing bag so I let her dollop the icing onto the cakes. Our icing was made with unrefined icing sugar so it looks kinda beige... a white icing sugar would probably be a more appropriate.


8. And now, for the fun part, decorate the cakes in any way you see fit using exciting decorations such as Dr. Oetker's polka dots and shimmer sugar. Beautiful

Lara loved the cakes and their lively toppings but wasn't too keen on the jam-surprise inside them. This is a simple yet unusual recipe to help you start cooking with children.