Recipe: Orange layer cake

I'm a massive fan of citrus flavoured cakes so this orange layer cake was always going to be a winner.  I slightly adapted the Mary Berry recipe to cut out the glaze she suggested. Instead I just used plain buttercream in the middle. It's a really simple cake to make and it went down a treat at the BBQ I made it for.

Ingredients
225g baking spread
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
100g caster sugar
100g soft brown sugar
4 large eggs
Zest of two oranges

For the buttercream
150g unsalted butter
300g icing sugar

Method
1. Heat the oven to 180 / 160 fan / gas mark 4. Grease two cake tins liberally with butter and line with parchment paper.

2. Keep a quarter of the orange zest back then put all the cake ingredients into a stand mixer and mix until combined and smooth.

3. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Bake for around 20 minutes but keep an eye on it as it cooks very quickly! As you can tell because it looks a little brown around the edges...

4. Once cooked, leave in tins for five minutes before taking out the cake and placing it on a wire rack to cool down.

5.  Put the butter and icing sugar into a bowl and beat until it is light and fluffy. Spread half the butter on one half of the cooled cake. Then sandwich both the cakes together.

6. Mix in the remaining orange zest with the rest of the icing sugar. Smooth on the top of the layer cake.

7. Cut yourself a big slice and tuck in!

As always I would love to know what you think of this and if you try it yourself. Just drop me a tweet to let me know!

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How to style a tiered midi skirt

Outfit:
Black roll neck body: ASOS (similar)
Black and white patterned tiered midi skirt: ASOS
Black midi heel shoes: Primark (similar)
Poppy red Lily bag: Mulberry
Faux leather jacket: New Look (similar)
Red liquid lipstick: Kat Von D

I wore this over the weekend for a little mother/daughter date to London. We had such a lovely day catching An American in Paris in the West End (highly recommend it!), buying ridiculous yet fully essential things for my garden to make it look pretty for an upcoming BBQ and stuffing our faces in Bills with ribs and chicken burgers. It turned out to be such a beautiful day and it finally felt like spring. Looking out the window I had high hopes for the weather so I decided to wear my favourite skirt again. It makes me feel like the red lady dress emoji which is never a bad thing right?

This weekend looks to be just as fun as I'm on my way to the French Riviera for a weekend with my favourite internet friends. We've got the perfect guide in the form of Elodie showing us all around her hometown. I can't wait for a weekend of good food, great company and warm sunshine. It's been a long four months since I've been on a plane so I'm so excited to be exploring another part of the world.

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Four places I'd love to visit on a cruise holiday

Planet Cruise never really appealed to me until the last few years - now I love the idea if being about to tick so many things off my bucket list in one holiday. It seems like river cruises are my thing. So many incredible cities are located along riverbanks. Here are four different types of cruises I'd love to go on...

1. River Danube cruise
We spent time along the River Danube in Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna but there is so much more I want to explore. Starting in the Black Forest of Germany, the river flows through ten different countries. This time it'll be great to visit during the winter months to see more of Germany along the river. Catching the Christmas markets at Nuremberg, Bamberg and Wurzburg are all top of my list. Alternatively, it'll be great to see the Balkens - a region of Europe I'm not too familiar with but am keen to change. I've heard so many good things about the slightly undiscovered Serbia.

Image credit Lily Lipstick

2. River Mekong cruise
The world's 12th longest river is based in south-east Asia. But the two countries I've most interested in seeing along the route are Cambodia and Vietnam. Angkor Wat is top of my list! I'd love to see the rural floating communities as well as the big city of Ho Chi Minh City.

Image credit Bow Dream Nation

3. Iceland, Norway and Faroe islands cruise
This part of the world always seems like it's from another planet and I think that's part of the reason why it appeals so much to me. All three countries are brand new to me and all high on my list of places to visit. I've spent many hours looking at blog posts about the beautiful Bergan, Reykjavik and Torshavn. I can imagine the scenery on the cruise will be absolutely breathtaking.

Image from Planet Cruise

4. River Nile cruise
My nan did this a few years ago and the pictures looked amazing! I don't think you can fully appreciate these ancient wonders of the world along the longest river in the world until you actually see them in person. The Valley of the Kings have been on my bucket list for ages and I'd love to finally tick it off.

This post was written in collaboration with Planet Cruise - one of the largest independent cruise agents, offering deals to over 3000 different ports.

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