Cake, cats and Korres…

Hi everyone!

Well, as usual, this blog begins with me saying it’s been a while! I tend to update my social channels, mainly Instagram, most often as it’s, well, instant! If you don’t currently connect with me on Insta, Twitter or Facebook details are at the bottom of my blog.

Next, I’d like to say thank you so much for all of your kindness and support regarding the sad passing of my darling Pixiecat. You’re all amazing and I appreciate all of your comments. I’ll miss her forever and will keep her love in my heart for all of my days.

On the subject of cats… I have some news! I decided that, with so many animals in need of a loving home, to open my heart and home to two little boy kitties. I’ll tell you more about them in my next blog but if you follow my socials you can find out a little more ahead of the next instalment on here. Here’s some pics until then.

I recently caught up with Liz Folce from Korres. We chatted on the phone like old friends as she told me more about the brand than we usually have time to discuss on air. It was so interesting to hear about the brand’s origins and who they are today. They are built on a library of over 3,000 herbal remedies. Korres formulas are born from a deep knowledge of homeopathy and biological research and it all started with the family pharmacy several decades ago. They’re a real community and have such a lovely story, which is on their website if you fancy an interesting read with a cuppa, but I want to tell you about their forthcoming Today’s Special Value for the 27th of November!

This set consists of mammoth Supersizes! The Supersize shower gel and the body cream have been made just for QVC UK. It will come in a beautiful giftbox making it the perfect set to gift to others or to yourself.

This is what you’ll get in the stunning gift box:

A massive 400ml of Pure Greek Olive Oil Jumbo Body Cream. Enriched with olive leaf extract, extra virgin olive oil, aloe vera, shea butter, soy bean oil, sweet almond oil and rosemary extract.

Then a whopping 1 litre of Korres Hydrating Shower Gel. A magnificent mega size of their creamy-foam shower gel formulated to cleanse, hydrate and promote the look of smooth skin. Designed to help to maintain your skin’s natural moisture levels with this beautifully scented and dermatologically tested formula. It contains wheat proteins, Althea extract and soothing aloe.

As for the price, you’ll get around a 40% saving against buying individually from QVC. The 400ml Pure Greek Olive Oil Jumbo Body Cream is £30 and the 1L Pure Greek Oil Mega Size Hydrating Shower Gel is £32!

At this price it could be a treat for you and the family, or it could make a perfect gift as it’s very easy. Who doesn’t need shower and body products? I like the fact it’s not age or gender dependent and you won’t risk offending anyone like you might if you gifted, let’s say, an intensive anti-ageing set! You have to know the person fairly well for that, ha, ha!

The great news is you don’t have to wait for the live TV launch to get your hands on it as we are offering you the opportunity to get it early by buying online now (the 23rd). I’ll be enjoying an hour of Korres with Liz at noon on the 27th. Hope you can join us for the start of our Black Friday weekend!

Don’t forget to keep checking out the Black Friday deals featuring on air and online, too.

Now let’s talk cake, shall we? Some weeks back we featured a fantastic Kitchenaid deal. Kathy Tayler, Katy Pullinger, Simon Biagi and I all got involved with a Facebook live mini-series. It was a lot of fun. We each had a recipe which we demonstrated in the QVC kitchen whilst our Facebook friends watched (and in my case, laughed) along. Of course, being the Bridget Jones of QVC, there were a few mishaps and a little innuendo in my video. Eek! So scary when you’re doing it live, ha, ha! You can watch all the recipe videos back over on the QVC Facebook page.

So, I made warming spiced ginger cupcakes. Many of you asked for the recipe so here it is. It’s vegan but you can adapt it however you’d like to. My icing was a little sloppy with proportions I’ve given here. It was more of an icing than a frosting so if, like me, you want to thicken it up just keep adding more icing sugar until you get to your desired thickness.

Recipe:

For the cakes:

  • 350g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp of mixed spice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 220ml coconut oil
  • 200g golden syrup
  • 60g oat yogurt
  • 120ml oat milk
  • 2 pieces of stem ginger in syrup

 

Icing:

  • 200g icing sugar
  • 55g non-dairy butter alternative (I prefer ‘Pure’ olive)
  • 200g non-dairy cream cheese

 

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 180C/350F (160C/320F for fan)
  • Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice and salt into the Kitchenaid bowl with the whisk attachment and sift. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
  • Next, put the oil, golden syrup, yoghurt and milk in the Kitchenaid mixer bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended. Finely chop and add the stem ginger along with 1 tablespoon of syrup from the jar. Fold in the flour mixture until smooth and combined.
  • Spoon the mix into the cupcake cases.
  • Pop in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Leave to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • While the cakes are cooking wash and dry the mixing bowl. Next, put the icing sugar and non-dairy butter into the bowl and beat using the mixer attachment. Once this becomes pale and fluffy stop and change the attachment to the whisk.
  • Add the cream cheese and whisk until smooth and yummy looking.
  • Once the cupcakes have cooled you can decorate them with the icing. Spoon and kind of spread icing about for a more rustic, homemade look or use a piping bag for that swirly, whirly look.
  • Dust with a little icing sugar or ground ginger if desired.

They were really yummy. Let me know how you get on. I’d love to know if you like the recipe. You can always make a sandwich cake instead of cupcakes. Whatever you do, just enjoy yourself and eat cake!

Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and well.

Love Catherine xx

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7 Responses

  1. Lovely new kitties. They will be so loved by you. Do share thier names and hope that Popsiecat is getting on well with them. As she is the female i expect she is putting them in their place. Lovely to see you back. Keep safe xx

  2. Hi, you don’t mean iceing it is.butter cream and tastes better than iceing

    They sound yum and look it too.
    I hope you’re cats are all settled in. You said you’re white cat has two different eye colours one day on QVC are they blue bell green because a while can with one blue and one green usually means the cat is defie I hope he and your other cat will be happy in there new forever home.
    I have a cat who is 16 yrs old. I know I won’t have him that much longer. He was there when I was diagnosed with MS I already had ME and he was with me when I was diagnosed with pulmonary embolisms,both of my lungs are full of blood clots. And that part of my lung where I have blood clots it does. I can no longer ding because of that and the pain while walking and not being able to breathe makes walking impossible! I can’t lay down because the blood clots make it too painful for me to lie down so I have spent 10 yrs plus sleeping sat up in a chair. I need to raise£2500 for a bed that will fit in my Tibet bedroom. An electric folding wheel chair and a riser recline chair even though I can’t recline I have to keep my feet up as one of my feet swells really big. So if anyone can help me raise that money I would be forever grateful.
    And about my cat he is half raddoll. I had no idea, I thought he thought he was a dog when he was little because he used to play fetch with his toys. It wasn’t until he was 1 year old and he had an odd reaction to his booster injection that I looked on the internet and it said that it happened to ragdoll cats. And the min I saw what they looked like I knew he was half raddoll!
    When he was a kitten he was a ball of fluff but with eyebrows and whiskas of an adult cat. The first thing my vet said was what are all these she was surprised about all his eyebrows and wiskers lol.
    He has told me he will stay with me another 10 yrs, I know he hadn’t that is just my whish fill thinking. Sending love to you and your kitty’s XXX oh my cat was a rescue kitten from the RSPCA

  3. I am so sorry that you lost your Pixiecat, it is so overwhelming and sad as I have been through this 3 times. You carry their love and memories with you forever. Your beautiful brothers are so gorgeous, I look forward to hearing about them and their wonderful lives with you. They are 2 very lucky cats to have you as their family. Love to you and your family. Catherine xxx

  4. Lovely to see you back on our screens Catherine…. Your cats are so cute….keep safe merry Christmas X🎄🎄🎄⛄⛄

  5. Hello, Lovely, lovely photos of your two brothers….they will be sooo loved. My two cats are brothers but they are 16 and oh dear me…..I am already dreading the day when I will be without them….however there are always animals out there who need a good home, moreso at this time of year.

  6. Hi Catherine,
    Sorry to hear about Pixiecat. such a beautiful fur friend. Your new arrivals are gorgeous fur boys are stunning.
    Hopefully i will get a rescue cat next year (fingers crossed). I have been making enquiries.
    I love all animals and I was wondering if the dog jumpers that you are wearing on air are available yet ?
    Are they joules ?
    Those cup cakes look amazing – will totally try to make -I have taken a photo of the recipe.

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