Southbank and Red Velvet disaster!

I'm loving the mist that has settled over London at the moment, and was quite surprised that it hadn't extended to Southbank where my sister and I spent the afternoon. We walked around the Tea and Coffee Festival and bought  some yummy treats from the Outsider Tart stall. I had a Pumpkin Brownie and Kelly had a Congo Bar.... the brownie was divine and I bought their cookbook as soon as I got home! My sister had mentioned this bakery earlier in the week so I thought I better check their website and ... cutest thing ever... they have a 'Barkery' where they sell dog biscuits as well! I might need to buy some for my pets back home!

In search for an ATM, we walked closer to the river and came across a Christmas market selling all the usual German sausages, Christmas decorations and Gluhwein! It took me back to the week I spent in Dusseldorf last December exploring the markets in my time off. While walking along the Thames I managed to get some stunning photos of a hazy Big Ben and Parliament. 

After a lovely afternoon, it was time to head home and bake some red velvet cupcakes! After a rather stressful week, I decided this would be the perfect way to relax before the week coming up..... I was wrong! 

I used too much bicarbonate of soda (recipe said 1 tsp - I read 1 Tbsp) .

Because of this, the first batch I made tripled in size and all moulded into 1 giant cupcake while cooking. (Luckily there was enough batter for a second batch)

As I don't have an electric beater, my icing has chunks of icing sugar in it.

And possibly the worst thing about them is that they are not red but brown! 

They look like normal chocolate cupcakes - I was so upset! But at least they taste good and when I take them into work tomorrow I might just tell everyone they're chocolate and the icing is meant to bits of icing sugar in them. 

I wont post any pics of them just yet - it will just depress me even more! I will though when I perfect the recipe and produce RED cupcakes as soon as I am back in SA in my mom's fully equipped kitchen!

On a final note, one of the blogs I've been reading recently, has been talking about an accessories shop called Barberry and Lace. If you click on this link you will get a 20% discount when you buy something from their store! Go check out their website - their necklaces are beautiful and ideal for Christmas presents! I can't wait for my goodies to arrive in the post!