Zoella's 'Girl Online' - What it meant to me

Hello everyone!

When I was in Dublin today, I ventured into Easons (or is it Eason??) on O'Connell Street and I finally bought the debut novel by Ms. Zoe Sugg herself, 'Girl Online.' And wow! 

I went into Starbucks to waste an hour of waiting for my bus and started reading. I walked to the bus station and while I was waiting for fifteen minutes, I kept reading. I'm still on the bus (and it's a two and half journey!) and I literally just finished the book! This is definitely a record for me - starting and finishing a book in less than 4 hours! What an achievement! (Give yourself a pat on the back there Aoife.. Thanks Aoife!)

I was going to review the book, but there's not much I can say about it without ruining the story! Except for all the emotions it made me feel - I was happy, I was sad, I laughed, I even had tears in my eyes at one point. But it has also given me this new found confidence.

This blog, like Penny's, was something I started for myself way back at the beginning of June. Since that first post, I have had almost 3000 pageviews, discovered a love for photography and writing, started a YouTube channel and have become a lot happier! Not a lot of my friends or family or people I went to school with know about any of this, but I think I am finally ready to set this blog out into the world! 

Zoella has always been an inspiration to me (she's one of the reasons I started all of this in the first place!) and now her book has given me this boost of confidence and excitement about making my blog more public. I definitely related to all the characters in the book - Penny for her anxiety and fear of her blog going public, Noah for his love of music and all things quirky, Elliot for his love of fashion and just wanting to be understood, even Megan for her love of drama and theatre (although I'm not that much of a bitch to people I call my friends, I hope!) - and it's not often that a book can do that to me. I've never related to any character in any book I've read (and trust me, that's been a lot!) so to feel this connected to four characters in one book was insane! 

I cannot wait to read the sequel ('Girl Online: On Tour') which I will definitely be buying once I finish 'All the Bright Places' (a favourite of Zoe's, so I'm definitely going to trust her judgement!).

Have you read 'Girl Online'? What did you think of it?

Until next time.

Fifs xo

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJiSrpzyYR_YGnVdqKo1nQ

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aoife_doyle_x

Instagram: AoifeDoyle1995

View Post

Spa Day

Hello everyone!

As a treat yesterday, my mam and I went to a spa! We've both been extremely stressed out (her with work, me with college) so we decided that we needed to just relax and spend the day together with no worries. We went to the Pillo Hotel & Spa in Galway for a full body masssage, a head massage (which was AMAZING!!) and some time in the thermal suite. It was such a nice way to unwind and forget about our worries for a few hours. Part of the deal included cocktails after, which I definitely didn't object to! 

Enjoy these photos I took of the beautiful spa! 

Until next time.

Fifs xo

Just me, chilling in my white robe!

I just loved these fake lillies!

Swimsuit from boohoo.com!!

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJiSrpzyYR_YGnVdqKo1nQ

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aoife_doyle_x

Instagram: AoifeDoyle1995

View Post

How to: Caramel Cupcakes!!

Hello everyone!

This evening, I went baking! This is the first time I've made something from my head (if that makes sense) and not from a book so I decided to share it with you all. 

These caramel cupcakes are just delicious and I am so happy that I decided to experiment with baking this evening instead of just making regular vanilla cupcakes! 

Here is everything you will need!!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

120g baking butter

120g sugar

120g self-raising flour 

Teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

Caramel flavouring

Icing:

100g butter

200g icing sugar

Tin condensed milk

2 dessert spoons double cream

Caramel flavouring

Chopped toffee pieces

To start with, I preheated the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan-oven) and put cupcake cases into my bun tin. I used these cute little yellow cases.

Then, it was time to start baking!! First, I creamed together the butter and sugar. I beat them on high speed until it looked light and creamy. 

I then started alternating the sifted flour and eggs (which I cracked into a jug to avoid shells getting into the mixture) into my butter and sugar. Once everything was mixed together, I added 2-3 caps of the caramel flavouring. I had to taste the batter to make sure it was the right flavour I wanted (it was also an excuse to eat some cake batter!!) so just keep adding the flavouring to taste. I gave the batter another good mix on the high speed setting.

Using an ice-cream scoop, I filled up the cases and popped them into the oven for 12-15 mins. When they were done, I took them out of the bun tin and on to a wire tray to cool down.

While the cupcakes were cooling, it was time to make the caramel for the icing. I'm not too sure if I would use this method again, but I wouldn't say no to it if I needed to make caramel quickly. 

I poured the tin of condensed milk into a saucepan and brought it to the boil, stirring occasionally with a whisk. It took a while for this to start bubbling, but once it does it doesn't stop!! Once it was brought to the boil, I added a small bit of butter, the double cream and caramel flavouring. 

To make the butter icing, you can use whatever recipe you usually use. For me, I just mixed the butter until it was nice and soft, then sifted in half of the icing sugar, mixed, and then added the remaining icing sugar (sifted!). 

And now it's time to make this caramel butter icing!! It's simple, just add half of your cooled caramel mixture to the butter icing and mix well. If you want a bit more flavour (like me!) add some more of that caramel flavouring.

I didn't use a piping bag for the icing for these cupcakes as the icing was very sweet and I didn't want too much. Instead, I used a knife to spread it on. I love the rustic look this technique gave the cupcakes. I put three little pieces of chopped toffee on top and these cupcakes were ready to serve!!

And there we have it! Caramel cupcakes with caramel butter icing, perfect with a cup of tea on these cold Autumn evenings. If you make these cupcakes, post a photo on Instagram and be sure to tag me (link below) and use the hashtag #BakingWithFifs!

Until next time.

Fifs xo

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJiSrpzyYR_YGnVdqKo1nQ

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aoife_doyle_x

Instagram: AoifeDoyle1995

View Post