Royal carrot cake

Tomorrow we are celebrating Queensday, here in Holland.
A festivity, a celebration. What better excuse is there to bake?

So I hereby present my 'royal' carrot cake!

Orange topping since that is the color for the royal family and is probably the color that 90% of the Dutch are wearing tomorrow.
For anyone unfamiliar with carrot cake, it is delicious! It actually doesn't taste like carrot at all, the spices used are the main flavor with a touch of carrot, walnut and topping.

The result of my cake was way better than I expected and it is definitely one for the According To Noes bakery from now on!

Enjoy your weekend and Queensday!

Love,
Noes

Springtime garland

While reading the easter edition of one of my favorite magazines I found such a fun idea.
Sure you can go ahead and just buy pretty things but when it comes to seasonal styles, how often would you like to change?

And how fun is it to make something yourself? Even just the process of it.
So instead of following Emily of Cupcakes & Cashmere and buy a very pretty tassel garland, I followed my magazine and made a springtime garland myself.

I used bird and feather shapes in pastel colors but of course you can design it any way you like.
What do you need?
- Several sheets of colored paper,  you can also use wallpaper or gift wrap.
- Pretty shapes or drawing skills
- Two threads, one regular for sewing, one more substantial
- Scissors
- A sewing machine

- Draw your shapes onto the paper with a pencil, mind that for wallpaper and such you should cut out double and mirror one to create a entire shape.
- Place all your shapes in an order you like.
- Place the bigger thread on top of your shapes and sew over it (zigzag) with the regular sewing thread. Go on until you're done!

Cute, isn't it?
Love,
Noes

It's not a party without cupcakes

So I made some!

 

 

Birthday guirlandes and new home cupcakes, yum

Love,
Noes

Fabulous Fifi

Cute, very fashionable and a huge celebrity... Who's that girl? It's Fifi Lapin!

Fifi only wears the most fabulous outfits from the runway and rocks them.

Admire all her runway (and off runway) outfits, here at her blog.

Fifi party proof,

Winter wonderland proof

and all ready for girls night out!

We definitely share the same taste since we have the same coat...

...and we both like to go for the casual look. This is probably my favorite so far.

Not only does Fifi lapin have the amazing blog for her outfits, you could also own your very own Fifi scarf, bag, shirt artwork and style guide.

This bunny is a star on the rise, mark my words!

Love,
Noes

City seeing: Antwerp

Shopping Walhalla Antwerp, before you know it months pass without paying it a visit. Luckily we made up for that the past week… double.
One day for shopping, one day for sightseeing, but as you could expect that division got mixed up as soon as I was there.

Shopping

Urban Outfitters, River Island, Forever 21 and many more, I love them and they love me.
As you can see, my mission was successful: Aztec print shorts, cute bandeau top, finally a great guide on Australia, pretty jewellery, a fun festival attribute and the new Go Back To The Zoo album.

Australia guide: Fnac
Flask: Urban Outfitters
Shorts, top and jewellery: Forever 21

 

Sightseeing

 

Food

Since you can't shop all day on an empty stomach, we also tested some restaurants and tea rooms.

Tortellini with spinach and four cheeses at the Italien. Yum.

 Relaxing at Starbucks

Lojola
coffee & cake

I truly want a shop like this! So cute!

Cheese- and tiramisu cake

Momade

Unfortunately not tasted since we've already had the delicious cakes seen above, but I will do so next time. Take a moment to look at their site, looks divine!

And just because cupcakes are so cute looking...

 I wanna make these myself!

Two entire days in this city and still such a short blog, but you know what they say... A picture is worth a thousand words.

 And may I say so myself, they look like we had a great couple of days!

Thanks to Krista, Fleur and the city

Love,
Noes

Love birds

Bachelorette party cupcakes, have fun today girls!

Love,
Noes

Dutch 'NY' cheesecake

I must honestly say that I'm not a huge fan of standard Dutch deserts. Things that are typical for Holland like 'vla' or plain 'yoghurt' ar not things I can be excited about.
So after diner at home I usually skip it, but when it comes to restaurants... it's a whole different story.
There they serve deserts like crème brûlée, tiramisu and something I made this weekend. Cheesecake.

It was my first time baking cheesecake so I used a recipe from Hummingbird Bakery as guide towards my own version. Due to the difference in heath of my oven and theirs, I needed more heath and time for the cake to look the way it was supposed to, apart from that I do not advise to cover your cake with household film while cooling because it sticks to your cake and ruins the shiny top.
But now that I know this all, I have a great recipe for home made cheesecake which you can adjust easily by adding fruit or cookie crumbles.
This one is a vanilla cheesecake which I topped with strawberry dressing. Maybe banana or chocolate next time?

Love,
Noes

Indian summer

There's a trend for the upcoming season that completely suits my wishes for the more specific, festival, season.
Feather en bird prints, the so-called navajo, aztec and geometric prints, leather boots, long necklaces and lots of bangels and bracelets.

Wooden bangels: H&M
Gemstone necklace: Shoeby
Leather boots: Airstep
Pants and scarf: Zara

As you can see I've already started collecting a few items but I still have a lot of wishes for my shopping session in Antwerp this Friday.

Feather print tops - Forever 21

Geo print - Forever 21

Bird print - Forever 21

Navajo print - Urban Outfitters

I like combing these tops with jeans shorts or a skirt during the summer time or beige or bright colored skinny jeans during the colder days.

 

Navajo print sunglasses and leather bag - Zara

 

Wing earrings - Pickle Dog Design on Etsy

Let’s hope the weather gods will be kind this year’s festival season, because dressing for it will be so much fun!
Love,
Noes