Trick or Treat?

Of course it's a treat... and we've picked our favourite spooky treats for you to try.

Brain Blood Clot Cupcakes!

These cakes may look pretty gruesome but they taste utterly gorgeous.

If you fancy making some of your own, you'll need:

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

225g (8oz) caster sugar, preferably golden

2 large eggs, free-range or organic

150g (5½oz) self-raising flour, sifted

125g (4½oz) plain flour, sifted

120ml (4fl oz) semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

1tsp good-quality vanilla extract

Good quality red jam

- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (fan)/gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tray or 3 x 12-hole mini muffin trays with cupcake cases.

- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for a few minutes after each addition.

- In a separate bowl, combine the two flours. Put the milk into a jug and add the vanilla extract. Add one third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well. Pour in one third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added.

- Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about two thirds full. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes (regular size) or 15 minutes (mini size) until slightly raised and golden brown. To check they are cooked, insert a skewer in the centre of one of the cakes - it should come out clean.

- When completely cold, cut a smallish hole into the top of each cake. Spoon no more than a teaspoon of jam into the hole forming a gross “blood clot” inside your cake. The cakes are then ready to place brains on top.

For the Icing;

110g unsalted butter, at room temperature

60ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract

500g of icing sugar, sifted

Few drops of red food colouring

- In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, milk, vanilla extract and half the icing sugar until smooth. Use an electric hand mixer to make life so much easier. Gradually add the remainder of the icing sugar and beat again until the buttercream is smooth and creamy.

- To colour your buttercream, always start with one drop of food colouring and beat thoroughly. This will be all you need to achieve a very pale brain like hue. Add carefully drop by drop, and beat after each addition to build up your desired shade. Feel free to swap vanilla for any other flavour of essence. A teaspoonful will be enough to provide great flavour. Decoration

- Using an icing bag with a circular tip, squiggle on top to help get the look of a brain, try to decorate in two halves to give the look of hemispheres, try to give it a domed shape, and make the sides as symmetrical as possible. If you are feeling adventurous add a few blood vessels using red decorating gel.

Scary Mummy Hot Dogs!

These cute little hot dogs in pastry make for an easy spooky treat. Just wrap some sausages in some ready made pasty. See recipe here.

Autumn Playlist

In the last issue we compiled a playlist of favourite Autumn inspired tunes and now you can win the chance to get your very own copy. If you'd like to get your hands on one, just tell us what your favourite thing about Autumn is and we shall pick a winner by Friday 5th November.

Button Up

Now that the cold snap is in full swing we've all got our eye on this gorgeous Amber wax jacket from Henri Lloyd. Staying true to their roots the jacket is 100% Made In England, from the design, pattern, fabric and manufacturing. With details giving a nod to their sailing heritage, we can guarantee that this will keep you warm, comfortable and protected from the elements. If Alexa can pull off that preppy heritage chic, so can we. We can just see ourselves wearing it on a nice country walk with a handsome rugged man...well we can dream.

Picture Perfect

Now the nights are drawing in and Winter is fast approaching, we tend to spend more and more time cosying up in our houses- usually under a blanket with a hot chocolate on the go. So looking out for beautiful knick-knacks to brighten up our abodes has become an absolute must.....

Our most recent discovery are these cute Polaroid coasters from 'Just Noey'. Created by illustrator/designer Parul Arora from London, these ceramic coasters will give any home a touch of retro charm... we're in love.

This is our favourite...

If you want to purchase one of these beauties, just head over to the 'Just Noey' Etsy shop here:

By Kat Nicholls

Frock Me

Are you in Brighton this weekend? Want to get your hands on some lovely vintage items? If the answer is yes then enter our giveaway now!

Frock Me! started 7 years ago and has been the inspiration for Channel 4's eponymous spin off fashion show hosted by Alexa Chung and designer Henry Holland. There will be around 70 exhibitors selling a complete cross section of vintage clothing and accessories from the 1900s right up to 1980s with prices from as little as just a pound or two up to designer items for a little bit more.

The next event will be at the Corn Exchange this Sunday and we've got a pair of tickets for one lucky follower. All you have to do is leave us a comment below with your email address and we'll pick a winner on Saturday. For an extra entry make sure you're following us on Twitter (@cellardoormag) and tweet about the giveaway.

Good luck!

Homemade is Best

The Cellardoor team ventured to Ikea at the weekend and being surrounded by lots of lovely things really got us inspired. We've already planned out our dream office, living room, kitchen.... now we just need to go and claim that Euro Millions win. Pah... us girls can dream.

Speaking of Ikea, we've recently come across this cute little baking book from the Swedish dream company. The 140 page coffee-table book presented in a very visually unique and spectacular way, and we instantly fell in love... not to mention the lovely pink cover.

Ikea says "90% of all the photographs taken in baking books look extremly alike. We wanted to try something different and present the recipes in a totally new fashion.The idea of the book became to tone down the actual cake and put the ingredients in focus. The recipes are presented as graphic still-life portraits on a warm and colourful stage. And when you turn the page you see the fantastic result."

The result really is stunning, and we were bowled over buy the simple photographs and clean layout and all the ingredients are styled in a fun way. The book contains 30 classic swedish baking recipes with everything from small biscuits to large cakes. So what are you waiting for.. lets gets cooking.

Winter Warmers

Brrr... the weather has turned so much colder in the last week or so and now our minds have turned to wrapping ourselves up in warm chunky knits and wooly scarves to keep out the cold.

Here are a few of our favourite knits...

Asos, £54.90

Topshop, £48.00

Zara, £29.99

Dorothy Perkins, £28.00

Asos, £29.00

MY KZ, UR BF

Everything Everything are a band we can't keep off repeat at the moment and if you've got very keen ears you may have even heard them on our spotify playlist. If not you can head over there now... there's a whole mix of tracks you're missing out on!

Our contributor Toni Ogle managed to catch the band at The Talking Heads, Southampton last Monday. What a lucky girl, here's what she had to say....

After seeing the band Everything Everything by chance for the first time at Reading festival, I eagerly awaited their sold-out Southampton show at The Talking Heads.

Surrounded by an assortment of people of all different ages, I waited for the foursome to take to the stage getting more and more impatient by the minute in the small and stuffy venue. From the moment that Mike, Jonathan, Jeremy and Alex stepped out however, the atmosphere was electric. Jonathan’s unique and powerful voice filled the room whilst the rest of the band sang in the background creating an almost choir sound as they sang in harmony.

What’s really admirable about this band and made the evening even more special is that not only are they exceptionally talented but they also enjoy themselves and this definitely reflected in their show. You could tell this particularly towards the end of the evening when the music became louder and the vocals became more passionate.

The highlight of the evening for me was the performance of ‘Leave the engine room’ throughout which Jonathan’s slow and soothing voice engulfed the crowed sending them into a subdued state of awe. They ended with ‘Photoshop handsome’, which got everyone in the crowd moving with energetic beats and jolted singing. Everyone in the room was having fun, including the band and the atmosphere was amazing - a perfect way to end the evening.

Holly Fulton for Smythson

Launching her own fashion line after a glamorous start at Lanvin, Holly Fulton has become one of Britain's most exciting up-and-coming designers of our generation. Launched to stardom after winning the coveted NEWGEN sponsorship award from the British Fashion Council, she has become recognisable by her Art-Deco inspired prints and slick designs.

Transferring these unique prints onto a new medium, Fulton has become the latest designer to create a range for Smythson stationery. Following in the fashionable footprints of Giles Deacon, Erdem and Matthew Williamson, she will be designing a range of 2011 diaries and notebooks in her signature palette of black, yellow and aqua.

With quirky flapper inspired illustrations and exclusive prints from her Autumn/Winter '10 collection, this range of stationary looks to be one of the chicest ways to keep organised. You can pre-order pieces from the range next week on the Smythson website ... and we recommend you get in there quick- Erdem sold out fast!

Being organised never looked quite so good.

By Kat Nicholls

The Earworm with a Stinger

Surrounded by an ever changing backdrop of inspiring musicians, Julie Ann Bee lies at the centre of her own musical project- ‘Sea of Bees’. As the singer, writer and instrumentalist, Jules relies on talented friends to fill in the gaps to make the projects enchanting music. Focusing on Jules’ innocent and girlish vocals, the bands music takes on folk-y ethereal numbers with ease on their latest album ‘Songs for the Ravens’.

Expect sweeping romance and eccentric beats in a perfect world of Jules’ own making. A band to watch, Sea of Bees are the perfect soundtrack for kicking up the leaves this Autumn.

By Kat Nicholls

Janes Homewares

Yesterday after a cheeky lunchtime trip to Topshop on Oxford St, we were pleasantly surprised to spy these yummy homeware items hiding amongst all the the vintage rails. Us Cellardoor girls love to a add a bit of retro glamour to our rooms, and these are all perfect.

Here a few we've got our eyes on...

When life gives you lemons...

MAKE LEMONADE

Here at Cellardoor we're quite partial to some vintage shopping, so we were delighted when stumbled across this little gem. Make Lemonade Vintage started just last year and has since grown into somewhat of a online vintage treasure. Each piece is hand-picked and sourced from great vintage in London.

And if you're keen to keep up to date with catwalk trends, than have no fear because you girls are catered for too, with inspiration from Chloe, Celine and Mulberry.

We've spied cute blouses with crochet and silk trimming, which are the brands speciality, as well as the vintage staples such as Levis Cut-off’s and of course the can't-live-without cable knit jumpers.

Here are our picks.....

Camel Shirt £12.50

Cowgirl Shirt £11.00

Take a peek into the new collection here

Earworm

The first thing I do in the morning is pour some coffee and put the toast on, it’s a normal ritual before I get writing and working, and I usually like to have some music on in the background.

I don’t know about you, but after a few days I find myself getting very bored with the same songs over and over again. The Spotify ‘What’s New’ list is, well, dire… but this week I have been lucky enough however to stumble upon The Hundred in the Hands.

A funky duo of “Avant-pop split between the austere and feverish”. Now, I am no music junkie nor am I very knowledgeable in the correct terms and genres, but I am loving their songs. They write together and found one another while travelling across the US. They are based in New York and bring the past sounds of vintage hip-hop and 60s pop into today’s eclectic music scene.

My favourite songs so far are Pigeons, Building in L.O.V.E and Dressed in Dresden. Their website is not only a great place to read about them, but they also write and review music and designers…

by Emete Yarici

Lily in Disguise...

Taking a step back from her successful singing career, pop sensation Lily Allen has turned her hand to more fashionable ventures. While most celebrities enter the fashion world as wannabe designers, Lily has taken a typically different route by launching her own vintage store.

Teaming up with half-sister Sarah Owen, Lily Allen has created a vintage store for modern fashionistas under the name of 'Lucy in Disguise', (a parody of the Beatles song, 'Lucy in the sky'). The sisters have hand-picked a selection of the best vintage clothing from every decade, from beaded gowns of the ‘30s to sequinned catsuits of the ‘80s - and even some pieces from Lily's own wardrobe. With a special hiring service available and surprisingly reasonable price points, the duo have made vintage fashion accessible to the masses.

The store launched to great success a couple of weeks ago with friends such as Daisy Lowe and Jaime Winstone in attendance. With a vintage make-up salon, retro blow dry bar and stylists on hand to advise, Lucy in Disguise has become a real life dressing up box for the true fashion lover.

Go have a play yourself at Lucy in Disguise, 10 Kings Street, Covent Garden, London.

by Kat Nicholls