So here is the first recipe since my “diet” blog which has had a great response, thank you all so much for your comments. Please feel free to ask me any other questions about it -  thats what the “Ask me anything” page is for :) 

Anyway back to baking!

 I am a huge fan of carrot cake but the thing with cakes is it’s pretty hard to transport and eat them if you want it on the go. This is why I love cupcakes. Not the cupcakes piled high with icing I am much more of a … less is more kind of girl when it comes to cupcakes. They are easy to grab and eat on the go and these ones are a great pre training snack.

I found a recipe that was specifically for spiced carrot & raisin cupcakes, I did change a few things on the recipe though to try and make it slightly healthier by using the honey as a substitute for the sugar and I also used less oil because the carrots give the sponge enough moisture. I also did do my own version of icing for some of the cupcakes by using greek style yoghurt instead of cream cheese - but I  only iced them because I was giving them out to people and not eating them all myself.

For the sponge 

100ml of sunflower oil

100g of soft brown sugar 

1 tbsp of runny honey

3 large free range eggs

150g of plain flour 

3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 tsp of baking powder 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

220g peeled and grated carrots 

75g of raisins 

For the icing (I only used half the amount for a thin layer of icing)

90g of unsalted butter 

75g icing sugar, sifted 

2 tbsp of greek style yoghurt

1tsp vanilla extract 

2 tsp of orange zest, plus extra for decorating 

Pre heat the oven to 200 C or gas mark 6. Line two 12 hole cupcake tins with cupcake cases. 

To make the sponge mix the sunflower oil, sugar, honey and eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat until well mixed. Then sift in all the dry ingredients ad stir well, then add the carrots and the raisins - make sure they are evenly spread thoughout the mixture. 

Divide the sponge mixture evenly between all the cupcake cases and place in the over for 18-20 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back at the touch of your fingertip.

Cool the cupcakes by removing them from the tin and placing them on a wire rack. 

For the icing, beat all the ingredients together using a hand mixer or an electric whisk until the mixture is completely smooth. Add more yoghurt if the mixture seems to dry or add more icing sugar if it seems too runny. 

Finally when the cupcakes have cooled spoon the icing onto half or all of your cupcakes and enjoy with a nice cup of tea! 

I took these cupcakes on the photo shoot I did today with British gas and they went down very well, I only came home with one which was perfect as I was starving  after training last night :)

I hope you enjoy making these cupcakes they are so good. Please send me pictures if you make them to my twitter feed @keriannepayne 

Keri-anne xx

I have been asked a number of times about my diet and the simple answer is there is no secret to what I eat, but what I do eat is mostly made from scratch with good fresh ingredients so I know whats going into my body.

All the meals that I cook are fairly traditional and quick to make (so I’m not snacking before dinner) but almost all of them I have given a slight twist to. Just to make it a little more healthy but keeping the flavour of the food as I am a big fan of food and hate it when people think healthy food is boring! I can promise you it’s not.

My traininig schedule is pretty packed. I do 10 sessions in the pool each for 2-2 and a half hours. I do 15 minutes of pre-pool/ injury prevention before each session. I do 2 gym circuits a week this is mainly cardio based with sit ups, press ups, skipping ect. I also do 2 yoga sessions a week.

I train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday AM and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday PM

Gym is on Monday and Friday after morning training

Yoga is on Tuesday and Thursday before afternoon training.

Pre training snack is always 2 slices of toast with raspberry jam or peanut butter if I have a hard session for the slow release energy.

If I have gym my post training snack is a banana and a strawberry milkshake, making sure that I have this within a 20 minute window after training to replace the fuel lost as quickly as possible. If I don’t have gym my post training snack is usually a banana or a cereal bar.

When I get home I always have a bowl of Shreddies with raisins for breakfast. I am obsessed with this at the moment!

Lunch is anything from mackerel with pasta and a poached egg to a prawn and chicken salad.

Dinner again is varied but my favorite meals to make are - Meatballs with penne pasta and garlic bread, Salmon wellington (salmon fillets with cous cous wrapped in puff pastry) Steak and baked potato, Turkey bolognese and a new favorite - Venison roasted with sweet potato mash and beetroot

The rest of my diet is filled with snacking often to make sure I have enough energy for training so this means lots of fresh fruit and a healthy supply of yoghurts and bread.

I also have a passion for baking, and I am try to find the recipes without too much sugar but this can be difficult. Usually I find excuses to bake like a friends party or a family gathering so I can get my fix baking. I usually make lemon drizzle cakes, oatmeal and raisin cookies or marmalade puddings.

Over the next few weeks I will put a few of the recipes on here if you want to try them out and let me know your thoughts. So keep a look out :)

I hope you found this insightful and if you want any more information let me know.

Keri-anne xx

How exciting!! Today P&G UK launched their new campaign telling the UK about some of their Olympic ambassadors. 

Today on Grazia daily, http://tinyurl.com/7ltv2q4 

ELLE Online http://tinyurl.com/6q8axv7 

and Vogue.co.uk http://tinyurl.com/7fl5y9u 

it was announced that Victoria Pendelton is the new face of Pantene Pro-V, Jessica Ennis is the new face of Olay and I am the new face of Max Factor’s award winning False lash effect gold mascara. 

I am so proud to be part of P&G’s Olympic team especially Max factor. When I’m not training, I love experimenting with make-up and creating different looks. I’m a long-time fan of False Lash Effect and I love this new gold pack edition. 

The best thing about the mascara is that you don’t need a make up artist to get the false lash look, it’s easy to do yourself!

Keri-anne xx

The BBC sports personality was such a great event. I loved it- being a sports fan its the perfect place to go and see all the amazing sporting heros we have in the UK and some from around the world too! This year as well as seeing 9 of the 10 contenders for the award (Andy Murray was unable to attend) I saw Paula Radcliff, Michael Owen and the entire England cricket team.

It was so much fun going up on stage with Petra Kvitova, this years Wimbledon champion. We were met on stage by Jake Humphrey. He joked about how tall we all were and he also asked us both a few questions about our success this year. We presented the award for “Coach of the year”  and the nominees were Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United Manager), Warren Gatland (Welsh Rugby Union coach) and Andy Flower (England Cricket team coach). I had the honour of reading out the winners name from the gold envelope.

  “And the winner of the coach of the year for 2011 is…Andy Flower”

 I must admit that even though I had read the name of the winner backstage, for a split second I thought I may have read the wrong name out! Thank goodness I didn’t. 

 I am so please that Mark Cavendish won the Sport Personality of the year, it was well deserved. Winning as many stages as he and his team did in the Tour de France is really impressive and I thought his acceptance speech was very heart felt - thanking his team as much as he did. 

 Although it was a shame there were no women in the top 10  on thursday evening it was a celebration of this years sporting success. Next year however I think the list may be a little different :)

 I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a happy and successful new year. 

 Best wishes 

 Keri-anne xxx