Chocolate Cake Recipe

Here, as promised, is the chocolate cake recipe.
Ingredients:
5oz (150g) self raising flour
3oz (75g) drinking chocolate
6oz (175g) caster sugar (I used granulated and it worked fine)
6oz (175g) margarine at room temperature
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons boiling water

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to Gas 4/180 degrees C/350 degrees F.  Line a 20cm/8 ins round deep cake tin with baking parchment (I added that in!).
2.  Sift flour and drinking chocolate into a large mixing bowl. 
3. Add all other ingredients and blend together.  Beat for a couple of minutes until smooth.
4. Turn into tin and bake for about 45-60 minutes until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
5. Leave in tin for a few minutes then cool on a cooling rack.
6. Ice with your favourite icing or melted chocolate.
This quick and easy cake keeps well in a tin.

For the chocolate fudge icing:
1. Put 4oz (110g) granulated sugar and 4fl oz (115ml) milk into a pan.  Simmer for 9 minutes.
2. Add 5oz (150g) plain chocolate, 2oz (50g) butter and 2 tablespoons double cream.
3. Leave to cool and spread over the cake.
(This makes a generous amount of fudge icing)

To make the Russian Roulette Revels cake, place the contents of two large bags of Revels in a pattern on top of the cake.  Try to avoid eating the coffee ones!

Yet more dis-aaaarrr-sters!

 Not to be outdone by me and my baking dis-aaaarrrr-sters, Chris decided to have one of his own.  I don't think this was the intention as he announced that he was going to make some cinder toffee (or honeycomb, as I know it).  He used Nigella's recipe from How to be a Domestic Goddess and followed it to the letter.  The scent of toffee pervaded the whole house.  However, when I went in to see the finished creation, my first (and probably not very helpful comment) was "You'll never get it out of the tin!"

He had used (as Nigella said) a square tin that I use for flapjack, and although he had buttered it thoroughly, the thickness of the cinder toffee meant that it stuck very well to the tin.  A wooden spatula did managed to dislodge it, but it came off in bits, as you can see from the photos.

It tasted very nice, but as it sat there, it softened and became chewy, when it should have been nice and crunchy.  Another attempt may be made, utilising a different recipe and a flat baking tray...nice to know it isn't just me!
In my next post, I'll write down the chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing recipe for anyone who would like it.

"Dis-aaaaarrrrr-ster" cake!

The title of this post will strike a chord with those of you who watch Strictly, as I am quoting Craig Revel-Horwood! I was making a Russian Roulette Revels chocolate cake (made for the first time last year for my husband's birthday - see here for my previous blog post on it) for my colleague Leanne's birthday and used a recipe I have used many times before.  All was going well until it came to the turning out of the cake.  Would it come out of the tin?  No, it wouldn't.  After loosening it with a knife and judicious amounts of banging around the side of the tin, I tried again, only to find the top half of the cake came out, leaving the bottom half still in the tin.

 More loosening, scraping and banging ensued, only to find that a large portion of the remaining cake fell out onto the floor.  This was picked up and donated to the bird food for the bird table the next morning.  I decided to admit defeat and Chris suggested cutting the top piece in half, sandwiching it together with icing and having a half-cake cake. The photos above show the top half of the cake.

 So, that is what I did and above shows the half-cake cake, with chocolate fudge icing in the middle.  "Dis-aaaaarrr-ster" (sort of) averted!

 Here it is with the remaining Revels chocolates left over from the second attempt.

Here is the second attempt, made with baking parchment lining the tin, which avoided all the unpleasantness of the first attempt.  I am pleased to report that it was well received (even though I seemed to get more than my fair share of the coffee Revels and the raisin Revels, which I do not like at all). 
Note to self: ALWAYS use baking parchment!

Yorkshire Sponge Parkin

 There have been a few blog posts on blogs I follow recently, which have featured gingerbread or parkin, so I thought I would add to the seasonal baking idea and include Yorkshire Sponge Parkin.  It doesn't contain treacle, so is lighter than a traditional parkin, but with the spices and ginger, it is perfect for this time of year and is really easy to bake.  I was given the recipe by a work colleague, (Sally, who came from Yorkshire) about 12 years ago and it has always turned out beautifully.
Ingredients:
4 oz soft margarine
8oz Self raising flour
½ a cup of golden syrup (I use a small plastic picnic cup for both golden syrup and water)
4 oz granulated sugar
2 eggs
½ a cup of water
1 heaped teaspoon of ground ginger
1 heaped teaspoon of mixed spice

Method:
1. Cream the margarine and sugar together.
2. Add all other ingredients and mix well.
3. Pour into a deep 9 inch round, greased and floured tin.
4. Bake on a low shelf for 40 minutes at Gas 3, then reduce to Gas 2½ for the final 35 minutes.
5. Cool in the tin, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

I have never needed to use baking parchment in the tin and this is probably due to the slow cooking time at a relatively low heat.  While still warm, it makes a lovely pudding with custard or ice cream and as a cake, it is delicious accompanied by a cup of tea. Enjoy!

Blog Giveaway - Winners!

Drum roll...Here are the winners of my blog giveaway, picked from my fleecy hat by Chris.  (I wish I could inject some dramatic tension into the announcement, but I'll leave that to the likes of Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor etc.  Anyway, I don't like it when there is a HUGE pause before announcing the winners/losers!) 
Congratulations to Gillian, Annie and Victoria!  If you would email me (contact on my profile page), I'll get your gifts posted out to you as soon as I can.
However, I have also decided to award runner up prizes too for Thomasina Tittlemouse and Joy and Fiona to say thank you for entering, so please would you email your addresses if I don't already have them.  Congratulations to you as well.
I hope that you will all be pleased with your gifts once they arrive.
Thank you all for your support.

(I thought I would add to the celebratory nature of this post by posting a photo from a local Firework display!)

Contrasts in the garden

 The garden is slowly moving into autumn, though there is still some colour about.  The other morning, I put the bird food out and saw these amazing cobwebs covered in dew, so rushed back inside to get my camera before they disappeared.

 I think they would be most at home in Miss Havisham's garden.

Cobwebs are the most wonderful constructions and yet we can destroy them in seconds.  I must admit I don't much like walking face first into a cobweb - the strands do cling so much!

 Just to show that there is still colour about, here are some photos of Cosmos Sonata, grown from seed and one of my very few successes this season.  I wasn't sure where to plant them so shoved them into a pot in June.  They just sat there and sat there and grew foliage and grew taller, but no sign of any flowers.  Then, at the end of August, a few buds started to form and eventually, they opened.

 I only had six plants, but they have been beautiful

 This was the view last week before we had the frost.  I was convinced that they wouldn't survive and I would have to remove a soggy mass of plants.

 Here they are again, this morning.  They look a little battered, but are still hanging on.

Another view this morning.  I have been delighted by the vibrant colours and have ordered more seeds of this variety for next year.  I know that it is only a matter of time before the frost gets them, but until then, they continue to lift my spirits.

P.S Don't forget to enter my blog giveaway - closing date on Friday 2nd November.

A typical shopping trip?

 Chris and I took the opportunity to go up to the touristy end of town yesterday, to take our time browsing the craft shops, antiques shops and other such lovely places that we don't get to usually.  I came home with a very eclectic mix of things, as you can see.  I bought the book on making beads as it has felt and polymer clay in it, as well as paper, metal and glass, which I will probably not be investigating, but it is always good to have inspiration.  The other book appealed to the nosey side of my nature, being made from women's letters over 800 years.  I shall look forward to curling up with that later.  There are also some purple and white patterned napkins which were languishing in a 'each item for £2.00' basket, so I had to buy them, didn't I?   There are also some circle cutters for making bigger polymer clay pendants, some beads and a candlestick.  (Not exactly a normal day's shopping - even for me).

The stripy beads caught my eye for macrame work and I couldn't resist the cubes of coated haematite which the camera doesn't really do justice to.  In real life they are vibrant golds, blues, greens and pinks, depending which face you look at.

The piece de resistance of my trip just has to be this sweet little candlestick.  I stood looking at it for quite a while in the shop.  The raised flower pattern caught my eye and then I saw the gold pattern on the black background.  Once I had asked to look at it and was holding it, that was it, I had to buy it!

 How could I resist this beautiful gold dotty pattern?

The little raised decoration flowers are so pretty, in blues, purples, pinks and yellows.  Once I got it home and carefully washed and dried it, I looked it up on the internet.  (It is at times like this that I really value the internet). The piece was made by RH and SL Plant Ltd between 1936 and 1947 and is Tuscan China although I haven't yet discovered what the pattern is called.  They made many, many teas sets in lots of patterns, but did seem to favour the floral.  I think my mum owns one with a love-in-the-mist pattern and I will have to check that next time I visit.  The factory was in Longton, Staffordshire and continued until 1972 when Wedgwood took them over.  The factory closed in 2006.
This little candlestick is definitely my favourite find of the day!

Welcome to a new follower, Melissa.  I hope you will enjoy reading my blog.

P.S Don't forget to enter my giveaway - closing date 2nd November.

BLOG GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate my 400th blog post (which you may have noticed me mention a couple of times!) and say thank you to my loyal followers, I am having a Blog Giveaway.  There will be three sets of giveaway gifts of a macrame bracelet similar to the one above...

...and a handmade, handfelted heart, similar to those above.
All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is to leave a comment below, saying you would like to be included in the giveaway.  You don't have to be a follower to take part, but it would be lovely to welcome you if you wanted to be.  You don't have to do anything else - easy, eh?
The closing date will be 2nd November 2012 and I'll either get Chris to pick names out of a hat, or if there are lots of entries, I may even try using the random number generator thingy that seems to be quite popular.
Good Luck!

Giveaways and swaps

I was very lucky to win a blog giveaway over at  http://mrsthomasinatittlemouse.blogspot.co.uk and here is what I won.  I love receiving parcels and this one was all squishy and lovely.  The owner of the blog has just visited Cologne and had bought lots of goodies that she was very kindly giving away. 

Here's what I won.  Some Christmas spiced tea, a felt star, a felt key-ring and a felt ball coaster, which I think is far too nice to be used as a coaster and needs to be displayed as a piece of art!  Thank you very, very much to Thomasina; you are so generous.
I have also signed up to a Christmas blog swap run by Tracy of Mad about Bags http://madaboutbagsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/a-cracker-of-swap.html which sounds really good fun.  I am looking forward to finding Christmassy things and other little bits and pieces to fill the inside of a kitchen roll with.
News of my own blog giveaway to follow...

My 400th blog post - Polymer Clay: I'm hooked

 My polymer clay journey has been progressing very happily and I can now say that I am hooked on it.  I have used my clay rolling machine which makes blending colours and rolling nice thin backgrounds a doddle.  Above is my other new piece of equipment which is my absolute favourite - an extruder.  You cut out little circles of clay in whatever colours you would like, place them into the extruder tube, choose a shape, in this case, square, which goes onto the front and then turn the handle.  The clay is magically turned into a long cane which, when cut, reveals the most gorgeous patterns which alter all along the cane.

 Here are the lovely purple patterns made by the extruder, placed on a base and ready to be made into jewellery.

 More patterns, including fuchsia pink shades.

Here are a few of the finished pendants which just need attaching together, and putting onto a necklace.  I am so pleased with the lovely patterns and what is even more lovely is that they are all original because I don't think I could mix exactly the same colours, or put them into the extruder in the same pattern again.  I can see this turning into a bit of an obsession...

The Paper Cinema's Odyssey

 Chris and I experienced the most amazing piece of theatre last night.  A friend recommended this show to us, partly due to the use of puppetry but also for the magic of the performance.  We had had a busy day and weren't really in the mood to go out, but I am so glad that we did.  The story is based on Homer's Odyssey and is performed using beautifully drawn cut outs, lighting, and live music, played by multi-instrumentalists.

The puppeteer drew some of the characters in front of us and they were shown via video camera on a big screen.  Both the puppeteers sat on the stage, as did the musicians and it was difficult to know where to look as there was so much of interest going on everywhere.
I was a little concerned by some of the audience who were quite loud as we went in, but once the performance started, they were as transfixed as we were and you could have heard a pin drop.
There was no dialogue, but the music and artistry of the puppeteers created all the moods that were needed.  The musicians were extremely talented and some of the instruments used included a drill, a saw and a train whistle which doubled up as an owl hooting. The saw in particular gave the most beautiful ethereal sound which really added to the whole experience.

If this production is coming anywhere near you, please try to see it, as it is a truly unforgettable, magical evening.  The website - here - has a little taster video of the show if you scroll down. 

Macrame latest

 I have learned a new way of adding non-circular beads to macrame and was eager to have a go.  I took the previous bracelet with these stones in it apart, as I wasn't happy with the cord which didn't seem strong enough to support the stones. This latest technique is called floating stitch/knot as the stones sit above the macrame and are held in place by one strand which is lifted up and then incorporated back down again.

You can see the way the stones are held above the macrame in this photo.  The stones are blue sandstone, which is made from glass.  I do think this is a much better way of incorporating them than just knotting them on one strand.  The next technique to try will be the herringbone/fishbone stitch...

Extra blog swap gift

Here is a photo of the extra gift that I sent to my blog swap partner which I said I would post once it had got to her.  I saw this mug after I had sent the swap parcel, but thought it was so appropriate, I just had to send it.  I also included some hot chocolate and a second pair of earrings so that she can ring the changes (but forgot to take a photo of them).  The items all arrived safely and she was very pleased with them, so that is good.  

Autumn sun

 We have been so lucky yesterday and today as we have had sunshine and the bluest of blue skies.  The combination of Helianthus Lemon Queen against the blue sky never fails to lift my spirits.  This year in particular, the Helianthus has been fantastic.

 I watched a plane leaving a vapour trail.

 Magnolia Lilifolia Susan's yellowing leaves looked beautiful against the blue.  I don't think even a Mediterranean sky could beat ours today.

 The butterflies, bees, wasps and other insects were also enjoying both the sunshine and the ivy flowers.  Ivy can be a thug and trying to keep it under control is a never-ending process, but it does have the benefit that insects love the flowers and birds love the berries.  I saw Red Admirals...

...and I was really pleased that this Comma butterfly stayed still long enough for me to take a photo.

The sky has lightened up now and clouds have interrupted the clear blue, but what a beautiful couple of mornings.

Hello to Lynne Mackay - welcome to Feltabulous.

Home made jam

It all started when Chris asked why I didn't eat his blackberry jam.  I replied that I wasn't that keen on blackberries, except in a crumble, but if he made some raspberry jam, I would definitely eat that as it is my favourite.  While visiting Mum and Dad on Sunday, we picked some raspberries and apples.  The raspberries and two apples were destined to become jam.
The jam was duly made and had the most lovely colour.  Chris added the apples as we didn't have quite enough raspberries for the recipe.

 The jam had a lovely rich jewel-like colour - I was very excited about tasting it.  It reached setting point very quickly (Chris used jam sugar which has added pectin, and no doubt the apples helped too).

 Last night, I had the very good idea of making scones and getting some cream, which is what I did today.

It is amazing to think that the raspberries and apples were still on the plant/tree just two days ago.  The jam is delicious and has an extremely good set on it too.  Yum!