In which I finally start delivering on the promised painting guides...
I have been sat on a fully constructed Battle of Pelennor Fields box for just about a year after purchasing it as a Christmas present to myself at the tail end of 2021. Having signed up to a few "slay the grey" style challenges in the New Year I thought it was time to start with a nice easy paint job.
In which I modify an old family recipe to be vegan friendly...
After successfully turning my hand to vegan Christmas cake I thought it was high time I adapted my old Christmas pudding recipe to be vegan too.
In which I discuss getting the dominant colour from an image quickly...
I have recently made a Discord bot that searches for online versions of board games to help people find games to play remotely. This link will add it to your server.
Discord embeds have a colour bar down the side that can be manually set. I thought it would be cool to have this display the 'average' (i.e. dominant) colour of the board game box and decided to investigate the best way to do it.
In which I plan my holiday tasks…
So it may just be because it is 2020 or perhaps I'm just a bit lazy but I’ve found that I often start holiday breaks with a list of things I’d like to do and by the end of the trip* I’ve not achieved most of them. Whether it’s odd jobs or relaxing activities I wanted to get through I just accidental sit around and don’t do them. This holiday season I decided I needed a to do list and though I’d try out the new Todoist Boards feature.
*Or, let’s be real this year: sitting on the sofa at home.
Remote interviews are a fact of life for every podcaster, and in today’s era of social distancing, more so than ever. Since you rarely get the chance at an interview do-over, nailing down your remote recording workflow is essential. We’ll show you how to prepare for and record a remote interview, so you get it right the first time — with some additional tips along the way to make sure all your bases are covered.
In which I bake another, more ambitious, MRI scanner cake...
The ISBE annual BBQ was on Friday so I had to once again attempt to bake an MRI scanner cake. I decided to go for a more realistic one than previously.
The basic cake is made using Delia's All-in-one Sponge recipe and then things get a little crazy as I make 4 of them.
In which I try my hand at a baked cheesecake...
My triumphant return to weekly CAOS baking!
In which I post a really late cake...
Apologies for further lack of tea - reviews will be coming next week I promise :)
2 years ago, just as I had started this blog*, I had to go to a departmental barbecue and they asked people to make cakes - this is what I did!
*before I posted regularly.
In which I try my hand at a Austrian cake recipe...
So following a straw poll of Network as to a difficult cake to finish off my term of CAOS cakes I settled on Sachertorte. A traditional Austrian cake recipe invented in 1832 by Franz Sacher.
In which a vanilla and chocolate cheesecake is made ahead of tea testing...
Obviously tea testing requires suitable cake (someone else was already making scones for it) so a decadent cheesecake was required :)
Tom Out!
P.S. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11296/gordons-cheesecake
Those puddings in full...
Enjoy the glorious pudding party pictures!
See my earlier post for the recipe for Bruce Bogtrotter's Cake :)
Tom Out!
In which I make a ridonculously chocolaty cake from a possibly recognisable children's book...
I'm sure many of you will have read/seen Matilda by Roald Dahl. There is a famous scene in which Bruce Bogtrotter having stolen some of the Trunchbull's personal cake is forced to eat an entire chocolate cake.
Luckily Gary Rhodes (you know that TV chef you haven't seen in a while) wrote a recipe book called Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes which tells you how to bake a slightly smaller version of the cake.*
*The cake in the book is "fully eighteen inches in diameter". The original recipe makes a 9" cake so I doubled the ingredients and made it twice as high!
Icing
Mixing choc and butter
Stiff peaks in the egg whites
Mixing the eggs into the chocolate
Tom Out!
P.S. Pudding party pics to follow!
In which I bake brownies and try to imitate the inimitable Wade...
On Sunday I tasted a brownie and it was good. I asked Wade for the recipe. For those who have never enjoyed a Wade email (he was ManSSAGO secretary) I will try to write this in a similar way to this wonderful worldly wordy wordsmith!
250g dark chocolate
200g butter
150g brown sugar
350g caster sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
4 eggs
1-2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
200g self raising flour
an arbitrary amount of cocoa (1-2 tbsp)
*The chef points out that this recipe scales linearly if you want more or less of it
Apply heat in a manner which causes gentle merging of constituent parts (Melt)
Enjoy in an olfactory manner
Agitate (whisk) the ovoid ovums (eggs)
Mix in the chocolate ecstasy (allow to cool first, you don't want to cook the eggs)
Sieve in ground wheat (flour) and the seed of Theobroma cacao (cocoa)
Fold it in
Apply grease resistant flat tree matter (greaseproof paper) to a containment device (It's a TRAY!)
Chuck in the oven at an arbitrary place on the Celsius scale (~200°C)
Allow the passage of multiple time units (30-40 mins) until stodgy (knife not entirely clean when stabbed through)
Let it return to near room temp
Enjoy with your sense of gustatory perception
On the subject of verbose verbiage we're only a day late for one of the best speeches ever:
"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villian by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengence; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."
Tom Out!
P.S. V for Vendetta: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film)
In which I shamelessly bow to the whims of the masses (one person who replied) and make red velvet cake.
650g butter
650g caster sugar
10 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
650g self raising flour
75g cocoa powder
70ml red food colouring
300g icing sugar [icing]†
500g butter [icing]†
blue food colouring [icing]†
†I generally just make the icing by eye so these aren't accurate measurements.
Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
Cream butter and sugar together.*
Beat in a ⅓ of the eggs, a ⅓ of the flour and the vanilla essence.
Beat in the second third of eggs and flour.
Beat in the cocoa and remaining eggs and flour.
Add the food colouring.
Mix thoroughly.
Grease two 9'' round cake tins.
Place half the mixture in each tin.
Bake for 1 hr 15 mins (use your judgement mine took a little longer).
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Cream the icing sugar and butter together.
Add blue food colouring.
Mix well.
Apply liberally to your cake.
Enjoy :)
*You will need a LARGE bowl!
Tom Out!
P.S. Based on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/three-tier_red_velvet_17795
12 oz self raising flour*
12 oz caster sugar
12 oz margarine/unsalted butter
6 medium eggs
2 packs orange jelly
1 pint water
300g chocolate
Cream the sugar and marge together in a big bowl
Add in the flour and eggs slowly.
Mix thoroughly.
Bake in a frying pan at 180°C for ~30 minutes (or until cooked through)
Leave to cool.
Dissolve two packets jelly in ½ pint boiling water.
Make up jelly to 1 pint by adding ½ pint cold water.
Leave to cool in a small bowl (pick one the correct size and shape for a good jaffa cake look).
Carefully slide a knife around of the jelly and then upturn on top of your cake base.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (small ceramic/glass bowl in a saucepan of hot water).
Coat the (top of the) cake in chocolate.
Allow to cool
Apply a pattern in any remaining chocolate to the top.
Allow to cool.
Enjoy :D
Enjoyed!
*The original recipe said that baking powder was required then their cake overflowed. It really isn't required.
Tom Out!
P.S. Original recipe: http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/project/332/
Happy Weekend! Here's a cake recipe!
This is my adaptation of a chocolate torte recipe to make it even yummier (just add ginger).*
Ingredients:
250 g Dark chocolate
2 tbsp golden syrup
568 ml (pint) double cream
a handful of glacé ginger
as much ground cinnamon as you can handle :p
coca powder (for dusting)
How-to:
Break the chocolate into a bain-marie along with the golden syrup and about a third of the cream.
Heat over a low heat until melted (~15 mins).
Wait for the chocolate to cool to 'just warm' (I forgot to do this so it didn't work out as well as hoped).
While the chocolate cools put the remaining cream, the cinnamon and ginger in a bowl and whisk until the cream takes a few seconds to lose its shape.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the cream.
Pour the mixture into a cake tin and allow to set in the fridge (I had to use the freezer because I messed up the earlier step).
Dust with cocoa.
Serve :)
Tom out!
*Apologies to people who don't like ginger - you won't find this tasty.
P.S. The original recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1357/decadent-chocolate-truffle-torte
Well this is my first proper post on this new blog and what better way to start than with some baking!Since I will be attending a small Tea Party this week I decided to make a Refrigerator Cake (sometimes called Tiffin) with a twist. And while I was at it I also made a normal refrigerator cake (because I'm a scientist and needed a control cake, plus there was a house warming to attend later in the day).
Ingredients
To bake along with this blog obtain the following ingredients:
4 oz (125 g) Margarine
2 oz (50 g) Soft Brown Sugar [for an original refrigerator cake substitute Caster Sugar]
2 tbsp. Maple Syrup [for an original refrigerator cake substitute Golden Syrup]
2 tbsp. Drinking Chocolate
1 tbsp. Cocoa
10 oz (300 g) Crushed Digestive Biscuits
2 oz (50 g) Glacé Cherries [chopped]
2 oz (50 g) Raisins
You can also add chocolate icing (however, since this is such a rich cake I never feel it needs it!):
4 oz (125 g) Plain Chocolate
1/2 oz (15 g) Butter
Recipe
Place margarine, syrup, sugar and milk in a pan and heat gently.
Add drinking chocolate, cocoa and half the biscuits and mix well.
Add remaining ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed.
Press into an 8 inch (20 cm) Sandwich tin.
Chill in fridge until set then remove from tin.
Icing (optional)
Melt chocolate and butter in a small bowl over a pan of hot water (a bain-marie) and mix well.
Spread over biscuit mixture and allow to set.
Step-by-Step Comparison
I decided to take comparison photos as I went along between the two (you know for Science! ...and baking).
[Original on the left, Maple syrup on the right]
Step 1:
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Not much difference at this stage though the Maple syrup was obviously (and worryingly) runnier than the Golden syrup.
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At this point the margarine just wouldn't mix with the Maple syrup and I seriously began to worry about the integrity of my dessert!
Step 2a:
Now there is potentially room for debate on the, until now, presumably uncontroversial topic of crushed digestives. Do you use old broken biscuits? Do you break them individually? Do you smash them with hammers? [Clearly not, that is silly and dangerous] Do any of these methods achieve such good results as in the next picture?
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Now this is definitely the most fun part of making a refrigerator cake because the answer, my friends, lies in using the trusty rolling pin:
Pictured: Biscuity doom
Step 2b:
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The darker colour of the Maple syrup and brown sugar mixture is beginning to show. Also it is finally mixing well. [Watch out at this stage as the Maple syrup boils much quicker than its Golden cousin]
Step 3:
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No difference at this stage but the second best part of making refrigerator cake is eating spare glacé cherries. Om nom nom!
Step 4:
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Again the Maple syrup cake is much darker in colour and was scrumdiddlyumptious (at least I thought so, the real test will be at the Tea Party).
That's all for this Sponge Post :)
