Hello everyone!I have now shut down by old blog (still there for posterity but everything has been moved over here).
Onwards!
Tom
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.
Hello everyone!I have now shut down by old blog (still there for posterity but everything has been moved over here).
Onwards!
Tom
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:
Not much difference at this stage though the Maple syrup was obviously (and worryingly) runnier than the Golden syrup.
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?
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:
Step 2b:
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:
No difference at this stage but the second best part of making refrigerator cake is eating spare glacé cherries. Om nom nom!
Step 4:
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 :)
Well this is the first post I'm making here on my shiny new blog.In short I thought no-one would want to listen to my problems etc. (those who do can do so IRL) so I decided to make a blog full of useful/interesting things (or at least it will be).
The name of TinkerTailorSoldierSponge sums up my intention for this blog fairly neatly - these will be the 4 major categories of posts: