Georgous Cakes - part 22

The first time I attempted it

 This week I attempted a Chocolate Fudge Swiss Roll.  I made this last summer so didn't think it would be too hard, but this time it didn't turn out so well.  The sponge broke up as I rolled it up and as I tried to lift it onto a plate it just disintegrated!  I dumped the whole lot into the icing bowl.  'im outdoors said it still tastes great, it just doesn't look so good. 
Maybe I should have 'sold' it as a chocolate Eton mess!

This weeks attempt

Verdict: This is a tasty cake and quite easy to make - but it is very fragile when it comes to putting it together with no guarantee that it will work!  I'd be happy to make it again, but I'll make sure there are other cakes on offer if I have visitors.

Purly Paw Print Patchwork Blanket

Ages ago when I didn't have a dog and I was just learning how to knit I came across a pattern for a blanket made of squares for the dogs at Battersea Dogs Home.  A good project I through to practice on and the sort of thing I could take with me when visiting family which would keep my fingers busy but wouldn't need too much thought. 
So I got started, but soon other things cropped up and it got forgotten at the bottom of my knitting bag.  
Trello changed this!  As I went through all the links and printed patterns I have, I came across this one.  As I looked through it to see where I was at I realised I was about half way through.  Suddenly I had a record of where I was.

Even though I had bigger and better project on my list I needed to finish this one - I couldn't let it sit there half finished.  So when I ran out of wool on the project I was working on I got cracking on these little squares.  And now its finished and ticked off my list.
To be honest it's not a very big blanket so I can only assume Battersea have some tiny dogs.  I'll be sending if off to them in the next week or so and hope they find it useful.

Georgous Cakes - part 21

Today I made an Apple and Almond Tart.  I didn't use her pastry recipe as it's not gluten free and just swapping out the flour doesn't work with pastry, but other than than a pretty easy recipe to make.  And it tasted pretty good too.  Not sure if it will last the week seeing as it's got apple on it.  
Similar to the Somerset Apple Cake, except that had apple mixed into the sponge mixture.

Verdict: Tasty and lasted the week well.

Frankie Baseball T-Shirt

 

Last Christmas I received Tilly and the Buttons book Stretch!  It's full of lots of lovely sewing patterns and I spent ages looking through it trying to work out what to make.  So for my first attempt I made a pretty simple t-shirt.

I found and fell in love with the material at one of my local material shops and with a day off already in the diary I happily spent the day getting reacquainted with my sewing machine.   

I made sure to take my time with my prep so I had everything I needed ready.  Then followed the lovely detailed instructions in the book.  That's what I really love about Tilly's patterns, she gives you all the help you need, without making you feel stupid.

And I'm so happy with how its come out.  If I'm honest the neckline is a little higher than I would normally wear it, so I'm going to have a play with the pattern and see if I can amend it a bit.  I've already got some fabric ready for that t-shirt that's a bit more work wearable.  But I'm still wearing it right now and its really comfortable.
I'm really looking forward to making lots of the projects in the book, not only will it expand my skills but also my wardrobe!

Winchester 10k

This morning I ran the Winchester 10k.  My first race since the Loch Ness Marathon last September and only my 3rd 10k. 
We had beautiful weather for it, brilliant sunshine and not a cloud in the sky, but with an 08:30 start it was still chilly.  I was very glad of my long sleeved top and gloves. 
The course itself was lovely - through the town and then out into the countryside, before coming back into town for the finish.  A hilly run, but similar to what I normally run on, so no real problem for me.  And a very pretty medal to add to my collection.
But I couldn't help but feel the organisational side of things let the race down.  I didn't see any signage for toilets or bag drop at the start, only finding the loos by accident.  And there was a distinct lack of loos which made for a stressful start - would I make it to the end of the queue before the start?  Then out on the course itself I didn't see any distance markers which made it hard to work out how I was doing, and for a closed road race I saw a lot of cars. 
The end was just a shambles - I had to queue for 5 minutes before I managed to collect a medal, water, banana and t-shirt.  I'm not sure what the problem was but we weren't moving.  
The only thing keeping me from having a moan at someone was the glow of knowing I just knocked 5 minutes off my last 10k time - down to 50:22 which is amazing!  (this is my garmin time as the times haven't been published on the website yet) 
I'm thinking I might like to do some more 10k races, but I don't think I'll be going back to Winchester.

Georgous Cakes - part 20

This week I made a Chocolate Gateau.  While the last cake I made had too much icing this one doesn't have any!  Not that it really needs it, being quite fudgey in texture.  
I'm getting to the end of the cakes that make good lunch box cakes, or the cakes that are in season - for instance fresh apricots are not a thing yet, and cheese cakes don't travel so well.  I'll still be working through the book, there just might be bigger gaps now as I wait for events that need cakes or things to come into season.

Verdict:  Quite nice, but there are better chocolate cakes in the book.  Quite nutty.

Georgous Cakes - part 19

This week I made a Sachertorte (chocolate cake) and Iced Cherry Shortbread.  I've made the shortbread before and it's very tasty.  A little crumbly but with a lovely tang of orange.  This batch came out well and I could eat lots of it.
The cake came out well too.  It was fairly easy to make, but her quantities for the topping were way over what we needed!  She wanted a whole jar of jam when a couple of big spoonfuls would have done and as for the chocolate icing we had so much that I iced all the biscuits and still had a bowl left over!  It was also very runny which needed a little management. Still it tastes good so thats ok.

Verdict:

Sachertorte: Pretty good and it lasted the week well.  Just a shame the details for the icing make way too much.

Iced Cherry Shortbread:  Love this!  Its tasty with a nice crumble and I could eat the whole batch although its quite rich. 

Georgous Cakes - part 18

This week I made a Kiddies' Dream Traybake and Plum Muffins.  Both were pretty simple to put together and seemed to come out well, until we tried the muffins and found they hadn't cooked all the way through.  They just needed a couple of minutes more in the oven.  
To be honest I've always had issues with muffins, and these were better than some that I've made! 

Verdict:

Kiddies' Dream Traybake:  Ok but nothing special.  There are better chocolate cakes in this book.

Plum Muffins:  These didn't cook quite enough so had googy centres.  Tasted ok, but got left and ended up in the bin.