That's right. Today I made a
chocolate butter cake and though it was very nice it was very heavy. I won't serve it again for a party of less than sixteen people! If you do have a party for sixteen or more people however and you want to fill them up - this is the cake for you! A couple of comments though. Buy a bigger mixing bowl. No, really, buy one. Especially if you're mixing by hand, in which case ensure you have industrial electric hand mixers. The amount of batter is extreme, I had a fairly good sized bowl (I thought) and when I was done doing all the additions it was barely a centimetre from the top. So unless you have one of those ubiquitous
ceramic mixing bowls, buy a bigger one. I don't even know if it'd fit in one of those nice Kenwood mixers! But it *is* very tasty. At one point, I think when you've added the milk it gets a weird texture, like you get the first time you try to make icing and it all separates out? But then you add more flour and it's fine and dandy. Tasting the mixture just before it went in the oven it did taste a bit floury but it turned out OK :) Ummmm, really wait till the cake is completely cold to put the icing on, I was too hasty and bits of cake and icing were going everywhere! Not the prettiest cake I've ever made I can tell you. Which reminds me of my promise: to actually put links to the cakes I've made so far. So here they are
Comments then. Delia's Lemon Meringue Pie was tasty but she said you could eat it warm and I found it was far too soupy so I'd definitely let it set next time. The carrot cake, for me, wasn't quite interesting and flavoursome enough but everyone else loved it so who am I to complain? The Irish Cream Chocolate Cheesecake was, um, divine. It was so delicious. I did up the amount of alcohol which meant that you could taste it (rather than it being a hint) but it still managed to be slightly subtle and a balancing not dominating flavour. The meringue cake was excellent, I've made Nigella's lemon version which was yummy so I wasn't surprised when this turned out great, voted best so far I think. The brownie cake was very tasty too though I might double the amount so that people can have taller but slimmer pieces - it was essentially a round brownie, which is no bad thing but I think it would be better that way. There was also a Kahlua and Oreo Cheesecake which was also delicious but they've taken it off the website, I think I have the printout somewhere so if I find it I will definitely be writing that one up!
On a non-food subject. I'm watching Lord of the Rings again. I love these movies but I only have the extended editions so I don't watch them very often, you have to be in the right mood I think, be able to put up with Frodo's wimpiness. I'm still in love with Legolas even though he's poncy - I don't care! But it seemed to me while watching them that, as I mentioned yesterday about real-life in stories, some of the things that happen just *wouldn't* happen, even in a fairy tale dwarf mine. There wouldn't be a three foot wide bridge crossing a huge chasm with no railings - dwarves aren't that surefooted. The cave troll will not automatically be able to single out the most important member of a quest. It wouldn't happen. I think that's one of the reasons I like the Tamora Pierce books. Yes the heroines often end up being the ones fighting the danger but that's because they're the only ones there, only ones good enough or the only ones stupid enough to face it head on! And there sure aren't any stupidly narrow bridges and the only time one of them got singled out was when the beast was magicked to do so. That's my two cents anyway and if I *ever* get farther on my book any quests that occur will not involve such foolish things! On the upside I did mostly finish writing the heroine's last first kiss. It has rain and romance and humour - what more could you want? It is going to be marginally cliché but I had a hugely romantic first first kiss so why shouldn't she? Well it was a romantic situation anyway, we were both 13 and so he had a wet hoover thang going on. But apart from that...
Night night.
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