Chocolate brownies.

Apparently today is National Chocolate Cake Day, which is very convenient given that I already had this recipe from ASDA's Good Living magazine for these completely delicious chocolate brownies in my drafts, just waiting to be written up!

I made these last week (while re-watching the entire of series one of Miranda. Excellent day.) and they were such a hit and so easy to make that I am definitely planning on making them again very soon! (I'm also planning on talking some more about Miranda very soon. Watch this space...)

Ingredients

• 225g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 225g softened butter
• 3 large eggs, plus 1 extra yolk
• 275g golden caster sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• Icing sugar (optional)

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180C or 160C for fan ovens and line a baking tray.
• Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. 
• Leave the chocolate and butter until almost melted then remove from the heat and stir until the chocolate and butter are completely melted.
• Beat the eggs, egg yolk, and sugar in a clean bowl until foamy.
• Stir the chocolate and butter mixture into the eggs and sugar until just evenly blended.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir until combined.
• Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake for 35 minutes or until the top of the cake is firm but the middle is still soft.
• Half fill a roasting tin larger than your baking tin with cold water and carefully place the baking tin into the roasting tin, making sure no water goes over the edge of the baking tin. Leave the baking tray in the water until the cake has completely cooled.
• Cut into even pieces and (if desired) dust with icing sugar before serving. (I didn't bother with the icing sugar and the brownies were still delicious!)

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QuickFic.

I'm only a little behind in sharing this news (read: nearly a week) but this is just a little post to share that last Friday I took part in Faber Academy's weekly QuickFic competition for the first time and came runner-up with my short story Deer in the Mist, based on the above photograph. You can read my short story and the other winners here on the Faber Academy blog if you so wish!

I'll be honest; I am quite pleased with myself.

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Bowie.

Photo from my Instagram | Brooch from Andsmile

When I was sixteen I told a group of friends, one warm evening in the South of France, that I thought Ziggy Stardust was better than Led Zeppelin. They were horrified that I could say such a thing but I stuck to my guns. I knew I was right. Ziggy Stardust, to me, is better than almost everything.

When I was at university I had a framed poster of Aladdin Sane on my bedroom wall, all three years. It was the first thing I bought for going to uni, months and months before I left, and it stayed rolled up in its tube until I finally moved and had the space for it, next to my new wardrobe, in a clip frame that was far too big. It's in its tube again now and the clip frame is somewhere else, waiting until I have the space again.

When I was twenty-two I bought a pair of boots that made me feel like David Bowie. That's how I described them when I first put them on. That's why I bought them. If a pair of shoes makes me feel like David Bowie then of course I'm going to buy them. That applies to everything. Any clothing in the world - if it makes me feel like David Bowie then it's right.

I cried when I heard the news. I cried for most of the day. I'll still be sad for a long while yet, but the last two days I've listened to all of my favourite songs on near-constant rotation. I've danced and sung (terribly on both counts but with plenty of enthusiasm) and I've smiled and I've been happy too. That's what his music does; it's why I knew at sixteen that Ziggy Stardust was better than Led Zeppelin: because it always makes me happy.

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Chocolate yule log.

I can't believe it's already the last day of Blogmas and Christmas is tomorrow! For this last post I'm sharing the recipe for the chocolate yule log I've made for Christmas this year. I literally just finished it so I'm sorry that the chocolate isn't quite cooled yet and it looks a bit of a mess in these pictures! Also, I can't actually tell you whether it's any good or not because, again, I literally just finished it. But I tested all of the elements and they tasted good so I'm pretty confident!

I actually took a sort of a mix and match approach this year, using a Mary Berry recipe for the sponge and one from Primrose Bakery for the cream, and just adding the chocolate around the outside because mum requested it.

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 4 large eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 65g self-raising flour
• 50g cocoa powder

For the cream

• 80g white chocolate
• 300ml whipping or double cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

and 1 bar of dark chocolate 

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 220C/200C for fan ovens and grease a 33 x 23 cm swiss roll tin (I just used a regular baking tin around the size) and line with baking parchment.
• Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until the mixture is light and frothy and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted out.
• Sift the cocoa powder and flour into the mixture, carefully folding in at the same time.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and give it a gentle shake to make sure it spreads evenly into the corners.
• Bake for 10 minutes or until the sponge starts to shrink away from the edge of the tin.
• While the sponge is in the oven, place a piece of baking parchment a little large than the tin onto a work surface and sprinkle it with caster sugar.
• Turn the sponge out onto the sugared parchment and then quickly peel off the parchment on the bottom of the sponge.
• Trim the edge of the sponge with a sharp knife and make a score mark about an inch in from one of the shorter edges, careful not to cut right the way through.
• Roll the sponge up firmly from the cut end, with the parchment inside, and leave to cool.
• Once the sponge is cooled, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water or in the microwave, then set aside to cool.
• In a clean bowl, whip the cream and vanilla extract until it forms medium peaks.
• Fold a couple of spoonfuls of the cream into the cooled chocolate before adding the rest of the cream and folding until well combined. The cream should hold its shape, if it doesn't continue whisking until it reaches the right consistency but be careful not to over-whisk (like I think I might have done...)
• Unroll the cooled sponge and spread the cream all over, right to the edges, then roll the sponge back up again.
• Finally, if you want to, melt a bar of dark chocolate and pour and spread it all over the outside of the cake.

And that's it! For both this recipe and Blogmas! I hope you've enjoyed it and I hope you have a lovely Christmas tomorrow if you celebrate it and a lovely day if you don't!

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GGRP: I Will Always Love You.

Well, gang, we did it. We've reached the final post of the Gossip Girl Review Project. It's been a long road but we're finally here and now I can go back to reading books that aren't Gossip Girl and get on with the rest of my Winter TBR!

Synopsis

I Will Always Love You covers the first four Christmas/New Year periods after the gang have graduated from high school, so quite a lot actually happens, but mostly we just have to suffer through Nate coming back from his sailing trip and spending the next four years repeating history by ruining any other relationships that Blair or Serena might have, including their friendship, which was, of course, the reason he left to go sailing in the first place, all because he still can't decide which one of them he's in love with.

Familiar scenes

One of Dan's poems about Serena gets published and the two of them get together but far more importantly, Chuck and Blair finally get together and it's wonderful!

What's different?

Nate just generally continues to be unbearable.

Fanciest fancy party

Every year Chuck throws a New Year's Eve party that sounds a lot more fun, but I think the dinner Blair's mother throws on one of the years is probably just a bit fancier.

Most conniving scheme

Jenny and Nate start dating and Blair does not approve so she sets a little plan in motion to set Jenny up with her younger brother, Tyler. Of course it works.

What is Chuck Bass up to?

It turns out Chuck went to some kind of college program where he works on a farm while working instead of going to a traditional college and boy has it changed him. Unfortunately Sweetie the monkey has passed away but Chuck is now far more like the Chuck Bass we know and love from the later seasons of the TV show. Then he starts dating Blair and I'm just much happier than I have ever been before while reading these books, let me tell you.

How off the rails is Jenny Humphrey?

Jenny seems to be making much more sensible decisions these days, with the exception of constantly calling Nate 'Meow' and sitting on his lap at Blair's mother's dinner table. Those are not good decisions.

And that's it! I can't quite believe I've finished this whole series but here we are! I'm free!

Although I will miss Chuck Bass. Obviously.

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My Christmas tree.

I have a cute little 4ft Christmas tree in my bedroom, all higgledy piggledy with mismatched decorations from everywhere.

My decorations are mostly from Paperchase, Homebase, Wilkos, and Accessorize over the years, with a few from other places. Including a couple of homemade ones.

There's no theme and most of the decorations are... less than traditional.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Gingerbread house.

I bought some gingerbread house biscuit cutters a few years ago and every year since then Jess and I have said that we're going to make a gingerbread house and we never have. Until today!

To be honest we still haven't made a gingerbread house.

We tried. We made the walls. We got one half of the roof on. And then this happened. We think the main problem is that the walls and roof were too long so the middle of those sections weren't as solid as the edges and it just sagged. Here's the recipe if you would like to try making your own gingerbread house anyway. My tip is so make your house more square than ours...

Jess did make some lovely gingerbread biscuits though! Including an accidental gingerbread Donald Trump.

#political

Oh well, the gingerbread tastes good anyway!

But next year we're going to buy a kit.

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