Chocolate heaven

As listed on my last post, this is the BEST chocolate cake recipe I have ever made.

It is soft, moist, rich and yummy - what more do can you ask for?

I first made this cake when I was at school and by the look of the handwriting on this card, I think I must have written it down in this form way back in 1981 or so! Any recipe which is faded, splatted and generally a bit manky MUST be good! Like I said, I can't remember whose cake it was originally but I suspect that it might have come from Jean. But it was most certainly a favourite in our group as friends, as backed up by Sarah on my last post!

So, for those of you who love chocolate cake as much as I, here is the recipe.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

The cake

• 4 oz butter
• 4 oz sugar
• 8 oz golden syrup
• 1 level tsp bicarb of soda
• 5 fluid oz milk
• 8 oz plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 oz cocoa

The fudge icing (not used on my cupcakes in previous post - that was plain old butter icing)

• 1/2 oz cocoa
• 6 oz icing sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 oz butter

The method

• Preheat oven to 375° F
• Melt butter, sugar, syrup and milk together gently until the sugar is fully dissolved
• Sift cocoa, bicarb and flour into large bowl
• Add melted mixture to dry ingredients
• Mix well together
• Add egg a bit at a time and mix thoroughly
• Pour into cake tin(s) and into oven for 20 - 30 mins or until firm and spongy to the touch
• For the fudge icing, melt the water and butter together
• Sieve cocoa and sugar together
• Add to the melted mixture
• Pour over cakes when they are fully cool and allow to dry

Now there are a few provisos I would like to add here:

1. This is the original recipe as I have written it down here but these days, after making it for nearly 30 (!!!) years, I make it a little bit by instinct.
   
2. I think that the icing is never enough and I often make double.
   
3. I also remember adding more icing sugar in if it feels a bit runny.
   
4. In the past, we used to put the icing on the cake while it was just warm and then the icing would melt into the cake a bit - soft and gooey!
   
5. I only have the original Fahrenheit temperature but I suppose I use about 180° or 190° degrees today in my Celsius fan oven and I don't really time it - just by eye.
   
6. I used to use this amount for a 7" cake tin and I am not sure if I made two and then layered them. I know that when I made cupcakes with it, it was enough for 6 large muffin cases.
   
7. The cake has a tendency to rise very high in the middle and even "break" out. If I was coating it with icing, I would always just cut that off and eat it straight away!
   
8. And of course, the quantities are all British Imperial (I made sure I brought scales with me from the UK for just such recipes but I suppose I could covert it to grams if I made the effort!)

And the result is always a winner - try it out and let me know!

Scrappy Happiness!

We have all been a bit behind on our work with the *wonderful* Bellaboo February kit "Be Still My Beating Heart" but yesterday and today was great as I had time to sit down and really use it to create some layouts that have been on my mind for some time.

I have to admit that I have to get more organised with my photos as I lost a lot of time searching for the photos I wanted to use and then getting them printed out. I don't know if you remember, but last year I joined the BPS Stacy Julian class Library of Memories. Well, we get admission as alumni again this year so maybe this will kick start the good habit of organising, printing and storing my photos so that they are accessible again! I managed in the end but it was a bit frustrating! At the same time, it was lovely to go through some of my older photo files and catch glimpses of some I had forgotten all about!

The kit was a dream. I know that I say this all the time, but you have to believe me and try it out for yourself. I created and created and created and still there seemed to be kit left over. I am sure I could have squeezed out a few cards and tags but decided to leave the scraps to one side now and maybe move onto the PILES of papers I have all over the place here. After all, I have to clear some space for when I come over to the UK and go serious shopping.

Did you know that Bellaboo is having a stock clearing sale? I NEED to get some shopping done but so do you! Get over there and have a look.

I was a little surprised to see how difficult I found it transferring some everyday inspiration I had seen in Starbucks (a poster advert) into a layout and have to confess to being a bit disappointed with myself. The poster was so lovely that it just did not seem to translate. Perhaps I will have to try that one again. Here is it and I think it is a bit "nothing".

Of course, no February loved up kit would be complete without a full complement of layouts about my beloved...
And the embellishments in the kit needed a double loving one at least...
And the rub-ons screamed chocolate and cupcakes so that got me thinking (have to admit to being inspired by Libby here too after she expressed surprise that I had not automatically done a mini book for R about chocolate! She knows us too well!) So scrumptious chocolate fudge cakes were featured and I have just had an idea that I should have included the recipe somewhere. I have had this particular recipe since school (WAY too long to remember!) and we used to make it over and over. Was it a recipe from Mrs Lycett our HE teacher or was it my friend? I can't remember but whoever it was, Thanks! This has to be the best chocolate cake EVER! And this was the first time I made it into cup cakes.

Shhh.. don't tell Ralph

Love is most definitely in the air!

It's February.

Such a lovely month - I really do not really like January so I always welcome February in with open arms. It is still usually another great wintery month as far as weather goes and yet, the days really start getting noticeably longer, and it's nice and short too! And true to form, we woke up this morning to bright blue skies and a smattering of snow crystals everywhere (can't really call it proper snow)

Four short weeks until March which can be such a gentle spring like month.

Yes, I like February a lot.

And of course, it is really a month of love with Valentine's day right in the middle. And this year, Valentine's day is extra special for me as I am going to go to the UK for a whole week to catch up with everyone and everything. A whole week! By car! Exciting stuff. I haven't been "home" now for almost 5 months and it feels like a long time so I am looking forward to having some time amongst family and Libby's scrapping supplies! ;-)

Of course, this does mean that I will not be "home" with Ralph on Valentine's day (well only until 8am!) so I need to prepare ahead and make some love notes to leave behind for him.

I do not know if you remember last February? The Bellaboo kit made me catch my breath it was so full of scrumptiousness. I literally fell in love with that kit and made lots of romantic layouts full of emotion and tenderness. So I was really interested to see if Libby could top it with this year's. And you know what? She did!

This year's "Be Still My Beating Heart" arrived on Thursday and I was immediately bowled over by the pinks, browns, creams and overall soft feeling of the kit. I know that I could use it for all sorts of topics on my layouts but feel sure somehow that I will end up limiting it to mostly schmulzy stuff about me and my man!

To start things off, I created a little mini-book that I will give to him instead of a card. I love it. The Maya Road mini-book was perfect as it has 6 pages and I wanted to do something featuring our 10 years together. One page per year and then a front and back cover - perfect. Keeping it simple and just using a similar design on each page and a tiny photo of the two of us, it came together really quickly.

I have loads more ideas of what to do with this kit, but I am running a bit late so you will have to check back in again to see what else I have created!

And I am sure that I do not need to tell you that this one is going to sell out fast (if it has not already) so I suggest you get on over to Bellaboo (kits here) and nab yourself one. NOW!

How many times can I kid myself that I am "catching up"?

Yep, more time goes by, more projects left unfinished or not even done although I always have the very best of intentions!

So, new leaf, new start and all that.

Here is my 12 on 12 for December (way late) and January (at least it's still this month!) with much respect for my fellow 12 of 12'ers who always manage to get their projects done within a day or two!

A change of plan for me this year though. Since April last year, I have been making life difficult for myself my making each month a different (and not always successful) design. Well as of January, I have decided to make life easy by choosing one or two of last year's designs and just repeating it each month which hopefully will make it simpler and quicker. I am also considering using just one range of paper although I am not sure about that right now.

Anyhow, I loved the easy and pretty design I came up with in November and decided to start with that. I am also considering the July design or even the October design. I thought two might be nice so that I can alternate them.

So December was all about signs of Christmas all around and January was my first real day back at work with plenty of cold snow still on the ground. Both themed to some degree.

I love flipping through my 12 on 12 album and seeing how my days have changed from month to month. This is such a great project to be a part of - thanks Susan!

And I will be so pleased when we get more daylight and I can take half decent photos of my stuff. (yes, I know I could use my scanner but one thing at a time!)

The kit seemed to go on and on forever!

I decided to continue working with my Bellaboo "Virtuous" kit (now sold out but check out the site for other scrummy kits here!) because it was just so lovely and so ME!

So, after completing the projects previously posted, I decided to put together some Thank You notes for Christmas (adding only some cardstock for the Cricut cut words and the base of the cards) and then using Rachel's mini book (check it out here) as inspiration, I cut up the pizza box and made a small mini book for some of my favourite piccies from Dubai. I added a few letters to the front cover but that is really IT.

Everything else came from the kit. I have a few tiny weeny scraps of paper and a handful of cardstock offcuts - no doubt I could still manage to come up with something else there too!

This kit was adorable and I loved every minute of it. I really should have bought another one - the colours were perfect and the embellishments were great to use.

What do you think?

One year later

I did this set of questions that I found on somebody's blog last January (see post here if you are interested!). Thought it would be interesting to do it again. Off the top of my head, 2008 was a pretty unspectacular year - many people tell me it was downright bad. I have higher expectations for 2009. (*edited to add: I have been adding to this entry for a few days now - more than a week - and events have overtaken me. Libby's small, local community experienced a terrible tragedy last Friday that has left us all feeling sad and disillusioned. I still have hopes for a better 2009 but the awful events of last week are a terrible start to the year. My thoughts are with the village residents at this time.)

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Visited Dubai

Had a scrapbooking layout published in a UK magazine

Attended a crop

Learned to play golf

2. What are your New Years Resolutions?
Mostly the usual: Organise, save, lose weight, make more time for the things I love, keep in touch better with friends, to get to grips with my camera and photo editing

One additional one is connected with "One Little Word" from Ali Edwards - to be *calm* 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2008?

A quiet birth year! No one new in the family

4. Did anyone close to you die.
Thank goodness no, again.

5. What countries did you visit?
The UK

France

Austria

The Netherlands

United Arab Emirates

(not bad for a year that was supposed to have no holidays!)

6 What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Peace of mind, more time, a clearer mind or failing that, a lottery win would also go down nicely! 

7. What date(s) in 2008 will remain etched in your memory and why?

November 4th - US presidential election


8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Passing my golf test in August (all very German!)

My scrapbooking output - too many to count

Getting published in a magazine - cool!


9. What was your biggest failure?
Hard word - lack of weight loss, losing the dream flat we wanted to buy

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury?
No, another healthy year for me

11. What was the best thing someone bought you?
Huge quantities of Cadbury's chocolate

An iMac

USB connected record player - so cool!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Ralph - as ever for putting up with me

Maddie - turning into a super little girl!

13. Whose behavior appalled and depressed you?
Less said the better - they know who they are

14. Where did most of your money go?
Just living (a full life!)

15. What did you get really, really excited about?
Our trip to Austria

Getting my handicap for golf

It was a quiet year!

16. What song(s) reminds you of 2008?
Wham Rap - we bought a whole load of 80's CDs for our long drive to Austria and listened and sang along to them the whole week. Ralph was very impressed at my lyric recollection! I could even remember the moves to this one (yes, SO sad!)

17. Compared to last year are you...
a.) Happier or Sadder? happier
b.) Thinner or Fatter? fatter
c.) Richer or Poorer? the usual

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Relax

Scrapped

Kept in touch with people

Ironing (the pile just grows!)

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Moaning. Struggling with hormone roller coasters. Eating (although I enjoyed it at the time!)

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Early with English family at ours - could become a tradition

At Christmas with German family - traditional

New Year in Dubai - totally nontraditional

21. Did you fall in love in 2008.
Again: every day

22. What was your favorite TV program?
The West Wing (discovered it again on FoxTV which is English language satellite channel)

Moonlight - like a bit of vampire love!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't this time last year?
I have strong feelings about many people but I am not sure I hate anyone. 

24. What was the best book you read?
Don't think I read all that much. Did I actually pick up a book? I will go and have a look at my bookshelf but I think not - *hangs head in shame*.

25. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
Family brunch. Dinner at a local Greek restaurant. nice and quiet.

26. What was your best musical discovery?
Discovered Adrienne Pierce who has a very distinctive voice which appeals greatly and Sarah McLachlan too.

Rediscovered Reef (reminds me of 1997)

27. What did you want and get?
A record player

LOADS of stash

An iMac

28. What was your favorite film of the year?
SATC - what else?

29. What did you want and not get?
More than 24 hours in the day

To be lighter

To be younger


30. What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
You mean apart from the three things listed above?

More quality time with R


31. How would you describe your fashion concept for 2008?
Like I said last year, I think anyone who knows me would agree that I have no fashion concept. I would probably say - cheap. I made a decision to buy nothing new all year - apart from a couple of t-shirts and a pair of boots in the sale in the spring, and a couple of cheap items just before Christmas, I kept to this.

32. What kept you sane?
Ralph

Scrapbooking

Reading other people's blogs

Chocolate and champagne

33. Which celebrity or public figure did you admire most?

Obama

34. What political issue stirred you most?
Same as last year plus the US election and the crisis in the middle east.

35. Who do you miss?
Still Grandad

Jacqui

36. Who was the best new person you met? 
Libby's crop friends - great people - can't wait to get the chance to meet up again

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned.
That you make time for the things you want the most, most of the time

Willpower takes more energy than I have right now

38. Quote a song line that defines your year.
"Wham bam, I am a man, job or no job you can't tell me that I'm not

Do, you, enjoy what you do? If not, just stop, don't stay there and rot."

From Wham Rap - see song entry above!!!! (very much tongue in cheek! I am after all a girl of the 80s)

Once again, I find myself to be Billy-No-Mates - so I tag Libby and Amber.

2009 - Welcome...

It's that time of year again. Can you believe it? Can you believe that it is here already? 

Of course, I mean the beginning! Another year. I know that time goes much faster the older we get, but it really seems to be vanishing in the blink of an eye!

I remember when I was a small child at primary school and we used to imagine how it would be to be "older". How did adults know what to talk about all the time? How come they understood everything? Would we ever be like that? And I distinctly remember imaging how old we would be in "2000"! We all looked at each other with wide eyes and said, "In the year 2000, we will be 33!!!!! Can you ever imagine being THAT old???" 

And now here we are almost at the end of the first decade of the 21st century.  

Scary stuff huh?

Anyway, our new year started really well. We went to Dubai to visit Jacqui who moved over there in September. We had a crazy, fabulous time and it was lovely to see her and Darren in their new home. Thanks for the hospitality Jac! We really enjoyed ourselves and I love the fact that we have seen somewhere that we would never have visited otherwise! Watch out for scrap pages on various aspects of the trip over the next few months.

So what else? Of course, the Bellaboo January kit "Virtuous" was another hit. I loved it - all dark moody colours which was right up my street and i loved using it to make layouts, a resolution box and a small desk calendar which I will use to record a few things for each month as well as having something nice to look at each month with photos from 2008. Want a kit? Check it out here but hurry as it's almost sold out!

Here is my resolution box (although I have heard the phrase "intention" a lot in the blogging world recently which is somewhat better than resolution - don't you think?)

There is space to write out each goal on the front of each page of the mini book and then on the back of each page I can write a few lines throughout the year to mark progress or thoughts. The box is also a bit bigger than needed which means I can add to it or maybe include some mementos etc. I just thought I would keep my options open. I now need to sit down and complete it - I will share my goals when I have firmed them up.

And here is the little calendar which stands in a CD case. Again room on the back for a few lines of text regarding each month and maybe even a few tiny photos of each month. Then at the end of the year, I can bind them together and I have a record of the year! I used monthly photos from last year too which will make my smile when I look at it - loving the trees in January and just wait for June (yum yum!).

I did four layouts in total (one's a double) and the one I like the most is my "One Little Word" one. If you do not know about this you can check out my post from January 2007 (here) and also the Ali Edwards site where it originates. I loved this so much from the first moment I read about it and my word for 2007 was Positive, 2008 was Consolidate and now for 2009 is Calm. This is most certainly something I need to work on LOL! Anyone who knows me will agree to this! 

Other layouts were two inspired by the fact it was full moon yesterday night (prompted by the BPS class Red Letter Days which takes a new look at the calendar for inspiration in our scrapping!), and one about a great evening we had out in the dessert. 

Or maybe that should be "Slower but Slower..."

Ever get the feeling you are swimming up stream, against the current and just as you pull a bit ahead, the water washes you back downstream? Boy, salmon have it hard!

Just as I clear stuff off my list, the things adding on to the top of the list make it ever longer! Guess it's that time of year. This is always silly season for us with loads of birthdays, celebrations, dinners, Christmas decorations, Advent, St Nikolaus, wedding anniversary, more bithdays, more dinners, Christmas parties, presents, Christmas Market, visits from home and then the grand finale of two Christmas dinners followed by...... peace!

I am not complaining (well maybe a little! ;-) - this is ME after all!) - it all gets done in the end even if Christmas cards arrive a little late and one or two presents are bought at the last minute! Or the last few years I hardly baked ANY Christmas Plätzchen (biscuits) - not EVEN my *world* famous Black Pepper Chocolate Cookies and let me tell you, these are a real winner! But it's a bit frantic and sometimes I wonder about moving some of those events to empty months at other times of the year. Why not celebrate my birthday in May for example, rather than November? Well, maybe not! And I must admit to always enjoying the family visits around this time of year when everyone wants to come over to visit the Christmas Markets. I rarely take the time to just enjoy the Christmas decorations or the markets around here - well you often don't if you see it every day do you? And it is great to just wander around Recklinghausen market which is so sweet and small or over to Essen which is huge in comparison and my top choice for photos

And while I am at it, I just want to say right here and now that I have HUGE admiration for all of those of you out there who have jobs, families, school activities and houses to run - HOW DO YOU MANAGE IT ALL???? I think you all do a fantastic job and I would love to know how you mange to keep on top of it all - suggestions welcome!

But let's get back to the main thing I wanted to write here. I just wanted to post a few projects that I have done recently to prove that I really DO sometimes sit down and scrap, even if the output is a little slow from time to time

First off, what about the Bellaboo Christmas kit, "Festive Funk". I was not quite as productive as usual even though the kit was adorable and fun and everything Liberty had planned it to be. I totally loved using it and hope to make at least another two or three projects using it over the next days so watch this space. But in the meantime, here are my contributions. And if youi love the kit as much as I do, (and let's face it, how could you NOT?) you can find it here.

More to follow later but the shower is calling and then I have to brave the wet grey day outside to go to work.

Slowly but surely

It's a bit painful at the moment, but I am VERY slowly trying to work through outstanding stuff. My October 12 on 12 was missing as pointed out in the comments on my last entry by Meredith (:-)) and I really wanted to catch up so that I am on track with this. Maybe I am just making it too difficult?

Anyway, I decided to sit down during some dead time at work and create two simple sketches and then I just got on with it over the last couple of days. But you know, this is much harder for me than sitting with a blank piece of paper and just throwing stuff down on the page!

I decided to go all graphic and simple á la Cathy Z (I'm doing her Design Your Life right now over at BPS and am trying to "internalise" some of this simpler stuff.) and I created a grid as the base to the layout. But as you can see, my measurements were somewhat "off", my common margins are not all that common and I have odd spaces here and there which I had to fill with ribbons and paper!!!! Best intentions! I guess there is always next time!

The main thing in that the day is recorded!

November was a bit more successful - and I used the new font recommended by Cathy Z which I adore.

And onto the next projects - the Christmas kit work for Bellaboo - another fantastic combinations that will blow your mind! Looking forward to sitting down tonight and getting down to it.

PS. Don't you hate the fact that it is so difficult to catch that 30 seconds of decent daylight now that winter is definitely here - taking photos on the floor with electric light and flash.... not a good combination! The layouts are much *nicer* IRL!

PPS. Isn't that Fancy Pants floral gorgeous? All the PP I used here (in both layouts) is from Bellaboo - I adore this range of Botanicals though. It was lovely to use something so pretty. It did not need much embellishment at all. Thanks Lib!

History in the making

Even in my relatively short life, there have been a few occasions where you just have to sit and realise you are watching history in the making. What has happened in the last 48 hours has most definitely been one of those times. Life is good. Appreciate it.