Lochs and Life Updates

It's been a while since I've written anything about anything other than food, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of today's day out and share a little life update.

On Tuesday this week I handed in my last big piece of work of the semester and, excitingly, of my masters! (other than the small issue of a 12,000 word dissertation, but that is next weeks problem). I have a big list of things I want to do - reply to emails, do some editing, read some blogs, bring the Easter baking ideas I've been dreaming of into the real world, clear out the mess that is my wardrobe... some of these things are more exciting than others!

But on Wednesday morning when the sunshine was tempting me out of the front door I decided that the to do list could wait until Thursday and Friday, and five of use headed for the hills and went for a wander around Loch Leven. It's only half an hour North of Edinburgh and it's absolutely beautiful. Sadly it was very late in the day before we arrived, so we didn't manage the whole 21km lap of the lake, but we'll definitely be back another day to complete the walk. The small part of the path we explored was peppered with hidden doors and secret pools so I can only try and imagine the rest of it.

I will be honest though, there was more tempting me out into the great outdoors than just the sunshine. For almost five years I've been living a very luxurious lifestyle, it has to be said. Yes there's been countless hours spent in the library, more bowls of lentils than I care to remember and that one time I sat on the floor of the lab and cried because there was seawater pouring everywhere and I didn't know how to stop it, but overall the student lifestyle is undeniably wonderful. Even as a science student your time is relatively flexible, and when the sun shines you can drop your plans and run to the nearest loch to explore.

However, I am very pleased to be able to say I have been offered a full time, "grown up" job. And whilst it's more than I ever could have hoped for, before graduation and within an organisation whose work combines so many of my passions I can't believe my luck, it does mean I'll have to wait until the weekends to head for the hills in the future.

So I'm trying to make the most of my last couple of weeks. Last weekend explored some more of Newcastle, I'm off to Amsterdam with Ben later this week, and then I'm going to spend a bit more time in the nooks and crannies of Edinburgh. It's been a long time since I visited Amsterdam so if you have any recommendations about what to do and where to eat I'd love to hear them.

And now I'm going to end this excessive amount of text now and leave you with some more pictures of a lovely day out. I hope the sun is showing its face where you are and that you're enjoying it too.

Beetroot and Blood Orange Brownies

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote about visiting Bettys in Harrogate, and I spoke about a salad I shared with my parents. The salad had beetroot and blood orange in it and the combination of the two flavours was delicious, absolutely the highlight of the salad. Tangy and light alongside deep and earthy.

Like I said at the time it triggered a bit of a cake thought in my head. Beetroot cake is nothing new, but I've never tried it, so I thought it was high time I did, with some bonus blood orange just as we reached the end of the season.

I had a good Google and read so many chocolate beetroot cake/brownie recipes I thought my head was about to explode. I took something from almost all of them, and came up with my own version, as none of them had quite the combination I was looking for - melted chocolate and cocoa powder for ultimate chocolate-ness, meted butter not oil and fresh beetroot. The end result was am incredibly rich, dense, gooey brownie that was refreshingly different from my normal brownie recipe (which you can find here).

Beetroot and Blood Orange Brownies

85g Dark Chocolate
240g Butter
300g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
300g Cooked Beetroot
30g Cocoa Powder
150g Plain Flour
50g Ground Almonds
1tsp Baking Powder
1 Large Blood Orange

1. Cook your beetroots. I washed mine, boiled them until quite soft (time depends on size of beetroot) then washed them in cold water and rubbed off the skin before finally grating them.
2. Preheat the oven to 180oC and line your tin. Size doesn't really matter, the thicker the mixture is in the tin the longer it will take to bake!
3. Melt the chocolate together with the butter and then add the caster sugar.
5. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the grated beetroot.
6. Sift all of the dry ingredients together and then add to the wet mixture, folding in gently.
7. Chop the blood orange into rounds and cut the skin off.
8. Pour the mixture into the tin and place the blood orange on top.
9. Bake for around 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out nearly (very very nearly) clean).

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

I made these sugar coma inducing cupcakes a few weeks ago, before lent. It is now lent, and I'm salivating as I type because I haven't nothing half as sweet as these has passed my lips in forever. 

Okay just over two weeks, but it feels like forever. If I'm honest, these bad boys are possibly a step too far - Ben and I actually shared one because there was just so much icing and our teeth were still buzzing afterwards. But sometimes that's exactly what you need. I made these to take round to Broadchurch night (any suggestions to replace the David Tennant shaped gap in my life right now would be much appreciated) so I don't have a picture of the inside, but the cake is just as marbled as the icing. I think you can just see the pattern peeking out under the icing on the picture immediately above.

Marbling the cake is really deceptively easy. Every marble recipe ever has said that, because it's true! Blob of vanilla cake mix, blob of chocolate cake mix, another blob of vanilla and then wiggle a cocktail stick through it. The two tone icing is marginally, and I mean really hardly at all, more difficult. I like to put my piping bag in a tall glass and fold it out on itself a couple of times. Then you just put vanilla icing on one side of the bag and chocolate icing on the other side, a spoonful at a time. It isn't always really neat, you are most likely to get completely covered in the two types of icing and the first one or two you pipe can often be way more of one icing than another, but then you're golden. 

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

150g Butter

150g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

175g Self Raising Flour

50ml Milk

3tbsp Cocoa Powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and get your cupcake cases ready.

2. Whip the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3. Mix the eggs and the milk together.

4. Alternate adding the flour and the egg and milk mixture.

5. Put half the mix in another bowl and add the cocoa powder to one of the bowls.

6. Alternately dollop the two mixtures into your cupcake cases and then wiggle a cocktail stick through.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Icing

115g Butter

225g of Full Fat Cream Cheese (I used Philadelphia)

500g Icing Sugar

1 Tbsp Milk

You need twice this much to have the amount of icing there is on the pictures - you make the icing twice for the two flavours. If you don't want quite as much icing you can make up the above, put it in two bowls and put half the vanilla and cocoa powder in.

For Vanilla - add 1 tsp vanilla extract

For Chocolate - add 60g Cocoa Powder

1. Whip the butter until light and fluffy

2. Add the cream cheese and whip until just mixed - don't over mix else it might go runny!

3. Add the icing sugar, milk and appropriate flavouring.

4. Fill your piping bag with the two flavours, one flavour on each side of the bag and pipe away!