Week 16

Monday - It was so strange to find myself in a place I was so familiar with by name, but so alien to in reality.

Tuesday - Pilgrims getting baptised in the River Jordan.

 

Wednesday - Time to go home.

 

Thursday - An afternoon walk in the local park.

Friday - A National Trust property that served as a hospital in the war has been converted back into the hospital for the centenary of the start of WW1, so we went for a nose around. 

Saturday - The spectacular view from the Cloud 23 Bar in Manchester.

Sunday - A fiery sky on the way back North.

Week Fifteen

Here we are again, seven photos, seven days, and only a little late... I hope you all had lovely weeks, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into a pile of blog reading - a week away from computers and the posts really start to mount up!

Monday - New phone, new toy to play with. So far I'm impressed with the quality of snaps on my Samsung Galaxy S4 - like this first one of something handy, an orchid.

Tuesday - Packing, packing packing!

Wednesday - Waiting for the luggage at Cyprus airport.  

Thursday - A beautiful mosque in Alanya, Turkey. 

Friday - A bit of good news from a new masters application has given me some direction again for next year and definitely called for celebratory drinks. 

Saturday - I found paradise, in Crete.

Sunday - Well it is a day of rest isn't it?

"If"

"If music be the food of love" is the opening line of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The adaption currently playing at the newly refurbished Everyman theatre in Liverpool clings to the word "if" throughout, and watching it was a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a weekend a few weeks ago. It was great fun to have a nose around the newly refurbished theatre too - gone is the aching bum after hours of sitting in cold metal chairs, and the new cafe at the front of the theatre is a great place to grab a cup of tea and a slice of cake, regardless of whether you're off to see a play or not.

If such miserable weather is hanging around, what do you do? Get drinks in and then enjoy a delicious dinner with friends of course!

We headed over to Spire, where we were greeted with the most delicious amuse-bouche that basically consisted of cheese, cheese and more cheese. Cheese three ways - a soup, a little fried ball and a creamy spread.

The whole table plumped for beautifully cooked, melt in the mouth pork belly with scallops, followed by roasted halibut with sweet potato puree and fresh green vegetables. It may have been boring that we basically all picked the same thing, but it was so delicious there's no way we could have had any regrets.

Sadly, for me, the meal was let down a little by a bland crème brûlée. But only a little bit. The rest of the meals was so delicious and the restaurant let us sit at the table and chat all night, so I don't really want to complain. I can let one bad pudding slide.

If I could have one pudding for the rest of my life, it wouldn't be crème brûlée. If you could have one pudding for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Easter Baking Inspiration

Usually on a Sunday I post seven photos from my week, but as that will be a little late this week, I thought I'd treat you to seven Easter bakes. Easter. After all the good behavior in Lent, how could I not post baking inspiration?

1. Easter Bunny Cookies from Created By Diane

2. Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes from My Baking Addiction

3. Easter Bunny Bark from Blooming on Bainbridge

4. Easter Chick Macarons from Sweet Explorations

5. Hot Cross Buns from BBC Good Food

6. Fluffy Lamb Cake from Handmade Charlotte

7. Simnel Cake from the good old BBC

Mini Egg Brownies

Today I have a delicious brownie recipe for you. But you won't find it here at Dear Baker. Oh no. Pop over to Scot Bloggers, which is where I'm being featured today. Very exciting! It's a great network that supports and brings together bloggers in Scotland, and is definitely worth keeping an eye on for discovering new blogs. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

This morning I'm headed off on a great adventure, about which I'm terribly excited. The itinerary is highlighted by the map above, and is covering areas I've wanted to visit for years, so I'm feeling very lucky. There's a few scheduled posts to keep the blog ticking over until I return, when normal service will resume. 

Be sure to check out my Instagram for updates about what I'm up to on my trip.

Have a lovely, lovely week. 

B xx

Raspberry and Lemon Loaf Cake

Spring is most definitely here. Blossoms are blooming on the trees and lambs are leaping in the fields. Spring is lovely, it really is. But in brief moments, I can glimpse Summer peeking tentatively out from under it's winter blanket. And I think I'm ready for summer, so with this recipe I'm definitely trying to coax it out from under the blanket. Raspberries and lemons are a beautiful pairing, and a bit of this cake is just like a little bite of summer.

Raspberry and Lemon Loaf Cake
225g Butter
225g Caster Sugar
4 Free-range Eggs
225g Self Raising Flour
Zest of 2 Lemons
100g Fresh Raspberries

Tangy Lemon Icing
Juice of 2 Lemons
250g Icing Sugar

1. Grease and line a standard loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the four eggs one by one.

3. Fold in the self raising flour
4. Zest the lemons and wash your raspberries. Gently fold into your cake mix and then pour the cake mix into the tin

 5. When the cake has been in the oven about an hour check on it, and if a knife doesn't come out clean put some tinfoil over the top to ensure the cake doesn't burn. Check regularly until a knife comes out clean. Meanwhile, juice the two lemons you zested earlier.

 

 

 6. Add the lemon juice to 200g of the icing sugar. This will make a very runny, tangy icing that you should sieve any lumps of icing sugar out of. Reserving 3tbsp, pour over the cake whilst it's still warm, which will make sure it sinks into the cake and leaves it nice and moist.

7. Place the remaining 50g of the icing sugar in another bowl. Table spoon at a time, add the left over thin icing until you have a thick white pourable icing. When the cake is completely cool drizzle this thick icing over the cake to make your cake reeeeally pretty.