Cake forty - three

Choco Tea Loaf

Things change in our life and there are moments when you have no time to dedicate to yourself. I’m sure it happens to all of us, especially when you have a family and your children are at a crossroads and need your support, whether invisible or factual. 

So here I am after many months taking control of my time again... I had no chance to write but I haven’t stopped baking, you simply can't when baking is a part of your 'self'!

This is a breakfast cake, delicious with tea and coffee any time of the day. 

Get inspired and try it yourself.

75g bran cereal

125g brown sugar

50g mixed dried fruit

50g chocolate bits

125ml strong tea

75g flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

1 egg

125g icing sugar

Place the cereal, sugar, fruit, chocolate bits and tea in a bowl. Stir well and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Mix in the flour, baking powder, spice and egg. 

Line a loaf tin with baking paper and transfer mixture there. Bake at 180° for about 40 minutes. Cool cake and make the icing in the meantime. Spread icing on top.

Quick icing

Put the icing sugar in a small bowl adding some cold water until the mixture is spreadable but not liquid.

The cake looks different with some sugar sprinkles on top.

Easter baking - Cake thirty-nine

Chocolate eggs and lollipops - 2014

Chocolate causes addiction, no doubt! When you start eating some you’d never stop, you kind of magically feel better, the cocoa molecules cast their spell and capture your senses, they melt your heart and appease your mouth, but this state of food ecstasy doesn’t last long! A few moments after you’ve swallowed the last bite a mixed feeling of pleasure and regret pervades you and shortly afterwards you are 100% aware of the consequences of your eating chocolate. So you get crossed and console yourself with another bite and..... there you are in the trap once more! The circle has started again! 

Working with chocolate gives you the same appeasing sensation without side effects and frustrating feelings though. I love melting chocolate, I like the fact you can use it for writings, frostings and what I find most fun for chocolates of any shapes, colour and taste. At Easter eggs and rabbits of any size are a must, but egg-shaped lollipops are definitely my favourites!

Song: Across the universe

Follow your thoughts while they're tumbling free across the universe!

see recipe: http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2014/06/easter-baking-cake-twenty-nine.html

Cake thirty

Choco Dream

What colour are your dreams? Do you dream in full colour or in black and white? The answer's not easy, in fact we don’t always remember our dreams. Sometimes they seem to vanish when we open up our eyes, other times we feel like trapped in for hours, we might only remember a single scene, a sensation or a detail. It does happen to me to keep on living my dream for a few hours and of course nightmares are quite difficult to get rid of, they haunt me down and ruin my day. Sweet dreams don’t last long, unfortunately. 

I’ve never tried to investigate the deeper meaning of my dreams, maybe I simply don’t want to, but I often try and find out the link they have with my real life. At night my mind is set free and gives shape to the fears and anxiety I have to disguise during the day.. So in the morning I’m rather busy to kind of lock up 

all my ‘night memories’ in a drawer and colour my day with positive feelings. After all I’m a dreamer and do believe in happy endings!

Wouldn’t it be better to wake up from dreams which take place in a chocolate world? I’d love it! The memory of the smell of chocolate would be enough to vanish all my night ghosts!

Song: I'm only sleeping

Wouldn't it be nice to wake up in a chocolate world?

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/10/cake-thirty-choco-dream.html

Cake twenty

The king of cheesecakes

I’ve just come back from Belgium which I consider, no doubt, the kingdom of chocolate! I knew Belgian chocolate was world famous but I didn’t expect so many shops and such a variety of chocolates. It was like walking in streets of chocolate with shopwindows full of pralines, chocolate fountains and chocolate statues. Once you went into a shop, you were practically lost! You could hardly resist tasting a small chocolate and you found yourself dreaming to eat them all.. In a few days you felt like addicted to chocolate! 

This is not a Belgian cake but the combination of the delicious chocolate bottom and the yummy soft cheese mixture makes it in my opinion the best of cheesecakes.. 

So I’d love to dedicate this cheesecake ‘the king of cheesecakes’ to Belgium, the kingdom of chocolate. A bit like giving a king his kingdom!

Song: Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Picture yourself in a chocolate street with chocolate trees and marmalade skies...

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/03/cake-twenty-king-of-cheesecakes.html