Lostalgia

So, Lost, the show that so many millions of people all over the world were hooked on for 5 and a half years ended this week. What better way to celebrate everything we love about the show, and mark the finale, than to hold a lostalgic party - dress up as characters from the show, and of course eat some themed snacks. Andy came as Oceanic 815, Margaret was Sayid and I was Ben in teacher mode from the 16th episode of season 6. And to accompany it all I made these yummy biscuits decorated like the dharma fish biscuits from season 3 and the dharma logo. The recipe is a simple biscuit recipe from Asda.com:

Lost Biscuits

Ingredients

• 175g butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg yolk
• 250g plain flour
• 1 pack writing icing

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C Fan/Gas 4. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the egg yolk and add the flour and mix to a smooth dough. Gather together with your hands, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
2 Roll out the dough between two sheets of clingfilm to the thickness of a £2 coin. Be quick with the cutting or get someone to help as the dough becomes a bit unworkable as it heats up in your hands (pop it back in the fridge for a while, without clingfilm, if this happens). Cut out shapes with a dharma or fish template (I made my own on card and cut round it on the dough) and put in the oven for 15 mins. Allow to cool completely before decorating. Yum.

The people shaped ones are Boone, Hurley in 1970s jumpsuit, and Jacob.

Happy Norway Day!

Monday 17th May was Norway's National Day when the country celebrates the adoption of its constitution in 1814. For more information on how its celebrated and what it's all about click here: http://www.norway.org/ARCHIVE/culture/heritage/nationalday/

To celebrate the national day of our favourite holiday destination we held our own celebrations yesterday. This included eating a breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs and chocolate spread covered bread (what we had for breakfast in our Oslo hotel in January), a dinner of hot dogs (what we ate for lunch in Oslo) and watching Norwegian clips and listening to some Norwegian music (a once a year experience, I think!). But, the centrepiece of our celebrations was our Norway Day cake. It was a basic Victoria sandwich, covered with cream cheese icing and strawberries and blueberries in the shape of the Norwegian flag (sort of). The cake is a sainsbury's recipe and the icing is from All Cakes Considered (p43).

Ingredients:
175g margarine
175g caster sugar
3 medium eggs, beaten
175g self raising flour
strawberry jam

55g  butter
112g cream cheese
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
225-250g icing sugar

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Grease and line two 20.5cm sandwich tins.


Place the margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of flour with the second egg. Add the remaining flour and beat well.Divide the mixture equally between the prepared sandwich tins. 


Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until the cake has risen and springs back to the touch. Cool on a wire rack. Sandwich together with strawberry jam.


For the icing:


Cream together unsalted butter (at room temperature) and cream cheese. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. 


Gradually add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. If your icing isn't stiff enough you can add more icing sugar, or if it's too stiff add some more butter. 


Spread the icing over the whole cake and place in the fridge for ten minutes.


Bring out of the fridge and decorate with chopped strawberries and whole blueberries. Put back in the fridge for 30 minutes before eating.


Due to the fresh fruit and the dairy content this cake can only keep for a couple of days so make sure you have plenty of friends on hand to help you consume it!

Tardy cake

Apologies for the delay in posting the recipe for the spice cake. I have no explanation other than that I had some relaxation to be done in the wake of a flurry of uni work and then had to get my dissertation underway. I have some good news though in that the oven has been 'de-goosed' by the electrician and is in full working order for future cakes and other baked goods. Next up: a Norewgian flag cake to celebrate Norwegian Constitutional Day on 17th May (in honour of our trip to Oslo and love of all things Scandinavian)! Then, there are plans afoot for some cookies that should resemble the main characters in Lost for the end of show finale party that Margaret, Andy and I are having on May 24th. But for now, here is the Araby Spice cake recipe:

Ingredients:
(for the cake)

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 and a half cups of sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups plain white flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa poweder
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

(for the frosting)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1 and a half teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 and a half teaspoon hot coffee (plus extra in case)

Instructions
(cake)
preheat the oven to 180c (350F). Grease and line a 9 inch cake pan or 10 inch tube pan with baking paper.
Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar, mixing until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each.
In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and cocoa together. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine the buttermilk, vanilla, and lemon juice. 
Add 1/2 flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat together. Then add 1/4 buttermilk mixture and beat again. Continue until all the mixtures are blended together. Beat for a futher 1 minute.
Pour the mixture into the baking pan and cook for 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cake pan. Leave to cool completely.

(frosting)
cream together the butter, egg yolk, icing sugar, cocoa and coffee until smooth. Spread over the top and sides of the cake. Enjoy!