Strawberry and elderflower cupcakes

With Summer still holding on, I thought I’d better get in some nice summery baking before the last of the sunshine vanishes for another year. Nothing says Summer to me more than elderflowers and strawberries (and maybe Pimms…). Next year it might be time for some Pimms cupcakes, but for now I’ll have to settle with these tasty strawberry and elderflower ones.

Makes 10 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

165g unsalted butter, softened

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon

1 tbsp elderflower cordial

1 tsp orange blossom water

200g self-raising flour

100ml milk

100g strawberries, chopped in to chunks

For the icing:

250g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter, softened

40ml milk

1 – 1 ½ tbsp. elderflower cordial, to taste

10 small strawberries, to decorate (optional)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/350°F and line a muffin tray with paper cases.
• Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add the lemon zest, elderflower cordial, and orange blossom water and mix well.
• Fold in half the flour, then half the milk, and then the rest of the flour, followed by the rest of the milk. Make sure they are fully incorporated, but don’t over mix.
• Add the strawberry chunks and gently stir, making sure they are distributed throughout the mix.
• Spoon the mix in to the cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
• Leave to cool on a wire rack. These are quite delicate cupcakes, so if you usually remove the cakes from the tin upside down, I’d recommend not to for these, or to leave them that little bit longer in the tin to firm up a little.
• To make the icing, whisk the butter and icing sugar together in either a freestanding electric mixer or hand-held electric whisk on a low speed until combined and smooth. (If using a hand-held electric whisk, or if your butter isn’t really soft, I’d recommend adding some of the milk before you start or you’ll get covered in icing sugar.)
• Gradually add the milk while mixing. Once fully incorporated, add the elderflower cordial gradually, to taste. Turn the speed up and continue to mix for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy.
• Once the cupcakes are completely cooled use a palette knife to spread the icing on top of each cake (this icing will be too soft to pipe on. If you want to pipe, gradually add more icing sugar until it is the right consistency).
• Decorate each cake with a strawberry (don’t add the strawberry until you’re ready to serve as they seem to go off quicker once they have icing on them).

Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum (British Museum)

I was excited about this exhibition as soon as I heard that it was happening this year. Continuing the excitement, I threw myself in to it fully, going to Pompeii Live (a live cinema screening from the exhibition with experts showing the audience around, explaining their favourite objects. Mary Beard was involved, and she’s always brilliant) a few weeks back, and getting the audio tour to enhance the exhibition itself (which took me a good three hours to get round). There was some overlap with the audio tour and Pompeii Live but it was definitely worth it. Pompeii Live gave me a good sense of the thoughts behind the creation of the exhibition, and the overall argument, which made me even more eager to visit, as well as giving me certain objects to look out for while I was there.

On entering the exhibition you are met with the upsetting image of a cast of a dog that died in Pompeii. This is a sobering start. You then come to a room with a short introductory video playing. I’m not sure what I thought of this really. It’s quite unusual, and seemed a little pointless, but I suppose it served the purpose of focusing your mind on what you were about to see.

The rest of the exhibition was absolutely brilliant. Set out as a house, you move through the street area to the atrium, bedroom, garden, living room, and finally the kitchen. The atrium, with its pretend water, and the garden area were both quite serene rooms. The layout emphasized the focus on life in Pompeii and Herculaneum, rather than just on the tragic end that the inhabitants met. I was struck by just how advanced the Romans were (not a new discovery, but one that really hit me as I explored the exhibition), and also how similar life was, that no matter how many years have passed humans still have the same concerns, and the same kinds of interests and pastimes. This made the haunting image of the empty, carbonized cot, and the casts at the end all the more moving.

There were some truly remarkable objects on display, and I was struck by how well preserved many of them were, and how varied the artwork was. It made me wonder at the inevitably eclectic mix of objects that would come out of a city today, and ponder the difficulties of choosing which objects to include in an exhibition like this. One of my favourite pieces in the exhibition was a mosaic portrait of a woman, an incredibly impressive, intricate piece of art. There were also some pieces that have not been seen together since AD79, which is just so special.

A fantastic, well thought out exhibition, I can’t recommend this highly enough. This is not an exhibition about the eruption of Vesuvius so much as it is about the lives of the people that inhabited Pompeii and Herculaneum; their interests, their clothes, their food, entertainments, and worries, looking beyond the tragic end that made these cities famous to the people whose lives were destroyed.

Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum is on until 29^th September at the British Museum. Most of the advanced tickets have sold, but if you get there early you might be lucky enough to get a day ticket. 

West End Live 2013

This weekend Trafalgar Square was transformed in to a platform for the amazing talents that are currently shining on the stages of theatres across the West End. In it's ninth year, this is a fantastic opportunity to sample what's on around London, and all for free. What could be better?

I was completely blown away by the talent of the young performers from Matilda (which I'm now even more excited about seeing this week), Billy Elliot, and Thriller Live. The students of the Sylvia Young Theatre School were impressively professional, and no doubt have a bright future ahead of them.

Thriller Live

My favourite performances had to be from the cast of Let It Be which had the whole crowd singing and dancing along, as well as the performance from Billy Elliot (it didn't hurt that he performed my favourite song from the musical, but he is clearly an incredibly talented performer). 

With performances from The Gruffalo and Horrible Histories this really is an event for the whole family, and a wonderful display of the versatility of theatre. 

Not only was all this incredible talent on show for free, but there were also interactive display from many of the museums and local attractions, so even if musicals aren't your thing there was plenty to see.

A wonderful array of talent on offer, and even with the odd technical issue, this is an absolute treasure of an event. The rain even held off! Reasons to love London? This is certainly one of them.

Jersey Boys

Erth's Dinosaur Zoo

'What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube' by John Lanchester

To celebrate 150 years of the London Underground Penguin produced a series of books, one for each line of the Underground, by various well respected authors. They are short books, about the right length to read one on a day’s worth of commute, perfect. I love the idea of these books and plan to read all of them (they’ll look pretty on my bookshelf as well which is always a bonus). I started with the book inspired by the District Line, What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube by John Lanchester.

Lanchester takes a fragmental approach, explaining that there is not one singular experience of the Tube (or should that be the Underground; if you don’t think there’s a difference, read this book). He talks about the broad socio-economic spread that is encompassed by the District line, but also about how the geography of London is defined by the Underground, that it would be a drastically different place if a different form of infrastructure had become dominant. For this we have the Victorians to thank. They were innovative and ambitious, and created the London Underground far before other capital cities around the world undertook such a task. There is a short homage to the Victorians and all they did for London which I particularly enjoyed.

Overall a fascinating book filled with personal anecdotes, musings on the importance of the Underground in the lives of those who live in London, the experience of the drivers, and so much more. It made me think, and I learned a fair few interesting facts from reading this. It also made me slightly uneasy about travelling along some of the tunnels on the network, so be warned.

Creme Egg Cupcakes

These cupcakes are perfect for the chocaholic in your life. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. These are only for those with a serious sweet tooth. Simple to make but who doesn't love a cake with a surprise filling?

Ingredients:
100g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
110g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g light brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
140g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml buttermilk
12 creme egg minis

Icing and topping:
70g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
90g very soft unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Creme egg splats
2 tbsp cocoa powder (optional)
4 tbsp boiling water (optional)

Method:

• Preheat your oven to gas mark 3/ 170C and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
• Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water to melt. Remove from the heat once it is fully melted.
• In the meantime cream the butter and sugars in a bowl until light and fluffy.
• Add half the eggs and mix well. Add the rest of the eggs and mix well.
• Fold in the melted chocolate.
• Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in until fully incorporated. 
• Add the buttermilk and vanilla extra and gently mix in until just incorporated.
• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases. You can either fill them a quarter full, place one creme egg mini in each, and then add the rest of the mix, or fill the cases just over half full and push the creme eggs into the centre (they will naturally sink slightly so don't push them right to the bottom).
• Bake the cakes for approximately 20 minutes. When testing if the cakes are done remember the creme egg centre which will mean a skewer inserted into the middle will always come out gooey.
• Leave to cool on a wire rack.
• To make the icing melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat once melted. 
• In a large bowl cream the butter until pale and fluffy. 
• Sift the icing sugar and beat well. 
• Add the vanilla extract, salt, and chocolate and beat for several minutes until soft and creamy.
• This will make quite a thick icing, most suitable for spreading on the cakes with a knife. If you want to pipe the icing on mix 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 4 tbsp boiling water in a cup and gradually add to the icing until you get a suitable consistency. Beat in well. 
• Pipe or spread the icing on the cakes, chop up a handful of creme egg splats and sprinkle on top.

Sticky Plum Jam Cake

This cake is based on a marmalade cake recipe from Linda Collister. Not being a huge fan of marmalade I decided to make a few adjustments and turn it in to a lovely, sticky jam cake. This is a simple cake, and the taste is by no means complex, but it is tasty, and really, that's the main thing isn't it?

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 175g self-raising flour
• A pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp good quality plum jam (with nice big chunks of fruit in)
• 2 tbsp full fat milk

For the top:

• 3 tbsp plum jam
• 100g icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp warm water

Method:

• Preheat oven to gas mark 4 and grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.
• Beat the butter in a bowl until creamy. 
• Gradually add the sugar, beating all the while. Continue to beat until the mix is pale and fluffy.
• Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add one tablespoon of the flour with the last bit of egg.
• Sift the rest of the flour, salt, and baking powder in and gently fold in with a large metal spoon until thoroughly combined.
• Add the jam and milk and stir in. (It is tempting at this point to add extra jam, but try to resist this temptation - too much and the cake will sink).
• Spoon the mixture in to the cake tin and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from the tin and leave on a cooling rack.
• Put the rest of the jam in a small saucepan and gently heat. Brush over the top of the cake (you can pierce the top of the cake in a few places to allow extra jammy goodness to seep in to the cake, but it's just as tasty if you don't). Leave to cool completely before adding the icing.
• Mix the icing sugar and water in a bowl until smooth. This should make icing of a runny consistency which is what we want for the icing to run down the sides of the cake, and to have bits of the jam showing through. Drizzle or spoon the icing over the cake, and enjoy. 

'The Son' by Michel Rostain

The acclaimed debut novel from Michel Rostain deals with the death of his adult son in a mix of fiction and memoir. The novel tells the story of his son’s death from the point of view of his son. I knew little more about this novel when I began it, and wondered how such a narrative technique would work. I was pleasantly surprised. Using the son to narrate the story gives him a character of his own, you forget that he has died. He comments on his parents’ behaviour and raises questions over how people treat the objects of the deceased – do those left behind have the right to go through their possessions, to try and learn things about their life that they wouldn’t have told them had they still been living? It’s an interesting technique that heightens the emotions. There are moments where it slips and becomes a little confused, mainly when there are long sections of dialogue, but generally he pulls it off well.

The subject of the story is of course utterly heartbreaking, and the reader is struck with just how painful such a situation is. I was struck by this most in the section describing the arranging of the funeral. It seemed cruel that so soon after such a bereavement they were forced to make decisions when they were barely able to think coherently. However, as other reviewers have commented, this is not a despairing book. There is hope, and there is humour, and many fond memories of their beloved son.

There is a feel to this novel of it being some kind of therapy for the author, a way to process what has happened, to make peace with it. It is painfully honest in its depiction of the emotions he goes through, of the ways he behaves which could come across as slightly crazy, but are all part of the grieving process. However, the overall message is of hope; that you can survive something as traumatic as the death of a child, that you can’t explain how, but you carry on, and you find ways of remembering and honouring their memory.

A powerful book that is deeply moving. There are moments of despair, there are moments of hope and humour. A beautiful tribute to the author’s son.

The Son is due to be published in the UK on 23rd May, 2013.