Vicious as a sponge.

So, I'm still bubbling around in existence. Been busy with uni and other commitments, including singing in various ensembles around the town.

And this morning I somehow found myself ingesting a quarter of a sponge cake. With blueberries. And cream, of course. It's soft, naturally, and meringue-like, this sponge. The first I've made away from home, and the first to this recipe of Maggie's that my mum has had great success with in the past. And it's gluten-free.
I won't lie. While I was assembling the line-up of ingredients, I was thinking about how people say sponges are hard, and they really aren't. But then I opened the oven door too early and it was a bit of a flop.
Not to worry. A blueberries-and-cream sandwich isn't going to be unpopular, even if it doesn't rise as far as you wanted.
Make sure you put the sugar in with the egg whites at the start, if you make this. I forgot to do so, and it might have helped. I had intended to make it for a group of people that includes a coeliac, and so I was ultra particular about getting things that had no chance of gluten in them. This led me to buy 'Pure Cream' instead of thickened, which is my usual default for whipping cream. What a revelation! It whips really fast. And it's so runny to begin with. I recommend trying it sometime, because it's interesting. Maybe sad that this is the case, but all the same..
Would go nicely with a cup of tea.

Because I'm at it, now, I'd like to share with you some thoughts about people and cakes:
People can often be grouped by what kinds of cakes they prefer in terms mainly of texture. And sweetness, perhaps. And I may offend. I don't mean to, but neither am I aiming for particular political correctness. In fact if your opinion differs, please comment- I'd love a second or third opinion. Which group/s are you in?

Light, fluffy cakes: People whose mums make these sort of cakes. Often descended from CWA schools. Includes sponge fans and pav fans. If you are one of these, please also like whipped cream. (Real, not fake.) If you are one of these and do not like cream, chances are you don't mind packet mix. I'm sorry for you, but get out.

Fruitcake: People also tend to be categorical about whether or not they like fruit cake. For some it's an acquired taste. I acquired it at some point over the last 7 years. One can prefer fruit cake groggy and dense (see next point), or lighter.. in which case, you might like sultana cake without liking fruit cake so much. Or you may like neither. That's ok.

Dense cakes: YAY. This is me. Flourless cakes are here, anything involving nut meal (dacquoise not included - that's under "light, fluffy." May not like it too sweet, but texture is important.. and when it comes to chocolate, fans hereof prefer mudcake to fluffy Sara Lee "chocolate" cake. Dense cake lovers like chocolatey chocolate cakes, not brown fluff pretending to be chocolate.

Cheesecake: Cheesecake lovers often tend to categorically love all things chocolate. Sometimes they place high importance on the icing of other cakes (maybe this comes from a childhood of shop-bought things where the cake tasted/felt like plastic and the icing was the only part to have any taste?) I am not really a cheesecake person and don't really understand it. Are you also more likely to enjoy chocolate croissants? What about doughnuts?


Chocolate cakes: Nobody dislikes all chocolate cake. Chocolate cake really deserves another section of its own, about how people like theirs. Then again, chocolate cake preferences probably fit quite nicely into the above 4 categories. Yes, chocolate fruit cake does exist. It is delicious.

Icing lovers: See cheesecake. If this is you, try not to be offended. Also: to marzipan or not to marzipan? I suspect that often, true dense-cake lovers like marzipan. Maybe. Certainly stollen fans do.

emergency post

With 2500 words due on Monday, and a sister arriving in town in 53 minutes, and a full day tomorrow, there has never been a better time to blog.

1. Vegetables and simplicity. Beauty.
Eating college food is teaching me to appreciate what I can get. Tonight, said sister arriving, I'll be eating with her, but thought I'd have a few vegies in the meantime (it's a nice chance to have a study break and socialise with people too).
Shredded iceberg lettuce, steamed baby peas and carrot (just boiled carrot discs) with pepper and a small squirt of salad dressing. I don't know what is in the dressing, if anything, other than white vinegar, oil and salt. But this was delici.
And pieces of capsicum with grated carrot to go with some desecrated coleslaw like the tiny hacked up coleslaw you get from the supermarket. Not bad.

2. Pizza Capers tonight! They're pretty unique. If you're not from Brisbane, and you find yourself there one night with nothing to eat, and you want something takeaway, find a Pizza Capers.

3. Rant.
New sign up in the college kitchen:
MEAT IS FOR MEAT EATERS ONLY. Vegetarians please stick to your vegetarian option. Thank you one & all, College Kitchen.

Replacing old sign:
Vegetarian food is for vegetarian's only. Please keep to your meat choices. Thanks one & all.
(Yes, that comma was on the sign.)

I'm going to complain. I mainly stick to the vegetarian food at college, partly for environmental reasons, partly for health (meat 2 times a day x 7 days a week isn't good for anyone) and partly because it's not as bad as the meat most of the time. Sometimes it's awful. Like when they give you the same stir-fry for lunch, dinner and lunch, and then dinner is deep fried frozen vegie burgers. And the stir-fry isn't even good.

Mind you, it is a pain when you find out there was felafel for lunch, and now it's all gone because everyone wants felafel because it's amazing. The moral of the story, however, is not 'Eat only vegetarian options' or 'Eat only meat options' but 'Make more felafel.'

Now.. how much can I write in the next 15 minutes?

P.S. Latest creation, using up things in the flat, was surprisingly very very good.

80g butter
1/3 cup raw sugar (creamed with butter)
1 egg (the other one was cracked :( )
1/3 apple, grated (because the sugar ran out... pink lady was what I used)
tbsp honey (all I had)
2 carrots, grated (it was meant to be some sort of carrot cake)
1/4 cup almond meal :)
1 1/3 cup SR flour
shake of mixed spice
2 shakes ground ginger
handful of sultanas
some milk (as much as it takes to get a cake batter consistency)
walnuts on top

Bake as long as it takes to do the dishes. Or until it looks done and doesn't leave itself on the knife, or skewer if you're lucky. Texture is divine, especially when hot.

Actually inspired by the first time they made muffins at Graduate House breakfast.

P.P.S.
This is my 61st post. If you're interested. I was surprised there were so many.

This time of the month

...in a totally male-friendly way. The end of the month means one thing in baking blogs all over the world.Daring Bakers, thankyou for not even threatening my sanity with this month's chocolate eclairs!

I thought choux pastry was meant to be hard? The only part I struggled with was piping the dough/paste onto the trays, because either my piping skills or equipment (most likely both) are not quite up to it. Never mind, roundish globs became pretty profiteroles!

I freaked out when I saw instructions to boil the pastry cream, and to my delight discovered that cornflour stops the yolk curdling! Genius. I actually was surprised to see that the recipe called for a chocolate custard and that other bakers going for a chocolate non-overload had used a set custard rather than just whipped cream, which I had thought was the more traditional way to fill an eclair. Custard suits me perfectly.

What else is there to tell you... let me know if you want the recipe, it's quite easy.

Mum came in as they were in the oven and said they smelled right. She used to make them all the time and she said Grandma (of the trusted sponge kisses and luince jelly) used to just spoon the paste onto the tray and smooth it out in eclair shape with a knife. I'll do that next time, and there will be a next time, because these were not only easy but fun to make.

And after taking photos to show off how wonderful they looked, I'd forgotten that they would have a taste! and delicious they were.
P.S. Reading other Daring Bakers' commentaries, I thought lavender and chocolate sounded gorgeously good, especially as spring arrives here, so my cream is subtly lavender. Enjoy :)