Orange Drizzle Cake with Chocolate Buttercream (GF, DF)

This is one of my favourite stand-by recipes, it’s really easy to make and always delicious!
There’s a bit of a disaster story with this, however.
So, last weekend I went to a singing weekend. Every year I bring a cake. This year, I decided to make this one:

Yup. Doesn’t it look pretty amazing? Sorry. But usually I mess up on cakes, this cake, I didn’t. There was orange drizzle. Rich chocolate icing.
So I put it in a box, clearly labelled “this way up” with arrows pointing in the right direction. I put it on a shelf in the back room.
And the next day, it was upside down.
I don’t know who, I don’t know why. But they missed out on some good cake thanks to their ignorance, as it was virtually crumbs and icingy mush after. At least it was still a bit edible.
So of course, I took it home. Not presentable to anyone else. Ahem. I got to eat a bit more of it than I would have originally thought. On the bright side, my sister got some too 🙂
Also: I am going to Scotland for ten days for a nature camp! I will be camping all week (fingers crossed for the weather to continue) and hopefully it will be awesome. But no posts for ten days! I’m leaving tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Ingredients:
120g butter substitute, I use Pure
120g caster sugar
120g gluten free self raising flour, I use Doves Farm
2 eggs
1 orange
20g icing sugar

for the icing… Just make your usual chocolate buttercream, dairy free or not.

Preheat the oven to 190c
Mix together the butter and the sugar until creamy
Beat the eggs and then mix them in
Zest the orange and juice half of it into the bowl, mix into the egg/butter/sugar
Sift the flour into the bowl, mix.
Put it in a cake tin and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Mix the other half of the orange with the icing sugar, and when the cake is baked, stab the cake with a fork a few times and drizzle the drizzle all over it 🙂
Ice as needed, chocolate icing tastes amazing on this!
Enjoy!

The Rapunzel Foundation

So, a few months ago, I heard of this organization called the Rapunzel Foundation (www.rapunzelfoundation.com)
It gives children and adults suffering from alopecia, cancer or other hair loss related illnesses human hair wigs. It runs from donations, so people can go and get their hair cut and give the hair to be made into wigs.
It makes it easier for financially disadvantaged people suffering from hair loss to have human hair.
And yesterday, I gave my hair to them 🙂 It’s only just short, but it’s a big difference for me cause I’ve never had short hair before. O_o. Every time I see myself reflected in things I get a fright. So no braids for the next while! I don’t regret cutting it, though. I’m happy to think that someone will have my hair who wouldn’t have been able to have hair otherwise.

Sunrise Ukulele

I’m going camping in Scotland next week, and I wanted to bring my ukulele, but I didn’t want it to get damaged, so I bought this cheap, white ukulele, instantly realized the blank canvas, then got around to painting it with permanent markers. I used Promarkers and they bled a bit so I would use Sharpies next time.

Apple and Orange Pie

This is a lovely, simple thing to make. It’s pretty easy, just steamed apple and orange zest and pieces and a bit of sugar thrown into a pie crust.

Ingredients:
3-4 apples, peeled and chopped
Zest of an orange
Chunks of the orange, not too much juice as it has a tendency to make the base soggy
50g sugar
100g shortcrust pastry, I use the pre-made, frozen gluten free DS brand as it is the only decent pastry I can find as making it from scratch doesn’t usually taste to good and tends to crumble

Preheat the oven to 180c
Roll out and put half of the pastry in the pie dish (I used quite a small and shallow dish, so if you want to use a bigger dish, maybe casserole size, you might want to double the recipe) and bake as per instruction
If you are steaming the apples, steam until soft, if you are stewing, you can throw in some of the zest as well to reduce the bitterness, but never worry anyway, it goes away in the baking.
Mix the apples, orange chunks, sugar and remaining zest together in a bowl
Place the apple/orange mix in the baked pie base when it is cooked
Roll out the top layer and flatten over the apples, if there are any leftover bits of pastry you could make some little leaves or something decorative
Bake until golden brown on top and enjoy!

Courgette and Pesto Bean Burgers

These are delicious! I kind of adapted the recipe but now it’s changed so much that it’s a new recipe in itself.
They usually take me about half an hour to make from start to finish, and they are really easy to make.

Ingredients:
15 oz can of butter beans or other beans, drained
1 average sized courgette, grated
3-5 tablespoons of pesto, freshly made or store-bought
5-7 tablespoons of rice flour or other flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for frying
Burger buns
Cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce etc. or whatever you like inside a burger

Put the beans, courgette, pesto and flour in a blender or food processor and blend until a thick paste. Taste and season and add more pesto if needed. Take out a bit, roll it in your hands for a second and see if it sticks to them, if it does, add more flour and stir.
Shape them into equal sized patties, depending on how large your burger buns are.

Heat up a small amount of oil in a pan until sizzling hot, then slowly place however many burgers fit in at one time in, for 2-3 minutes each side, or until golden brown

Put one in a burger bun with some other fillings and enjoy!

Bass Clef Wire Earrings

A follow up to the treble earrings. I think it would look really nice if I put one of one pair in each ear!
These were wrapped in a thinner silver wire to keep the two beads on the side in place.

Treble Clef Wire Earrings

These were really easy to make, just a little twisting and twirling with a piece of wire!
Sorry for not posting for ages 😦 I’m going away again today and will be back on Monday.