82.____Happy Belated 21st Birthday to The Boyfriend

The Boyfriend was 21 last week, while we were in Cornwall, we had an amazing day, as you've seen the pictures from in the last post. In his own words he got, "a good haul" - such a man thing to say but he really did love his presents. I treated him to a weekend away in the Lake District, among other things, which we've just got back from. It was lovely, and I'm really pleased he had a good birthday.

56.___Hello, Is Anybody Out There?

From the counter, I know that there are people reading this, but it'd be great if you commented, let me know what you think, be honest! It's my birthday tomorrow, it'd be a brilliant present if you commented, so I know what you think. Hope you're all okay and having a good week!

13.____mmm...Cake!

It's my mums birthday today, so, as a special touch I thought I'd bake her a cake, it was delicious!

Here's the recipe:

300g/10½oz plain chocolate, broken into pieces
225g/8oz caster sugar
175ml/6fl oz boiling water
225g/8oz salted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
6 free-range eggs, separated
1 tsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp vanilla extract 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. For the cake, grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in springform tin with baking parchment.
3. Blend the chocolate and sugar in a food processor until a fine powder forms. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract and blend until well combined.
4. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed, then, using a metal spoon, gently fold into the chocolate mixture.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin, then transfer to the fridge for 2-3 hours. 

Thank you to Sophie Dahl & the Delicious Miss Dahl BBC programme for that!