I'd forgotten about...

the blueberries.

T -6 days, and the first week's schedule is revealed! Exciting, nay? Yes, and I rush to the book to check out the recipes. Oh, wait, what is that? Blueberries. They cost a lot. In America I think they must be pennies, because all American cookery books seem to involve them in copious quantities!

Looks like I'm going to have to start tightening my yarn belt in order to purchase ingredients :(

Never mind all that potential knitting time I'll be spending in the kitchen instead! I wonder if there is a way to knit and cook simultaneously... *envisions a nuclear facility-style set up involving rubber gloves and plastic bags*

Ok, so I need to focus on the up side of all that lovely food we'll be eating! Consider, if you will, artichoke and basil pasta, and peanut butter fudge. For starters. Not literally. And not together. Ok it's clearly much to late for blogging, I'd better get back to my knitting while I still can!

CLF offerings of a very tasty nature

Having been galvanised into action by the challenge, I've finally got round to posting some cake that I made! I've got a big backlog, but this was the most recent batch - and IMHO some of my best ever.

Made for the Cake Liberation Front meet last month, may I present Lemon and Raspberry Sandwich-Drizzle cupcakes:

I used Isa's basic vanilla cupcake (with oil) as a blueprint, added 2 tablespoons of lemon zest (to the batter after combining) and a tablespoon of lemon juice (to the soy milk-vinegar mix - also means adding a touch more baking soda). They rose so spectacularly that I changed my original raspberry topping plan to a raspberry filling. I sliced off the tops, made a lemon drizzle mix (just lemon juice and sugar - 1 lemon, 40g sugar) which I poured over both cut sides, then spread them with a layer of delicious raspberry goo based on the pineapple cupcake topping. 1 punnet raspberries, a few spoonfuls water and lemon juice, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp arrowroot, 1 tsp vanilla, mixed together and cooked until bubbling and thick, stirring all the time. A dollop of soya whipping cream on top for decoration/good measure, as I had some leftover in the fridge.

I also made a black forest gateau style batch, which was pretty much just the basic chocolate cupcake with amaretto added to the batter (couldn't find kirsch - anyone know of a source in Manchester?!), amaretto/cherry jam glaze and an amaretto whipped cream topping with a dollop of cherry jam in the middle, covered with grated chocolate. In retrospect I should have either added the jam before cooking, to sink into the middle, or at least dug a hole in the baked cakes to squish it into. But I was feeling lazy and couldn't be bothered! They were pretty good though.

A potentially foolhardy vegan gourmet-a-thon

For some reason I have decided to sign up to the 'La Dolce Vegan challenge' posted by the Vegan Culinary Institute blog. I can't even organise myself to post the last 40 or so round of baking experiments I have waiting to be written about, so I don't know how I think I will be able to keep up with cooking and blogging 395 recipes in 365 days... But it did say challenge. And I do like finding new recipes. And I've been considering buying the book for a while. One suspects I will fall off the bandwagon quite quickly, being that I'm about to buy a house that needs totally refurbishing! Silly girl.

But stay tuned - I will attempt to continue for the whole year even if I do fall behind with the deadlines.