"It's important to begin everything with www dot..."

So I'm back in Sussex for about a week to get in a few extra hours at work and I've decided that the next few days are going to be all about the interweb - updating, reorganising and connecting.

I've been meaning to have a bit of an update and general overhaul of my internet usage recently and I've decided that now is the time to do it, with planned updates to my own personal facebook page, the creation of a separate facebook page specifically for this blog and updates to twitter and the other social networking sites that I am a member of.

Hopefully in a few days time I will have a much more organised and consistent internet presence with everything linked up and a new look for a lot of my pages. So keep an eye out as everything has a bit of an update! Of course I shall be following the help and advice of the wonderful UK Craft Blog and iMake blog as I'm still very new to the blogosphere and have a lot to learn.

So, for future reference, here is what my blog and twitter profile currently look like:

Here I go, wish me luck!

Train Journeys, Podcasts and a Welcome Home

Those of you that know me in the real world so to speak will know that this summer I am being a little mad and sort of commuting between Dorset and East Sussex once a week to carry on my weekend job close to where I live at uni. I know, I'm mad aren't I? It's a four hour journey on the train, with 2 changes on a route that, whilst very pretty, is often a bit overcrowded and has a tendency not to run exactly to time. I know a 2 minute delay may not seem much to some people, but when you've only got a 4 minute change in the first place, you're loaded up like a packhorse and you've got to change platforms or wait an hour for the next train it can be a bit of pain.

Anyway, enough complaining, as long as you're organised it's not too bad and I'm starting to become a pro at navigating my way around the stations and learning to pack more efficiently. That said, I did arrive back home in Dorset last night a whole hour earlier than I thought I was going to, so maybe I should start paying a little more attention. In fact I dare say if the iMake podcast I was listening to hadn't ended at the strategic moment I may well have ended up a few stops down the line at Weymouth. It always is the one time when you're not paying attention that the guard forgets to announce what the next station is, isn't it? It was a fairly good journey as they go though and I managed to finish reading my book Pictures of Lily before changing at Southampton and listening to a couple of podcasts for the rest of the journey.

I've not really listened to podcasts before, just spent time browsing through iTunes downloading ones I might like, but never actually getting round to listening to them. After a couple of false starts going by the 10 minute rule - if you're getting bored of it, give up and move on, I discovered the iMake podcast which I'm definitely going to subscribe to and another which I'm going to try out for a couple more episodes cause I couldn't quite make my mind up about it. It's funny that I haven't listened to iMake before really, given than I follow the blog through bloglovin. I've been thinking a lot about copyright recently and it just so happened to be one of the topics in the podcast I was listening to, so if you're interested it's well worth a listen as Martine has some good points and advice about how to protect your own content and respect that of others.

So back to the original purpose of this post, I'm only back in Dorset for about 48 hours this time to do a bit of stewarding for some music exams, and am very mcuh looking forward to meeting up with one of my friends tonight for a good old catch up, before heading back to Sussex tomorrow for a couple of extra shifts at work. I know, I'm mad aren't I? But it pays, unlike sitting around at home hiding from the rain, which would probably cost me money if my amazon wishlist is anything to go by.

Aside from a cat with a wind problem asleep on my pillow (nice.) and my Dad's washing strung up all over my bedroom (again, thanks Dad.) look what was waiting for me when I got home last night!

I've been wanting one of these tins for ages, complete with it's contents to assert my status as a born and bred Dorset Dumpling. Although what exactly I'm going to use it for I have no idea! If you've not had a Dorset Knob before, I suggest you try one, it's a real experience! I may even do a post about them at a later date.

So that's it from me for now, I hope you're all out enjoying the beautifiul July weather! Mum's washing machine appears to have broken. I reckon she should string up her dirty washing outside for the wind and rain to clean au naturale - the elements would probably do a better job than the machine in its current state.

A Lesson in Coffee Cupcakes

To celebrate my new-found summer freedom from all things uni (well nearly), I decided it was about time to do a bit of baking! I love cooking and baking in particular, but never seem to have the time to really indulge myself, instead opting for quick fail-safe recipes for every day and completely neglecting home-made treats. However, as I finally had a little time to spare I decided I would make some cup cakes to take with me to work on Friday morning.

Every time I decide to bake something the process of deciding exactly what seems to take longer and longer as my 'must bake' list continues to lengthen, so this time I decided to take requests. Coffee and walnut or lemon drizzle. Sorted. I sifted through my favourite cupcake book, Cupcake Heaven and decided to go for the posh coffee praline ones with the cool topping. Not quite coffee and walnut I know, but I was feeling adventurous.

Much to my dismay it wasn't until I read through the recipe as I was getting everything ready that I realised I would be needing a fairly hefty blender. Bummer. Lacking the time or the energy to change my plans and go and get more ingredients to make something different, I decided to make do and mend and made the cake base of the low-fat coffee and walnut cupcakes with the topping of the coffee praline ones. Ta Dah!

I have to admit it wasn't my most successful baking attempt so far due to somewhat overcooking the actual cakes. As my colleague put it, they tasted really good, but had a consistency a bit like compacted sand. It appears my usual method of judging when a cake is done by touch, colour and the trusty skewer test doesn't really work when the cake in question is butter free and therefore doesn't go golden brown no matter how long you cook them! On the plus side the topping and decoration went brilliantly, making up for the somewhat heavy foam, I mean sponge, that was the base.

My first attempt at the shards of hazelnut encrusted sugar didn't go quite as planned when following the book. It mostly seems to be a timing thing and I wasn't overly sure about the proportions described in the book, so I took the idea and ran with it, keeping the hazelnuts whole and adding ingredients until it looked 'right', whatever that is. It seemed to be a hit with everyone at work and the bag of leftover shards I took in got eaten pretty quickly. Needless to say I will definitely be playing with this idea some more and refining it further in the future! The failed batch, although turning out completely differently in taste and texture was also rather nice, so I think I'll have a go at recreating that in it's own right as well when I next get the opportunity. I had intended to take a photo of the failed batch, but, well, it never quite made it before getting eaten...

The topping was a bit of a revelation as well. It's the first time I've used a mascarpone based topping and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not usually a fan of mascarpone, but the combination of the bitter coffee with the icing sugar and then the creamy texture really worked and provided much more scope for spreading than my usual coffee icing combo. Plus I love the gentle ripple effect you can get if you spread it on right.

I had a bit of the topping left over which I put in the fridge and tasted great eaten neat the next day. And yes, I did go there, but I was going away and the fridge needed emptying. What's a girl to do? Either way I'm definitely going to do a bit of experimentation to create my own goop pots as a posh and entirely evil pudding.

So it appears these little cakes have taught me a lot -
1. Always read the recipe through before even considering making anything new
2. Butter-free sponge doesn't go golden brown, just condenses.
3. Whatever the difference between blanched and roasted hazelnuts is, it doesn't make much difference when they're coated in sugar
And finally...
4. Molten sugar is extremely hot, stays so for quite some time after you take it off the heat and is very sharp when you snap it. And when I say it burns, I mean really, really burns. And sticks to you.