How to make a cake

After watching a TV chef murder a cake on television, I was inspired to publish the correct way to bake a cake. Contrary to what people who also saw her show might be led to believe, a cake is not supposed to have a dip in the middle :-p nor is the cake mix supposed to separate when you add the eggs.

Here’s an easy recipe my family have been using for ages and a step by step method that always works (as far as I know :-p)

For an 8 inch tin, here are the ingredients:

• 7oz self raising flour (if you want to make a chocolate cake then change the amount to 6oz self raising flour and 1 ½ oz of cocoa)
• 7oz caster sugar
• 7oz softened butter (cut it into squares, 10 seconds in the microwave should do it)
• 3 eggs at room temperature (weigh the eggs whole and get them to as near 7oz as possible. Less is perfectly ok but never put more then 7oz or it’ll taste eggy)

For the filling

•  Butter cream: 2oz softened butter, about 4 tablespoons of icing sugar
• A tablespoon of melted jam (raspberry or strawberry or whatever you like)
• For chocolate cake, forget about the jam and add a tablespoon of cocoa to the butter cream.

Method 

• Preheat the oven to 170° C and grease two 8 inch sandwich tins. Even if they are non-stick tins, it’s best to line them with baking paper, greasing the tin before lining with paper and then greasing the paper on top as well.
• Beat together the sugar and butter with a wooden spoon until the mixture is light and fluffy. If you have an electric whisk however, definitely use it instead!
• Beat the eggs. Add one tablespoon of the egg into the butter and sugar mix and whisk with an electric whisk until fully blended. Then add another spoon and whisk. Repeat until all the egg is finished. If you don’t have an electric whisk, I’m afraid you’ll have to beat the eggs in this way with a wooden spoon.
• Once the egg is all completely blended in sift in the flour (and cocoa if you’re making it chocolate) and fold in gently with a metal spoon until well combined. Take your time at this stage and be very gentle so as not to knock out the air.
• Spoon into the prepared tins in equal amounts and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
• Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
• When the cake has cooled, spread the melted jam (again, 10 seconds in the microwave should do it) on one half of the cake on the flat side. Place the other half on the plate or cake board you’re serving on, flat side up and spread the butter cream on it. Sandwich together and you’re all done.

You can decorate the cakes with anything, a light sifting of icing sugar on the plain cake or cocoa on the chocolate cake. But what I like for the chocolate cake is a simple fudge like icing:

2oz of butter melted on low heat in a pan, add 2 tablespoons of icing sugar, a teaspoon of cocoa powder and about 3 tablespoons of milk. Stir until the mixture thickens, adding more cocoa if it doesn’t look chocolaty enough or more icing sugar if it’s too watery. Take off the heat and let it cool a bit, keep stirring, then pour over the top of the cake spreading it with a spatula or butter knife. Leave to set.

The cake recipe can also be used to make cupcakes, changing the amounts to 4oz each of everything and 2 eggs. For chocolate cupcakes do the same but instead of 4oz of self-raising flour use 3oz plus 1oz of cocoa.

Studio Ghibli Movies

 I love Ghibli anime movies. They are beautifully animated and wonderfully told stories. There's so much heart in them. I saw pretty much all of these in the dubbed version. Interestingly, most of the voice actors have been famous Hollywood stars. Below is a list of Ghibli movies I've seen with a very brief synopsis (wouldn't want to give any spoilers) and my opinion of them. 

Here they are in order of when I saw them :-p

Spirited Away (2001)

I absolutely loved this movie. It's the story of a young girl who finds herself in the world of the spirits trying to figure out a way to rescue her parents.

The story is intriguing and kept me hooked right till the end. Like most Ghibli movies it is extremely imaginative, with fantastic things happening that you wouldn't expect but which are completely believable. It's also a lovely little look into Japanese culture in some ways.

 Some of the main voice actors: Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Lauren Holly, Suzanne Pleshette, Susan Egan, David Ogden Stiers, John Ratzenberger

The Cat Returns (2002)

Absolutely hilarious story about a clumsy teenage girl with terrible luck finding her life turned around when she rescues a cat. Especially as his father, the King of cats decides to reward her by taking her to the Cat Kingdom, and more. The underlying message is the importance of self-esteem and being happy with your individuality. It’s a sweet fun funny movie with a lot of interesting detail put into all the scenes.

Some of the main voice actors: Anne Hathaway, Cary Elwes, Peter Boyle, Tim Curry

Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

This is about a shy young woman who is cursed into being an old lady and then goes to wizard Howl in the hope he can help her. Which turns out not to be as simple as she hopes.

I looked forward to this movie even more than most Ghibli movies because it is based on a book of the same name by one of my absolute favourite authors, Dianna Wynne Jones. She is a genius when it comes to fantasy books. Just like the Harry Potter books, hers are aimed towards younger readers but can be enjoyed by all ages. I read the book after seeing the anime and found that I preferred the anime!

The animation was beautiful; the story was more romantic and emotional than in the book which made it more enjoyable. There was a lot in the book that was cut out in the movie, in my opinion, for the better. Also I would recommend seeing the subtitled version. I found the dubbed version with Emily Mortimer as the lead character's voice incredibly annoying. Her voice was emotionless and bland, it did my head in :-p Christian Bale's performance was rather dull too. The other English language voice actors however were really good.

 Some of the main voice actors: Jean Simmons, Emily Mortimer, Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Josh Hutcherson, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner

Princess Mononoke (1997)

I liked this movie because the story was so completely different from anything I’ve heard and you never know what’s going to happen. The characters were interesting, there was a lot going on and the world was believable and things made sense. Beautiful animation in parts and I love the relationship develops between Princess Mononoke (a girl raised by wolves in the wild) and the main character who is a boy from a village who has been struck by a curse. It’s a more serious movie revolving around the conflict between people and the natural world and isn’t really one for children I think.

 Some of the main voice actors: Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thornton, Jada Pinkett Smith, John Di Maggio, Gillian Anderson, Keith David

Porco Rosso (1992)

I saw this quite a while ago and only once so don’t remember it fully. It was interesting I guess. It’s about a pilot who is turned into a pig-man for some reason. The only thing I didn’t like about it is that he never gets turned back into a man in the end which really sucked.

 Some of the main voice actors: Michael Keaton, Cary Elwes, Cary Elwes, Brad Garrett, David Ogden Stiers

Nausicaa of Valley of the Winds (1984)

This is another one I don’t remember that well. It's set many many years in the future and is a very sci-fi/eco movie. The animation is lovely and the world created by it is very imaginative and detailed with it's own history, customs, politics and creatures.
What I do remember is that although the story was very interesting, there were way too many scenery scenes. I watched them in fast forward and they still seemed to take forever. All the other Ghibli movies I mentioned before tend to have those kind of scenes that last a tad too long but this one really went a bit overboard. This is one of the early ones so clearly they figured that out themselves.

 Some of the main voice actors: Alison Lohman, Patrick Stewart, Uma Thurman, Shia LaBeouf, Edward James Olmos, Mark Hamill

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

A young witch leaves home to spend a year making use of and honing her magical talents. As is obvious from the title, she starts a delivery service.

This is a really good story about wanting to feel accepted when you know your different and the hardships of going through life alone. Kiki meets some very kind people on her way and how she achieves her goals is a joy to watch.

 Some of the main voice actors: Kirsten Dunst, Janeane Garofalo, Phil Hartman, Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds

Whisper of the Heart (1995)

This one’s not a big adventure story like the ones I just mentioned. It’s a more real story about a girl learning how to use her talent and going through life and love etc. Story wise it isn’t very long and is like a snippet from someone’s life, albeit one of the most important snippets. It’s quite a touching story and it is not without humour. I quite enjoyed it although it’s not one of my favourites. It’s been said to be the prequel to The Cat Returns because the main cat character from that movie is from this one and the girl writes a story about him.

 Some of the main voice actors: Brittany Snow, David Gallagher, Ashley Tisdale, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Jean Smart, Cary Elwes, Harold Gould

My Neighbour Totoro (1988)

A story about two little sisters who move to a new home with their father while their mother is ill in hospital. They discover a magical creature called Totoro who lives in a tree nearby.

Very sweet story and I love how the younger sister is portrayed because it is exactly what a younger sister is like! The only thing I didn’t like about this magical story is the way the younger sister and the mother were drawn. Extremely unattractive :-p I have no idea why they were drawn that way but I wish they’d been made a little cuter. It really shows the emotional turmoil children go through when one of their parent’s is in hospital and how a little kindness can go a long way.

 Some of the main voice actors: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Tim Daly

Laputa Castle in the Sky (1986)

A girl and boy go in search of the legendary castle in the sky whilst the bad guys are in pursuit.

Ok so this one hasn’t the best animation ever and there are some problems in animation with regards to continuity (clothes tend to change colour from scene to scene :-p) but it is in my opinion one of the great Ghibli movies. A truly epic amazing adventure. A lot of crazy stuff and well defined characters. It is definitely one of my faves.

Only problem I found was that I couldn’t figure out how old the children were. At first I thought they were very young like 12 but later on it seems like they might be teenagers. It’s so hard to tell with anime, I wish they’d tell you.

 Some of the main voice actors: Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill, Jim Cummings, Andy Dick

Pom Poko (1994)

A very funny story about raccoons fighting for survival as ‘civilisation’ threatened to bring an end to their forests, their homes. The raccoons can make themselves look like humans and other things which leads to some really funny stuff. But the main message here is the importance of preserving wildlife.

This is a great one for kids and older people alike. A lot of fun.

 Some of the main voice actors: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Maurice LaMarche, Olivia d'Abo, J.K. Simmons, Brian Posehn, Kevin Michael Richardson

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)                      

This is about a gentleman thief called Lupin who rescues a girl who turns out to be a princess in greater peril than he at first thought. He sets about to rescue her from the evil clutches of the Count of Cagliostro. It seems slightly dull at first because of the early animation but it sucks you in quickly. It’s insanely long but it is worth watching. It’s one of the rare non-girly ghibli movies :-p and has things like assassins, car chases and samurai.

 Some of the main voice actors: David Hayter, Ruby Marlowe, Dorothy Melendrez

Only Yesterday (1991)

This story is told by a woman on her way back to where she used to live as a child and on the way she talks about what her childhood was like. Most of the story is these flashbacks. It’s a very slow moving relaxed kind of a movie as she reminisces but I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately I didn’t see the ending because someone deleted it off the sky box :@ before I could get a chance.

 Some of the main voice actors: this one didn't have an English dub but the main character was voiced in Japanese by Miki Imai and Youko Honna

Ponyo (2008)

I just saw this one recently because when it first came out I read some not so great reviews on Amazon. But then my best friend told me how great it was so I decided to order the dvd and find out for myself.

I absolutely and utterly loved it! Someone on Amazon said that it wasn’t as good as Spirited Away bit I think it was, possibly even better. It’s the one Ghibli movie that doesn’t dwell overly on beautiful scenes. Some of the animation was simple and some was exquisite and it suited the movie. The scenery shots were the perfect length and always interesting. The characters were adorable and realistic. The story was magical and sweet. It got slightly silly near the end because the children in it are supposed to be 5 years old and they’re trying to figure out whether the boy loves the girl enough which is kinda weird. But because it’s all so innocent and sweet you can overlook that really. It had some really funny scenes and as usual the story was intriguing and unpredictable. Ok well the ending was a bit predictable but the getting there wasn’t. Another incredibly imaginative heart warming family movie from the Ghibli studio :-)

Some of the main voice actors: Noah Cyrus, Frankie Jonas, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Madison Davenport

Noodle Oodle - bayswater

My friend and I were in bayswater on Saturday and were tired of always going to Nandos. So he finally agreed to eat chinese even though a previous bad experience with chinese food had made him swear off it. This was good news for me because I LOVE asian food. We decided to go to Noodle Oodle because it was halal and I liked the food the last time I went there. I was slightly apprehensive though, because if he didn't like the food, I'd never be able to persuade him to try chinese again and the one time I had eaten there before was after I had been fasting all day. It's always tricky to judge food in that kind of situation, because when you're starving, everything tastes delicious. But I was pretttty sure that the chicken lamien I had had was delicious.
 They have these touch screen tvs at every table with photos of the food, pictures of Gordon Ramsay learning to make lamien noodles, games etc, and a button that apparently calls a waiter when you need to order and when you want the bill. These last two buttons clearly do not work. We waited for a while for the waitress to come but she continued to clean tables till I caught her eye and called her over. The same thing happened when we tried to use the screen to call for the bill but we hadn't expected it to work that time anyway. It's a shame really because it seems such a good idea.
Well this time, we ordered roast chicken, lamb shashlick (which for some weird reason is charged by the stick even though there's a 4 stick minimum) egg fried rice and pepper beef. I have to say the food was delicious. The Chicken was very tender and moist as it looked like it had been soaked in stock or something and it wasn't spiced so we could taste all the lovely chickeny flavour. The shashlick was my favourite. Perfectly seasoned, slightly peppery and skewered with peppers, onions and sweet cherry tomatoes. The pepper beef was well cooked and tasty and the egg fried rice was a generous portion with peas in it too.
It would be nice if they decorated the restaurant a bit more and if the waiting staff was a little more aware of its customers, but the food was so good I didn't really care. Best thing was that my friend liked it so much that he said he wished we'd starting eating here earlier.

Chor Bizarre - Bizarre indeed

I spent this weekend in London City, one of my most favourite places in the whole world. Apart from the beautiful historical buildings, the museums, the people, one of the things I really love about London is all the halal restaurants :-p. When you live in a town with one halal restaurant, they don't have much incentive to cook tasty food because they know you have no other choice. And because you have no other choice, you tend to keep going back even if you don't like it that much. Therefore, it's nice to go to the city and have so much choice!
I have my favourite London restaurants: Khans, Noodle Oodle, Tayyabs. Of course Nandos is a particular favourite but when you really think about it and realise how much you are spending to eat chicken and chips in a smoky noisy restaurant, you begin to rethink your decision.
As it happens. this weekend we ate somewhere completely new. Chor Bizarre, recommended to me by a friend. I checked the website out first and it looked pretty good, so I thought, what the hey and booked a table for Sunday.
When it came to lunchtime, we were starving way before our reservation but turned up early in the hopes of bagging a table anyway. Lucky for us, the place was completely empty and there was no problem moving our reservation up half an hour. It was all beautifully decorated in indian furniture and art, I immediately fell in love with a marble table with mother of pearl work on it. We got a seat slightly round the corner so that I was hidden from the staff but my friend was clearly visible (yes this is important).
The menus were lovely, but our favourites were nowhere to be seen on them. Ok, you don't go to a new restaurant to eat something old but it makes it easier to go with something you recognise so you know what to expect. We took a while to decide what to get, seeing as everything cost 3 times more than it would in any other London Indian restaurant and we weren't quite sure what things were. This wasn;t helped by 3 different members of staff coming round the corner at different times to ask if we were ready to order. When we did finally order it took a while for the food to get to us. A £6 kebab starter consisted of 2 burger sized kebabs, a little chutney and a little shredded cabbage, a little on the bland side although the chutney helped. My paapri chaat starter however was lovely and a generous portion.
Several times, a waiter or sour faced waitress peeped round the table to eye our table, presumably to check if we had eaten. I considered this strange seeing as he could clearly see my friend who was still eating. Eventually, around perhaps his 3rd peek, we had finished with the starters and he came and swept our dishes away.
When the meal came, as soon as I saw the prawn curry I ordered (as it was the hottest thing on the menu) I just knew the damn thing had coconut in it, something that I am very allergic too. I cursed myself for not having asked before ordering but in my defence, coconut was not listed in the ingredients beneath the name in the menu. Anyway, one little taste was enough to make my lips itch and I had to return it. The waitress immediately said "you should have told us before" making me feel even more guilty and a waiter brought me the menu after about 5-10 minutes so I could choose something else. Interesting that it took him so long seeing as there was only one other table occupied there and 3 serving staff. Even more interestingly, he didn;t even let me look at it. He asked whether I would like chicken or lamb and how spicy I want the curry and then left to tell the chef. Which made me wonder whether every item on the menu had coconut in it. I was scared to death that I would end up having to pay for both curries. Luckily, I didn't, but I didn't find that out till I got the bill. My friend had a chicken tikka thing which came with a  huge lettice leaf, a few dry slices of cucumber and half a tomato. Lovely.
When my waiter came 10 minutes later with a red chicken curry we asked for some chutney for the chicken. Looking immensely surprised that someone wouldn't want to eat dry chicken with dry naan without any sauce, he promptly set a stand on our table with 2 pots of chutney and a pot of mango pickle. I didn't quite understand why he hadn't given it to us in the first place seeing as it's not something we would have had to order off the menu.
Throughout our meal, the waiters and waitress constantly checked up on us, strolling onto our side of the restaurant just to have a look at our table and the food on it. It was extremely off putting and annoying. Firstly, we weren't exactly eating slowly seeing as we were starving and had waited a good half hour for just the starters and secondly, the restaurant was still empty but for one other table. If it was a busy time I might understand a little why they were so anxious for us to finish our food, but it made no sense whatsoever when the place is silent as a tomb especially since we had a reservation anyway. The waiters were quite polite but I found this particular behaviour very rude. They didn't need to hover over us to see if we'd finished, like I said they could see my friend still eating without having to come down to us to check.
My curry was ok, a little bland and watery but mango pickle helped with that. The curry and also the rice came in cute little pots. I have to admit the presentation of the dishes was quite nice. In fact, presentation wise, the restaurant and the food would get 4-5 stars from me. It's a beautiful place to eat beautifully presented food. When it comes to the taste of the food however... well the little takeaway down my street doesn't look so bad now. I was extremely disapointed that my £14 curry tasted of nothing. The food sorely lets the place down.
Even though it's nice to eat somewhere lovely, you don't go to a restaurant to look at it, you go there to eat. And if the food's not up to standard (especially considering the exhorbitant prices they were charging!) then there really is no point in going is there.
I wish we had just gone to Khan's. It's not nearly as well decorated and the atmostphere isn't as magical but the food is absolutely delicious. My favourites are the eye-watering hot curries, Chicken chilli masala and jalfrezi.