Some days are full of energy, just brimming with possibility and opportunities. Some days drag on, and you wonder what happened to all those plans you woke up with. The holidays are such a peculiar point in time, so full of freedom and something that you wanted so much during in exam period is suddenly here and you find that it is such a different way of living, not focusing on a goal or a destination or any deadlines (must finish these exams, must submit that essay and so on) but instead on the present week, the present day, this very moment.
Our experience of time is changing and I have read way too many reports and books and articles about "the compression of time and space" in our current lives due to technology, globalisation and other things I would rather not think of during holidays, but even with all these new innovations which warp time and space to our own benefit (or disadvantage) one thing remains the same. No matter how fast things speed up or how easily we are able to move from one destination to another, it is what we choose to do with the time we have that matters, and not our experience of time itself.
Some days I wake up and I say, yes today I will do something amazing and achieve many great things, and I do, at least in my eyes. Some days I say those very words and then end up watching Doctor Who all day instead. Then some other days end and I go to bed tired and sometimes hungry, but still satisfied that today was a good day, today I made a difference. Maybe time slips away from us for a reason. So that we can enjoy it, hang on to it, say things and do things with it that really matter.
From Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas
Makes 12 regular cupcakes or more than 60 mini cupcakes (very loose estimate)
115g good quality dark chocolate
90g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175 caster sugar or golden caster sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange (75ml of juice)
2 large eggs, free range
185g plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius (fanforced) and line a 12 hole muffin tray with cupcake cases.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt either in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water or in short 20 second intervals in the microwave, stirring after each interval. Set the chocolate aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and orange zest until the mixture is pale and smooth. This should take about 3-5 minutes with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer. Add the eggs and beat until just combined.
Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix the milk and orange juice in a jug.
Add the chocolate to the creamed butter mixture and beat on a low speed until just combined. The batter will still be streaky. Add one third of the flour mix and beat until it just comes together. Add half of the juice mixture and beat until just combined. Repeat this process again, finishing with the last third of the flour mix and incorporate all the ingredients.
Carefully spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them to about two thirds full. Bake in the oven for about 28-30 minutes. A skewer inserted in the centre of one of the cakes should come out clean when they are ready.
Remove the cakes from the oven and leave them in the tin for about 10 minutes before carefully placing on a wire rack to cool. Once they are cool, ice the cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and decorate with a little orange zest or sugar flowers (or with Jaffas like I've done).
Chocolate Buttercream Icing
175g good quality dark chocolate
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g icing sugar, sifted
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt either in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water or in short 20 second intervals in the microwave, stirring after each interval. Set the chocolate aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, milk, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth. This will take several minutes with an electric hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the melted chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy. If it looks too runny to use just keep beating as it will thicken up and improve the consistency.
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