coca cola ginger cake

This delicious little recipe was featured in Tesco Real Food mag. I have since made it twice. It's super easy, super evil and super tasty.

Warning: I will not be held responsible for various weight gain due to the inevitable mass consumption of this cake.

Ingredients:

230g self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
110g unsalted butter
110g black treacle
110g golden syrup
110g dark brown sugar
140ml milk
45g stem ginger (chopped)
140ml Coca Cola
2 eggs (beaten)

1. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200C, fan 180C. Grease and flour a 900g loaf or cake tin.
2.Sift the flour, bicarbonate soda and all spices into a bowl. Rub in the butter so that it resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Melt the treacle and golden syrup in a pan, then leave to cool.
4. In another pan, heat the sugar and the milk, until it dissolves. Stir in the stem ginger and the Coke.
5.Pour into the flour mix, along with the treacle mix and the beaten eggs. Stir to combine.
6. Tip into the tin and bake for 45 mins (or until done). Serve with whipped cream and lemon zest.

sweet dreams and not so beautiful nightmares

So I'm sitting here at 7am in my dressing gown eating Coca Cola and ginger cake (a recipe I would highly recommend) and sipping on a scalding cup of tea. Work does not beckon me for another few hours. So the reason I'm up, awake and eating cake. Well... I had another nightmare.

When we first got thrust into the crazy gravy of wedding planning, I have been having beautiful night visions of how wonderful my day will be. There have been fairys lighting candles for me, celebrities in attendance, that dress that I loved but could not afford, a lottery win, a Thai beach ceremony that was freakishly still in Edinburgh, countless blissful first kisses and more glitz & glam than an Elton John birthday bash.

Nuts what a little bit of pressure does to my head. Last week I made a to do list. I have 7.5 months to go and I plan to have everything organised so that I am not running around like a crazed monkey when the impending day/week before arrives. This has in turn made my sweet little wedding planning dreams into bridezilla worthy nightmares. I have had no registrar, an undelivered dress, invitations not sent out, invitations sent out the day before, horrible guests, Nazi groomsmen, dead flowers, a clashing colour scheme, a cheating groom, a rotten ex-boyfriend as my groom and last night I was stood up at the altar.

Each time I wake up, I roll round and look at Gavin. He cuddles me, listens to my terror and tells me everything will be ok. It's so good to wake up knowing that he's there, but even better to then realise that there are a whole 7.5 months to avoid Nazis and invitation malfunction.

i'm rocking my wedding

YeeHaa!

My first post has officially been published on RockMyWedding!

I am very proud and excited about this, but also rather nervous. It's pretty scary posting yourself up in all your wedding glory on such a fabulous and influential website. I just hope that it's as enjoyable for folk reading as it is for me to write. I am also looking forward to the rest of the RMW Real Brides posts.

Just thought I'd share my joy!

Another, more lengthy and potentially poignant post coming up soon.

xo