Please Sir, can I have some more?

I seem to have lapsed from my New Year's blogging routine and totally neglected it in the process. The last month has been crazy busy with lots of things on the go, mostly the usual stuff; work, visiting family, birthdays etc!

We're off on holiday next week for just over two weeks of total relaxation and fun- I hope. Plus, most excitingly I'm going to see my best friend, Amy, who lives in Singapore. 7 years ago (this makes me feel so old) Amy and I went out to Singapore on our way to SE Asia and Australia on our Gap Year...Since then Amy moved out to live and work in Singapore whilst I moved to London. This was 4 years ago and I am still yet to visit her, which is terrible as she is forever coming over to see me! However, now we're booked and lift off is in sight and I can't tell you how excited I am! 3 very painful jabs from a sadomasochistic nurse and a small mortgage worth of Malaria tablets and we are pretty much set to go!

As with any pre-holiday period I have joined the masses and been doing everything I can to prepare for the dreaded bikini reveal...(dreaded being the operative word).. Having given up every carb known to man (this also includes most vegetables and fruits!)I have existed- for the last month - on a diet of protein and the occasional green leaf. It is a sad sad day when a green leaf added to your lunch of chicken breast and boiled egg suddenly becomes something to be excited about!

Although not being totally stupid and surviving on the polluted London air for my three meals a day, I would say I’ve done a mixture of the Zoe Harcombe Diet ( a total legend in my opinion who makes a huge amount of sense regarding cravings, candida, intolerance and blood glucose) and then The Dukan Diet (Undecided on this one, but apparently it is the Middleton's desired dieting guru, so I probably shouldn't complain given how wonderfully fabulous they all look) - However, flaws and many a rumbling tummy, I have managed to lose just over a stone and even managed a few petrifying exercise classes... I will NEVER step foot in a circuit class again - 7 days of severe pain - side walking up stairs and having to be rolled out of bed each morning (not a joke)was not the high point of my dieting existence. However, all this moaning and groaning aside I do feel much better, my body seemingly cleansed of the usual naughtiness and am hoping that I will keep the weight off (Yeh right scream the Raffles Singapore Sling's and monkey nuts).

                   

So, with a week to go I am getting very excited- although don't resemble anything close to the bikini goddess I was setting my sights on achieving! I can't wait to blog about all the things we get up to and to be honest, I just cannot wait to be somewhere warm- London has been a freezer for the last month! Although, saying that, I am sure to eat my own words as the humidity in Singapore's so high I think I will be spending a lot of my time trying to tame an afro on top of my head! No glossy locks for me, just two weeks of untameable top bun!

                   

Right, time to sign off as I have Total Body Conditioning to get ready for, lucky me! I hope you are all having a much more indulgent evening!

Until next time.

Emi x  

Death by Chocolatey Overdose! a.k.a Double Decker Mud Cake.

Probably not the best thing to kick the New Year 2013 crash diets off with but maybe something to keep in mind for later in the month, when we're all Cabbage soup and Dukan'd out! 

Not for the faint hearted but a jolly impressive one all the same. This "Double-Decker Mud Cake" has everything going for it, it's big and chocolaty and when you cut into it it looks great! 3 thick separate sponge layers glued together by a chocolate "caramel-ly" type sauce. This is decadence personified! 

You can, even being the most loyal of chocolate lovers- only have a slither of this moist, rich and seemingly never- ending chocolate cake.  

I made this one up as a gift for a dinner party and since then have become renowned for it, it really is a show stopper! 

So if you want to try a piece of heaven in a slice, follow this recipe! I added raspberries, a dusting of icing sugar and thick white chocolate shavings to the top of mine (I was clearly trying to unsuccessfully make it look healthy!). 

For other topping ideas why not try: pecan nuts, white chocolate drizzle, strawberries - or anything berry related for that matter, desecated coconut or just a simple chopped up flake. 

The Recipe: 

Preparation time: 30 minutes (including standing and cooling time!)

Cooking time: 1 hr

Serves: An Army (about 12 hungry people)

What you need:

250g butter, chopped

150g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely

2 cups (440g) caster sugar

1 cup (250ml) milk

1 1/2 cups (225g) plain flour

1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

600g milk chocolate, chopped coarsely (You could also be adventurous and used flavoured choc- Orange chocolate works REALLY well)

1 cup (250ml) double cream

What you do:

• Preheat oven to 150degree / 130degree Fan assisted. Grease two deep 20cm round cake tins OR line bases and sides with baking parchment
• Stir butter, white chocolate, sugar and milk in medium saucepan over a low eat until smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl, then cool for 15 mins
• Whisk sifted flours into white chocolate mixture then whisk in extract and eggs; pour half of the mixture into one of the tins. Whisk sifted cocoa into remaining mixture, pour into other tin
• Bake cakes about 50 minutes. Stand cakes in tins 5 minutes; turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool
• Stir milk chocolate and cream in medium saucepan over low heat until smooth. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Cover; refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is spreadable. Reserve 1 cup of the chocolate mixture
• Split each cooled cake in half. Centre one later of cake on serving plate; spread with 1/2 cup of the remaining milk chocolate mixture. Repeat layering, alternating colours. Cover top and sides of cake with reserved chocolate mixture

                

Et Voila! 

If you try it, let me know how you get on and anything you might do differently! 

Emi x