I'm going to give this whole monthly posting thing a try, because given how much I like lists, why not keep track of a few things I've been enjoying over the month and share the love. Plus the little sister does it and I enjoy reading her posts...
So, I'm going to have an Adam Buxton style "ramble chat" about some of the stuff and nonsense I've enjoyed, because why not...
"Ramble chat, let's have a ramble chat,we'll focus first on this,then concentrate on that..."(Ramble Chat Jingle by Adam Buxton)
Birthdays
Both of which I failed to photograph. But I did achieve one thing, I sorted out my carrot cake recipe...
... the less said about the icing the better and if anyone in the UK can enlighten me on a half decent cream cheese frosting that doesn't turn to soup, I'd be incredibly grateful because on mums cake I ended up in a Fauna from Sleeping Beauty situation...
Also, why do you only seem to get one brand of icing sugar? The supermarket has own brand everything else, yet they seem to be defeated by icing sugar. Is it not just finely ground sugar? Is it actually made by fairies and Tate & Lyle have the only map to their location? Do we need to start some sort of campaign to get equal rights for icing sugar fairies?
Free the icing sugar fairies!
James Blake: Assume Form
Oh my freaking God! Oh my fucking God! I can not stop listening to this album! I have played it over and over and over again throughout February, and not only is it beautiful, it's also BEAUTIFUL! Assume Form is an ode to James Blake's relationship with actress Jameela Jamil and how weird it feels to feel happy and lucky, how this relationship has improved his life and he doesn't quite know why the hell she's with him, but he's incredibly thankful for it...
"Have you ever coexisted (Power on)
So easily?
Let's go home and talk shit about everyone
Let's go home, finally"
(Power On by James Blake)
(Power On by James Blake)
Some people may call it schmaltzy, or consider the idea of Blake writing an album which for him is incredibly happy sacrilegious, especially given the darker, more introverted and depressing style which placed him firmly into my favourite musicians list, but I love it. It's the progression of his life, not necessarily out of insecurity or depression, but to a happier place in his life where he's content and just wants to go home and hang out with his girlfriend.
In the album there are lots of collaborations, this isn't unusual for Blake, I'll admit, if he and Bon Iver wanted to write collaborative album after collaborative album together, I would impatiently await their releases and hand over my cash, but these are a little different. This time Blake is collaborating with musicians such as André 3000, Rosalía and Travis Scott, bringing in hip hop and R&B elements to the electropop ones we're more used too, this brings a completely different sound to his style of music. A style on first listening I wasn't sure about, but the more I've listened the more I've come to appreciate.
In the album there are lots of collaborations, this isn't unusual for Blake, I'll admit, if he and Bon Iver wanted to write collaborative album after collaborative album together, I would impatiently await their releases and hand over my cash, but these are a little different. This time Blake is collaborating with musicians such as André 3000, Rosalía and Travis Scott, bringing in hip hop and R&B elements to the electropop ones we're more used too, this brings a completely different sound to his style of music. A style on first listening I wasn't sure about, but the more I've listened the more I've come to appreciate.
YouTuber Arden Rose ranting passionately - and slightly drunkenly - about her feels for the album, which is pretty accurate to how I feel.
The album finishes with a literal lullaby for Jamil (Lullaby for My Insomniac):
"If you can't
I'll stay up
I'll stay up too
I'd rather see everything as a blind tomorrow
If you do"
(Lullaby For My Insomniac by James Blake)
I mean, seriously? He'd rather be cross-eyed with exhaustion than know she's unable to sleep while he does. Seriously? Seriously! Where do these men exist in reality!
Fact is, this is going to be a firm favourite album all year, it will end up on 12 Days list at the end of the year, and the only real question will be how many of the songs I don't include.
Listen to this album. Please listen to it. Listen to all his music because I love it all.
Link || James Blake || Website || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Spotify || iTunes || Soundcloud
Link || James Blake: Assume Form review – a big, glitchy, swooning, hyper-modern declaration of love by Kitty Empire via The Guardian
Link || James Blake: Assume Form review – lovestruck producer turns dark into light by Alexis Petridis via The Guardian
Link || Arden Rose || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook
Jameela Jamil
There are two reasons I'm going to include Jameela Jamil as a favourite, and the obvious place to mention her is after James Blake, her partner and the album which was all about their relationship.
The first is for season three of The Good Place, which finally finished uploading to Netflix after what seemed like months. For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of this show, it was created by Michael Schur, who is best known for Parks and Recreation, The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine and centres on Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), who wakes up in the afterlife and is welcomed into The Good Place, by Michael (Ted Danson) the architect of this particular slice of Heaven. It's a reward to those who have lead truly good and righteous lives, but there's one problem... Eleanor isn't perfect. Far from it. There's been a serious cock up.
Other than that little reveal - which you get within the first five minutes - I'm not saying anything else about the show because I'd be pissed if I'd been spoiled.
Needless to say, Jameela Jamil plays Tahani, another resident of The Good Place and over the next three seasons we go along with all the side effects of having a person who isn't perfect in a world that thrives on perfection.
This struck Jamil as insane seeing for decades we had already been bombarded subliminally by air brushed and altered images designed to portray the idea of the perfect form. Which all lead to her first I Weigh post on Instagram.
I Weigh is "a movement... for us to feel valuable and see how amazing we are, and look past the flesh on our bones" (Jameela Jamel, I Weigh Instagram)
The account accepts submissions from anyone using the hashtag #i_weigh, all it asks from it's followers is non-edited selfies, adorned with text expressing the things that that person feels most proud of in themselves. That's a powerful thing, and I'm ashamed to say I don't know if I could do it, because in my head I'd still feel too scared of being judged by my appearance. Blame a lifetimes of conditioning and self loathing.
One day I would like to be confident enough to contribute, but every day someone posts on the Instagram account, it's nice to see a little bit of positivity being sent out into the world, especially when for every good bit there is, there will inevitably be a dozen more telling you you need to look like a Kardashian and why you just being you is wrong.
Fuck that!
Oh, and remember, Pobody's Nerfect!
Link || Jameela Jamil || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Wikipedia || IMDb
Link || I Weigh || Website || Instagram || Twitter
Link || The Good Place || NBC || Netflix || Wikipedia || IMDb || Twitter || Instagram || Facebook
Mars Rover
On the 18th of June 2018, after spending fifteen years wandering the surface of Mars, beaming back information to NASA, the Mars Rover Opportunity sent it's final message, which read as:
"My battery's low and it's getting dark."
Or at least this was how the Rover's last message to NASA was interpreted by journalist Jacob Margolis:
But it's the poetry of this particular interpretation that made it go viral, and people take it to heart. Opportunity was only supposed to be part of a ninety day operation in 2004, joining its twin, Spirit in its mission. Spirit, became stuck and lost contact with NASA in 2010, so for eight years it was alone with only mission control to talk to, and at great distance. For eight years they carried out a long distance relationship, is it any wonder that they anthropomorphised the robot? It was a real life WALL.E. Then on February 12th, after spending months trying to communicate with the stranded Rover and try to get it working again, NASA sent out into space their final touching message. They sent "I'll Be Seeing You" by Billie Holiday...The last message they received was basically, “My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” They hoped that the windy season would clear dust off the solar panels (if that was the problem). Since then they've been pinging her again and again, every way they knew… 3/— Jacob Margolis (@JacobMargolis) February 12, 2019
"I'll find you in the morning sun
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you."
And when the night is new
I'll be looking at the moon
But I'll be seeing you."
- I'll Be Seeing You by Billie Holiday
I read about this a few days later, and can honestly say that I got a little bleary eyed. I'm already a sucker for Billie Holiday, but now I'll get that song and the Rover in my head every time I look up at the moon.
... now we just need Matt Damon to hurry up, get stuck on Mars and dig it up. Or some friendly Martians to adopt him.
Link || Mars Rover Opportunity || NASA || Wikipedia
Link || The Mars rover Opportunity is dead. Here's what it gave humankind by Michael Greshko via National Geographic
Link || NASA tried (and failed) to revive the Mars Opportunity rover with Billie Holiday’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” by Dan Neilan via The A.V. Club
Link || NASA Says Goodbye To Mars Opportunity Rover With Touching Final Message by Andrew Griffin via The Independent
Link || Music News: NASA sends Mars rover off with Billie Holiday by Jade via The Current
The Element
"Some of the most brilliant, creative people I know did not do well at school. Many of them didn't really discover what they could do - and who they really were - until they'd left school and recovered from their education."
(The Element, Ken Robinson, 2009, Chapter 1, p.9)
In February I finished a book! This may not impress anyone in particular, but when I say I'm not a big reader, it's no understatement. Last year, I don't think I read anything. I mean, I read, but I didn't actively pick up a book, fiction or non-fiction, and read it cover to cover. I am the complete opposite of most of my family who are veracious readers. They find comfort in it, they find it relaxing and... I find it exhausting. But, I'm determined to read more this year, and the first book I chose was to finish The Element by Sir Ken Robinson.
I've been reading this book for a while and at one point I just stopped and put it on a shelf and didn't finish it. I was enjoying it, I had gotten more than half way through and was finding it incredibly interesting, but when tidying up, I'd obviously decided it needed to go back on the shelf and look neat instead of sitting close by encouraging me to read it.
I first became aware of Robinson during at uni, when someone said I should watch his TED Talk about whether school kill creativity in children. Robinson's theory, which as someone who wasn't academically but instead artistically inclined at school, I agree with, is that the current (and long standing) educational hierarchy of subjects, where maths, science and English are made the priority, and the arts are made to seem frivolous and unimportant, is thus stunting children's creativity. His belief is that we're educating children out of creativity.
I've been reading this book for a while and at one point I just stopped and put it on a shelf and didn't finish it. I was enjoying it, I had gotten more than half way through and was finding it incredibly interesting, but when tidying up, I'd obviously decided it needed to go back on the shelf and look neat instead of sitting close by encouraging me to read it.
I first became aware of Robinson during at uni, when someone said I should watch his TED Talk about whether school kill creativity in children. Robinson's theory, which as someone who wasn't academically but instead artistically inclined at school, I agree with, is that the current (and long standing) educational hierarchy of subjects, where maths, science and English are made the priority, and the arts are made to seem frivolous and unimportant, is thus stunting children's creativity. His belief is that we're educating children out of creativity.
Robinson is incredibly compelling speaker, he has multiple talks about this subject which are interesting and he holds your attention. So when his book was released, I bought it. Partly for my dissertation, partly because I just wanted to read it.
The Element, is about how finding the thing you're passionate about, can change your life. It's not a self help book, don't worry, but it is about that eureka moment some people are lucky enough to reach, where natural talent and passion meet and you find the thing that makes you tick. He uses the examples of people such as Gillian Lynne, Meg Ryan, Paul McCartney, Richard Branson and many others, to highlight that being academically talented or having an over abundance of confidence, doesn't always mean success.
"FINDING YOUR ELEMENT can be challenging on a variety of levels [...] Sometimes, the challenge comes from within, from a lack of confidence or fear of failure. Sometimes the people closest to you and their image and expectations of you are the real barrier. Sometimes the obstacles are not the particular people you know but the general culture that surrounds you."
(The Element, Ken Robinson, 2009, Chapter 6, P.132)
It's a really interesting, well written read, especially if you've watched some of Robinsons' talks and can get his voice in your head, and I can now say I've finished it!
Plus it was an excuse to watch some Ted Talks, not that I need an excuse for that.
Link || The Element by Ken Robinson || Good Reads || Penguin Random House || Amazon || Waterstones || iBooks || Audible
Link || Ken Robinson || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube || Ted Talks
Link || Ted: Ideas Worth Spreading || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube || Pinterest
Ignore Everybody
But get this, in February I didn't just finish one book, I finished two! Again, for most people not an achievement, but for me it is.
Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys To Creativity by Hugh MacLeod, again, isn't a self help book, but is essentially the extended 2004 manifesto of creative tips from MacLeod's blog Gaping Void. MacLeod was an advertising copywriter, who started doodling cartoons on business cards, which then lead him to starting his blog and sharing his humour and insights about the world to the world. The book takes you through his career to date, handing out nuggets of advise about how to embrace and work as a creative individual, the first piece of advise being 1. Ignore Everybody.
I bought the book partly because it followed on with similar themes from The Element, as well as other books I was buying at the time, and the fact that creativity is often stunted by education and also by our fear of disappointing other people and getting too much in our own heads. Honestly, I thought it might provide some insight into becoming more confident in my own work, and I guess it did a little bit. It was an interesting look into the world of someone who wasn't happy in his job, and how his creativity and enjoyment in just doodling, as well as his sense of humour and social commentary, gave him a way to move forward. But in the end, as with most of these books, there's no real formula, you have to have courage and confidence to just start and hope things go the right way. You need to work hard, try your best and try not to let setbacks set you back. It's an encouraging book.
It is however nice to read about other peoples creative process and how they went from where they were to where they are in that career path. I think I'll have to read it again at some point, plus I really do like his hughcards.
"7. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring book on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the 'creative bug' is just a wee voice telling you, 'I'd like my crayons back, please.' "
(Ignore Everybody, Hugh MacLeod, 2009, Chapter 7, P.26)
It is however nice to read about other peoples creative process and how they went from where they were to where they are in that career path. I think I'll have to read it again at some point, plus I really do like his hughcards.
Link || Ignore Everybody by Hugh McLeod || Gaping Void || Penguin || Amazon || Waterstones || GoodReads || iBooks
Link || Hugh McLeod || Gaping Void || Instagram || Twitter || The Marfa Project
Pixar Kitbull
Seriously, my heart can't take this, between James Blake, the Mars Rover and Disney's latest short, Kitbull, February was emotional!
Link || SparkShorts: Pixar Artists' Shorts- Kitbull || YouTube || Pixar || IMDb || Wikipedia
Emergency Compliment
And seeing it's been emotional, I think we all need an Emergency Compliment:
::CLICK::
I have this bookmarked on the favourites bar of my browser. They're silly and cheesy, but when I'm feeling a little down, if I'm on my computer, I pop one open to make me laugh.
Link || Emergency Compliment || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Tumblr || Society 6
Link || Emergency Compliment || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Tumblr || Society 6
Emily Becomes a Curly Girl in 2019
At the latter end of February, I started trying to embrace my curls. Why? Because I have curly hair, but I've straightened, blow dried and then curled it for years and that's nuts. It's also knackered my natural curl pattern, so who knows what my hair actually looks like!
Trying to wear my natural curls is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'd done research on the Curly Girl Method, made popular by Lorraine Massey, and watched a few videos before Christmas, but after trying it once and ending up with a frizzy mess after using a diffuser, I couldn't quite bring myself to keep going. This was until I saw YouTuber Joslyn Davis start her Curly Girl Journey and I decided to risk it after some more research...
... I've watched video after video of the correct way to wash, condition and style your hair in order to optimise your curl pattern - you've got to squish to condish! and I'm trying not to be scared of how much product I'm using to gel cast as it dries because you'll ultimately scrunch out the crunch.
I've been doing this for a couple of weeks and it's going okay. Currently in its damaged state my hair is somewhere between 2b and 2c curls. That might hopefully change over time as my curls reform and I learn how to style them better, but I was already in a good situation to start trying. Other than heat damage:
- I only wash my hair once or twice a week
- I don't use silicons in products (Silicons/Pantene tried to ruin my hair once before!)
- I haven't had my hair chemically treated or permanently dyed in a long time.
At the moment, the two YouTubers I've so far found most helpful are India Batson and Kristyn Joanne, because India has the same curl type I currently have and Kristyn started her Curly Girl journey about eight months ago with a similar curl pattern to that and now she has the most beautiful big 3a (with 2b/c) curls and I'm jealous. I'm also determined to work this all out and get myself some nice curls.
If you're interested in any of this, I've started a Curly Girl board on Pinterest with anything I've found interesting so far. So feel free to follow and if any curly hair tips or product recommendations (particularly ones easily found in the UK) feel free to leave them, because all help is welcome.
Update: As I'm editing this post, I've done my third curly girl wash and gel cast, and my curls came out really well! More curls, fewer waves and they've held and not gone frizzy. The curls I have after this wash are ones I'm far more comfortable leaving the house with!
Link || Curly Girl Method || Wikipedia
Link || How to Follow the Curly Girl Method via Naturally Curly
Link || Joslyn Davis || YouTube || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Joslyn's Curly Girl Journey: Video 1 || Video 2 || Video 3 || Video 4
Link || YouTube Curly Girls || Curly Susie || Janelle O'Shaughnessy Engles || Real Life+Curly Girl || A Little Bit Lisa || Gillian McLellan
I have had a massive girl crush and immense love for Olivia Colman (aka Ollie Collie) for a very, very long time. Ever since she was in Green Wing playing the lovely Harriet and making people fall in love with her by just being lovely and funny... and now she's won an Oscar and is making everyone fall in love with how lovely and funny she is.
Though I haven't seen The Favourite yet, which I had intended to anyway, I think it's wonderful that she won. And watching her speech and how wonderfully excited, shocked, funny, lovely and ridiculously British she was as she fumbled and gushed over Glenn Close and Lady Gaga... it made me laugh and the .gif of her blowing a raspberry at the director telling her to wrap things up, will now be a favourite.
Link || Olivia Colman || Wikipedia || IMDb
Link || Olivia Colman wins best actress Oscar for The Favourite by Catherine Shoard via The Guardian
Emma Thompson's Open Letter
From one Oscar winner to another, in February Emma Thompson wrote an open letter to the Los Angeles Times, explaining why she dropped out of Skydance Animations upcoming movie, Luck. Her reason to walk away being the hiring of John Lasseter, who was an animator, filmaker and Creative Director at Pixar until 2017, at this point he confirmed the allegations of sexual misconduct which had been made against him, and he was eventually let go in 2018.
Thompson left the project, despite wanting to work on the film and with the director, because she was uncomfortable working with someone who thought he had the right to inappropriately touch women because of his station. She also was unhappy working with a company who would willingly hire him despite his past and reputation, expecting everyone to be appeased by the clause in his contract saying he had to behave "professionally".
“I am well aware that centuries of entitlement to women’s bodies whether they like it or not is not going to change overnight. Or in a year. But I am also aware that if people who have spoken out — like me — do not take this sort of a stand then things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter’s generation.”
(Emma Thompson Open Letter to the Los Angeles Times, 2019)
If you need to write being "professional" into a contract, to stop someone from assaulting your other employees, no matter how good they are at the job, maybe don't hire them, or at least think very hard about the implications. I agree with the fact that people deserve a second chance, but should this really include a multi-million dollar pay cheque? Especially when staff who aren't as well paid as he (or Thompson would have been) may choose to leave the company and keep their principles than work with someone they are uncomfortable with.
Kudos to Emma Thompson for gracefully walking away from this project and choosing her principals over a pay cheque. She's able to do this, not everyone is, and she could have done it quietly, but instead chose to use her status and visibility to stand up and explain why she believes this is such an important issue.
Link || Emma Thompson’s letter to Skydance: Why I can’t work for John Lasseter
By Mary McNamara via The Los Angeles Times
Link || Emma Thompson pens powerful open letter explaining why she quit John Lasseter film by Lauren Hughes via Woman and Home
Link || 'Centuries of entitlement': Emma Thompson on why she quit Lasseter film by Catherine Shoard via The Guardian
Link || Emma Thompson via Visionary Woman on Instagram
Link || Emma Thompson via Visionary Woman on Instagram
Instagram Love: Lingvistov
Definitely one to check out.
Link || Lingvistov || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || YouTube || Tumblr || Pinterest
Charlie
He's a very grumpy cat called Charlie,
And he's used to get things all his own way,
But don't sneeze or vacuum loudly round about him,
Cause he's such a wimp he'll always run away.
*The Herbs
The Herbs was a British stop motion animation created by Michael Bond (Paddington) which ran between 1968 and 1972. It follows the adventures of Parsley The Lion and the other characters that live within magic walled herb garden, such as Dill the Dog, Sage The Owl, Bayleaf the Gardner and Lady Rosemary and Sir Basil. Each character has their own song, multiple in fact dependant on the episode and while the human characters weren't aware of their audience, the animal characters, such as Parsley, broke the fourth wall, completely aware of our presence.
There is a playlist with all 13 episodes on YouTube if anyone is interested: Herbidacious
Link || The Herbs || Website || Jedi's Paradise || Wikipedia || IMDb
Art Love: Cristian Marianciuc
This is what my paper art board on Pinterest looked like at the end of February, and it's fair to say I've become obsessed by these beautifully intricate paper cranes. They're the work of Cristian Marianciuc, and every time I've seen one pop up in my feed, I've had to save it.
Starting in 2015, these intricate cranes are Marianciuc's unique way to journal each of the 365 days of that year and give each their own identity, based on what type of day the artist had been having.
I have in my room and large glass vase filled with paper cranes. I have no idea how many are in there, but every time I went to throw away a post-it at the end of uni, I either folded it into a paper crane, or kept it to fold up later. It was a habit that started because I was learning to make them and ended up being a task of pure insane determination. I was folding all the post-its and if I hadn't I'd failed.
Marianciuc's are a little more intricate than my post-it not cranes. Not hard, though all of them in a vase is impressive looking, even if I had to clingfilm the top to keep the dust out. With his, I am particularly enamoured of the feathered and flower encrusted creations, but frankly after scrolling through his Instagram feed, there aren't many that I'm not enamoured of. This is a wonderful project and I may revisit it in more detail for a post at some point during the year.
Link || Cristian Marianciuc || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Etsy
Further Reading:
Link || My Modern Met || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Article 1 || Article 2 || Article 3
Link || This is Colossal || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Article 1 || Article 2
Netflix Love: Russian Doll
February I thought was kind of a lousy month for Netflix new releases, there wasn't anything I was really interested in particularly, however, Russian Doll, is fantastic.
Basically take Natasha Lyonne's as character not dissimilar to hers from Orange Is The New Black, kill her, and set her in a Groundhog Day worthy time loop in which she relieves the day she dies over and over and over and over again, and with that you have Russian Doll...
Natasha Lyonne is great and I very quickly watched the entire series. In fact I'm now rewatching it because I raced through it so quick, I didn't initially realise how much I enjoyed it until I was constantly thinking about it in the days after. It would be so easy for a show which relies on a death time loop to become boring and repetitive, however the writers/creators (including Lyonne and Amy Poehler) have created a really interesting show. I completely and utterly recommend it if you have access!
Link || Russian Doll || Netflix || IMDb || Wikipedia || Twitter
Link || Russian Doll || Netflix || IMDb || Wikipedia || Twitter
The Great British Sewing Bee Returns!
I know that's a ridiculous thing to say about a TV programme, however, I really enjoy watching craft shows, and they are few and far between these days.
Of course, after the Great British Bake Off went to Channel 4, I (and most other people) assumed the Great British Sewing Bee and Great Pottery Throw Down, were never to return. And I honestly missed them. I like watching people making things, which is one of the reasons I like watching videos on YouTube, shows like Drag Race and Project Runway on Netflix. While there have been a few shows here or there over the past couple of years, such as the BBC 4's MAKE! Craft Britain (which I just read may have been recommissioned), and Channel 4's Craft It Yourself (which should really been called "What we saw on Pinterest last week"), there's never a lot of craft based shows.
However there's something very familiar and comforting about the Great British Whatevers format. It's like sitting in the workshop at university, everyone panicking and running around and hating every second the tutor (judge) hovers over your shoulder not saying anything but quietly judging you...
Despite over 30,000 people to date signing the petition for it to return, the BBC officially axed the Throw Down in 2018, but they made the decision to keep the Sewing Bee, which returned in February, with comedian Joe Lycett joining Patrick Grant and Esme Young as the host and comic relief, in place of Claudia Winkleman.
I only wish it had a longer run than eight episodes.
Link || The Great British Sewing Bee || BBC || Wikipedia || IMDb
Recipe: Carrot Cake
Oh, by the way, I found a picture of my first ever attempt at carrot cake for the little sisters birthday back in August, which was nice, but too oily. However this is the only time the icing held its shape and didn't turn into a puddle, plus, I decorated it with little squiggly carrots!
(The decoration was inspired by a recipe on The Gourmet Gourmand. The recipe is an amalgamation of original one I used by Michael Caines, which I found way too oil and one by Rachel Allen which used less oil but similar quantities of everything else, she also added more spices which I really liked. This recipe is my mash up of both of these... apologies for needing so many bowls!)
- 360g Self Raising Flour
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1 tsp Grated Nutmeg (or ground, up to you!)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice
- 2 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 280ml Flavourless Oil (Rapeseed, Sunflower,Vegetable or even Coconut Oil would work)
- 400g Light Brown Sugar (I didn't have any, so I used half dark brown & half golden caster)
- 4 Large Eggs (at room temperature)
- 600g Coarsely Grated Carrot (weigh your carrots after top, tailing & peeling)
- 150g Chopped Pecans or Walnuts
- 200g Raisins (Optional, I don't use them because half the family don't like them)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F)/160°C (350°F) Fan/Gas 4
- Grease and line two 20cm/8in cake tins with baking paper.
- In one bowl sieve together flour, bicarb, nutmeg, salt, mixed spice and cinnamon.
- In a second bowl, grate in your carrot and throw in chop your nuts (or break them into smaller chunks by hand, which is what I do.)
- In yet another large bowl put your oil, brown sugar and eggs, mixing together until well combined. (Leave adding your eggs until you're going to combine everything, if you're setting everything out before hand adding these together to early can lead to the sugar burning your egg yolks which will dry them out.)
- Gradually add in your flour mix to the wet ingredients and continue to stir until combined. At this point the batter will be really thick and stiff, don't panic!
- Add in your carrot and nuts, stir and combine one last time, at which point your batter will be much looser and much easier to stir.
- Using a ladle or big spoon, divide your batter evenly between your two tins, a spoonful at a time, then smooth the surface. Alternatively you can weight this out if you're really feeling anal about it.
- Place on the middle shelf of your oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Keep an eye on it, checking at around the 1 hour mark so it doesn't burn, or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of your cake. If it starts to catch and colour too much before the skewer is clean, place a piece of foil over the top to stop it from colouring and allowing it to continue cooking.
- When ready, take out of the over and place the tins on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes from the tins, remove the baking paper and leave to cool completely on the wire rack.
- Make icing... yeah, you don't want my recipe for cream cheese icing as it's been an unmitigated disaster two out of the three times I've made this cake.
- If you've made your own icing, whether that's the traditional cream cheese frosting or buttercream, level your cakes (and have a quick taste test or wrap up the rest of the cake top for later) and spread the icing in the middle and top. If you're not icing your cake straight away, after they're cool, wrap them in cling film and set aside. These cakes get better with age.
- Scoff!
If you're using buttercream the cake will happily sit on the counter in a sealed container for a few days or equally well in the fridge, though this will make the icing firm up. If you're using cream cheese frosting, the cake will need refrigerated. However, as I said before, these cakes taste better and better as they sit, so it's a good recipe if you need something made ahead of time.
If you want to use buttercream, the recipe I use is:
I've actually been experimenting recently with using whatever the liquid your recipe asks for hot, whether that's water, milk or coffee, because one recipe I had said use boiling water, which I was terrified by, but I tried and it had the smoothest, lightest, silkiest texture, it was amazing! I tried again with warm coffee for a coffee cake and it again made it this great texture... I tried for one of the carrot cakes and was scuppered by the gritty icing sugar, which sucked. But if you're brave, give it a go.
Anyway, that was February and seeing we started and ended the month with cake, here's the recipe for my carrot cake, which either makes one big ass two layer 20 cm (8 inch) round cake, or two 13x23cm (5x9 inch) loaf tin cakes... sort the cream cheese frosting out yourself, with that, I cannot be trusted.
..................................................................................- 175g Softened Butter
- 350g Icing Sugar (Powdered)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Paste
- 2-3 tbsp Milk
All you do then is beat the butter until it's smooth, lighter in colour and creamy, before adding the vanilla and then gradually the sugar, a tablespoon at a time. Incorporate a spoon of milk whenever the icing starts to get too thick and it's hard to mix. Keep mixing until all the sugar is mixed in and the buttercream is light and fluffy.
You can add in any flavour you like along the way, I added cinnamon for the carrot cake with a little lemon to give a little sourness, but this recipe is the one I always use whatever the flavour. If you're wanting coffee for example use espresso or a small amount of really strongly made instant coffee, in place of the milk.
Anyway, that was February and seeing we started and ended the month with cake, here's the recipe for my carrot cake, which either makes one big ass two layer 20 cm (8 inch) round cake, or two 13x23cm (5x9 inch) loaf tin cakes... sort the cream cheese frosting out yourself, with that, I cannot be trusted.
Hope you had a nice February!
PS: If anyone knows how the hell you get Instagram embeds to centre align, I'd be grateful for the trick because it doesn't matter what code I put in, they just don't want too and them being misaligned is driving me nuts! Sad but true.
Update: Obviously I worked out how to do the coding. I was doing it right, but for some reason it didn't want to take, so after ten minutes searching through embed codes (why are Instagrams so long!!) I managed to slot all the right bits in and now it's a little more aesthetically pleasing. Yay! (12/03/19)
Update: Obviously I worked out how to do the coding. I was doing it right, but for some reason it didn't want to take, so after ten minutes searching through embed codes (why are Instagrams so long!!) I managed to slot all the right bits in and now it's a little more aesthetically pleasing. Yay! (12/03/19)
Listening: Gotta Get Up - Harry Nilsson
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