Category: Running

Ah baking, how I have missed you. But yesterday I got back in to it, with a lime, coconut and ginger cake.

I used the same basic recipe for the Lemon and Blueberry traybake I made a while back, but I swapped in lime zest and juice for lemons, left out the blueberries, added 50g coconut, and a few chunks of chopped crystallised ginger.

I was sent some Bake Even cake strips to try out, from the Cake Decorating Store website, and I used them for the first time in this recipe.

You have to soak the strips before you use them (only for a bit), and then you wrap them around the cake tin. I had to secure them with pins- for some reason I had thought they would have velcro or something, but I suppose they are completely adjustable so that would not work. I used two to go around my brownie pan, as one did not quite reach, but overlapping them is fine (according to the instructions).

I was worried it would slide off, so I put the tin on a tray too. The idea is that they help to distribute the heat evenly, so you get an even rise, and the cake is cooked the same all the way through (no cracked tops, uneven rising etc).

I was very impressed when it came out of the oven- the cake was perfectly even in colour and in height. I think these would be great to use when baking fruit cakes as they need so much longer in the oven so can become more uneven. Although next time I will use safety pins to hold the strips on.

I made up the syrup (lime juice+zest+sugar) and poured it over the warm cake.

Mmmm delicious zingy lime cake. I left it to cool overnight before I sliced it today so that the icing would set and sink in.

On to some random food photos from the week. Yesterday Andy made a lovely sweet potato chilli (he has made it before for us and it is delicious)- I decided to make some guacamole. I have been reading a book by Scott Jurek- it is half autobiography and half recipes (I think it is called Eat and Run) and the other evening I read his guacamole recipe. On holiday we treated ourselves to a Cheesecake Factory guacamole (they make it up fresh when you order it) and so I attempted to re-create this as I have been dreaming about it ever since. It contained avocado, sea salt, freshly squeezed lime juice and chopped cherry tomatoes. I did consider adding a little bit of chilli but as we were having that in the sweet potato chilli I thought a cooler guacamole would be better. It was wonderful. Mmm. And Andy even said it tasted like the Cheesecake Factory one 🙂 I had it with some iced tea as I had just spent the last hour and a bit planting out onions in the allotment.

As the weather has been getting warmer I have been making salads for my lunch. I do love them, and they fill me up so much, but they take so long to eat! Which is OK I suppose if you have a normal lunch break, but I am usually in a meeting/ doing marking/ getting resources ready for the afternoon etc, so a long lunch is not so good! Anyway, these contained spinach, balsamic, grated carrot, courgette and beetroot (all stained by the beetroot though), roasted pepper, artichoke, chickpeas, hummus, extra carrot sticks for dipping, and pine nuts. I had then with a couple of pumpkin seed ryvitas, and some fruit (although mostly I ran out of time to eat the fruit)- very summery.

This afternoon I spent some time cooking in the kitchen, as in the week I ate the last of my freezer stash of these Mexican casseroles (they were loosely based on a recipe from Oh She Glows, but I am not sure they are really a casserole at all). It is one of my favourite meals- roasted celery, peppers, red onion, quinoa, tomato, sweetcorn, some kind of beans (?), spinach, a little chilli, and then served with salad and avocado. Mmmm. I know I have mentioned it before but I think I am getting a slight avocado addiction (quite a few times on holiday I would pay to have it added to a sandwich or meal). How did I think I didn’t like them for so long?

After pottering around this morning (or watching the elite races on the TV) I went out for a run in the sunshine. It was great, but I was so hot! I only wore a vest and capris, and I wasn’t expecting it to be that tough. I suppose when it gradually warms up you have time to get used to it. I did a 6.6ish mile loop, slower than recently but it was good to be outside getting some fresh air. I made pancakes for when I got home- I added some chia seeds to the batter, and used apple and blueberry puree in them which made a nice change, and the last of my lovely Meridian mincemeat.

Well done all you marathon runners too! I loved watching it on the TV, and each year I find it so inspiring.

So, at the moment I am having a real obsession with lemon cake.

Last week I bought some blueberries with the plan of adding them to my weekend pancakes, but then I didn’t end up having any. After I made the lemon cake with the Seedburst, I still had some lemons left, so I decided to make a lemon and blueberry cake for Sunday tea.

I found this recipe for lemon traybake, and I was just going to add the blueberries to it, but the batter seemed very thick and almost dry, so I added the juice of one lemon, and a good splash of soya milk to it. I then added 150g blueberries to the mix, and once I had poured it into the brownie pan, I sprinkled some more over the top.

I love how the blueberries burst when they cook and go all jammy.

Once it was cool I poured over the icing (juice and zest of one lemon, plus icing sugar). Then I left that to set before I sliced it.

The cake seems to be super moist as I think a lot of the lemon juice from the icing has soaked in to it- when I opened the tin to take the photo I was hit by a burst of the tangy lemon smell- I am really looking forward to a piece later!

This morning I pottered about for ages while the snow was still coming down (I really thought when I first looked out the window that I had imagined the snow from yesterday), but after an hour or so I headed outside.

I think the snow was still drifting, as when I headed home my footprints were covered, plus some patches were clear, but then where there was a break in the trees the path would be snowy again. I found this patch of clear-ish pavement about half a mile from home and so ran up and down about 6 times I think. Once I got going it was OK- I took it slowly with small gentle steps, (really don’t want to injure myself) and in the end did just over 3 miles. When I turned to head into the wind it was horrible as the snow was coming down in those tiny balls that are more like hail- they really stung my face.

Pancakes for a warming breakfast! I used up the last of the blueberries, some in the pancakes and some with a chopped apple and fig cooked on the hob.

Yum cooked blueberries are just fabulous!

Pancakes plus tea while watching the Grand Prix= a good start to Sunday.