Chasing Butterflies Daily

I've been trying to perfect a Vanilla sponge to use for my cakes and I finally cracked it! This is super light, fluffy and yes I'll say it: moist. I've made it with rhubarb today but to be honest it would stand proud on its own and be great in a layered cake too. INGREDIENTS 200g butter 300ml caster sugar 5 eggs 2 tsp vanilla essence 400ml flour 2 tsp baking powder 125g yogurt (I used vanilla flavoured yogurt but natural would work too for the extra moisture) 250-400g of berries or finely chopped rhubarb, although could no doubt be flavoured with other things as well. I'm not a date lover but could see it working with that for example, or lemon zest. I'll have a play around and update. Optional extra: I also had 100ml desiccated coconut in my cake - could maybe even have more I just emptied what I had in an open bag. METHOD Oven temperature: 175 Tin size: 25*34cm (will be trying it in round tins too and update on diameter that...

We all hate scrolling through a blog to get to the recipe so here you go: Oven temp. 175C - makes approx 30 squares  Use a 20x30cm tin INGREDIENTS Cake Base Layer 125g butter 75ml sugar 250ml flour Lemon Filling 4 eggs 250ml sugar 50ml lemon juice 1tsp lemon zest 50ml flour 0.5tsp baking powder 1 Mix butter and sugar until fluffy, gradually add sifted flour. 2 Spread evenly over base of tin (baking paper under). 3 Bake for 15-20 minutes till golden and firm - take out and let cool. 4 Leave oven on for the next step: Mix the eggs and sugar until fluffy. 5 Add the lemon juice and zest, then mix in the flour and baking powder. 6  Pour the mix on top of the cool cake base then bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. 7 Sprinkle with icing sugar and let it cool. Then cut into small squares and enjoy (centre should be soft and moist like lemon curd)

Pancakes have a long history of being consumed on Thursdays in Sweden. Since the 1700s medieval families (who had the means) would eat all their nicer food on a Thursday. Meats were only allowed to be eaten on Thursdays by the Catholics of the day. Fridays were a day of fasting and so they'd fill up on meat and pea soup in wealthier homes. Pancakes were a popular dessert as they were a luxurious treat as white flour, eggs, lard and fry pans were commodities. The religious connection is long gone for most households but the tradition has still stuck over the centuries. Instructions:  1. Mix the flour with half the milk until smooth. 2. Add the remaining milk, eggs and salt. 3. Leave to rest minimum 10 minutes.  4. Melted the butter on medium/high and mix into the batter. 5. Fry in the already hot pan - making thin pancakes. I prefer using a smaller pan as I find it easier to flip. And I've found that making 2/3rds of the batter is just the perfect amount...

I had my successful HBAC on Sunday the 7th February 2021 (birth story HERE) - our fourth baby, Juno, was born before midwives made it to us. It was perfect, empowering and completely intervention free. I hope the links below will help others make the best decisions for THEM. This post is mostly going to be a long list of links I recommend to read to help you on the journey towards the birth you want and hope for. I have added the odd quotation from pages but feel most are best read fully so you can assess what course of action is best for your own situation. I want to make something very clear I make NO judgement of where or how a woman choses to birth. I think it is paramount that a woman gets to chose themselves and are appropriately supported in their decision of location and way of birth, whether in hospital (vaginal, induced or cesarean), MLU - midwife led unit or at home.  I have found the acronym BRAIN very helpful while accumulating my research and I intend on ...