Mrs Hudson gave me this one, along with a discourse on what exactly 'stiff peaks' means.
2. Melt 125g (4oz) bittersweet chocolate with 1 tsp vanilla, 1 Tbs coffee, and 1 Tbs brandy.
3. Add 90g (6 Tbs) butter, 100g (1/2 cup) sugar, and 50g (1/2 cup) of ground almonds. Heat until butter is melted.
4. Beat 3 egg yolks until lemon coloured and add them to the chocolate mixture.
5. Whip 3 egg whites until they form stiff peaks and fold them gently into the chocolate mixture.
6. Bake for 45 minutes. If you stick a knife or something in the middle, it won't come out completely clean, but it shouldn't be gooey either. Mrs Hudson said it should have 'moist crumbs', which it did, the second time. Sort of.
144 comments:
Thank you! It may take me a couple of tries too.
rsf
Thanks for the recipe, John - I might try it. Although I tried making Lestrade's Chocolate and Lavender cake, which wasn't a success :-( It tasted really good, but it barely rose, was too dense and very dry. Problem is, I'm not sure what I did wrong to do it better next time.
I think I should stick to baking cheese scones, I know they work :-)
You all having a good evening?
Excellent, thanks. We had dinner out, and now we're back at the hotel with Mycroft and Sherlock in another room down the hall. All is calm so far...
Oh, and the cake isn't too bad except for the egg whites. Mrs Hudson said to whip them in a metal bowl with a metal whisk. No plastic or rubber or any of that.
I could've demonstrated stiff peaks.
I'm sure you still could.
Glad to hear you're having a good evening, with (at least for now) a bit of private time.
I don't own a metal bowl, maybe that's where I went wrong with the cake. Hmm. Might stick to easier sponge cake recipes :-p
DW - ref your most recent comment on John's previous blog post: <3
Sounds like you've all had an excellent day, and with the prospect of stiff peaks to come.
That's interesting about the metal bowl - I've always used a china bowl when beating egg whites for royal icing, but I suppose a metal bowl would be better. And thinking about it I do add icing sugar when making the royal icing. I'd probably best stick to making scones like Nameless. (short or long "o"?)
Scone rhymes with gone.
Ooh, now, there's a question, SH. Overheard in a coffee-shop queue: "I will have a cup of tea and a scon, my wife will have a coffee and a s-cone".
Scone is, of course, correctly pronounced "scone". By which I mean, I agree with Lestrade :-)
L's pronunciation is the one we've always gone with in my family!
Glad we're all (so far) in agreement.
My mother owns scones but I much prefer the scone to be gone ;-)
Sounds like you've had a good day, if a long one. May the night be just as good!
I have no idea how to properly pronounce "scone" because it is a word I have encountered most often on the printed page, and the people who I've heard attempt it are usually Americans who rhyme it with "own". I can't remember if rhyming it with 'gone' would make it enter the language before or after the Great Vowel shift. Too long since college...
rsf
Nameless - glass is a close second-best to metal when beating your stiff peaks.
I'm sure baking shouldn't sound that dirty...
...maybe now you can see why I enjoy it so much? All that greasing of pans and beating stiff things. And that's before we've got to whipping and creaming.
all that whipping and beating and making things stiff how could baking ever be thought of as dirty John?
You know that's why L wants you to practice your baking skills don't you doc? ;)
HM
I shall keep working on him, HM. I know that somewhere within that stern exterior he's got a fantastic tart just waiting to get out...
Don't you mean stiff exterior?
I don't mind if your inner fantastic tart has the odd stiff bit too.
I think bouncing may have awoken muscles which have long been dormant in me... and not in a good way.
I think I see, Lestrade - my glassware collection is as lacking as my metalware collection. I never realised before that I might have a problem with my peaks being too flaccid :-(
L - I would offer you a massage, but I'm not sure I can move. Clearly bouncing is very good exercise. Very very good.
Nameless - I hear you can get anything on the internet these days, even things to perk up flaccid peaks.
Danger - s'okay. I'll just lie here and think about what Sherlock will do to us in the morning if he finds us immobile and useless to him. Probably experiment on us, and dissect our useless broken bodies.
Forget what he'd do to us, think of what he'd do to the rest of the hotel...
their demise would probably be for the good of mankind, or something.
The advancement of science.
Or they could distract him with ice cream.
I'll leave a note. or ring front desk.
'In case of rampaging six year old, defend persons and property with ice cream, possibly pancakes, cake and milkshakes.'
'His older brother may need to be revived in case of near-fatal embarrassment.'
hah. Reckon Mycroft would be on the first train out of here. And who could blame him.
Nameless, it made me smile. Glad it had the same effect for someone else, too.
I always heard copper was best for forming stiff peaks.
DW - Mrs H said that too! I thought she was joking...
Copper is indeed superior in so many ways...
I completely agree, in one specific case at least.
I heard it visiting the kitchen at Audley End House, which by the way has huge grounds to run around in.
It's probably true on multiple levels...
I think my aches have aches.
I wonder if they'll deliver a hot tub to our room.
I've just caught up on everything from today and it sounds like a most wonderful day all around!
(Wouldn't a nice hot shower do nearly as well as a hot tub? :))
Too bad all the wrong bits are stiff! Maybe it was the wrong kind of bouncing.
Scone rhymes with gone?! What madness is this?! Everyone knows scone rhymes with cone. Don't even get me started on how people pronounce Oregon.
-Oregon Anon
Oregon Anon, I'm with you on Oregon. I live in Washington, and somehow they keep adding an R!
It sounds like you boys had a wonderful day, even if you do have some aches now. Isn't more exercise supposed to help relieve some of that tension? ;D
Oh, the glories of Warshington and Oregone
-Oregon Anon
The real question is, does gone rhyme with John?
OA, isn't it Ore-uh-gun? That's how I learned it in Idaho, but you know those crazy potato farmers... ;)
Us Noo Yawkers (I've never actually heard someone pronounce it that way) call it ah-ri-gin (hard g, short i). Not right?
Can't sleep either, DW? :( (I'm gonna look not great for my nephew's wedding tomorrow evening, but fortunately no one looks at the aunt!!)
New York isn't a reliable place to learn to say anything. You might as well go to Somerset or Dorset or something...
Was already asleep. Am awake now. This has not been my best week, no.
It's a fine place to learn how to pronounce Yiddishisms!
I'm sorry.
Oi, Somerset has nothing to do with New York! Somerset is a fine place to learn things.
Hope next week is better, DW. You know where we are (even if you can't pronounce it.)
(I hate it when people call me Leh-strayed. Don't mind Les-trahd or Leh-strah-deh.)
OK, now I'm worried that I've been mispronouncing Oregon for years. I'd go with O-reh-guhn, with a short soft O sound at the beginning (similar to the O in gone or pop), and a schwa in each of the middle syllables. But then, British people do like to use schwas at every opportunity.
DW - sorry to her you're having a not-good time; hope things improve for you soon.
John, Lestrade - you managed to survive, then? Able to move this morning?
*hastily corrects mental pronunciation of "Lestrade"*
I say ORE-ih-gun, with the stress on the first syllable. Haven't visited there, though. Another fun one is Arkansas, which is pronounced "AR-can-saw". Unless you're talking about the river in Colorado, in which case it's "Ar-KAN-sas".
Then again, one of my memories of London is trying to find Leicester Square. "Les-ter"? And Massachusetts has a city named "Worcester" which is pronounced "Woostah".
Thus are the locals known from the tourists.
rsf
RSF - lots of places like that in the UK; in general place names ending in "cester", the "ce" tends to be silent. For example Worcester (woostuh), Leicester (lestuh) Gloucester (glostuh), Cirencester (actually, siren-sestuh, just to be contrary :-p). All part of our rich Roman heritage, and cultural pride in being awkard buggers :-)
I have it in my head that "cester," "caster," and "chester" are all from the Roman word for "camp"--have I got that right, Mycroft?
(Nice to know I've been saying Worcester etc. correctly--except I pronounce the final "er" as "er", I'm not a New Englander!)
What's a schwa? and rsf - how were you saying it, and have ypu now gone for English or Italian?
A schwa is an unstressed, neutral vowel sound, like the "i" in "pencil". And yeah, Nameless, that's really the sound I use in the middle of Oregon--and really, in the third syllable, too. :)
L - a schwa is the "uh" sound that tends to be used to replace more defined vowel sounds in English. Apparently it's the most common sound in the English language. Posh people tend to enunciate properly, the rest of us drop our consonants and shmush our vowels :-)
For example "the cake" - most people pronounce "the" as "thuh", that's a schwa. Likewise "a piece of cake", you probably pronounce as "uh piece of cake". Or the final syllable of Birmingham; even London tends to be closer to "Lundun".
(Sorry - I get carried away, I just think it's quite cool that there's a proper word for that kind of think :-p)
It is. And yes, that's what is say. Actually, id go further and say 'uh piece uhf cake', probably.
Sherlock and John have spent the last day delighting in my Westcountry accent showing itself.
These blogs are always educating me.
As a typically British aside, London is hot and disgustingly humid.
I can't stop thinking about uhs now.
Awww, I think about us a lot too. All good things, I hope ;)
Ha. As soon as I posted that, I knew...
Hot + humid = swimming
:)
I'm so predictable.
About the recipe--would it work with margarine or the like instead of butter? Because it sounds amazing, and I'd like to try it!
L, I was (mentally) thinking "LeSTRAYED" with the emphasis on the second syllable, as if it were a recent loan word. I wouldn't pronounce the final vowel unless it were an "a" or the "D" were doubled, having had "the silent E turns the vowel before a single consonant into a long vowel" rule embedded into my brain at a very young age. Which pretty much leaves me "LeSTRAHD" as an option, unless you prefer LEStrahd, which will take me a while to wrap my mind around.
Incidentally, the schwa is written as an upside down lower case e. Think of it as the sound which comes out when you make the least effort to create a vowel. Most people use a lot of schwas in ordinary speech, on unaccented syllables, but will pronounce the same words more carefully, assigning the "correct" vowel sound when trying to communicate more clearly, or if asked how they say something.
rsf
RSF - at an early age I was torn between Westcountry speech - everything with the longest, most slurred vowel sounds possible, and almost all consonants removed and replaced with glottal stops if you absolutely had to have a hard sound in the word or sentence. And Italian, where every letter is pronounced, all vowels are short and pure, and, well, you really couldn't get more different.
So, back home, Lestrade is pronounced 'LuhStrard'. Which I suppose I don't mind either, given it's what I'm used to.
Well....
I was just minding my own business, folding the laundry and making Sherlock pair up his socks...possibly using a pair of jeans as an air guitar, maybe singing 'Satisfaction'...maybe only wearing a pair of shorts...when Mrs H brought a visitor up to see us. Who, once Mrs H had gained my attention, has been introduced as Laura. John's ex.
I'm in hiding in the bedroom, taking my time about findng a shirt.
That wasn't ever quite how I imagined meeting her.
I'm really not laughing at all, it's just, er... I can't think of a cover story, I'm too amused.
I wasn't exactly expecting visitors.
You can assure her I do, in fact, get plenty of satisfaction.
I wasn't either! I had no idea she was even in the country.
I have now assured her. She almost choked on her tea laughing. She says you're clearly loosening me up.
...I shall assume she means in terms of sense of humour, nothing more literal.
I'll come back down, now I'm fully clothed, and try to forget she's seen me dancing about topless.
I'm going to choose to assume that as well.
She says she'll treasure the memory, and also wants to know if we want to go out to dinner.
I didn't have anything special planned for tonight, if you want to.
I'm sure she'll try to forget it as quickly as possible.
...I shall assume she means in terms of sense of humour, nothing more literal.
*snorts back laughter*
Sure thing, L.
Thought of you guys today watching the MotoGP here in my town - the roar of the bikes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway carries even to my house, about 4 miles away.
Yeah, I think it'd be nice. I hope it'll be nice anyway. Sherlock's eyeing her with deep suspicion, not sure why.
Was Sherlock wearing more than shorts while he was pairing his socks? Not that he would understand L's dash for decency if he were. He strikes me as pretty unconcerned about what people think, but he may be wondering what secret power Laura has to get that reaction out of Lestrade.
rsf
probably the same reason I am - she's beautiful and might decide she wants you back ;) you have, after all, kept her tree alive. Sign of true love, that.
RSF - Sherlock was indeed in t-shirt and shorts. And I did stay in the room until John appeared. I wouldn't leave someone alone with Sherlock that soon - for both their sakes!
Heh. Wrong ex. The one with the bonsai tree is in Australia. Laura lives in Egypt.
I think we're missing a crucial piece of information here: exactly how short were The Shorts?
oh, sorry. Is this the camel smuggling you-getting-arrested-lots ex?
Nameless - pretty short. And bright yellow.
L - Ha, yeah, that's the one.
They weren't! They were...normal length. Above the knee. And not bright yellow. Dull yellow. Almost olive, in the right light.
Right, so I've got lots to talk to her about then, mainly making sure you don't get arrested tonight.
She seems...worryingly nice.
She can't have John back!
Above the knee, yes. Well above...
If I get arrested tonight, please make sure Sherlock gets to bed on time.
...Now I feel like a worrying number of my exes live in other countries. Is it me?
Sherlock - I'm not going anywhere, I promise.
I expect most of the people John really likes are nice.
But John doesn't need to get arrested anymore, he can get all the police attention he likes now!
rsf
Don't worry, Shortstuff, she's not going to take him away.
If you get arrested tonight, Danger, and I can't get you off the charge, then it's safe to assume I'll have been the arresting officer. So Mycroft, make sure Sherlock gets to bed on time.
All right, but it better be a good charge and nothing to do with sheep or inappropriately timed rug beating (not a euphemism!).
Doc, is Laura the owner of the Chiahuahua for which you were searching when you got arrested in Egypt the first time? Snickerdoodle or something?
Ha! Yes, Biscuit. I would not be surprised if Biscuit's successor was called something like Snickerdoodle.
...that was me--DW. I don't know what a Dooster is. Clearly, I need more sleep.
Also, now enquiring minds want to know. What was Biscuit's successor's name?
...She says Vespasian. I'm not sure if that's a more or less ridiculous name for a chihuahua than Biscuit or Snickerdoodle.
I'll have you done for sticking a stamp bearing the queen's head on a letter upside down...
I think John's a dooster, DW.
I'm not letting her near our hounds...
L - I would never! Cattle rustling is one thing, but sticking the queen upside down? Who would do such a thing?
...I think sticking the queen upside down is another law altogether...
Prince Phillip, presumably...
And neither of us could keep from laughing there, so I'm having to explain about the blogs to Laura...
Oh, joy! She can join our merry crew!
She'll probably take one look and hightail it back to Egypt...
That probably would be the sensible reaction...
...Sherlock has just told her he'll only go out with her if she buys him pizza. Hmmm. Maybe more lessons on manners needed there, then.
Coincidentally, that's how I got John to go out with me the first time too.
by demanding pizza from him?
Come to think about it, our first date that wasn't just coffee was pizza too. I see a pattern emerging.
Always fancied living abroad...
By buying me pizza. And if you go anywhere you've got to take me with you, sorry. You're stuck with me now.
Pizza but no ice cream?
rsf
Laura bought you pizza? What sort of a gentleman are you? :)
I'll survive being stuck with you. Rather fond of having you around, y'know? May even hold your hand possessively on the way to the restaurant.
A very poor one at the time, in all senses of the word.
You may, hm? That'll be nice.
don't believe you.
It's actually almost too hot to hold hands. definitely too hot to eat much. Which won't stop Sherlock. Who is somehow still managing to run ahead...
Maz, had I known I would have thought of you when I was watching the Moto GP - not the most exciting of races.
L - just how long did it take Mrs H to get your attention?
Hope you all enjoy your pizza (and ice cream)
Pizza is still good under any weather conditions.
Laura's okay because she said I can have garlic bread and pizza and a milkshake and pudding if I can fit it in and I will. As long as she goes away later she can come back again maybe and she said if we ever go to Egypt I can ride a camel so that would be good.
Enjoy your dinner Sherlock and really don't worry it would take wild horses to drag either John or Lestrade away from the other three members of their family. :-)
If you decide to go to Egypt you might want to go in December when the planets are aligning over the pyramids. (Well, I think they are, anyway. You can't really believe everything you see on the internet.)
rsf
SH, I think the question is more "How long did Mrs. H wait to *try* to get his attention?" 'cause I know I wouldn't have been trying to hard...
I don't know. You'd have to ask Laura. Sherlock, little traitor, knew they were there and didn't tell me!
I didn't want to disturb you in the middle of your song, dear. We didn't mind waiting.
Anyone ever tell you how kind you are, Mrs H?
I believe John mentioned when you all left for dinner, as a matter of fact.
He sang lots and had a pair of jeans so the leg was the guitar and he was jumping about and he often sings with his eyes closed to he didn't see them and they were both trying not to laugh and then he tried to hide behind the jeans.
I'm guessing they weren't his own jeans so he couldn't just put them on, then.
rsf
I was wearing shorts!
And they were John's jeans, so yeah, wouldn't have covered up any more than the shorts were...
You really love to live dangerously, don't you?
Lancs. Anon
He really does.
I love Danger, certainly.
Yeah he does Lancs.
I had an ice cream sundae and stayed up late and we're only going home now and Lestrade is holding John's hand and he's doing it the way he does when he's worried but I'm not worried because Laura said she wouldn't take John away and that we were good for him.
You're a wise young man, Sherlock. No one needs to worry, I'm not going anywhere. And she's right, you are all good for me.
I'm glad you had fun Sherlock :-) You are very clever trying to work out how people feel from how they are behaving, it is an important skill to learn in life.
(if Sherlock's right Greg try not to worry too much you two are a very well balanced couple and you really are good for John just as he's good for you :-) )
I'm trying to work out how I hold hands in a worried way...
You interlaced your fingers but continually change your grip, resulting in a lot of nervous-looking jiggling.
You used to do it much more. Now you only seem to when you're worried about a specific thing.
Right. Thanks. I suppose I do.
and there goes the lesson, never think you're hiding something from children and certainly not from genius children ;)
Of course as hot as it seems to be there today, the changing grip may be due to an excess of lubrication, too.
It's always slightly disquieting when other people tell you things you didn't know you were doing. Educational too, of course.
You're a very clever boy as well Mycroft looking out for John and Lestrade.
Did you have a nice time with Laura?
I gave up thinking I could hide anything much from this lot a long time ago.
Well, I'm glad you guys seem to have had a fun day, and especially glad we get to live vicariously through you to experience pants-related shenanigans.
RE: Oregon pronunciation: 'Ore' as in, well, 'ore', then either 'uh' like 'up' or possibly 'ih' like 'lift', then 'gun' like 'gun' or when speaking normally you can go with the 'i' sound in 'in'. (I say speaking normally because the 'uh' sound is kind of awkward to actually say there, at least for me, so most Oregonians use the 'ih' sound I think.) ORE-uh-gin. (And that's not the g sound in the actual word gin, it's like guinea pig g.) If you're singing, the last syllable is different because all two songs I know about Oregon can only find one thing that rhymes with Oregon, which is 'on and on', so you have to pronounce it like a heathen out-of-stater where the last syllable sounds exactly like the word 'gone'.
This concludes the tutorial on how to pronounce states nobody cares about :p
Oregon fun fact: Our state is larger than the entire United Kingdom and our population is less than that of London.
-Oregon Anon
That is quite a funny fun fact. Having been to both Oregon and London, however, I'm not entirely surprised. :)
~Cylendelmar
*ded of laughter*
Oh, this post is perfect to end to my weekend. I'll be giggling to Monday. Thanks :)
Greg - If you're going back to the old crew tomorrow, say Hi to Sally from us! (And good luck getting your chair back!)
~A from NW
I am - thank you.
Sounds like you all had a very nice evening in the end!
My nephew's wedding was lovely and I got to dance lots, which I love. And although I didn't have pizza or a milkshake and we left before dessert, I did have garlic bread so that's something. :)
Happy back-to-your-team, L!
These blogs are great for learning things you never knew you needed to know, but are always glad to have found out when you do.
OA - thank you! I do believe that the CIA World Factbook describes the UK as "slightly smaller than Oregon", which is right up there with "mostly harmless", I think :-)
Sounds like you had a lovely time, RR. Mazel tov to the new couple. :)
Thanks, DW! And I did. :)
Nameless- Yes yes yes! That is the best!
-Oregon
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