Studentenkuchen would be a cake you’d make for your student son (or daughter) when he’d go off to Uni again after visiting home. It uses nuts, chocolate etc because a) that’s calories the poor boy will surely need and b) against nuts contain proteins and stuff.

The normal recipe I use for all cakes and muffins is this:

250-300g butter
150-250g sugar
4-6 eggs
250-500g flour
baking powder
up to 250ml milk
flavourings

So I started with 250g butter (that’s one packet) and about 140g sugar (less than normal because of the sweet flavourings I was going to add). I also always use an electric whisk because I’m lazy.

Today I used 6 eggs, normally I’d use less but I felt that otherwise I’d have to use too much milk for the flavourings. Unfortunately, today wasn’t my best day and the mixture separated and went a bit lumpy. To avoid this, you’ll want everything at the same temperature but I’m always too lazy to wait that long.

It all sorted itself out when I added the flour (about 340g) anyhow – or at least it normally does! Today the whole mixture stayed a bit lumpy. I added as much milk as I felt I’d need to get the right consistency.

For flavourings, instead of the more normal raisins and hazelnuts, I used dried figs, walnuts, ground almonds, chocolate shavings and powder and half an apple.

Make chocolate shavings by finely cutting chocolate with a large knife. The picture is missing the apple because that was a spontaneous decision when I realised I had half an apple left from (belated) pancake day.

I stirred everything into the mixture and baked the cake for about 1h 20min until done. I was a little worried because the cake tin was very very full and I put some baking paper into the oven so that I wouldn’t have to clean any spills. I was lucky and there weren’t any.

Stirring the chocolate powerd into the mix and the finished mix. Please ignore the lumpiness.

When the cake was done, I decided to coat it using a type of icing that isn’t really icing (Glasur). It’s a Germany thing I imagine. It’s chocolate flavoured anyhow, that’s all that matters in the end. I decided against hazelnut icing because I felt that might add one flavour too many.

The cake which ended up slightly burned in places and the icing mixture – microwaved from a ready-made-mix. 

The whole things is very very sweet and one slice probably contains over a meals worth of calories. The different ingredients mean that every bite is different though so it’s very exiting. The outside is a bit crunchy and the inside a little wet though.

Suggestions and Improvements:

• leave butter and eggs at room temp for longer so that no lumpiness will occur. The end product does not negatively suffer from the lumps but it would make the baking process more enjoyable.
• bake at lower temperature for longer and cover with tinfoil once outside is brown. This will avoid the hard crust and make for a more regular end product.
• only use half a packet of “icing” as I had plenty left.

A brilliant webcomic I’m sure everyone knows. This little strip is worth having a laugh about if you’re one of those people who do indeed own their own labcoat but aren’t a doctor.

Dinosaurs in colour!

Recently, scientists have worked out which colour some feathered dinosaurs where! Pretty cool, huh?

Loads of people have blogged about this, among them Ed Yong (1, 2), Matthew Cobb from the Uni of Manchester(1, 2) and Jerry Coyne (1, 2). Basically they all blog about the same two articles but the points made at the end of Cobb-2 are quite interesting! So what if we know what colour dinosaurs were!?!

What’s you’re take on it?

Just another nifty picture…

…taken where I go to Uni! A sparrowhawk with a kill, not for the easily offended!

Let me Google that for you

A site that let’s you make fun of anyone who asks stupid questions all the time. This is an example of what’d happen if someone would ask me where the ikea in Manchester is.

But now, without further ado, it’s pancake time!

The dough.

Making a bacon-cheese sauce for the savoury pancakes. Simple really: fry bacon, heat white wine (separatly & gently), add cheese to wine and melt slowly, add bacon to sauce, season to taste.

The first pancake. And yes, I’m using a plastic knife as I can’t find any of my normal ones.

The first Haribo pancake. Firstly I’ll have to admit that I used gummibears of a different make that makes better gummibears (and lots of other yummy things). But where’s the difference when they’ve melted? Here I added the haribo to the dough in the pan. The problem that arises is that you can’t turn it anymore and have to sort of fold it and just hope for the best. Not an ideal solution (although this method works well with apples).

This is what happens when you forget to put more oil in the pan. Still, very nice with ready made vanilla icing.

  My last attempt at haribo pancakes. Here I added the haribo after I turned the pancake and then let them melt. Spread them around a bit and then roll the pancake into a neat little roll.

The problem that all haribo pancakes had is that they leave a horrible sticky mess on the plate when the gooey stuff goes hard again.

All in all, an amazing meal. There’s still dough left over so I might have apple-cinnamon pancakes later if I get hungry again. That’s unlikely though as I feel like I’m about to die of a sugar overdose. Is that possible?

Over and out.

For those that do not know of Weebl, check out his site here. He is the creator of the Badger song, the Narwhal song and a song about tigers in Kenya. I wasn’t a fan of the Amazing Horse untill I saw this cover which admittedly had it’s charm.

A Softer World 522

I am a fan of this webcomic and it’s even on my link-list to the left but this one is worth noticing because it really has a real life point. Something to keep in mind, methinks.

The (lack of) Science behind Westerns

A science post from my favourite science blog (check it out!!) that explains why the gunman who draws second always wins. And then it explains why the explanation isn’t really valid.

Tony the Fish

We were shown this last week in one of our lectures and since I have watched more and more Tim Minchin online.

In line with that, I’ll finish with a Douglas Adams quote:

“Is it not enough to see that the garden is beautiful without having to believe in fairies at the bottom of it?”

Because I was so awake, I didn’t sleep for most the coach journey there and really appreciated the landscape on our way there. What had never really registered in my brain before is that we actually go past the ocean. For me, seaside and mountains have always been very separate and holidays would always be to either or destination. The combinations still feels exotic and exciting.

We got there and set off in mostly the usual combination with the odd person missing from our normal ensemble! They should regret not being there! The beginning of the  path (Miner’s track) was mostly flat(ish) and easy on a broad path. We kept to the front of the group with little effort. That was definitely a good feeling. The path was interrupted by the odd ascent but nothing worth writing home about!

Stopping for lunch by a partially frozen lake, we saw some seagulls standing on the thin ice! Sea gulls will feature again later. Lunch felt pretty early – normally we have lunch at the summit – but it was a good break before getting to the proper ascent.

During the ascent we started to cross snowy patches more and more. At one point we tried to avoid a snowy patch (though Lord knows why! We just followed our amazing leader (-: ) and were climbing up the grassy slope next to it, when the earth beneath me gave way. Should’ve known that wet earth isn’t really very stable! No harm done, I continued along the snowy path unharmed.

Eventually we met another group that had taken a different path up to there and overtook them. From then on, we seemed to have a race with them (once again, reasons unknown) and we definitely won!

From here on two, the serious snow started. With Snowdon looming over us and a (steep!) slope going down on our other side, we trudged on. I’d never done any hiking under anything resembling winter conditions before and was surprised at how difficult snow can make it. Using muscles I’d not realised where usable and with the constant fear of falling to the bottom, we had the bad luck of this being the moment the weather chose to go mean and cloudy. I did not appreciate not seeing more than snow before me and the drop downwards on my side! Luckily it cleared up by the time we reached the top.

There we only had to follow the ridge to the actual summit. We passed a few groups of people preparing to abseil down the side of the mountain. The top was cold and the actual steps of to the summit were icy and quite scary! Again, sea gulls had made their way here despite the icy conditions!

After a stop we all got cold – this was the first time I put a jacket on for the whole day! – and we moved on down, using the Llanberis path.

The decent was snowy in places and while the mantra “JUST GLIDE” is definitely fun, it did nothing to stop me falling over so often I lost count. It’s kind of embarrassing when your body occasionally just decides to sit down and everyone asks you if you’re alright – Yes, just taking a break, thanks!

All in all, the decent was easy but long and by the end we were all tired. Nevertheless, the scenery was beautiful and the sunshine lasted. In Llanberis, we had a very nice hot chocolate in a café. Unfortunately, the hike hadn’t tired me out quite enough to stop me from being very awake and slightly hyperactive during the coach ride home but at least I had a very nice Sub to look forward to. Yum.

A short note before the end: This time I managed to track the path we took using my gps but I’m still using pretty googlemap images edited in paint because I still can’t get free mps into mapsource.

Also, if you spot any inaccuracies etc just send me an email/etc and I’ll correct it!

And finally a few more pics taken during the day:

The beginning of the day.

Snowdon, seen from where we had lunch.

View during the decent.

Before and after rising

 

The finished product

Reading this, I thought that I myself should add a more or less weekly post to my blog highlighting the wonders of the internet. So here it is, The Weird and Wonderful, Part 1.

1 – Penis removal

The case that amused me most, was that of a man who had had not one penis removal but two! Can you imagine? The poor bloke.

2 – Buried Alive

Luckily these days this isn’t really too much of an issue but back in the days it was. Read for horrifying stories of people buried alive, only one of which survived the ordeal.

3 – Strange Births

Stranger than Virgin Mary, these are all true and very odd! I pity the parents in most cases and the children in some.

4 – Places with morbid names

This is only on the list because I’ve been to the last of these and definitely agree with the name.

The Great Rift – Africa’s Wild Heart

Fire – Water

I’ll admit, I’ve been going on about this program a lot. There’s a reason for this though. Not only do I love Africa but this series shows the amazing beauty of the area so well and explains how it was made. The ecology is amazing.

Even if you’re not an animal or Africa freak, watch it for the shear beauty of it.

How Earth Made Us

Deep Earth – Water – Wind

This series shows how forces on earth, like volcanic forces, water and wind, have shaped human history. I found the episode on wind to be particularly fascinating in it’s explanation on the colonization of the outer islands of eastern Asia (Polynesia).

This is part of human history that seldom gets explained. Science geek that I am, I love the combination of science and history.

The Real Winnie Mandela

Once again, something about Africa. While everyone knows about Nelson Mandela, the story of his wife who continued the fight against the apartheid while he was in prison is less well known.

I admire the way she didn’t give up when her husband was send to prison and despite the controversy around her character, I can see the difficulty of remaining calm and peaceful in the face of the injustice of the apartheid.

My Child won’t speak

I first started watching this because I was bored and was soon reeled in by it. I’d never really thought about selective mutism before and I guess you learn something new everyday!

Natural World

Prairie Dogs – Talk of the Town

While I’m not really a major fan of this series, I was recommended this program and indeed it was very interesting. It is based on the idea that Prairie Dogs show a complex language to warn each other to predators and also exhibit learning.

I liked the way, the experiments were shown (to some extend).

And lastly, don’t forget to watch Legally Blond!

The first train we boarded to take us to the small village of Hope (train station not on map below) reminded me strongly of one of those trains in India which are overcrowded, dirty and dark.

After we made it safely to Hope train station, we walked to Hope village. These were the few blissful moments when I took out my camera and snapped away at everything and everyone. Then the batteries were empty but not before I managed to capture the church clock to document that it was indeed only five minutes to twelve when we started our hike.

The picture also captures the sunshine and just generally wonderfully nice weather, despite the miserable lighting and contrast. I enjoyed the opportunity to soak up some sunshine and synthesise some much needed vitamin D despite the bitter cold.

We made our way through some fields to the top of the mountain-y bit. There we finally had lunch at just after 1pm. It was much needed and some of our number had long been complaining that in their hung-over state exercise and hunger did not go well together.

Lunch time did not last too long as we started to feel the cold on the windy mountain top so we set of again along the ridge. This was the most pleasant part of the day in my opinion. Not to much up-hill or down-hill parts and lots of time to enjoy the weather. I do go on about the weather a lot, don’t I? Well, it was the first hike I’ve been on in Britain that could boast this nice weather. And seriously, when do you ever get nice weather in Manchester. That the sun is still shining today is a miracle.

It was also along this path along the ridge that I decided to sit down in some snow while being outraged about the fact that I will have Uni on Fridays. A moment that at least cause much amusement.

At some point the group split into several groups. Those that wanted to go to the pub right now, those that would carry on a bit further and those that felt the need to walk the “bit further” at greater speed and possible extend the “further” part of it. It was decided that we wouldn’t offend anyone by calling them “slow” therefore the groups where named “pub”, “fast” and “faster”. We were informed that this was much like condoms coming in “large” “extra-large” and “fucking ginourmous”. I shall not comment on that analogy.

I sensibly stayed in the “fast” group and we made our way further along and down to Edale. The way down was marked by the path being covered in a sheet of ice which ended up with not only me falling this time. Geteiltes Leid ist halbes Leid, as the Germans would say. I suspect this fall might have resulted in a nasty bruise though, but I haven’t had the courage to check yet.

In Edale, we crossed the whole village seeing fascinating sights, such a dog cut out from a hedge and a small village school with a chessboard on the wall. The pub we’d trekked all this way to get to was closed. We had to make our way back to the other pub. This last leg of our journey was much enhanced by a constant stream of “Are we there yet?”

When we finally made it to the pub, it was full. Being hardcore, we sat outside for a while until most of our number decided that standing inside was better than sitting outside, despite my protests.

Indeed it turned out that I was right. When we made our way to the station the temperature difference from pub to outside was even greater than perceived before and we stood shivering while we waited for the train to arrive.

The train that finally did arrive was shinier and lighter than the previous one although the doors made a horrible squeaking noise when opening and closing which prevented me and others from having a successful nap. Instead we sat and ate what was probably (perhaps, maybe) my last bag of Haribo for the next 30 days.

All in all, a very successful day.