Sponge Cake with Pudding

Sponge cake with pudding on top is a discovery for me this summer and it provides so much opportunities for improvisation. So far I've made it twice - first with pudding vanilla and sweetened sour cream and last night - with mascarpone and chocolate pudding.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 10 g backing powder
• 2 vanillas

For cake syrup:

• 150 ml milk
• 3 tbsp sugar

For the pudding:

• 500 ml milk
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 chocolate pudding Dr. Oetker
• 250 g mascarpone
• 1 pack gelatin (10g)

Preparation: Beat the eggs with the sugar, add flour, baking powder and vanilla. Pour in a cake ring form and bake in a preheated oven at 180C. Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool. Do not remove the cake ring. Heat 150 ml milk with three tablespoons of sugar and syrup the cake, spreading the milk evenly.
Prepare one Dr Oetker chocolate pudding and add 250 g mascarpone to it. Add one pack (10g) of gelatin, prepared according to the instructions on the pack. Pour the pudding mixture on top of the cake and leave in the refrigerator for the night (or at least for 3-4 hours, 2 hours minimum, if you can't wait longer :).
Et voilà, very juicy spongy cake for your morning coffee:

I'm finally ready with this tiny Miette, just waiting for Gaby to take a few proper modelled pictures of it:

Vitosha, Yarema

Yesterday we decided to explore a less popular part of Vitosha - the southwestern slopes, starting from a place called Yarema up to the ridge between two of the southern peaks of Vitosha - Siva Gramada and Charoleya.

It was very hot and lonely - we were the only hikers along this path. The wild raspberries are already ripe.

The path goes slowly up and up through meadows and mixed forests until it suddenly disappears here in this valley, which is the divisive point between Siva Gramada Peak (in the center of the picture) and Charoleya peak. We hiked further some 100 meters through the grass and shrubs, but without a path climbing some of the peaks seemed a rather difficult and unpleasant job, so we had our lunch and headed back.

On our way back we picked some raspberries and now we have a few jars of home-made wild raspberry jam. Gorgeous!

Almost There

Some real progress on my new Miette cardigan. When I cast it on June 25, I was sure I would be able to finish it until July 12th, as Gaby wanted it very cropped and with short sleeves. Unfortunately, I've had so much work these last weeks that couldn't keep up with the schedule, now I'm trying to finish it at least until July 25th.

Why the deadlines? Last month Gaby, who won the third place in the senior group of the National Olympiad of Biology, succeeded in entering the National team for the International Olympiad in Biology to be held in Vietnam. One of the teachers of the team noticed that she often wears hand knitted cardigans and presented her with these big colorful buttons. And we decided to make a cropped Miette for these buttons :)

I had bought 4 balls of a new mercerized cotton yarn Schoeller+Stahl, Gaby liked it and after some sampling I cast it on. The yarn is much thinner than what the pattern calls for and my gauge is different, so to achieve the smallest size I am actually knitting the largest size of the pattern, with a few additional rows and increases before the split of the body and the sleeves. So far I think it's coming out OK, but with all the work (and all those football matches of EURO 2016 - I'm big football fan and watched almost all of the games :) the cardigan progressed a row or two a day.

On July 12th the team left for Thailand and from there to Vietnam. They are coming back on July 25th and now my goal is to finish the cardigan until then, as Gaby and the other girl on the team are leaving the very day of their arrival for another event in the country. Go team Bulgaria! :)

Refashioned Maternity Dress

A refashioning project that is almost sixteen years late :)

I sewed this maternity dress when I was pregnant with Gaby and wore it a lot during my last trimester - she was an August baby. Alex was a winter/spring baby, but I occasionally put it on at home as a pinafore over pullovers, when I was pregnant the second time.

Back then I must have been into high necklines and shallow armscyes, but now I prefer more room, so instead of just taking in the width, I unstitched the whole dress and cut out a new simple dress with identical front and back and wider neckline and armholes.

It's probably the simplest dress there is, but it's for home usage. Still, as I work from home and our summers are quite hot, it's important for me to have comfortable home clothes.

From the cuttings from the sides I made two bands to tie in the back and give the dress some shape.

Ta-da, a new dress :) I have no idea what this fabric is, probably synthetic crepe silk, but it's nice to the touch and does not crease - ideal for a domestic summer dress.