Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake

What? You say. Are you actually posting a cake recipe in the middle of August? The answer is quite obviously a resounding “Yes!” Don’t worry, there’s a perfectly plausible explanation for this. It’s #TeaandCakeTuesday – weekly blogging event where anyone can post their favourite cake or dessert recipes and/or photos. One of the things that stuck with me during Blogging 101 (now completed by the way, with a few design tasks still to tackle) is how important it is to talk to other bloggers and readers alike. Years of experience have already helped me understand this, but once in a while it’s good to remember that even if you feel you’re in a bubble, working and writing alone, there are many other people with whom you can connect. So here’s one of my favourite cakes which deserves to be written about and celebrated here, and in turn celebrates all those hard-working folks brave enough to blog and/or vlog. It’s not as easy as it seems people.

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Outwood

It’s nice and sunny once again this morning and this time the fine weather is here to stay, at least for a little while. The blue skies bring back fond memories of Outwood, one of my favourite National Trust places in Surrey. In warm weather it beats being by the sea, at least for me. I loved the woods there, and coming from me that says something! The common is a great place to sit and have a picnic, and walking around the place is relatively easy, with plenty of decent footpaths.

Autumn at Winkworth Arboretum

During the past few days I am spending most of my time sorting through some old photos (and other stuff). It just had to be done. I didn’t find any actual treasures but I came across good memories: more shots of that magical time when nature starts preparing for the cold winter. The one we call Autumn. They form part of a kind of set taken at Winkworth Arboretum which I published almost a year ago. I have no idea why I didn’t include them in an earlier post. As mentioned previously, I do tend to either forget about stuff, or I would have decided to let them fester a bit in my photo files.

Hughenden Manor #2

The next blog post *will* be a recipe, I promise, but in the meantime I just wanted to add some more photos taken on the grounds at Hughenden Manor. The two photos you see above are my very favourites. I mean, how can you not love these three little ones? I was so enchanted; all I could do was stare and coo at them. Awww. I totally forgot I had a camera with me. When I realised I could take them home with me, as in within an image, I started to click away like a mad woman! That being said, I wasn’t using the right lens for the job, so the first handful turned out to be rubbish. J then gave me my zoom lens, and told me to run to the bend at the stream and wait for them to come closer. It worked. The little babies weren’t having none of it though and started paddling like rockets, barely giving me any good angles. Case in point: size doesn’t always equate to speed! Don’t you just love them?

Hughenden Manor #1

These are a set of photos I took at Hughenden Manor. By far it was one of the most enjoyable visits, mostly because of the variety of images I managed to capture. Also I was in the mood of taking loads, which to be honest, rarely happens these days. The weather really helped though. One of the first things I learnt from J is that sometimes the gloomier it is, the better your pictures will be. The problem is that for me, gloomy weather means less inspiration. However, this was not the case here. The clouds removed any extra glare and intensified the colours.