Beetroot and Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe was a bit of an experiment.

I've never used beetroot before - mainly because the smell of it repulses me - but it seemed to keep cropping up all over the place in Halloween-themed recipes so I thought now was as good a time as ever to try it out.

It turns out even though it plays a large part in the recipe, you can't really taste it at all, and these cupcakes are perfect for Halloween.

Spiderweb Cheesecake

Confession time: I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween.

I hate horror films with a passion, I'm a complete arachnophobe and growing up in the middle of nowhere meant I never got involved in Trick or Treating as a child. As a result it's an event that largely passes me by each year. However, I'm a sucker for thematic baking so knew I'd have to give in to all of the Halloween paraphernalia in the shops and make something appropriate for the 31st.

The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook - Cake Days - has an excellent section on Halloween and Bonfire bakes, and I was immediately determined to try out the Spiderweb Cheesecake.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 18

It's a short post this week as for once I really don't have much to say.

Manicure Monday: Cinéma

There's something about having gleaming red nails that makes me feel really, really bad ass and a little bit invincible.

The Ciné File Vol. 4

There are more 5* reviews than normal this week, so I've either played it a little safe with my choices or hit the jackpot with what's on offer...

My Harry Potter marathon is now finished; I've seen another surprise film - this time courtesy of Odeon; I've tried Terrence Malick again but with little success; and I ended my week on an absolute high with an advance screening of Testament of Youth, a film that's been on my calendar since the January release date was announced.

All in all, a good week for film!

Transformation Tuesday: Week 17

This has been the weirdest week, where my head has been well and truly in the game but simultaneously miles away from the action. I've experienced such dizzying heights of positivity that I've felt I could conquer my deepest, darkest fears and produce the brightest Patronus; and in a split second I've flipped, succumbing to every single negative thought in my head.

The scales have reflected this lack of focus with a poor result, but I'm not really bothered: I'm more fixated on the fact that this week has rocked my confidence and crushed my willpower. I want to keep going more than anything, but I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment. Getting past it is more than doable but my confidence in my ability to succeed is not at all what it was last week.

That'll teach me to prematurely write a post preaching positivity - deep down I knew it was too good to be true!

Manicure Monday: Sirop de Rose

One of the first things I saw this morning when checking my Twitter feed was the sad news that actress and television presenter Lynda Bellingham had lost her fight with cancer and passed away on Sunday. I've seen a lot of her on television and in magazines over the last month as she promoted her new book and spoke of her incredibly brave decision to stop chemotherapy for colon cancer and let nature take its course. She'd been battling the disease since July 2013, and she had decided to end treatment to ease her family's suffering after discovering it had spread to her lungs and liver. Bellingham had hoped to make it to Christmas, but sadly this was not to be.

Friday evening saw Channel 4 host the monumentally successful Stand Up To Cancer live televised event that to date has raised over £14.5 million.

The fight to beat cancer is well and truly underway, but how does this related to Manicure Monday? As October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, pink on my nails and a charity donation seemed only appropriate!

The Ciné File Vol. 3

This has been the best film week I've had in a long time.

Looking over what I've seen it's been a mixed bunch that really highlights how varied and weird my taste in films is - as I've said before the only thing my choices and favourites have in common is that they have very little in common at all!

For me, the films I've seen this week are the type that have made me fall head over heels in love with cinema all over again.

Technical Thursday: Back to Basics & GBBO Giveaway

I can't believe this series of the Great British Bake Off is over.

It seems like just yesterday we were watching the contestants discover for the first time that crying over cake isn't that weird in the GBBO tent, and a Mel & Sue sandwich really can heal all pain. It's been an educational series: we've learnt that using shop bought fondant is an unforgivable sin; Baked Alaska should have stayed in the 1970s; and icing sugar can cover a multitude of sins (or the entire bake à la Norman).

Although I'm not thrilled with the result - I was routing for Richard for weeks! - I loved the final. From the Signature Bakes of two types of Viennoiserie to the stunning Showstoppers in the form of intricate and beautiful pièce montées the bakers were really put through their paces.

Theoretically, the Technical Challenge was the easiest yet in a return to the absolute basics with 12 mini Victoria Sponges, 12 mini tartes au citron and 12 scones. However, the 2 hours in which the bakers were allocated made the whole thing a fiendishly difficult task.

Transformation Tuesday: Week 16

Aaaaaand I'm back on track.

Manicure Monday: Figue

I have a new obsession.

Oh hello, Soigné.

The Ciné File Vol. 2

It doesn't matter how busy I am, I'll always make time for a film.

Although I haven't been to the cinema half as much as I'd have liked to this week - the list of new releases I want to see is longer than my arm at the moment - I've still fit in more films than I expected to this week. There have been quite a few on the television that I'm glad I managed to catch, and I've carried on my Harry Potter marathon while doing a lot of baking this week too.

Just because I can't make it to the cinema much doesn't mean I'll let my film watching slip!

Edge of Tomorrow

When I'm stuck for something to do I go to the cinema.

This summer Edge of Tomorrow was my go-to film. After seeing it for the first time and absolutely loving it, it became the film I'd go and see when there was nothing else on or I wasn't in the mood to take a risk with something new. I eventually saw it three times - all in IMAX - and each time was better than the last.

Edge of Tomorrow is released on DVD in the UK on Monday (13th October 2014), and I - for one - cannot wait to finally get my hands on it!

Technical Thursday: Mary's Cherry Cake

This is the Technical Challenge that got away.

I only decided to start attempting each week's challenge on The Great British Bake Off in the second week - with Mary's Florentines - so I missed making the first one to face the bakers. 

As I've been in London today and unable to make the three part epic multi-tasking challenge from last night's final, I'm instead posting the recipe for Mary Berry's Cherry Cake from Week 1. Next week I'll post my attempt at the final Technical Thursday challenge and reveal details of I have planned next...

Transformation Tuesday: Week 15

Yesterday afternoon in the throes of a downward spiral of negativity I wrote out a draft of this blog post.

As I furiously typed an unpunctuated - and upon reflection - rather incoherent couple of paragraphs, I gave in to that annoying thought that always rests at the back of my mind that this just isn't worth it.

Plateauing is a million times worse than a tiny loss, particularly when everything's going to plan and you've jumped through all the hoops you were supposed to.

With the benefit of hindsight I should have waited till the evening and after my weigh in before evaluating the week and starting the process of harsh self-criticism, as the scales this week rendered the majority of the post I'd written in haste obsolete.

Manicure Monday: Naked Nails

I'm having a break from painting my nails this week.

For some reason, the nail polishes I've used over the last fortnight (Graphic Berry from Dior and The ELLE Grey from Mavala) have left my nails a little stained despite using a base coat, so I'm taking this week off to try and restore them back to tip-top condition.

As such, although I'm not reviewing a polish this week I thought I'd share the products I use to help keep my hands and nails nourished and healthy.

The Ciné File Vol. 1

While doing research for my dissertation I spent hours buried in the BFI's Reuben Library, sorting through dozens of reels of microfilm and reading quite literally hundreds of film magazines published during the First World War. Although my focus primarily rested with the 1916 documentary The Battle of the Somme, in order to provide a context to my research I also devoted a large portion of my time to the development of film and cinema in Britain after the turn of the century.

Inevitably I read so much over the year that it's difficult to remember the tiny intricate details I so relished at the time, but a quote that's really stuck with me is this one from the September 14th 1916 edition of the Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly. Following a wave of cinematic enthusiasm due to the release of The Battle of the Somme - which was watched by around 20 million British people in the first 6 weeks of its release - those critical of the film industry at The Times finally reconsidered their harsh opinions of the medium, conceding:

"...film can stir us all to the depths of our being, so it can make us laugh till we ache, thrill us with excitement, or melt us with purifying sadness."

As far as I'm concerned, this assessment of film still holds true today, nearly a century after it was written.

It's hopefully already abundantly clear: I love film, and am very unapologetic about it.

Banana and Peanut Muffins

Bananas are one of my favourite foods.

My only problem with them is that I'm always overly ambitious with how many I buy. As such, I always have too many of them and inevitably there are a couple left in the bunch that go overly ripe before I have a chance to eat them. I'm pretty reluctant to throw them away, and given how much I love to bake the logical thing to do is to use them in a recipe.

It turns out the same thing happens to my parents, so when I saw two bananas on the verge of being thrown out sat in the fruit bowl I knew there was only one option.

Technical Thursday: Paul's Schichttorte

I can't believe I'm saying this at this stage of GBBO (the Semi Final!) but this was the easiest challenge so far.

To be perfectly honest it didn't feel like much of a challenge at all - very un-Emma to admit - it was more a faff with an insane amount of eggs, lots of mental arithmetic and a seriously ridiculous method involving grilled layers of cake.

It was completely bizarre but one of the most doable challenges of the series. I was definitely not expecting something like this the week before the final!