Amethyst beaded necklace

Amethyst Necklace with a twist. A spiral rope necklace in fact.

I have some beautiful large silverlined glass beads. They are lentil shaped which means that they are discs with a dome shape in the middle. I also have the Silver Colour Scarf Tube Pendant x 2, which I used to hang the pendant.

Now, I'm not pretending that this was quick to make as it was not. The rope will take a couple of evenings but, when that's done, the rest is a breeze and the effect is stunning.

If you are interested I can make up a kit for you at the cost of £10. This will include everything except the fireline and needle.

Book Review: How to Lose Weight Well

Book Review: How to Lose Weight Well

Some of you that follow this blog will know that from time to time I review a book. Today's victim is

How to Lose Weight Well by Xand van Tulleken


You may well have seen the highly amusing television programme that was broadcast last month. Just about everyone lost weight on the variety of diets that they tried. This book is not about that, it is about the diet that Van Tulleken has devised with the help of a nutritionalist.

The preamble to the book is well written and it is easy to understand his reasoning behind weight loss and his own battle with being over weight.

The recipes that he publishes in his book are interesting and tasty with a big emphasis on vegetables. This is perfect for me as I tend to eat more veg than fruit. So far so good.

What I didn't like so much was the choice of three diet plans that are on offer in the book. Basically it is the same amount of food split between the three main meals of the day. You  either eat three meals, two meals or one meal. The amount of food doesn't change just the portions at each meal time. 

If you want a diet that will see you dropping fat at a fast rate then this is perfect for you. I only want to lose three kilograms so I can't say that it is for me. I will use some of the recipes though. The aubergine recipe is fantastic.

Make your own non dissolving dusting sugar

So you want to dust a cake with icing sugar. You do so, and much to your disappointment within an hour or so, sometimes even less the sugar dissolves and that beautiful finish has disappeared. Why doesn't this happen to the same cakes that are on display in the local bakery? 

This is an easy question to answer. In the bakeries they don't use icing sugar. What they use looks like icing sugar but it's a mixture of dextrose, cornflour, vegetable oil and flavourings. The important thing to know about it is that it is non-hydrating.

How does this happen? Here's the science for you. 

The sugar particles are coated in the vegetable oil so the moisture can't get at them. It's as simple as that. The use of dextrose instead of sucrose also helps as it is a finer and less sweet sugar. That's why those sugar coated doughnuts don't taste overly sweet.

Now we reach the second problem. This dusting sugar is not widely available in the UK. It can be bought from bakery supplies if they will sell it to you but it comes in 12.5kg bags. Far too much for the home baker to use. 

So what is there to do? 

The solution is fairly simple. Instead of using the above list of ingredients you can coat the sugar in melted cocoa butter. To give the sugar a delicate flavour of vanilla use some vanilla extract in the melted cocoa butter. 

You will need a food processor to make the dusting sugar, but at a push you could do it with your finger tips. It is less messy and more efficient in the food processor.

To make your dusting sugar:

10g cocoa butter, melted. 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g dextrose
50g icing sugar

If you don't have dextrose and it is fairly easy to get from Amazon. See this link then you can use all icing sugar. It will be sweet.

  

Melt the cocoa butter. I did this by putting the cocoa butter in a small bowl and placing it in a larger dish that contained boiling water. it didn't seem to like the microwave method of melting chocolate. It will only  take a couple of minuted to melt. Add the vanilla to the melted butter.

Put the dextrose and sugar mixture into the bowl of the food processor and switch on. Pour the cocoa butter in through the feeding tube. It will mix into the sugar. If any of the butter collects on the base of the bowl then give it a stir and pulse again. Repeat this until all of the cocoa butter has been absorbed. It will not be pure white as the vanilla will colour it slightly. You won't notice this when it's on the cake.

Your dusting sugar is now ready. Store in an air tight jar until ready to use.