One week in

So far, the resolutions are still firmly in place. Or at least, if not firmly in place, not quite broken yet.

There was a moment on Friday evening when red wine nearly won the battle against diet coke. There was another close call on Saturday in Waitrose, when wine needed for cooking (that's allowed!) nearly turned into buy-a-full-bottle-and-drink-the-rest. Sparkling grape juice just about came out on top. Did I feel virtuous afterwards? Not really - not after looking at the calorie content of a drink that's basically just sugar. Oh well.

The intermittent fasting diet has been going well too; unlike many others following the diet, I've adopted a strategy of not eating during the day so that I can have a normal(ish) dinner. The first time was very hard; the second time, not so bad (although I was asleep for most of the day), and the third time (today), it was almost easy! Although having a manic day at work might have had something to do with that.

However, having seen the 5:2 diet recipes on blogs such as London Unattached, I'm tempted to have a go at cooking something low calorie. This in particular looks very good. I suppose when you make the effort, cooking something low calorie isn't too difficult - just don't put great big chunks of butter in the pan you're cooking in and stick to white meat and vegetables. Hopefully I'll have some recipes to share with you soon.

In the meantime, these chocolate mousse pots have been my diet saviour:

Quite simply, they are amazing. 60 kcal a pot, good chocolate taste, nice texture. Yes, I'm sure they're loaded with artificial sugars and other bad guys. But as an occasional (every fast day...) treat they're pretty ideal. I did try having a square of dark chocolate, but that made me crave more. At least with this, I can convince myself there's a reasonable amount of food.

Anyway, I am off to sleep now to dream of all the wonderful normal foods I can eat tomorrow, starting with Magical Breakfast Cream...

The Great British Bake Off

I have some good advice for the workplace. Do not bake a cake to bring into work. Your colleagues will then expect you to do this on a regular basis. You might find yourself being made the 'designated baker'. You might even find that you are entered into a baking competition without your knowledge.

I have the dubious pleasure of representing my project team in the client's version of "The Great British Bake Off". I have been told to bring the biggest, fanciest, best cake I possibly can. After much deliberation, I settled for the Konditor and Cook "Curly Whirly" cake, which I made earlier in the year for a friend's birthday.

Unfortunately, it has just dawned on me that due to the cream cheese frosting, this is a cake that needs refrigerating. I need to get the cake to Glasgow on Monday morning, via a BA flight. Hmmm, possibly not the best choice of cake although a bit late now as I've already made it! I do feel that this competition is not on level pegging, given my offering has to travel 500 miles and hopefully come out the other side intact. The airport security people at London City had better be gentle with this!

The actual recipe is here. It's a little bit more complicated than my usual attitude of "stick everything in a bowl and whisk it", but don't let the steps put you off as it's actually quite easy. I won't repeat the recipe here but show some pictures instead:

Ingredients all lined up

Mixture before the melted chocolate, sugar and milk is added

Mixture afterwards - the batter is very runny, but it's supposed to be like that

Cake just after baking. I found they needed closer to 30 - 35 minutes

The iced cake

Finished cake, complete with swirls and "Deloitte" on top

"Posh" Marble Cake

Also known as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" cake.

I made this cake earlier today for a colleague's birthday after seeing the recipe in the Times Saturday magazine. It's a recipe from Lorraine Pascale, one of my favourite 'celebrity' chefs. Lorraine used to be a model and was the first black British model to grace the cover of American Elle. After modelling, she tried a number of new careers including as a car mechanic, before professionally training as a chef. She now runs a cake shop, the Cupcake Bakehouse, as well as presenting a series on BBC.

Anyway, on with the recipe.. (slightly adapted from the Times)