Farewell, Clara Oswald

Doctor Who Themed Cupcakes

Excuse the buttercream, I feel I had to open with that because the buttercream went considerably wrong, it still tastes good though and the colour is rather fun. Basically, THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF IS BACK WAHEYYY. I thought, being a fan of both Doctor Who and The Great British Bake Off, I'd connect the two and make some time vortex themed cupcakes, below I will include the recipe as well as 5 easy steps. Enjoy my bizarre attempt at geek baking.

Ingredients

• Caster sugar 55g
• Icing sugar 55g
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60ml water
• Baking powder
• Food colour gel paste
• 55g softened butter x2
• Food colouring
• Edible glitter
• 55g plain flour
• 1 medium sized egg
• Edible gold stars
• 6 cupcake cases
• Pinch of salt

Cupcake recipe

• Preheat the oven to 180°/350F/Gas 4
• Place your 6 cupcake cases in the muffin tray
• Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and  beat until it's pale 
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl, then beat the eggs and vanilla until it's all combined. Add the food colouring and gel paste to create the time vortex look, and then spoon into the 6 cupcake cases. 
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until the outside has risen and is firm, but also golden on the outside. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then transfer the 6 cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool more. 

Buttercream recipe

• Beat 55g butter until soft, then beat in 55g icing sugar in, a tablespoon at a time. Add the coloured gel paste used in the mix for the darker tones and mix until it's an appropriate consistency and the fitting colour, depending on the colour theme you have chosen.
• Pipe onto the cupcakes once they are cooled, and sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the buttercream in a circular rotation to add bright spirals around the buttercream. Add a small pinch of the glitter to the very top of the buttercream, creating a shiny point at the top.
• Take a few of the edible stars and sprinkle them onto the cupcake, following the glittered spirals. Take some more of the edible stars and place them randomly and loosely in small clusters. 
• EAT

1. Get your ingredients ready

2. Mix that 'ish

Basically, yeah. Mix it all up. Add a tiny bit of vanilla essence for flavour. 

3. Colour it up

Use one food colouring AND gel for two different consistencies, the gel should be used for the darker effect, the food colouring used for the lighter effect. Don't mix it fully, leave it to a loose mix to create streaks within the mix, this will create the time vortex look in the bake. Here I used green for lighter and navy blue for darker, use any colour combination to create a time vortex/space effect inside the cake as seen below, I would also recommend yellow/red, pink/purple, red/blue.

4. Conjure up the buttercream

5. Decorate the cakes

I initially used gold edible glitter, however the consistency was too heavy and the colour wasn't fitting, so I used silver/white edible glitter instead and 'sprinkled' it over the cupcake, adding edible gold stars on. On reflection, I wish the buttercream were much darker and a thicker consistency in order to really enhance the whole 'space' feel to it.

I'm sure these are cakes the Twelfth Doctor and Clara would happily eat (and maybe spit out). I'm not too sure about Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood though. 

Check out my good friend Sparkleeyes101's bake for GBBO here, which are considerably better than my failed attempt!

That's all for now...
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

P.S. Make sure to check back on the 22nd for my Marvel Phase 4 Predictions. What happens after the Infinity War and we're introduced to the Inhumans? Which superheroes do I predict will debut, get their sequels, and what will be the big Avengers story of the MCU's Phase Four?

POTENTIAL DOCTOR WHO COMPANIONS

It's pretty obvious that Jenna Coleman is going to be leaving Doctor Who at the end of the ninth series, which is very sad #teamclara These 10 actors and actresses I have below are ones I could definitely see being The Doctor's companion. Heck, they could even play The Doctor, they're that good.

1. Laura Aikman

2. Georgina Leonidas 

3. Sophie McShera

4. Tom Rosenthal 

5. Charlotte Ritchie

6. Hannah Murray

7. Hannah Tointon

8. Jack Gleeson

9. Evanna Lynch

10. Matthew Lewis

Honorary Mentions

Lacey Turner

Shona McGarty

Alfie Enoch

Ed Speelers

Chris Ramsey

Joe Thomas

That's all

Bye for now

Geek Culture and Me

Curtis 

ACTRESSES I WANT TO SEE PLAY SUPER-HEROINES

With a huge amount of female superheroes in Marvel/DC comics, I'm going to be exploring actresses who have the acting ability and suitability to play a super-heroine. Considering this, we should probably remember the lack of female heroes represented in superhero films, even with characters such as Black Widow, Gamora, Storm, Kitty Pride and soon-to-be Scarlet Witch, Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel... so who do I think could play characters such as She-Hulk, Spider Woman, Captain Marvel and Mantis. Likewise with my 'actors I want to see play superheroes', I won't go into specific characters, but focus on who I'd simply like to see play a super-heroine.

1. Charlize Theron 

2. Amanda Seyfried

3. Jenna Coleman

4. Kat Dennings

5. Mila Kunis

6. Lupita Nyong'o

7. Rachel Weisz 

7. Zooey Deschanel 

8. Natalie Dormer

9. Anna Camp

10. Anna Kendrick

Honorary Mentions

Sarah Hyland

Billie Piper

Georgina Leonidas

Hannah Simone

Kaley Cuoco

That's all.

Bye for now.

Geek Culture and Me

Curtis

"I lift your name higher and higher"

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

*goes off singing Sound of Music*

HELLO THERE! Hola, Bonjour, hello in all the languages.

In this post I'll be talking about some of my favourite things. Hurrah!

Excuse the awkwardness. 

I've got some of my favourites on the About Me page (check it out), but they're a bit exhaustive and long, so I thought I'd write about my favourites on a post with some extras as well. 

1. Favourite TV Show

It has to be Doctor Who, I mean, how brilliant is the show? 51 years of pure gold. I can't contain my excitement. My general excitement. I just love that show. 

"But it's just a kid's show!" 

No no no no no, it's not. It's not just a programme for children, it's a universal programme targeted for all ages. Do you really think they would kill off companions and have terrifying aliens like the Weeping Angels if it was merely a children's show. Nope. You go Doctor Who, you go do your thing. I JUST REALLY LOVE DOCTOR WHO. But what is it about Doctor Who? It's the story, a time lord that saves planets for no reason but because he wants to, companions that remind you that everybody is important, even if they don't believe it (Donna Noble, Rose Tyler). The fairytale entwined in a sci-fi show, what's not to love?

Favourite Doctor: Matt Smith (followed by Peter Davison)

Favourite Companion: Clara Oswald (followed by Jo Grant and Martha Jones)

p.s. I'm still mourning the loss of Osgood, 11th Doctor and Amy and Rory

2. Favourite Film

The Hours, featuring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, and Julianne Moore. The stories of Virginia Woolf (also my favourite author), Laura Brown and Clarissa Vaughan play throughout the film, and come together in a beautiful and moving way towards the end of the film, it's kind of like Love Actually, but better and more intense. Here's the trailer: 

3. Favourite Superheroes

So many to choose from! For me, it's The Flash which is ironic because any form of physical activity (running) is something I tend to stay away from, although I am quite fond of going on night time walks. The Flash is closely followed by Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Captain America, Spiderman and Scarlet Witch. All of which are set to appear on screen in the next couple of years *fanboy overload*. 

4. Favourite Supervillains

HARLEY QUINN HARLEY QUINN HARLEY QUINN NEBULA HARLEY QUINN THANOS HARLEY QUINN LOKI POISON IVY HARLEY QUINN HAIL HYDRA

5. Favourite Hero

This category is a bit loose, with some 'agents' from Marvel, as well as other forms of media. My favourite hero is probably Black Widow, the only reason I didn't put her in 'favourite superhero' is because I don't really see her as a superhero. I also love James Bond, Katniss Everdeen, Finnick Odair, Hermione and Ron, Hans Solo, Hawkeye, and John McClane. 

6. Favourite Musician

Lorde. Florence + the Machine. Bombay Bicycle Club. HAIM. Foals. Marina and the Diamonds. Lana Del Rey. Josh Record. Ellie Goulding. Fall Out Boy. Hillsong Young & Free (and Hillsong United). Hurts. The Killers. London Grammar. Smallpools. The Royal Concept. Saint Raymond.

BUT

LORDE LORDE LORDE LORDE LORDE. Here's my favourite Lorde song. 

7. Favourite Musical

I'm a self confessed musical fanboy. I accept that. My favourite has to be Les Misérables, followed by Rent, The Lion King, and Wicked. I know all the words to Les Mis, and I often find myself humming along to One Day More or Do You Hear the People Sing, daily. If anything happens at sixth form that isn't good, or is a disadvantage for the students, I'm usually the first to suggest we march through the building singing Do You Hear the People Sing. I have no shame. My school performed it when I was in Year 7 and I had a 2 line solo, I'm basically a professional.

(they lowered my mic so I lost my solo as everyone sang over it, so I only really had a microphone)

8. Favourite Song
Surprisingly, it's not a Lorde song. It's a HAIM song, Let Me Go. The live performances of this song complete my life, no really, they do. Danielle, Alana and Este are brilliant, just brilliant. Some of my other favourite songs are Florence + the Machine's Never Let Me Go, Philip Philips' Gone Gone Gone, Lykke Li's No Rest For The Wicked, The Killers' The Way It Was, Bombay Bicycle Club's Carry Me and Ellie Goulding's Explosions.

My favourite colour - Blue 

My favourite season - Winter

My favourite actor - Matt Smith

My favourite actress - Meryl Streep

My favourite comedians - Jon Richardson, Sarah Millican, and Jimmy Carr.

My favourite cartoon - Adventure Time/Spongebob

That's all.

Bye for now!

Geek Culture and Me

Curtis