Calves and cake

Sooo... I got an injury.

What is so wrong with me that I get injuries so often? I stretch after every run, I wear proper shoes, I exercise regularly... I don't know what it is.

Last Monday I played Netball, no big deal. The next morning I did some interval training for a short 3km, did some lunges down my driveway and afterwards my calf muscle was a bit tight, so I stretched it. By Tuesday evening I was limping, and by Wednesday morning I could barely walk on it. Thursday and Friday were the same, and only now, Sunday, has it come right.

So that's ruled out any running, walking or leg strengthening this week. Which is unfortunate, as it was my BF's birthday yesterday and we ate like there was no tomorrow. I even made the cake of all cakes: a white chocolate mud cake cheesecake with the most amazing cream ever.

 Looks pretty good, if I may say so myself, and tasted even better. Om nom nom.

He couldn't choose between white choc mud cake and New York cheesecake, so as it was his 25th, I went all out and made both and made them into a two tier cake, which I then covered with cream. This last part may be guilding the lily, but part of the top of the cheesecake stuck to the tin, so I had to cover up a gaping whole. And while I love the look of 'naked' cakes, my one looked just a little bit too natural. So, on went the cream.

And it was divine.

Can you see how dense the cake on the bottom is? It is delicious, and has a block and a half of Cadbury Dream chocolate in it, plus butter, plus sugar, and the cheesecake has TWO blocks of cream cheese and half a cup of cream. Then we had burritos for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, so today I am definitely looking up calf-free strength training videos online so I've done at least something to work off this heart-attack-in-a-cake!

If you are curious, I got the recipe for the mud cake here, although I left out the glaze, and the recipe for the cheesecake I took out of my Alice in Bakingland cookbook, which thank goodness I allowed my mum to treat me to, because a) it is BEAUTIFUL, and b) no where else could I find a recipe for cheesecake that was in NZ measurements that I could trust that didn't require a crust. It ended up a weeee bit sweet, so next time I might add some lemon rind, but otherwise the texture was amazingly soft and fluffy, just like a baked cheesecake should be.

The cream I made up. Not wanting anything too sweet, and being slightly low on cream, I needed to somehow bulk up my mixture. I quickly googled cream with sour cream to check it was a real 'thing' and not a huge mistake, and then went by taste. Eventually I think I had the best cream I have ever had, or at least a tye for first with the brandy cream my mum makes at Christmas.

Here's the recipe if you are curious!

3/4 cup of cream (not the low-fat stuff, because otherwise it won't whip up)
1/4 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup of icing sugar, also known as confectioner's sugar.

Whip that with your mixer or whisk. Then eat some with a spoon just to check it tastes ok ;)