Chicken Shop Shakespeare Presents 60 Second Shakespeare

As some of you may know I often like to find myself new and exciting things to do. This may include going to food, literary or historical festivals, dressing up like a Tudor or even walking up and down Southwark bridge wearing a herb hat. Here's some picture evidence if you don't believe me

You will often find me trawling through 'what's on' pages trying to find my next adventure - yesterday for example I took my mother to Yarndale a wool and knitting fair in Skipton- so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across this little gem happening on the 25th October

Chicken Shop Shakespeare has an innovative and creative way of introducing the work of the literary bard to a new audience in unexpected places and original ways. By making the work of Shakespeare more accessible they are able to offer a new spin on the classic plays and sonnets 

The 60 seconds of Shakespeare competition will challenge fifteen actors to take the companies 'flash-mob formula' of performing to capture their very own '60 Seconds of Shakespeare'. We will then be able to see the final films showcased and judged at the Hyde Park Picture House.

You can find Chicken Shop Shakespeare on YouTube here

And tickets can be found here

See you there

The piñata cake

For a Mexican themed party it would be silly to having anything less than piñata style cake. For this cake you will need:

Stage 1

Firstly bake two Victoria sponge cakes. Cut these in half so that you now have four halves.I baked mine a few days before construction as the finished cake will have a lot of moisture I wanted the sponges to have dried out a little

Stage 2

Measure the diameter of the cakes. Mine is 21cm and therefore I deduced that I should make a hole in the middle of the cake that measures about 11cm. I worked this out by measuring five centimetres away from the sides of the cake as although I wanted to create a large hole in the middle in which to fill with sweets I still want the cake to remain stable and not fall to pieces. If however the cake does split (like mine) don't worry as there will be lots of jam and cream to patch it up.

Using a compass draw a circle and cut it out.  You can now use this as a template  to cut out the middle of the second and third halves. If like me you can't find a compass try using a round object with a similar diameter to the hole you want to cut out.

Place all the sweets in a bowl and give them a good mix. I am doing this because I want to sweets to be randomised when I place them in the cake instead of having distinct layers of skittles, haribo and maoam.

Whip the cream and now the real construction starts.

Place the first layer on the cake stand and spread liberally with jam and cream before layering the first holey layer on top. Continue this process but only spread jam and cream on the cake leaving a hole in the middle.

Once the third layer is in place add 3/4 of the sweets. You want to make sure that the swets are not only evenly spread but also fill every nook and cranny as when the cake is cut the sweets will come bursting out.

The final layer of cake (without a hole) acts as a kind of lid encasing all the sweets inside. Spread the top with more jam and cream et voila stage 2 is complete. 

Stage 3

Make the butter icing. I am adding red food colouring to mine as I want it to be slightly pink. Cover the cake in icing including the sides as well as the top and decorate with the remainder of the sweets. My sister and her best friened  joined me in this as they clearly do not trust my decorating skills.