all the cream cheese icing

Cream cheese icing appeared to be a running theme when I looked through last year's baking photos on my phone. All of these bakes have been blogged previously in some form but I felt they were worth mentioning again since they're all good recipes.

First up, ALL THE CARROT CAKES.

I made this particular carrot cake *a lot* last year (also, sneaky peek at my pretty baking area in the kitchen complete with splashback tiles.) I'm aware I need to update the recipe link as I've made revisions to the original recipe. I'll get around to it some time as I'm guaranteed to bake this again.

Mum's birthday cake. I think I used the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery's first Cookbook, although the obvious difference is that I've only baked two layers instead of three. I'm guessing I divided the mixture between two 8" round tins to create deeper layers and left them in the oven longer to bake although I have no notes to confirm this, sorry.

My brother's birthday carrot cake bundt. I love how jazzy this looks with all the walnuts, sprinkles and candles. This is the same recipe as above but baked as one giant bundt. I've made this cake previously, both as a triple layer cake and a bundt. Either way, it's awesome. This recipe works so well as a big bundt and is a lot less faff to make than assembling and decorating layer cakes. Bear in mind it needs longer to bake in the oven (1 hour) since it is one big cake instead of 3 thinner layers.

Apple and walnut cupcakes, recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book. I was clearly on a Hummingbird bender last year. I fancied revisiting this recipe as I hadn't made it for years (first blogged here.) It makes such soft, juicy cupcakes. They didn't hang around for very long.

Hummingbird cake (spiced banana and pineapple cake for those not familiar with it.) Surprise surprise, another Hummingbird Bakery triple layer cake baked as one big bundt. I've also made it as a layer cake before. This was baked for my parents' wedding anniversary so I made it look prettier by piping rose swirls all around the cake. Cream cheese icing isn't ideal for this since it tends to be soft, but it still worked ok... providing you don't look at the cake too closely.

Bonus photo where you get to see a glimpse of my garden. It's mostly full of weeds but look at my beautiful blue fence!

I'm always on the lookout for fun ways to use or pimp up cream cheese icing. My favourite flavour additions are vanilla extract or cinnamon although honey and lemon is also lovely. I think I've even added fruity curds to it before. I've bookmarked a recipe somewhere which involves browning the butter before adding it to the icing. I've used browned previously in baking (these blondies in particular were awesome) so I think this would be worth trying out. Perhaps on a banana bread.

What's your favourite cream cheese icing or way to use it?

festive bakes

It's that time of year again... when I become so disorganised that I lump all of my festive baking into one blog post on Christmas Eve. YAY!

Personally, I find it just isn't Christmas without gingerbread boobie angels and saucy santas. This year I made sure I scheduled in the time to make them as I didn't manage to make any last year and it just felt plain wrong. Their little faces fill me with so much joy! I baked a batch of these to take in to my local music group's Christmas party and they went down an absolute storm.

I also baked a batch of mankini-clad gingerbread men and some questionably styled Tory hipster gentlemen as part of an in joke for some friends. This is probably the height of my piping decoration skills.

The amount of sugar and butter I've gone through in the last couple of weeks is obscene! I can't remember how many bags of sugar were emptied for all the tablet I made but I definitely used up at least 6 packs of butter for shortbread. I have a large extended family so large quantities of foodie presents are needed to take around when visiting relatives over the festive period.

It's always worth the mammoth effort though as I love seeing everything all packaged up with my childish funky handmade labels.

As I had leftover cranberries from my cranberry orange muffins I decided to try the cranberry, apple and cinnamon cake from Hannah's blog, Honey & Dough. I more or less followed the recipe, substituting caster sugar for soft light brown sugar, a cooking apple instead of a granny smith, and added 1/2tsp of vanilla bean paste to the batter. I also mixed some whole cranberries into the batter as well as scattering on top. My cake took twice the length of time to bake, probably due to the amount of fruit I put in, about an hour.

I baked this as a pudding to take to a friend's house last weekend and it was so well received that my friend asked for the recipe and she bought the ingredients the following day so she could make one. Then I decided to bake another too! Needless to say, it's a very tasty cake.

And finally, I baked a couple of ginger syrup bundts. They're full of flavour, keep pretty well and the recipe is nice and simple... unless you're baking whilst really tired and forget to add an ingredient. Yup, I forgot to add baking powder to one of them. Oops! So I got to keep a flatter bundt for myself.

I've been meaning to make mincemeat pies as well but I think I've reached my limit. After baking most evenings for the last two weeks I must admit to feeling rather pooped. You never know though, I might muster up some energy to make some closer to new year.

But for now I'm probably going to put my feet up, drink a lot of tea and wish everybody a very merry Christmas!

Trying to photograph the tree? Ok, I'll sit here then.
Cheers, Bob.

chocolate chip banana and chocolate marble bundt

Another one of my "what will I do with those rotting bananas?" bakes. This time I had 4 bananas so I decided to bring out the big bundt pan.

I was originally just going to bake Dollybake's chocolate chip banana bundt which I almost baked successfully last year but I was struck with the idea of a chocolate and banana marble cake so I adapted the recipe to suit.

The resulting cake is dense. I'm not entirely sure if that's a bad thing as banana cakes generally have a heavier crumb anyway. This bundt is packed with banana and chocolate flavour and the chocolate chips and thick sugar crust provide a good texture contrast. Perhaps 4 large bananas is a bit overkill and 3 would have done fine, or I shouldn't have added so much milk when I incorporated the cocoa powder.

It's not a huge deal though as my Mum and I managed to eat about half of the cake by ourselves within 24 hours. Greedy? No..... *cough*

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as I'm going away this weekend for my birthday. Woohoo! See you on the other side :)

Chocolate chip banana and chocolate marble bundt

Recipe adapted from Dollybakes

bundt:

500g self raising flour

300g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

large pinch of salt

200g unsalted butter, melted (and cooled!)

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

4 large brown bananas, mashed

3 tbsp milk mixed with 3 tbsp cocoa powder

100g milk chocolate chips

100g white chocolate chips 

fudgy chocolate icing/drizzle:
(my Granny's recipe)

1.5oz (about 40g) butter or margarine

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk 
4oz (about 100g) icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease your 2.4L/10"/10 cup bundt tin with cake release spray and a light coating of flour. Tap out any excess flour over the sink.

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl. Mix in the melted butter and eggs, followed by the mashed bananas. Divide the mixture in half and add the cocoa powder/milk paste to one half and mix thoroughly. Add milk chocolate chips to the plain batter and white chocolate chips to the chocolate batter and gently fold in. 

Spoon heaps of alternating batter into the bundt tin and swirl a knife through it all to create a marbled effect. Bake in the centre of the oven for 1hr 15 minutes until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

For the fudgy chocolate drizzle, heat up the cocoa powder, milk and butter in a saucepan on the hob. Take it off the heat when the mixture almost comes to a boil and add the icing sugar. Mix until smooth, glossy and slightly thickened and drizzle over the cooled cake.

carrot bundt cake

Another birthday cake! There have been 4 family birthdays in the last few weeks so I have been very busy in the kitchen. This one was for brother number 2 last weekend. He loves carrot cake so his birthday cake choice was a no brainer.

It turns out that Hummingbird Bakery triple layer cake recipes, or certainly the carrot cake one, fill a 10 inch ring/bundt tin perfectly! I decided to revisit this recipe after not feeling fully satisfied with the one I made a couple of weeks ago.

I've come to the conclusion that for topping carrot cakes I like a higher quantity of cream cheese in my cream cheese icing. The Hummingbird Bakery's cream cheese icing has a bit too much icing sugar in it for my carrot cake tastes. A different cream cheese icing on top made the world of difference, to me anyway!

I've also come to the conclusion that I prefer walnuts to pecans in carrot cake (despite liking pecans as a nut more) and I like the cake served as a big slab rather than cut into multiple layers. I think it makes more of the rustic texture. I like being able to see the carrot gratings and big chunks of (wal)nuts. Does that make sense?

Who would have thought I'd become such a fussy bugger with carrot cake. What an odd discovery.

What's your favourite carrot cake recipe? Any other fussy carrot cake eaters out there?

Carrot bundt cake

Cake recipe same as here. 

Changes included using walnuts instead of pecans and a 10 inch/ 25.5cm bundt tin instead of three 8 inch/ 20cm cake tins. Grease the tin thoroughly with cake release spray and a dusting of plain flour. Tip any excess flour out into the sink. Bake at the same temperature but extend the baking time to roughly 1 hour until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire cooling rack.

cream cheese icing:

100g icing sugar (roughly, I ended up adding a bit more)

175g full fat cream cheese

50g softened butter

a few drops of vanilla extract

Put the icing sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a bowl and mix together until smooth. Add more icing sugar if you feel the mixture needs thickening or sweetening. Cover the whole (cooled) cake with the icing and decorate with a dusting of ground cinnamon and extra crushed walnuts.

lemon drizzle poppy seed bundt

At times I think my blog could be renamed What Do You Make Of My Lemon Cake? because I bake them so often. As much as I try to use other flavours, I inevitably return to lemon. It's a firm favourite.

There was a pile of lemons sitting in the fruit bowl last week so I searched the interwebz for baking inspiration and landed on this beautiful bundt recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction. It's packed with lemon flavour and different from my usual lemon cakes in that it also contains poppy seeds and buttermilk.

The buttermilk provides a lovely, creamy balance to the punchy, lemon flavour. I also like that it gives the sponge a soft yet weightier texture, which is perfect for bundt moulds. I should use buttermilk more often.

There were two near disasters with this cake though, the first being the lemon soaking syrup. All the ingredients are weighed using American cup measurements so I got a chance to use my heart shaped cup measures, which are all handily strung together on a loop. Handy for storing, yes, but not so handy when you have just filled 1/2 cup of squeezed lemon juice and the weight of the other of the measures pulls it off the worktop as you pick it up, catapulting lemon juice across your kitchen.

I wasn't best pleased, although it made the kitchen floor smell very fresh.

Luckily I had a spare lemon although I did need to soak up some lemon juice from the floor with a kitchen towel to fill up the cup measure. Before you judge, the floor was clean so I deemed this action acceptable.

Near disaster number two was a pack of writing icing falling out the cupboard and bouncing off the freshly iced cake. Luckily it was a light tube, not a massive bag of flour, so it didn't damage anything. Perhaps I need to clear out that cupboard... 

Other than that, the cake was great. Give the recipe a whirl if you feel like something a little bit fancier than a lemon drizzle loaf. Just don't throw lemon juice around the kitchen like me.

chocolate malt marble bundt

It was my Mum's birthday at the weekend so naturally she deserved a beauty of a cake. I have to admit I think I did pretty well this year.

After seeing a malted chocolate bundt cake on Chocolate Log Blog a few weeks ago I immediately bookmarked it with Mum's birthday in mind. She loves chocolate, Horlicks, maltesers and bundts so it was a match made in heaven.

The only substitutions I made were plain flour instead of half plain/half wholemeal spelt flour and golden syrup instead of mesquite powder. I also veered off track with the icing glaze. I had milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate so I was unsure about using Choclette's method of melted sugar in case it ended up being overly sweet. Instead I followed a similar icing in my Mary Berry book which adds icing sugar at the end, thinking it would be easier to adjust the sweetness. However when I tasted the icing it just tasted really water-y, not particularly appetising. 

At this point I went freestyle and chucked in extra chocolate, butter and icing sugar and sifted in some cocoa powder which boosted the chocolate flavour and deepened the colour. This resulted in a slightly fudgier runny icing, definitely preferable to what I started out with. It looked lovely and glossy poured over the cake too.

I slightly over cooked my bundt at the crust/the top when it's in the oven (9 months later and I still forget this oven cooks things quicker) but the ground almonds and yoghurt in the batter kept the cake moist. As you can see there were satisfying puddles of icing around the edge of cake stand which were perfect for adding to any dry bits. Or just scooping up to eat from a teaspoon!

It's always exciting cutting into a marble cake to reveal what pattern lurk inside. It's such a simple yet striking effect. Chocolate and malt is a winning flavour combination too. The malt flavour definitely comes through in the pale mixture which elevates it beyond your standard chocolate and vanilla marble sponge. I highly recommend this cake if you want something easy and tasty to bake yet stunning to look at. Cheers for the recipe Choclette!

On a side note, are people finding my main text difficult to read at the moment? I've always used Courier as my blog font and have never had any issues with it, but it started looking patchy and faint last week on my laptop. It doesn't look any different on my work desktop computer though. Weird.

festive bakes

Merry Christmas Eve folks! As usual all my festive baking seems to happen in a last minute rush so I thought I'd group them together in one post like I've done in previous years. (You'd think I'd learn to be more organised!)

First off we have the annual batches of Christmas tablet! My mum drinks so much Douwe Egberts coffee that we have a substantial number of their jars by the end of the year and they're the perfect size for storing tablet. Just add some pretty tape, twirly ribbon and a handmade label and you've got yourself a lovely Christmas present.

Next up is a sticky, spiced apple and syrup bundt which I baked using this recipe from Dollybakes. The only change I made was using golden syrup instead of maple syrup for the glaze. I was so happy that this turned out the tin perfectly, I squealed with delight! Cake release spray is a glorious invention.

These cranberry and white chocolate biscuit/cookies are fast becoming an annual Christmas bake for me. Not only is white chocolate and cranberry a winning combination but these biscuits are quick to throw together which is perfect if you're in a hurry.

Sadly I haven't managed to bake my annual perverted gingerbread santas and boobie angels however I have baked these festive gingerbread cupcakes using a recipe I came across on Sally's Baking Addiction. Mine turned out a lot darker as I used half golden syrup half treacle in place of molasses. I also decided to top mine off with a cinnamon and golden syrup cream cheese icing and edible wafer snowflakes. As with most gingerbreads the flavour improved with age. They certainly packed a spiced, treacle-y punch.

For the first time ever I've baked shortbread! It's one of those bakes which my Granny was so good at making that I never felt I needed to bother. However this year Mum and I were really missing her shortbread so we followed Granny's recipe and they taste exactly like hers. We both thought it felt like getting a big hug. It officially feels like Christmas now that we have some Granny shortbread in the tin.

And lastly I made these chocolate brownie trees which I've seen on both Ros and Kate's blogs recently and couldn't resist baking. I wish I had more time to decorate these nicely but they were a last minute festive treat to take to my friends' house.

So that's what I've managed to bake in the run up to Christmas this year - a mixture of old and new recipes. Are you a traditional Christmas baker or do you like to switch things up and try new recipes every year?

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Hope you have a lovely day tomorrow. x

banana, coconut and pineapple bundt

Ah, Monsieur Swirly Bundt-Tin. We meet again....

Except this time I'm armed with cake release spray. In your face previous failed bundt attempts!

Admittedly this bundt is still a bit on the rustic side, but it did come out all in one piece which made me do a little happy dance.

After making banana and coconut muffins a few weeks ago I've had the flavour combination stuck in my mind. I knew I wanted to revisit it and add pineapple to the party. After some online searches I stumbled across this bundt recipe which appealed to me as the dessicated coconut is soaked in milk before adding to the mixture. Other than swapping the milk for coconut milk and adding pineapple chunks I more or less stuck to the recipe.

The recipe made a lot of batter, so much batter that I nearly filled a 2lb loaf tin in addition to the bundt tin. I was worried about the mixture overflowing so I stopped filling an inch or so from the top. The cake didn't rise as much as I expected though, if anything it seemed to sink slightly after coming out the oven, so I probably could have added more mixture to make the finished bundt more impressive in size.

I'm guessing the extra moisture from the pineapple chunks may have contributed to the lack of rise and somewhat soggy/dense/undercooked-looking texture. That or perhaps more bicarbonate of soda/baking powder is needed to give more rise for this size of banana cake. And maybe there's just too much milk in general. I don't know, I'm not good with the science-y aspect of baking so any thoughts are welcome.

Back to the texture, it reminded me of this cake I baked a couple of summers ago which was also packed with liquid/fruit and sank despite being fully cooked. Although this bundt used coconut milk instead of yoghurt, it has a similarly creamy flavour and texture. The cake might look a bit sorry for itself but the flavours are all good.  It would certainly work well as a pudding served with custard. Yes, I still think about comforting, hot custard in July.

Banana, coconut and pineapple bundt

An adapted recipe. It needs more tweaking but this is what I used:

1 1/2 cups of dessicated coconut

300ml coconut milk (for soaking)

185g butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

3 large eggs

150g fresh pineapple chunks, cut small

3 ripe/brown bananas, mashed

160ml milk (as I still had 100ml left from the can of coconut milk I used that with 60ml semi-skimmed milk)

1/2 tsp (at least) of vanilla extract

3 cups of self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180C/170C Fan/Gas 4. Soak the dessicated coconut in 300ml of coconut milk in a bowl for about an hour. Coat the bundt tin in cake release spray and a dusting of flour. Tap out any excess flour into the sink.

Beat together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until pale and fluffy (in a large bowl, as this is a big mixture.) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Mash the 3 bananas and add to the coconut milk mixture along with the pineapple chunks. Mix together then add to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix everything together. Add the flour and milk alternately, mixing well between each addition. Once everything is combined spoon it into the bundt tin. Fill until you're about an inch from the top so you don't run the risk of overflowing. Use the remaining mixture to fill some cupcake/muffin cases or a loaf tin. Bake for about an hour until deep golden, firm to touch and the edges are coming away from the tin.

help please!

Some constructive criticism or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm at the stage where I might start spelling my bundt tin with a "c".

I've produced yet another half-turned-out cake which is becoming increasingly frustrating. I followed the recipe to the letter, and this is described as a good cake for not sticking, but it still stuck. I greased the tin with Wilton cake release oil (along with a coating of flour) which is the same combination I used for my successful lemon, almond and poppyseed bundt. I bought more of this oil as I hadn't used it for my last two (failed) bundts and I assumed that's where I was going wrong.

So......

Should I have left it to cool longer in the tin before turning out?

Should I only grease the tin with the cake release oil? (No coating of flour)

Is cake release spray better than cake release oil? I tried to find some in Lakeland last week but only came across the oil.

Or should I throw the bundt tin out the kitchen window? I'm mighty close to having a Ballistic Bob moment (a nice bit of Scottish TV for you!)

On the upside, despite the ugly appearance this is a very tasty cake: great banana flavour and packed with oozy chunks of milk chocolate. If I could get it to turn out the tin properly I would definitely bake it again.

Yoghurt, lemon and lime bundt

It's a sad evening when only half of your bundt comes out of the tin.

My gut instinct was to leave it in the tin until completely cold, but the recipe said to leave for 15-20 minutes before turning out. Hmmmm.

I assumed I had to turn it out sooner due to the sugar syrup being poured over the top while the cake was still hot. Perhaps the sugar would have stuck to the tin if I left it to cool? Only thing is, the syrup never really soaked in through the sponge, and left the top (or bottom? since it's a bundt) a bit soggy.

Flavour and texture-wise, this is not a bad cake. The yoghurt gives the cake a soft, mooth texture and cool, creamy flavour, and although it is a shame the syrup didn't soak through the whole cake, the (soggy) crust is full of citrus tang.

Personally I like when a cake really packs a citrus punch, so I'm not sure I fully love the yoghurt addition as I feel it almost dulls the lemon/lime flavour. However this really is a personal preference; some may really enjoy the yoghurt addition and it certainly hasn't stopped me from eating a lot of this cake.

Yoghurt, lemon and lime bundt cake
Recipe from Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook by Lynn Hill

375g self-raising flour
500g caster sugar
grated zest of 2 lemons
grated zest of 1 lime
250ml natural yoghurt
250ml sunflower oil
2 large eggs

syrup:
juice of 2 lemons
juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5 (I must admit I thought that sounded to high a heat for a large bundt and actually turned it down to Gas 4.) Thoroughly grease and flour a 2.5-3 litre bundt tin, tapping out any excess flour over the sink.

Sift together the flour, sugar and citrus zests in one bowl. In a different bowl beat together the yoghurt, oil and eggs before adding to the other bowl and mixing everything together. Spoon the mixture into your bundt tin, spreading it out evenly, then bake in the centre of the oven for 45-50 minutes (although mine took an extra 15-20 minutes, probably because I had it baking at a lower temperature) until well risen, golden and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

To make the syrup, put the lemon and lime juice into a small saucepan along with the sugar. Stir together over a medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. The recipe states to spoon the syrup over the cake when the cake is fresh out of the oven, leaving it to soak into the cake between additions and to remove from the tin after 15-20 minutes. However I would perhaps only pour half of the syrup over the cake whilst hot, wait half an hour or so until the cake is warm to turn it out and brush the remaining syrup over the cake so that it gets an even coating/soaking.

Lemon, almond and poppy seed bundt

After the indulgence of Christmas and New Year, I thought I'd bake my cousin a fresh, citrussy bake for her birthday. It also meant I got to try out the pretty bundt tin and a recipe from the Peggy Porschen book I received for Christmas.

The cake came out the tin beautifully although I almost spoiled the sculptural shape with my icing which was on the thick side. I'm going to blame the fact I've never melted fondant icing before and wasn't entirely sure about the consistency. However most of it smoothed over with a palette knife dipped in boiled water. While everybody marvelled at the fanciness of the cake's shape I admired my aunty's blue and white china.

The poppy seeds looked really pretty inside the cake and added a bit of texture. I also liked the super sweetness of the fondant glaze against the almondy, lemon flavour of the cake. Something a bit different to the traditional lemon drizzle.

Despite my lumpy icing, this was a relatively straightforward cake to make. The most effort involved was thoroughly greasing and flouring the bundt tin. I googled to see if anyone else had baked this cake to save me typing out the recipe (lazy? Most definitely!) and someone has! Here's the link.

I almost want to cry with envy at the baking, styling and photography in Peggy's book Boutique Baking. It's just so beautifully laid out. Even if I never baked from it, it's a beautiful book to own.

Did anyone else get any good baking books for Christmas? I got four in total and I'm still decided which recipe to try next. Possibly some biscuits....

5 festive bakes

Not long till Christmas now! I've been busy making Christmas presents for the past month but it really feels like Christmas now that I've started my festive baking. I debated splitting all my festive bakes into separate posts, but decided to make one massive Christmas post instead. Hope you enjoy it!

First up are the funky gingerbread biscuits I baked yesterday to give to my cousins. They're quite crunchy, definitely more of a biscuit than a gingerbread, so they're good for dunking in your tea or coffee.

My mum helped with the decorating. We definitely have more of a childlike than professional quality. But who wouldn't want a stripey or splodgy dinosaur biscuit?! I don't know why I don't make biscuits more often as I love all my cutters, the dinosaurs in particular.

You know it's officially Christmas when you make mincemeat pies. I know many will be disappointed that I used bought mincemeat but I had jars left over from last year and I don't like to waste food. I made my own sweet shortcrust pastry though. It has ground almonds in it which gives the pastry a lovely crumbly texture.

It's also officially Christmas in my household when my Mum makes tablet (fudge/candy). I think we made 5 batches(!) to package up prettily as gifts. Don't even ask how much sugar is involved. It is not healthy!

I have also baked a couple of ginger bundt cakes to give to some aunties and uncles. They look impressive without taking up much of your time and they're perfect for sharing. I think my aunties and uncles will like that it's Granny's sticky ginger cake recipe too.

And lastly, a rarity on my sweet toothed blog, a savoury creation! I found this recipe for caramelised red onion chutney through the Cake Hunter (she's got a fantastic Christmas Countdown Gifts series at the moment which is worth checking out).

Chopping so many onions was a tearful task and certainly left a strong aroma in the house, but it was definitely worth it. This recipe made 3 and a half Bonne Maman jars worth of chutney. I'm glad there's a half jar so I can keep one for myself to eat with cheese. If I'm not eating cake, I'm definitely eating cheese.

How are your festive plans coming along? What are you all baking for Christmas? The amount of sugar and syrup I have gone through this weekend is insane!