Success!

The German-themed cuisine, including beer from Munich, where the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (#gobucs!) were playing, seemed to do the trick: we won 21–16.

We had celeriac schnitzel with pickled red cabbage and (Tesco Plant Chef) potato salad, followed by my take on a Black Forest gateau. A special mention goes to Munni for educating me on German food. Thank you.

The food wasn’t really what we’re used to eating, and there was no sauce, but it was pretty tasty. We’d have the celeriac schnitzel again.

The cake was really nice. The teaspoon of baking powder, as well as the Crackd egg substitute I told you about the other day, made it possible to veganise the cake recipe I learnt from my mam when I was little. This makes me really happy because it felt wrong not being able to make it ever again.

I filled the cake with a packet of frozen Black Forest fruit (cherries and berries, essentially; I know Black Forest gateau is cherries not berries, but the packet said ‘Black Forest’, and I thought it would be a more interesting flavour), which I reduced down to a jam-like consistency, but without adding any sugar: I was after the fruit’s natural tartness to cut through the sweetness of the cake and the icing. I topped the fruity filling with whipped oat cream, then iced the top with a rich shop-bought ganache-like icing. Then I put the cherry on the cake: a ring of glacé cherries.

It was, to use Anna Haugh’s word, delicious!