Read Online Dining With The Doctor: The Unauthorized Whovian Cookbook by Chris-Rachael Oseland - Free Book Online

powdered hot chocolate mix
long lollipop sticks or bamboo skewers
paintbrush
styrofoam block for display
    If you’ve had a hard day of being abducted by giant walking rhinos, you deserve a nice commemorative dessert. Luckily, it’s easy to make these cake pops look like tiny, edible moons.
    You have a lot of good flavor choices here. If you want to make your cake interior look really moon-like, pick up a box of spice cake or carrot cake. Realistically, though, those aren’t your favorite flavors. You’re probably going to pick chocolate. I’m a big fan of lemon. Or strawberry. Or red velvet. Let’s be honest, I’m just a big fan of cake. Whatever you pick, just get the corresponding icing.
    Bake your cake according to the package directions. Once it’s finished, resist the urge to stuff the warm cake directly into your face. If you’re notorious for poor self control, bake an auxiliary backup cake. Once your primary Whovian cake is finished, let it cool down to room temperature. Now let your inner five year old run loose and rip that cake to shreds. Seriously. Tear into it with your fingers until you have nothing but a gorgeous mess of shredded cake goodness.
    Meanwhile, soften the tub of icing in your microwave. Pour ¾ of it over the cake crumbles. If you use the whole tub of icing, your cake pops will end up too mushy. Resist the temptation. You want to moisten the cake and hold it together without making it unpalatabley gooey. Now really mix the cake and icing together until you have a solid cake paste.
    Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spritz it with nonstick spray. If you have a cookie scoop or melon baller, use that to scoop nicely shaped balls into your hands. Roll them around a little to get them as moon shaped as possible, then line them up on the cookie sheet. Your hands are about to get really goopy. Every half dozen or so, be prepared to go wash your hands (and maybe re-grease them with some spare butter to keep future cake balls from sticking.)
    Once you’re out of cake, put the tray of balls into your freezer for at least an hour. You want them to firm up so they’ll play nicely with the icing. While the cake balls are chilling, pour your white melting chocolate into a large, microwave safe bowl. In the United States, you can find this at most craft stores, such as Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.
    Cut 1 tablespoon/15 grams of butter into four small pieces and toss them in the bowl. While you’re at it, toss in a couple chocolate chips. These don’t add much flavor, but they do help turn the white chocolate more of a moon-like grey.
    When your cake pops have firmed up, follow the package directions to melt the chocolate in the microwave. Alternately, you can melt the chocolate in a double boiler, but it takes a lot longer and requires you to have an actual double boiler. This recipe is for lazy people who want to look fancy, and we both know that means you don’t own a whole lot of exotic pans.
    Now that your chocolate is melted, it’s time for the fun part. Skewer each ball with a lollipop stick or actual bamboo kabob skewer. Dip it in the chocolate, roll it around a bit, and make sure the entire ball is nice and coated. Shove the skewers into a styrofoam block (which you can also pick up at the craft store) so the cake pop keeps it’s moon shape.
    Grease your fingers up with butter and poke little crater shapes into the moons. Once the icing has cooled, you can use the powdered hot chocolate mix and a paint brush to dust on shadows in the craters and give the moons a little more contrast and definition. Or you can drink the hot chocolate while admiring all your hard work making these miniature moons. I’m not going to judge.
    Psst...these work equally well as “Day of the Moon” themed decorations.
     

Shakespearean Shooter Sandwich (S3E3 - The Shakespeare Code)
     
     
    1 crusty round loaf of bread
2 lbs/910 g steak, preferably not too lean
1 lb/500 g mushrooms
½ lb/230 g