This is what happens when you add egg white to creaming soda

This was entirely by mistake. I was making an omelette (something that for me, involves separating eggs). I accidentally cracked an egg over the glass I was pouring creaming soda into (and I was only using a glass because I had a guest – normally I would have drunk from the bottle). This, my friends, is creaming soda! Since then, I tried doing it with other sodas, but this will only occur with some brands.... The result is something like a foam meringue, or hardened foam.

Gluten free quinoa pancakes

Today, I decided I would tryout that gluten free pancake mix that had quinoa as a component. All I had to do was add water the the bottle of pancake mix and shake the bottle for several minutes, then fry the mixture on a frying pan. But I had my misgivings because I usually add too much or too little water (the instructions on the bottle don't take into consideration that a considerable amount of the mixture will stick to the bottom of the bottle and be impossible to mix in without a spoon or more liquid). I fixed this problem by adding soda to the bottle and when it became too liquid, adding the liquid to the other bottle of pancake mix I happened to have. I also managed to cook the pancakes properly by using more oil and letting it heat up on pan before I poured the mixture on. That was my part complete.

But what about the actual pancakes? Many gluten free products have a rather hard, dry texture. This is no exception. I think the purpose of the quinoa was to decrease the carbohydrates of the product rather than add any flavour, since quinoa is rather bland. The flavour here was provided by sugar free chocolate syrup.

Apple sponge pudding

So. I had a tin of apple pie filling to use up. And vanilla cake mix. The two were perfect for one another. Literally all I had to do was pour the batter over a bowl of apple and cook it in the microwave for a couple of minutes.

Let them eat chocolate cake

This was made by mixing 100 g of the cheapest brand of chocolate cake mix with about half a cup of coke zero, then microwaving it in a heart shaped container. The mixture expanded to twice the size in the microwave after just a couple of minutes. I poured sugar free chocolate syrup on top.

Apple cinnamon pudding

This is basically a mug pudding. Only, unlike a mug cake, I am doing several things differently. Firstly, I'm using a bowl. This is much easier than using mug because there is more surface area and less chance of having uncooked batter and overly hard crust. Secondly, the batter is simply wholemeal self-raising flour mixed with hot water (although soda also works well), I have swirled stewed and drained apple, sultana and cinnamon into the batter.

When upturned, the pudding retains its structure enough to be eaten off a plate. Success!