Heat the oven to 180C, 350F, gas 4. Mix the cocoa with the boiling water. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and set aside to cool. Whisk the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla in a mixing bowl until blended. Stir in the flour and the cocoa mixture until smooth. Pour into the tin and bake for 30-40 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
For the icing
Melt the butter and golden syrup together with 1 tbsp water,. Beat in the icing sugar, to make a smooth icing. Add a little extra boiling water if needed. Spread over the cool cake. Scatter with the white chocolate chips, sprinkles and silver balls and leave to set.
INGREDIENTS
For the cake:75 g (3oz) cocoa powder 200 ml (7floz) boiling water 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 4 eggs 375 g (13oz) dark muscovado sugar 175 ml (6floz) sunflower oil 1 tsp vanilla extract 275 g (10oz) self-raising flour
For the decoration:2 tbsp cocoa powder 50g (2oz) butter 2 tbsp golden syrup 300g (10oz) unrefined golden icing sugar Chocolate stars (we used Dr Oetker) Edible gold star glitter (Sainsbury’s)
you will need23cm x 30cmx 5cm deep 9" x 12"x 2 in deep baking tin or roasting tin greased and lined
I actually used this frosting for the topping of the cake and added white chocolate chips.
Satellite views of Earth on the solstices and equinoxes. From left to right, a June solstice, a September equinox, a December solstice and a March equinox. To understand these images, look at the poles. Notice that at the June solstice, the North Pole is in sunlight. At the December solstice, the South Pole is in sunlight. Read more about these images, which are via Robert Simmon (Sigma Space Corporation)/ NASA.
June solstice in 2024
This year’s June solstice is the earliest in 228 years. The solstice arrives at 20:51 UTC on June 20, 2024. The last time the solstice arrived earlier than this was in 1796, when it occurred at 17:45 UTC on June 20.
When is it? A solstice isn’t a whole day. Instead, it’s the moment when the sun is farthest north in our sky. In 2024, the solstice moment will fall at 20:51 UTC (3:51 p.m. CDT) on Thursday, June 20. What is it? At the June solstice, the sun reaches its northernmost point. This point is on the celestial Tropic of Cancer, a parallel around the sky, 23.5 degrees north of the celestial equator. At this solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is most tilted toward the sun, by the maximum angle of 23.5 degrees. Conversely, the south is most tilted away, by the same amount. What are its main effects? At the June solstice, no matter where you are on Earth, the sun rises and sets farthest north on your horizon. The sun is directly overhead at local noon as viewed from the Tropic of Cancer. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is high in the sky and closest to being overhead at local noon. What about day length?: For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the June solstice marks the shortest nights and longest days of the year. For the Southern Hemisphere, however, it marks the longest nights and shortest days. After this solstice, the sun will begin moving southward in our sky again.
June 21 evening: Full Strawberry Moon near the Teapot
What is a solstice?
Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year.
With this in mind, they built monuments such as the ones at Stonehenge in England and at Machu Picchu in Peru to follow the sun’s yearly progress.
Today, we know that the solstice is caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and by its orbital motion around the sun.
The Earth doesn’t orbit upright with respect to the plane of our orbit around the sun. Instead, our world is tilted on its axis by 23 1/2 degrees. Through the year, this tilt causes Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres to trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly.
So it’s Earth’s tilt – not our distance from the sun – that causes winter and summer. In fact, our planet is closest to the sun in January, and farthest from the sun in July, during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
Waiting for dawn to arrive at Stonehenge, summer solstice 2005. Image via Andrew Dunn/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Signs of the June solstice in nature
Where should you look? Everywhere.
For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of the day. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of almost all light and warmth on Earth’s surface.
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you might notice the early dawns and late sunsets, and the high arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might see how high the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And, also be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the solstice, it’s your shortest noontime shadow of the year.
If you’re a person who’s tuned in to the out-of-doors, you know the peaceful, comforting feeling that accompanies these signs and signals of the year’s longest day.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | John Ashley was in Helena, Montana, when he created this composite image of 2 days of solstice suns in 2018. The uppermost line of suns is from that year’s summer solstice. The lower line of suns is from that year’s December solstice. John wrote, “The sun’s path during summer solstice arches high across the sky (upper), but at winter solstice its path barely clears the brick walls of the Potter’s Shrine, a sculptural landmark on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. The interval composite photo was created over 2 days – months apart – by placing a fisheye lens on the ground and aiming it at the southern sky.” Thank you, John!
Is the June solstice the first day of summer?
No world body has designated an official day to start each new season, and different schools of thought or traditions define the seasons in different ways.
In meteorology, for example, summer begins on June 1. And every schoolchild knows that summer starts when the last school bell of the year rings.
Yet June 21 is perhaps the most widely recognized day upon which summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere and upon which winter begins on the southern half of Earth’s globe. Although, the June solstice can fall on June 20 or 22. Indeed, there’s nothing official about it, but it’s such a long-held tradition that we all recognize those dates as the June solstice.
It has been universal among humans to treasure this time of warmth and light.
Stonehenge
For us in the modern world, the solstice is a time to recall the reverence and understanding that early people had for the sky. Some 5,000 years ago, people placed huge stones in a circle on a broad plain in what’s now England and aligned them with the June solstice sunrise.
We may never comprehend the full significance of Stonehenge. But we do know that knowledge of this sort wasn’t limited to just one part of the world. In fact, around the same time Stonehenge was being constructed in England, two great pyramids and then the Sphinx were built on Egyptian sands. If you stood at the Sphinx on the summer solstice and gazed toward the two pyramids, you’d see the sun set exactly between them.
The northern summer solstice happens when Earth’s tilt toward the sun is at a maximum and the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5 degrees north latitude. During the summer solstice, the sun reaches its highest noonday point in the sky. The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. Image via NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio.
Why doesn’t the longest day have the hottest weather?
People often ask:
If the June solstice brings the longest day, why do we experience the hottest weather in late July and August?
This effect is called the lag of the seasons. It’s the same reason it’s hotter in mid-afternoon than at noontime. Essentially, Earth just takes a while to warm up after a long winter. Even in June, ice and snow still blanket the ground in some places. The sun has to melt the ice – and warm the oceans – and then we feel the most sweltering summer heat.
Ice and snow have been melting since spring began. Meltwater and rainwater have been percolating down through snow on tops of glaciers.
However, the runoff from glaciers isn’t as great now as it’ll be in another month, even though sunlight is striking the Northern Hemisphere most directly around now.
So wait another month for the hottest weather. It’ll come when the days are already beginning to shorten again, as Earth continues to move in orbit around the sun, bringing us closer to another winter.
And so the cycle continues.
Bottom line: The 2024 June solstice will happen on June 20 at 20:51 UTC. That’s 3:51 p.m. CDT in North America. This solstice – the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere – marks the sun’s most northerly point in Earth’s sky.
Welsh folklore tells us to listen to the trees:
"There was a belief prevalent in some parts of Wales that at certain seasons of the year, particularly in the summer or early autumn, the oak-leaves whispered secrets of the ancient Druids."
Happy birthday to W B Yeats (1865-1939), Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer, one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.
"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."
"I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
"For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon."
"Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand."
Books designed to improve one's self have been around for centuries and the genre, as we know it, began to take shape in the middle of the 19th century with a book aptly called "self-help" by a wonderfully named man called Samuel Smiles.
This list reflects books that have saved lives, sold millions of copies, spawned publishing empires, influenced work habits and has inspired presidents and prime ministers. We approached the subject from a variety of angles ranging from allegories to straight fiction to ensure diversity in our recommendations. Mind, body and health, family and relationships, work, money and finance, and lifestyle are all covered...
The No.1 choice on this list - Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book - was an easy selection. This historic book has saved thousands of lives of men and women around the world. The AA's 12 steps, outlined in the Big Book, have influenced countless other programs to beat addiction. Many books claim that they will change lives but the Big Book has done it time and again.
A powerful, beautiful book written by a professor of computer science with months to live. Based on his final lecture, Pausch provides inspiration to achieve childhood dreams.
Because it has saved thousands of lives since being published in 1939. This is where the 12-step guide to treating addiction comes from. Pray you never need it.
Published in 1946, this book details Frankl's experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. He argues for spiritual survival by choosing how you cope with suffering.
Scott Peck was a psychiatrist. Published in 1978, this book covers four sections - delaying gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth and balancing conflicts.
Scott Peck was a psychiatrist. Published in 1978, this book covers four sections - delaying gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth and balancing conflicts.
Published in 1859, this book launched the genre. Smiles writes how poverty can be tackled by breaking irresponsible habits. Are his Victorian values still relevant?
Only published in 2007, this book makes our list because it advises on managing technology and using technology to your advantage. Ignore those emails and carry on reading.
Hippy dippy but influential. The narrator takes a journey to understand nine spiritual insights in an ancient manuscript. Mixes ancient and New Age spirituality.
Published in 1910, this book has 17 short chapters, each with an easy-to-understand message. Wattles argues creation is the key to being rich. Inspired Rhonda Byrne's The Secret.
This is a science book where Sagan explains scientific methods to laypeople. He encourages critical consideration of ideas - ie. a guide to spotting life's misleading nonsense.
All about dealing with change in your work and personal life. Immediately became a bestseller in 1998 but remains relevant in a rapidly changing world.
Not truly self help but included because our modern world is full of BS. An explanation between lying and BS-ing, and a book that makes liars easier to identify and understand.
Folks have been feeling sad for centuries. This 1621 book is supposed to be a textbook but in reality is a memoir on sadness. A 17th century perspective on depression.
Written in 1952, Peale argues an optimistic attitude can get you a long way in life. His message of positive thinking has been ripped off many times by other authors.
Modern era self help. The subtitle says it all 'How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself'. Codependency is enabling another person's problems such as alcoholism.
This 1922 novel is a spiritual journey of self-discovery. The lesson it offers is that enlightenment comes from the total experience of life and not from individual events.
In 2008, Godin wrote it was our nature to join tribes, and the Internet made it easy. He offers tips on tribe building - desire to change, the ability to connect and a willingness to lead.
