The journey begins...

Ok, I'm going to get serious about this health thing. I need to sort my shit out.

I am NOT  one for crash diets, quick fixes, or slogging it out at the gym for 2 weeks and then giving up. I can't change my habits that fast and expect them to stick, because I am actually mentally quite weak sometimes and I can justify anything.

Nipping through Red Rooster for nuggets on the way home is ok when I want nuggets. But when I think about it, it goes against so many things I stand for. You can tell how processed they are when you eat them, I'm sure at some stage they USED to be chicken, but they're not now. This crazy stuff has to stop.

I really like food, and good food. So when I look at what we eat, it's actually usually pretty good (aside from ninja stops at Red Rooster). We just probably eat a bit too much, and we eat out a lot. We shop at the markets so very little of what we cook is processed, because we really only buy the raw materials - fruit, veges, meat, milk and bread. Portions need to be controlled, and we need to be a little smarter about things we eat.

I also need to exercise A LOT more. Steve has a naturally fast metabolism, and goes to the gym at work most days - he's lucky he has a more flexible job than I do. As a teacher, I have set times for everything, I can't pop into the gym on my lunch break, I just don't have time. I need to find times when I can do 10-20 minutes of exercise, make it not seem like a chore. I've started the Couch to 5km program, which is pretty good. It basically makes you follow a set routine - run 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds, for 20 minutes. You end up running more, the longer you do it. The app is pretty good too, it just beeps at you when you need to start to walk/run. I also downloaded the Nike+ Runner app, which at the moment seems really cool. Once I've used it more, I'll review it. But it tracks your run via GPS, times it, and has a bunch of other cool features, including posting that you're going for a run on Facebook, and when anyone likes your status, if you're listening to music, it cheers! So cute.

I signed up for this Fitness for Foodies (FFF) 8 week course, and to make sure I don't cop out, Carolanne is coming with me. It's pretty good value, $139 and for that you can go to 3 group fitness sessions, and you get a weekly email with a bunch of really useful info, recipes, and charts. The thing that has really appealed to me has been the charts. I need to have a routine and it needs to be planned out. FFF gives you a meal planner, a really good shopping list, and an exercise planner. I love these. They're going to go on the fridge! It also has a chart where you can measure progress - your fitness, blood pressure, weight (only if you want to though!), and body measurements. This is also something I need. I need to see progress, benchmarks. These progressive checkpoint sheets are great because they're varied, you may not lose much weight one week, but you've managed to lose some cm's off your arms and can do more sit ups!

I'm also playing netball again on Monday nights, which is sweet! I get to chase a ball around again! YAY!

It's about celebrating the little wins, all the different ones! I don't JUST want to lose weight (though that is a big factor), I want to be fitter, and healthier. I want to be one of those people who enjoys going out running, and needs to do some exercise or they get restless. I'm sure that with all the little things I'm trying to change, I'm hoping to see a different "win" each week.

This is my plan, and I WILL stick to it this time!

Banana and blueberry bread

S has been struck down with the man flu, and luckily, I haven't! I don't know how I've avoided it, but I have. My diet has been loaded with Beroccas, blueberries and fruit, trying to keep my immune system strong so I don't get sick, as S has taken 2 days off work which is testament to the strength of this cold! I've been feeling run down, and we've both been in bed by 9:30... So I was very much in fight off the bugs mode!

I decided to make something that would give us some energy, fill us up with antioxidants and most importantly, be delicious. So banana bread it was - and to make it extra yum, I added blueberries, walnuts, and cocoa nibs. The cocoa nibs were added for their health benefits - when we visited Gabriels Chocolatier in Yallingup, I was told cocoa nibs contain 300 times the amount of antioxidants than blueberries! So I figured these both had to go in...


To fight a cold, blueberries are a pretty amazing way to go - one serving has about 25% of your daily vitamin C needs. Speaks for  itself doesn't it! The antioxidants (which it is EXTREMELY high in) work to neutralize free radicals (unstable molecules linked to the development of cancer), cardiovascular disease and other age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Substances in blueberries called polyphenols, specifically the anthocyanins that give the fruit its blue hue, are the major contributors to antioxidant activity (info found here). I'm also told that purple carrots contain these anthocyanins, which is why they are more nutritious than their orange brothers (not only are they way cooler, they're better for you!).

Cacao nibs are said to be even higher in antioxidants than blueberries! What's great about the antioxidants in the nibs, is that they're more stable than other food sources, and so are more easily taken in by your body. They're also really high in magnesium, which plays a major role in nerve and muscle function, bone strength and circulation. It cannot be produced by the body, and therefore, must be obtained through food sources or supplements.

Is there anything BETTER to throw into your banana bread? I think not.

I used my fave Tessa Kiros recipe and changed it up a bit...

Banana, Blueberry and Cacao Nib Bread

Ingredients

125g Butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

350g (3 or 4) old bananas (mashed or chopped)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp milk

1 generous cup frozen blueberries

2 handfuls crushed walnuts

1/2 cup cacao nibs (you can add more if you want to!)

Handful rolled oats

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180C and prepare your loaf tin.

2) Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, and then add the bananas and cacao nibs.

3) Add the milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and mix well.

4) Sieve in the flour and baking powder, and mix well until smooth.

5) Pour in the walnuts and blueberries, and mix gently to ensure even distribution.

6) Pour the batter into your loaf tin, and sprinkle the rolled oats on top.

7) Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

8) Leave your cake to cool for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy on its own, with butter, toasted... However you like! It's worth waiting till the next day though, the loaf will cut better, and the flavours will have made friends by that stage, and will be a much more cohesive flavour. 


Without the additions of blueberries, walnuts and cacao nibs, this is my fave recipe for banana bread, I don't use any others now. It's soft, tasty, not too sweet, but just sweet enough. It's really worth trying!

Keep your eyes open for an even better version of this loaf! Im going to be experimenting with different flours and sweeteners to make this a snack that is healthy, not just "healthy"!

Fondant au Mocha

The Clandestine Cake Club of Perth recently had its 2nd meeting, about 6 weeks after we recovered from the first one! We started our cake club with the theme of autumnal fruits, but this time we went as far away as possible from anything remotely healthy. This time, the theme was decadence! What a rich, over the top afternoon! There was some bubbles to start out with, and as an antidote for sugar overdoses, we had some salted nuts and chips stashed away, just in case!

But the stars of the show were obviously the cakes. We had some awesome creations, but the best thing about it was everyones' interpretation of the theme! It was a really impressive display of baking, exactly what the theme demanded! It turns out that our interpretation of decadence has something to do with chocolate and booze!

We had a delicious bourbon chocolate cake, with bourbon cream cheese icing and a bourbon cider jelly on top from Ai-Ling, the brains behind Food Endeavours of the Blue Apocalypse! This was so impressive and such an original idea... The cake was Nigellas' Chocolate Guinness cake, but used bourbon instead! This cake is a go to fave of mine, so I was pretty much sold as soon as I tried it. I was really surprised how well the cider and bourbon went together! Such a great cake! We couldn't help but wobble it every now and again!

Bri of the fabulous blog Eat Meets West made a ridiculously impressive crepe cake, with something like SIXTEEN crepes! WOMAN! You crazy! But it was SO NICE. I thought it would be a bit sickly, as crepes have never agreed with me, but the swiss meringue buttercream between each layer did something to my cakey soul. It was so nice. We needed some teamwork to get the first slice out, but after that it was pretty special. Did I mention the chocolate icing that had been poured all over it? Bitch please.

To follow that was Liv's creation from Col Panna - Caprioska cake! She explained that to her, decadence meant cocktails, so she designed a cake to fit her favourite cocktail! There was lime, vodka in the cake, icing AND a glaze, as well as a coating of sugar with the vodka syrup, to replicate the crunch of the sugar in the cocktail. It was another really creative cake, as well as obviously being delicious! It was a nice change from all the chocolate too!

Then there was fellow organiser Carolanne, of Carolannes Kitchen, who, inspired by a recent trip to see Heston Blumenthal live, replicated one of his recipes - the exploding gateaux! Pop rocks in the base, and she used a water gun to squirt the top of the cake with chocolate! Very cool!

Then finally, my cake, which was a pimped up version of Trish Deseines Fondant au Chocolat. This, along with the choc guinness cake by Nigella is one of my go to choc cakes (along with the choc red wine cake I made last meeting!), because it is so simple, has few ingredients and is totally decadent! It is very rich, which is why its perfect for a Parisienne lady, as she only wants a tiny slice! I changed the recipe, but only slightly. I used almond meal rather than flour to make it gluten free, and to make it a bit more decadent I used espresso in the glaze rather than water. I made a coffee almond praline, blitzed it up and crumbled it on top for some crunch against the fudgy cake!


Here it is below...

Fondant au Mocha


Cake
200g Dark chocolate (minimum 65%)
200g butter (softened)
200g Sugar
1 tbsp hot espresso coffee
5 eggs
2 heaped tbsp almond meal


Glaze
100g Chocolate (minimum 65%)
50g butter
2 tbsp espresso coffee


Praline
1 Cup sugar
1/2 chopped almonds
Rest of the espresso (1-2 tbsp)


Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180C, and prepare a 25cm round cake tin.

2) Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a mixing bowl, set over barely simmering water and pour on the hot coffee.

3) Let it sit until the chocolate is mostly melted, then add the butter. Again, leave it until it has melted then give it a quick, gentle stir to incorporate everything together.

4) Add the sugar and stir well, then break the eggs into the mixture one at a time mixing well after each egg has been added. Finally mix in the almond meal.

5) Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, you'll find the cake very moist in the middle - it shouldn't wobble still, but if it does, a couple more minutes and it'll be done! Just keep an eye on it. Note this is not a cake that rises much, and any rise that DOES occur, it falls back pretty flat once its out - don't worry, that's normal!

6) Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin/mould, and if you can, leave it overnight before serving.

7) While its cooling (or while its cooking!) put the sugar and coffee into a pan on a medium heat, and watch it bubble up and thicken into a caramel - DO NOT STIR!

8) Once its thickened, add the almonds and swirl the pan to combine. Pour it out onto grease proof paper and let set.

9) Crack the disc of caramel up, and put it into your blitzing device and blitz away! You decide how fine/chunky you'd like it, but don't go too far with it or it'll feel like you're eating sand!

This is also my entry to the We Should Cocoa challenge! This month the challenge is to pair chocolate with coffee, which is a pretty easy task as I LOVE it together! We Should Cocoa was started by Chocolate Log Blog and Chocolate Teapot but this month is hosted by The Kitchen Maid! 

Thoughts on food blogging...

Note: there is a block of writing coming up. Prepare your eyes for the onslaught! No pictures. Just thoughts, musings, a little rant, and some big ups.

Everyone has a story about how their blog started, and mine is no different to anyone elses really. A mix of boredom, and wanting to document the recipes I was cooking, both my own and from various cookbooks. I had no idea about how to format a website, I didn't really know if I was a good writer or not, or how I would put it together. I didn't know where it was going to go, and to be honest, I still don't really know...  I'm not the kind to have a 5 year plan anyway, and so I'm unlikely to plan where I want a blog to take me. I'm all about finding a balance between doing what you love, doing what you need to, and being with the people who mean the most to you. So blogging was always just going to have to find the time to slot into my life, just as everything else does. It's not a massive, blinking priority.

The blog led me to use Twitter, which then introduced me to loads of other food bloggers. Not only them as people, but how they conduct themselves, if they have a personality or if they're advertising themselves/creating a "brand". I didn't know what the food blogging community would be like, in fact, I didn't even really know if there was one. The Perth food blogger scene is pretty good, there is a mix of friendly bloggers who just like to write, cook and take photos, as well as people who share that love but take their blog more seriously. There are snarky bloggers who see themselves above the rest of us, some cliques, some people are learning as they go, and there are people with abundant knowledge to share about a variety of cultures, cooking methods and ideas in food. It's an interesting mix of people. There are people with a plan for their blog, and people seeing where it takes them.

I'm of the school where I see where it takes me. I expect it takes me nowhere. Not anywhere glittering fame is anyway. It's allowed me to meet some fantastic people, of whom I call my friends now, and not just online friends (that doesn't sound sad at all!), friends who I call up and we do things on weekends, go out for drinks and chatter. It's great because a lot of my old friends I had before the blog, I was feeling disconnected from, like I had nothing to say to them anymore. It's a process everyone goes through a couple of times, where you're between friends so to speak. So the blog/twitter exposed me to some fabulous people whom I'm so glad I met. The online comradery is great too, twitter will answer any question you have straight away. Not sure how to substitute a hard to find ingredient? Someone on twitter will know. Messed up something in a recipe and want to know if it's salvagable or not? Someone on twitter has already made the same mistake and can tell you. The instant gratification of twitter is suited to the fast paced NOW culture we live in, and it suits me, most of the time.

The part about food blogging that doesn't suit me is the shameless self promotion that goes on. There is the publishing of a link to a new post, thats alright. You need to get your blog out there, and no one knows it's there until you tell them. That I have no real problem with. It's the people who are so fake that I can't handle. I have no idea who the person behind the blog is. I just know they're sickly sweet, always saying lovely, wonderful things about everyone and everything, acting as if they never make mistakes, everything they make turns out perfectly. Who the fuck ARE YOU? There are so many food bloggers who just sound like they've read too many Nigel Slater books and are trying to romanticise everything they cook (note, Nige is great, I love his writing style, but its HIS writing style). There are so many wannabe Nigellas that it makes seek out the X and click it, she's become laughably fake enough as it is. I don't care to read about these people, I don't care about their "brand" because they aren't a person. They have created some online presence which is so forgettable. So many people out there are working on branding, working on creating a public image of themselves that they must stick to. Isn't being yourself, writing with your own voice, ideas and tone enough? It worked for Anthony Bourdain. Or is his brand the kind that goes against the grain, of a chain smoking, potty mouthed travelling chef? I don't know, but it just doesn't resonate with me at all.

But I am just one reader of millions. One blogger of millions. Who am I anyway? Have I done the same thing that I ranted about? I hope not. I do appreciate good writing. I just find so many blogs a bit samey. Same old shit, different name.


The blogs I have big respect for are ones like Eat Meets West, because she has her own voice, it's so obviously HER writing, she's not trying to be anyone, she's not creating a brand, and if she is, her brand is just who she is.

I enjoy reading Food Endeavours of the Blue Apocalypse, because again she has her own voice, and I like the fact that she researches what she's writing about and gives you background information. I learn something when I read her blog, the origins of something, how authentic something might be (though authenticity is under fire now too), and she uses some different ingredients. I don't actually cook much from her blog, but it's a good read.

There are lots of blogs I like and I wont name every single one. There are lots I'm obligated to like, and ones I just dont read, because they're really boring. Mine isn't an example of a blog thats amazing. It's not that well formatted, it's not got some amazing style of writing that everyone needs to read. For me, my blog is about sharing recipes I've created, or recipes from other blogs/cookbooks. I like to try recipes from books before I buy them, and so I like to contribute to this by posting some of these recipes myself, for others to have a look at. Not for popularity contests, just for other peoples reference. I like photography anyway, not just food based, but all kinds, so some posts have good quality pictures on them. When I have time. I didn't say they were good... They're just there. Other times it's just a phone picture. My blog isn't really made for fame and fortune. My blog is pretty forgettable. But thats cool.

My ultimate philosophy on food is that it's a hobby for me. I don't want to be cooking all day, every day. I really enjoy cooking for the people I love, it's how I show I care. I don't cook for readership, or blog points. I cook because I want to. I cook because I like to see people I care about, sat around a table with nice food, good company and great wine, having a conversation and a laugh. Clichèd? Maybe. True though!

Thats whats important to me, over readership, branding, followers, and being little Miss Nigella, the domestic goddess.

I should add that I'm not scornful of the whole scene. I'm really happy with some parts of it, and I enjoy being involved. It's the commercialisation I don't enjoy. But I don't enjoy any aspect of commercialism really...

I just want to feed people good, interesting food. I wanna eat that food too. I'm interested in where the food comes from, and I like quality.

Thats it.

Tapas for Life round up!

On the 24th of March my sister Jenni and I held a tapas event for her Relay for Life team, and we were both blown away by the generosity of the local businesses who donated their wares so we could run the event and earn as much profit as we could to donate to the Cancer Council. We ended up making over $800 from the night which was such a great success, we have some fabulously generous friends!

The Organic Collective donated a gorgeous box of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, lemons, oranges and capsicums which could not have tasted any better - they were fresh, local and unbelievably tasty. You NEED to try one of their boxes, the quality is amazing.



I used the onions, capsicums, tomatoes and oranges to make orange scented albondigas, which went down a treat, they were a little bit different, but really moreish!

Photo c/o Carolanne Rushe

The same organic onions were caramalised, and paired with some gorgeous Ringwould goats milk fetta from a previous Urban Locavore box I had received to make a tasty frittata, that I cooked gently in a pan first, and then transferred into a shallow baking dish and finished off in the oven. This was gone - fast! I also used the caperberries from a previous box on the platters - there were none left at the end of the night!

I also had a smoked trout that I had frozen from the very first box, that I wasn't sure how to use. I ended up making some savoury pancakes with them, which were nice, but I used too much of the trout! Very nice if you love smoked fish ;) It was full of paprika, spinach and bites of trout. Unlike the pancakes I made at the Breakfast with Benefits, these were SO easy to make, and flipped like a dream!



Speaking of Urban Locavore, Paul, the brains behind the operation, was really generous and donated a box to the raffle. Rhianna Clarke was the lucky winner of the straw packed box of local goods, and was pretty stoked!

I had gone to The Tasting Plate at the Mezz shopping centre in Mt Hawthorn looking for some stuff of my own, and got talking to the manager Janine, about food, Relay for Life and her chilli company, Habaneros for Gringos. I realised I had tried some of her products at the Araluen Chilli Festival in Freo and had really enjoyed the curried onion dip! I told her what I was doing and she generously donated some of her products, as well as plenty of great items from the shop. We ended up having tasting plates of their DELICIOUS Habaneros 4 Gringos chilli fetta (Seriously. Find this stuff, its awesome), curried onion dip, and chilli olive tapanade, with marinated octopus, olives and manchego cheese from The Tasting Plate. There were loads of comments about the chilli products - everyone loved them, especially the curried onion dip!

Photos c/o Habaneros 4 Gringos

These went down so well with the Casalinga sourdough baguettes that New Norcia Bakery donated. Seriously good bread, as soon as you crack it open, you just want to take a bite. Just walk in there and TRY to walk out with nothing. I never do. Their coffee is great too.

Gorgeous bread from New Norcia Bakery, Mt Hawthorn.

I may have tried a portugese tart when I picked up the bread... for research of course! They are GORGEOUS!

One of the highlights of the meal was probably the amazing meat provided by El Asador. This business run by couple Emily and Max specialise in Argentine products and if you've been to any food markets in the last 6 months you would have seen their stall, or smelled their amazing giant bbq cooking up chorizo and asado! We were lucky to get loads of meat from them - beef asado, chorizo and morcillas! The beef asado is an Argentine cut of beef that is super tasty, slow roasted with their herb and salt rub (AMAZING! I always have this in the house) and then grilled to crispy deliciousness. This meat... Is genius. I couldn't cook on the bbq that night, so cooked them in a pan (after slow roasting them for 2 hours the night before). They are quite fatty, but a lot of the fat melts away when you bbq them - I cut a lot of the fat off (not all - fat is flavour!), took it off the bone and sliced it into sharing sized pieces, with chimmichurri on the side. That meat was gone in 5 minutes. It was so tasty and tender... If you see the El Asador bbq stall ANYWHERE, buy the asado. It is gorgeous.

Beef asado from El Asador - YUM! (Photo c/o http://elasador.myshopify.com/)

Their chorizo is fresh not cured, and really juicy. Served with chimmichurri again, these were super moreish bites that everyone loved. Look for the Choripan at their stall!

The morcilla is the Argentine version of black pudding. This is not something I've tried before, and that wasn't breaking my heart. Carolanne cooked it up, as the Irish love their black pudding and so I figured she would do it justice! It was quite crumbly, but had a great flavour - pretty much everyone tried some, even though the thought of it grossed some people out. Thing is though, everyone loved it!

Morcillas from El Asador (Photo c/o Carolanne Rushe)

El Asador also donated a fantastic hamper with a bunch of their products which was won by Jemma Edwards (I'm not jealous at all!).

El Asador hamper, full of goodies! (photo c/o Carolanne Rushe)

There I also made a huge batch of spicy paprika nuts, which were REALLY easy to make, and cheap. I went to Kakulas in Northbridge and bought about 2kg of blanched raw almonds and peanuts and it set me back about $15 - not a bad price for a MASSIVE bag of nuts!

Just in case there were still people who could eat, I bought out some flatbreads with tomato, herbs, roasted peppers and rock salt, just to fill any savoury holes people might have had in their tummies!

There had to be dessert... well there didn't really, there was so much food eaten! But I had made it anyway and so people were gonna eat it! Some pseudo Portugese tarts, made with yoghurt and orange instead of cream. Some had orange caramel on top, some were naked. They went down a treat and there were none left! Not too sweet, only a few bites, it was all we really needed after feasting all night.

Crust Mt Lawley were also awesome and contributed 2 $25 vouchers to the raffle - it wasn't hard to talk these up, have you tried the peri peri chicken, or veggie supreme pizza? Do it, they're SO nice.

Red Hot Spatula donated a voucher for 30% off one of their cooking classes, which is an awesome deal because Yvonnes classes are brilliant. I've been to one and we all loved it! They have just released a new line of spice pastes and rubs, which I can't wait to get my hands on!

Jenni's bath was FULL of donated booze for everyone to drink, including a carton of Custard Cider from the Real River Company - needless to say, people were merry!!

Cider for all! (photo c/o Carolanne Rushe)

The night was great fun - and most importantly, we raised a bunch of money for the Relay for Life in Katanning. All up the event raised over $70000 which is amazing considering its a town of about 4000 people. It just goes to show that everyone is touched by cancer in some way or another, and are willing to give generously if its going to help combat such a terrible disease. Its worth remembering though, that a cancer diagnosis is not always a death sentence. For some its an incredibly trying time which tests every limit they have, but eventually they come out of it with a greater zest for life than ever. Its these people who offer hope to others, who need to have their stories listened to and learned from. They deliver a message of appreciating what you have right in front of you every day, and taking nothing for granted.


Eat, drink and be merry, and savour every bite, every moment.

Pimped chocolate red wine cake

If there are 2 things in life that are meant to be together, it's chocolate and red wine. How many bad days are sorted out by a combination of these 2 magical things? Cake can sometimes fix a crap day too. If you know a monumentally shit day is coming up, then you'd better stock up on red wine and chocolate. and cake. 

Or better yet...

Make chocolate red wine cake!!

It is REALLY good. Moist, not too sweet and rich enough to feel good, but not too rich to make you feel sick. It's fab with ganache. Its just fab. 

This was my contribution to the first meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club. I had read about this cake club on facebook and other blogs, and thought well, why can't we be the first CCC in Australia? So I put it to my dear friend Carolanne, and we held our first meeting in April. Basically, people come bearing cake, and it very specifically states it must be CAKE - not cupcakes or brownies or tray bakes or pies. Cake. The Clandestine Cake Club started small - but its quality not quantity, and that, we had in spades! All the cakes were fabulous, Liv from Col Panna made a BRILLIANT apple pie cheese cake (which S devoured when he got home!), which was layered with caramel, pecans, cheesecake, and stewed apples. It was a OMG moment. Bri from Eat Meets West made a caramalised pear and apple semolina cake, which I had never had before. I loved the texture of the semolina, and found that it was even better the next day! Carolanne from Carolannes Kitchen made a bit of a layer cake extravaganza! Olive oil sponge with orange blossom water, coconut sugar, persimmon cream and delicious ganache. WOOAAH!

The other cakey contributions!

Each meeting has a theme and ours was autumnal fruits, as we wanted to be seasonal and take advantage of all the wonderful fruit we have at the markets at the moment. I chose to adorn my cake with pear and glaze it with the Maggies Place fig jam I got from my Urban Locavore box, being that pears and figs are at their peak right now!

This recipe will make one roughly inch high cake. Considering this was the Clandestine Cake Club, I upped the cake a notch and made the recipe twice, and sandwiched the 2 cakes together with dark chocolate ganache. It was a delicious tweak! I used the ganache recipe from Maggie Beers Harvest book, that goes along with the chocolate fig cake.

This recipe was adapted from the one I found at Smitten Kitchen. There are a few recipes floating around on the net, all pretty similar, so far, all great!

Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup red wine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 generous cup plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method 
1) Preheat the oven to 160°C, and non stick your tin (I just gave my silicon mould a spray with canola oil). 

2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it forms ribbons. Add the egg and yolk and beat well, then the red wine and vanilla. At this point, the cake will look a little split, but its all good, it'll come together!

3) Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and cinnamon together, and add to the wet ingredients. Mix gently until combined, then spread batter into the greased tin/mould. 

4) Slice up a pear into half cm slices, and arrange them gently on top of the batter in any pattern you like.

5) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer  comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then flip out of pan and cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack. If you're using a silicon mould, wait until its completely cooled before turning the cake out.

6) Warm up a couple of tablespoons of fig jam in a small saucepan, and brush it over the cooled cake.

If you wish to add ganache just make sure the cake is fully cooled! The cake does not rise a huge amount, so I would make 2 cakes if you're looking to layer them - however would love to know how you go if you just cut one in half!

Chocolate Beetroot Cake - Nigel Slater

I'm a fan of the barter system. A big fan. I would much rather pay in cake for something than hand over cash, I find it really impersonal. Sometimes its necessary, sometimes though, someone gets to have their cake and eat it too!


I recently needed a measuring cylinder for some home brewing, and some copper sulphate for my fish tank (pesky algae!). Being that I'm a science teacher I  have access to these things, and I asked my head of dept what would be required for me to borrow the cylinder and have some CuSO4. After a staff room discussion it turns out that the price for these things was a chocolate beetroot cake. I'd never made one before, and so this was the price we agreed upon!

While I was at Coventry Markets in Morley, I was hunting down some  pretty purple beetroot, when I saw that one of the market stalls has both golden and purple beetroot in stock! This was pretty great, as I had wanted to try baking with the golden beetroot before as a taste test with a friend had decided that the golden ones were less earthy and slightly sweeter. They looked so pretty, bright yellow orange amongst abundant green leaves, flanked by the dark ruby purple beetroots. I couldn't help but buy both! I ended up making a electric pink dip with the purple ones, blitzed up with danish fetta and seasoned with dukkuh, it went a dream with toasted freshly made turkish flatbreads I picked up from Sevims from the same market.

I came home and had a search for recipes and ended up finding a David Lebovitz post about a choc beetroot cake, which was inspired by Nigel Slaters recipe from Tender Vol 1, which I have. I'm always looking for reasons to use my cookbooks, and so I went and grabbed it, and decided that this was the one! I read the recipe, and saw that it followed the same method as Maggie Beers recipe for a rich chocolate cake with figs that I completely killed a couple of weeks ago, as the chocolate split - THREE TIMES that weekend. I was apprehensive about having to do this again but figured that I'd better just get back on the horse! I'm glad I did, the cake turned out great.

When I added the coffee to the chocolate, it did begin to split, and I almost stirred it too much, but them remembered Slater had specified to stir it ONLY ONCE! I added the butter and left it, as instructed. I came back to it and gave it a stir and it looked like it had split. I almost didn't trust Nigel anymore! But I read the recipe again, and he had specified to mix it firmly (I had just been using a spoon previously), so I got out my whisk and gave it a firmer beating and it came together beautifully. How could I have doubted Mr Slater?! He has proven that I can trust his recipes!

I have also learned something new about melting chocolate - Don't overstir it, just leave it to melt on a gentle heat. This will be my method from now on!

Heres the recipe below, which I got from the Telegraph UK website.

Ingredients
250g beetroot
200g fine dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids)
4 tbsp hot espresso
200g butter
135g plain flour
a heaped tsp baking powder
3 tbsp good-quality cocoa powder
5 eggs
190g golden caster sugar
crème fraîche and poppy seeds, to serve


Method
1) Lightly butter a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking parchment. Set the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.


2) Cook the beetroot, whole and unpeeled, in boiling unsalted water. Depending on their size, they will be knifepoint tender within 30 to 40 minutes. Young ones may take slightly less. Drain them, let them cool under running water, then peel them, slice out their stem and root, and blitz to a rough purée.

3) Melt the chocolate, snapped into small pieces, in a small bowl resting over a pot of simmering water. Don’t stir. When the chocolate looks almost melted, pour the hot coffee over it and stir once. Cut the butter into small pieces – the smaller the better –and add to the melted chocolate. Dip the butter down under the surface of the chocolate with a spoon (as best you can) and leave to soften.


4) Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. Separate the eggs; put the whites in a mixing bowl. Stir the yolks together.


5) Now, working quickly but gently, remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir until the butter has melted into the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes, then stir in the egg yolks. Do this quickly, mixing firmly so the eggs blend into the mixture. Fold in the beetroot. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold in the sugar. Firmly but tenderly fold the beaten egg whites and sugar into the chocolate mixture. A large metal spoon is what you want; work in a deep, figure-of-eight movement but take care not to over-mix. Fold in the flour and cocoa.


5) Transfer quickly to the prepared cake tin and put in the oven, turning the heat down immediately to 160C/gas mark 3. Bake for 40 minutes. The rim of the cake will feel spongy, the inner part should still wobble a little when gently shaken.


6) Leave to cool (it will sink a tad in the centre), loosening it around the edges with a palette knife after half an hour or so. It is not a good idea to remove the cake from its tin until it is completely cold. Serve in thick slices, with crème fraîche and poppy seeds.


I decided to make 2 cakes with this mix, and while the cake was lovely, it would definately be much better made as the larger cake, much more moist and dense. I didn't adjust the cooking time enough, so the cake was a touch drier than it should have been, but through no fault of the recipe! Note to self... Don't cook stuff too long!

Will make this again, following Nigels instructions to the letter!