Jaynehowarth’s Weblog

I must admit I didn’t have much hope about this cake. I imagined that it would be vile. But I should know better:  I have never followed a Nigel Slater recipe and have anything but a fantastic end result.

(Must admit, though, I didn’t cook this cake. My husband did!)

Serves 8

Ingredients

250g beetroot

200g fine dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

4tbsps hot espresso

200g butter

135g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

3 tbsps good quality cocoa powder

5 eggs

190g caster sugar

Method

Lightly butter a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Line the base with baking parchment.

Pre heat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4

Cook the beetroot, whole and unpeeled, in boiled unsalted water (30-40mins). Drain, let them cool.

Once cool, peel them (under running water), slice off the stem and root. Puree roughly.

Separate the bar of chocolate into small cubes and place them into a small glass bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and allow chocolate to melt. Do not let the simmering water touch the bowl; do not stir the chocolate.

When the chocolate is almost melted, pour in the espresso and stir once.

Cut the butter into very small pieces and add to the melted chocolate. Dip the butter down under the surface of the chocolate with a spoon and leave to soften.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa.

Separate the eggs, putting the whites into a large mixing bowl.

Stir the yolks together.

Working quickly, remove the bowl of chocolate from the heat and stir until the butter has melted into the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes and stir in the egg yolks. **Do this quickly, mixing firmly and evenly so the eggs blend intothe mixture. Fold in the beetroot.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold in the sugar. Carefully fold the beaten egg whites and sugar into the chocolate mixture. Using a large metal spoon, fold in a figure of eight. Then fold in the flour and cocoa.

Transfer quickly into the prepared cake tin. Immediately turn the oven down to 160C/Gas mark 3. Bake for 40 minutes.

(The rim of the cake will feel spongy, but the middle but will wobble a little).

Leave to cool (it will sink a little in the middle). Loosen it around the edges with a palette knife after 30 minutes. Do not remove the cake until completely cold.

Serve with creme fraiche and poppy seeds.

Taken from Nigel Slater Tender. Fourth Estate. £30.

www.4thestate.co.uk

www.nigelslater.co.uk

Best Banana Cake EVER

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas (about 400g)

150g softened butter

80g sultanas (optional)

300g plain flour

2tsp  baking powder

½tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs, lightly beaten

80ml sunflower oil

Method

Preheat oven to 180C (350F, gas mark 4).

Butter a 900g loaf tin.

Peel and mash the bananas.

Mix butter and sugar together until fluffy, then stir in the bananas and sultanas.

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and add it to the banana mix, along with the beaten eggs, beating well as you go along.

Add the oil and mix well.

Pour into loaf tin and cook for 45 minutes (mine sometimes takes up to one hour).

Recipe: Cooking For Kids (The Guardian)

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the sweetest.

I tweet a lot, as the poor 790 or so poor souls who follow me know.

As a freelance writer, Twitter helps me feel as if I am part of a large, open-plan office with a myriad trades and professions, all working harmoniously (and sometimes, not so harmoniously).

Remote workers are only too aware that home-working can feel isolating – and it’s always your turn to get the coffee.

But online sites such as Twitter have helped to break the monotony of a long day in front of the home computer. It is possible to have 140 character conversations, have a laugh, answer questions and read interesting snippets.

It has also given birth to some marvellous “eureka!” moments – the Twitpanto last Christmas engendered a feeling of camaraderie, while Twitter Titters, a book of comic writing, raised money for Comic Relief.

But it has been a few Twit chats over the past few weeks that have resulted in a rather sweet idea.

It turns out many of us a rather partial to a bit of cake. It doesn’t matter if it is apple, toffee or banana (although chocolate does seem to be a favourite), we love to talk about it.

So much so, that a throwaway comment of “we should have Twit reviews of cake shops and cafes” has led to a new blogsite – a 140 character comment about tea and cakes.

Set up by @mmmmmmcake, I think this is the kind of simple idea that will take off. It is something that people enjoy, because it is fun, it is slightly distracting from the mundane goings-on at work and it is cake.

It is hard to explain to non-Twitter users what tweeting is all about: some look blankly as you make valiant efforts to describe the goings-on; others are keen to try.

A year ago today, I thought I’d give it a try. It took a few weeks, months even, to begin to understand what it was all about.

So, you know what that means, don’t you? It’s a birthday. And what do birthdays mean? Cake. Once I find some, you might find a review.

In the meantime, have a look at the cake blogs at http://bit.ly/Cwk2Z