Let's Blog On

When I shared my beetroot cake recipe with sweet Bonnie at Daydream Delicious I didn't imagine the recipes I blog about would appeal to other food bloggers. However, an unintentional hit on Technorati has revealed a couple of pleasant surprises!

Las chicas (the girls) at Filosofía de Sabor have adapted "my" carrot cake to suit their tastes. They enjoyed the cake; moist and light were their words and the accompanying photo did them (and me) proud.

Alex at Eating Leeds tried out the original version of the beetroot cake with success. This moist and fluffier version, archived in The National Trust, is the one which Guillermo prefers and I have now reverted to making. The trick is not to overcook it; for some reason this cake cooks out really fast so you may want to watch it closely the last 5 minutes - remember cakes continue to cook in its own residual heat after you take it out of the oven.

Foodie friends who visited from London last May, on the other hand, have adopted my accidental rendition as their family recipe. If you prefer a more solid fudge cake, give my version a go but remember to use a loaf tin so the cake has less exposed surface area to get dried out. Again, you have to watch it in the last 5 minutes – I am beginning to suspect my Delonghi electric/ microwave bench top oven which I use, specifically, for cake making (dry heat from an electric oven is best for baking) is cooler than full size ones so you may want to start checking the cake earlier than I have noted.

All this talk of cake making has inspired me to start planning for Sunday's morning coffee with our dear friends, Miguel and Paula, not to mention their angelic daughters, Gabriela and Carolina. This is my first step in returning to full scale social circulation since our loss.

Miguel has already requested my wholemeal banana and white chocolate loaf. I am tempted to tweak it with the dulce de leche (para repostería) that is still sitting in our fridge – it ain't gonna to move if I don't think of ways to use it up.

In addition to the homey taste of banana loaf, I would like to make them something else which they won't easily find in Argentina...Guillermo loves flapjacks but I'm not so keen on the amount of butter involve so maybe I could make oatmeal slices filled with prunes; I guarantee that it tastes a lot better than it sounds.

It is an adaptation of a Delia Smith recipe using blueberries. For those lucky ones who have easy access to fresh berries, you can stick to the original recipe as below. However, if you are like me, you can substitute berries with dried dates or prunes cooked in a little water.

Blueberry Oat Slices

450g blueberries
1 tsp lemon zest
275g wholemeal flour
150g porridge oats
1 tsp salt
225g butter
110g soft brown sugar

Preheat oven to 200C. Line a rectangular brownie tin with parchment.

Make crumbs by combining all ingredients except the blueberries. Divide the mixture in halves. Press half into the tin then scatter the blueberries on top. Pour the remaining mixture on top, press down firmly.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30min. Cool for 10min then cut into squares with a sharp knife. Leave them to cool in the tin until ready to eat.