Wednesday 11 January 2012

Super moist blueberry cake

This is an adaptation from a recipe in the beautiful cake porn book "Cake Days" by the Hummingbird Bakery. While I'm sure that the original recipe was perfect already, I am pathologically unable to stick to instructions. It's one of my many quirks.

7oz margarine
7oz self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
7oz  golden caster sugar
3 medium eggs (I don't need to remind you to use free range, do I?)
1 tsp vanilla extract  
 5oz blueberries dusted with 1 tbs flour
1oz quark, beaten to soften

The method is the same as a basic sponge. Cream together the marge and sugar (purists would probably do this with a wooden spoon and elbow grease but I'm far too lazy  for that) until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift in about half of the flour and baking powder, stir well, then fold in the rest. Fold through the quark, then finally the blueberries. Bung in your prepared tin of choice (I used a loaf tin, but had a bit of spare mixture so made half a dozen cupcakes out of the remainder) and let it bake at about 180 C until risen to perfection and dotted with exploded purpley goo.

The slightely higher than usual egg-flour ratio along with the quark makes this cake so soft and moist it really doesn't need any frosting, but since I had half a tub of quark in the fridge I thought I'd play around. A large dollop beaten with a little icing sugar and a few drops of lemon oil (juice would slacken the frosting too much) makes a lovely tangy topping. It would be seriously good on carrot cake too. 






NOM.

Friday 6 January 2012

A littlebit about me...

Alright, I suck at this blogging  stuff. I fully intend to remedy this situation this year. But for now, a little foodie survey.

1. Who taught you to cook? Myself. One part natural ability, one part greed, several parts trial and error.

2. Describe your cooking style: Rustic and flavoursome.

3. How many cookbooks do you have? (Tell the truth): I've never tried counting. 60 maybe?

4. Who do you admire as a food writer? Jamie, Hugh, Nigella, Kate Shirazi, Gizzi Erskine.

5. What is your most used cookbook? Nigella - Domestic Goddess

6. What is your fail-safe dish? Carbonara with leeks and peas. No other dish produces such delicious results for such little effort and expense.

7. French or Italian? Italian without a shadow of a doubt.

8. Thai or Indian? Thai thai thai!

9. Tea or coffee? If I had to live without either I would combust.

10. Your guilty food pleasure? Dominos and KFC.