Chocolate Beetroot Loaf

Its not your run of the mill combo, but if you can make carrot cake, why can't you make beetroot cake??? :). I found this recipe on Netmums and tweaked it ever so slightly. You can't really taste the beetroot, but it does give the cake a lovely moist texture.

This has a nice chocolate flavour but is not intensely sweet. If you prefer a sweeter version, I'd increase the caster sugar by an ounce.

I didn't have a skewer to hand so used my knife to test it so the top of my cake looks a bit worse for wear!!!! It had a beautiful intense colour when it came out the oven.



And perfect with a cup of tea or coffee :)



Just a word of warning - you should probably use gloves when handling the beetroot as otherwise you're going to have red everywhere!!!!

I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe. Go ahead, give it a go - you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients

8 oz self raising flour

2 eggs

1 oz cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

2 oz caster sugar

2 oz golden caster sugar

3 oz melted dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

3 oz butter, melted

4 oz raw beetroot , grated

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius/gas mark 4/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Grease & line a loaf tin

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl.

4. Stir in the sugar. Then stir in the raw beetroot and gradually add the melted chocolate, melted butter and eggs. The mixture does get quite stiff but just keep at it until it all comes together.

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for around an hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool in tin before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Linking it up!

Today I'm linking it up on:

Lolly stick bracelet

Having recently gotten into crafting thanks to my friend Marisa (you can find her here), I came across these bracelets created from popsicle sticks or lolly sticks as we know them here. Now the very idea of using a lolly stick and bending it to create a bracelet was very intriguing so I just had to try it! I found the tutorial here and have finally managed to do it, although my finished product is no where near as lovely as the bracelets in the original post.

The lolly sticks can be bent by soaking them in hot water and then shaping them by warming the wood through with your fingers. Then insert them into a glass so they hold a circular shape. You will find full details in the tutorial link above.

I did use coloured lolly sticks but the colour comes off when you boil them, so you will need to paint them again.



Once mine had dried, I painted them all, but as you can see they did open out a bit due to the wetness of the paint.



So just as the paint was drying I inserted them into the glasses again and they came back to the bracelet shape quite easily.


Once they had dried overnight, I painted some designs on each one. I have not painted in a long long time so you can see the result of an unsteady hand!!



I then added some decorative shiny bits I had lying around to add a bit of sparkle and some good old silver glitter glue.



And ta da! I love how these turned out!







Now all I need to do is buy some sealant/lacquer tomorrow and seal them with a protective coat. I was so excited, I couldn't wait until I'd done that to share this with you!
Let me know what you think - I'd love to hear your comments!

This post is linked up at:
Smile Monsters
Sun Scholars
Sassy Sites
Be different act normal
Along for the ride
Cherished Treasures
Flamingo Toes
Making the world cuter
Craft O Maniac
Sew Happy Geek

Indian Takeaway? Not quite!

Mango chutney - the very name conjures up images of an Indian takeaway with a gooey mango dip in a styrofoam cup!

Growing up in India, if we weren't eating mangoes as a fruit, we were eating them in pickles or chutneys. My mum is currently visiting us from India and mum visiting always equates to good food :).

This time, I had the opportunity to sample her version of the mango chutney (which uses more Southern Indian flavours) and I assure you, it tastes nothing like the stuff in the styrofoam cup!

I have listed the recipe below. You can adjust the level of chilli to suit your taste and this chutney can be made as hot or mild as you like.

The ingredients you require are: -


1 large raw mango peeled and cut into small pieces (approx 350 grams)
Sesame Oil - 4 tablespoons
Curry leaves - 4 to 5 leaves
Mustard seeds - a pinch
Turmeric - a pinch
Red chilli powder - to taste
Salt - to taste

Asafoetida - a pinch (can be found in world food shops and is essentially Indian in origin)

Red chillies - 2

Jaggery - 150 grams (Jaggery is the Indian version of unrefined sugar. You can possibly substitute light muscovado sugar for this if jaggery is not available. If your raw mango is particularly sour you may need to increase the jaggery slightly to balance the taste).

Oops! I forgot the Fenugreek seeds - a very small pinch

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan.

2. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the asafoetida, curry leaves, whole red chillies and the mango.

3. Add the red chilli powder and the fenugreek powder.

4. When the mango is slightly softened (this doesn't take long), add the jaggery . The jaggery will melt almost immediately and bring together all the ingredients. Do not cook it too much after this step.

5. Allow to cool.


This chutney will keep for a week in an airtight container. I guarantee it will be consumed long before that! Enjoy!

Tutu Time

I've been wanting to make little Miss J a tutu for a while now. Since sewing is not up my alley at all, I decided to scour the web for a no sew one. I used a combo of two tutorials which you can find here and here.

I bought one meter of tulle in purple, which in hindsight was too little and next time around I would buy more. So what I have is a short tutu but who cares - it looks lovely anyway :)

You need some tulle in a colour of your choice, some elastic, measuring tape, scissors and a craft mat if you have one.

Measure your child's waist and then subtract 3 inches - that is the amount of elastic you need. For e.g little Miss J's waist measured 19.5 inches and I used 16.5 inches of elastic. Sew the end of the elastic together to create a hoop.

Pull the elastic up to your thigh like a girdle. This makes it easy to loop the strips of tulle and tie knots tightly together until the whole elastic is filled up. You can refer to the tutorial links for how to make the knots....both tutorials show different knots and you can choose whichever one you prefer.

And the end result was this.



Doesn't it look lovely? Let me know what you think :)

Bananas and walnut - a great combo!

The weather was horrible yesterday, we had gale force winds and it was too crazy to get out to do anything. This usually translates to little Miss J getting all whiny on me as she is at her best when she is kept busy!

I also had four overripe bananas staring at me in the kitchen, urging me to utilise them before they were completely done for.

So I decided to tackle both and baked a banana bread (with walnuts) with little Miss J who thoroughly enjoys being my little helper in the kitchen.

And the result was this :). A lovely moist loaf with oodles of flavour and a very easy recipe to boot. Perfect with a steaming hot cup of tea or coffee! Hope you enjoy this!

Banana Loaf – makes 8 to 10 slices

Ingredients

270 g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

200 g peeled bananas, mashed

280g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

140 g unsalted butter, melted

80 - 100 g walnuts

A 23x13 cm loaf tin, greased and dusted with flour – or lined with greaseproof paper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius

2. Beat the sugar and eggs until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the egg and sugar mixture. Mix it thoroughly until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the wet mixture.

4. Pour in the melted butter and beat until all ingredient are well mixed.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth over with a palette knife.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour or until firm to touch.

7. Leave cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning it on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Gluten free you say?

A friend of a friend asked for an almond meal cake recipe and here is my favourite - Nigella's clementine cake. Sorry I don't have a picture to post, but its a super easy cake and you can't go wrong. To top it off it is gluten free and fat free (the good fat from the almonds does not count!!!) - so if you're going to have cake, this is as indulgent as you can get without the guilt!

I wouldn't call it a cake you make on a budget as it uses 6 eggs and ground almonds which aren't the cheapest ingredient on the block, but it is a rich moist cake that you can make a day ahead and tastes absolutely gorgeous. :)

Ingredients

4 -5 clementines (about 375 g total weight)
6 eggs
225 g sugar
250 g ground almonds
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for one and a half to two hours. Drain and when cool, cut each in half and remove the pips. Put the clementines in a blender/food processor, skin, pith, fruit and all and give them a quick blitz.

2. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190 degrees celsius and grease and line a 21cm round cake tin.

3. You can then add all the remaining ingredients to your blender/food processor and blitz or you can beat the eggs by hand, add the sugar, ground almonds and baking powder and mix well and finally add the pulped blitzed clementines.

4. Pour the cake mixture (it is a pouring consistency) into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately an hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. You may have to cover the tin with foil after 40 minutes to prevent the top of the cake from burning.

5. Remove when done and leave to cool on a wire rack but in the tin. When the cake is completely cool, take it out of the tin. This cake tastes even better the day after it is made and is incredibly moist.