Join me in celebrating the EFS blog’s 3rd year of blogging sans celebrating the 2nd since I was away for that one year; 10 months to be precise. In fact, I am rather a little apprehensive about whether I should consider celebrating this year as the second year of blogging or whether it should be celebrated simply as the 3rd year of my blog’s existence. While I am still confused about this I wonder what would you have done?
Anyways, we shall leave that matter to rest for a while. Here I am, happy with the two years of my active time on this blog. I have enjoyed every bit of it; not just blogging but also making friends, visiting their amazing blogs, learning something new and exciting, getting inspired, sharing recipes and being able to do something productive with my time. And for the time that I was away, my mind and heart were always aching to be back to blogging asap which exactly didn’t turn out to be asap! And you can’t imagine how glad I was to be back to blogging after that long hiatus. I treasure and hold dear, each and every comment, word of encouragement and feedback that I have received from the friends, readers, visitors and the followers of EFS. It all means a lot to me especially, considering that I was away for nearly a year yet I was embraced with the same warmth on my return. You guys rock! J
On this special day of my blog I am taking the chance, at the risk of sounding politically incorrect, to say just one more thing that nagged me just a little bit initially. Just as every coin has two sides to it, so have been my experiences. For all those wonderful and amazing bloggers whom I chanced to meet (on the virtual space) and know, I also unfortunately happened to come across a handful of those whom I realized choose to 'move' only amongst their own 'coterie', who never care to even pay a courtesy visit despite my visits at their amazing blogs and leaving behind my thoughts about their blog and food. In all candidness, initially, it was a bit disappointing since I have always encountered the food blogging community as being warm, friendly, supportive, encouraging and very receptive of newbies. It left me wondering if they just didn't happen to care about others in the blogging community or are they out-rightly rude or just simply happen to suffer from some delusion...of grandeur, perhaps.
This isn't me ranting or complaining; its just me thinking aloud.
It is certainly their choice whom they wish to interact with or not for that matter, but being polite and courteous costs nothing, I believe. And that reminds of the golden words by Maya Angelou "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Just a handful of people, however, are pretty incapable of making me feel upset since I have so many reasons to be cheerful about! Wonderful friends, visitors, readers and bloggers from the community cheer me up and make my day with their encouraging and supportive words; let me tell you my friends, your mere presence on my blog is so heart-warming. I happen to be the one who count their blessings J
I chose to make this cake for my blog anniversary since it is easy and quick to make, gives the feel of being rich yet it happens to be so healthy. The cake is moist, dense, decadent and one major reason I truly adore it is, I can gorge on it guilt free. So go ahead, bake it and indulge!
For the cake you will need,
100 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
150 gm Beetroot, roasted
200 gm (1¾ cup) Self raising flour
200 gm (1 cup heaping) Demerara sugar
1 tbsp Baking powder
50 gm (½ cup) Cocoa
200 gm (1 cup scant) Yogurt
2 tsp Vanilla extract
For icing,
3 tbsp Milk50 gram Dark chocolate (I used one with 45% cocoa)
1 tbsp Cocoa powder
75-100 gm Icing sugar (depending on how sweet you like the icing)
For filling:
175 gm Mascarpone cheese2 tbsp Icing sugar
½ tsp Orange zest
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Line the base of a 20 cm spring form pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. Keep aside.
Puree the beetroot in a food processor. Add rest of the cake ingredients and blitz till the ingredients are well combined and you have a smooth batter. Scrape immediately in the prepared tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes to one hour or till skewer comes out clean.Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and flip it on the wire rack, flat side up. Once the cake is warm, slice the cake horizontally in two and let it cool completely.Before I proceed to the recipe, here is a quick look at the year that was; the top five most visited posts since my return, in April 2013 till now at the EFS:
For the icing, put all ingredients for icing in a sauce pan and heat. Whisk till it becomes smooth. Let it cool in the pan.
For the filling, whisk the mascarpone cheese with icing sugar till there are no lumps. Add the orange zest and mix it into the cheese. Keep aside.To assemble the cake, place the bottom slice of the cake on the serving plate or cake stand. Tip the mascarpone filling over it. Spread evenly and gently place the other half of the cake over it. Pour the chocolate icing over the cake. Garnish the cake with nuts or chocolate shavings. Slice and serve.
Serves 8-10
And here is a look at the top five posts that were the most visited at the EFS since my return in April 2013...
Lemonade Concentrate
Kathal Kofta (Jackfruit Dumplings in Red Curry)
Nimbu ka Chhunda (Lemon Chutney)
Dahike Kebab (Yogurt Patties)
Besides these the other favourites happen to be…(in no particular order)
MasalaPaneer (Chili Cilantro Cottage Cheese)
Sun Dried Tomato & Rosemary Cheese Biscotti
Masala Spiced Roasted Beetroot Lassi
Handvo (Savory Rice & Lentil Cake)Dhaniwal Korma w/ Peshawari Naan
Socca
Goan Prawn Curry
Nuts & Nutella Samosa
