The Friday list and a chocolate loaf

It's been a while between Friday lists, I know! But these holidays have been busy for us, and what little time I could grab at the computer had to be spent on actual work, not looking for new and beautiful things to cook and read. Harrumph.

So anyway, here we are back again, with a nice little reading list for our weekend pleasure. And, in apology for being so slack this month, here's also a recipe for the above chocolate and blackberry loaf. It has been the best thing I've baked this year, and actually, just writing up that recipe and editing this pic, has put me in the mind to publish this post and make another one right now for arvo tea. Toodle pip.
Mimi Thorisson's posts are sometimes  hard to look at - all that beauty, all that incredible beauty. But always come back because, well, of all that beauty. This latest post is a new high.

Another blog I always find super inspiring is Happy Yolks - the photography, the food, the general message; all beautiful. Also just spent a lovely little while reading the House of Humble, it's another gorgeous and positive little corner of the web.

I love talky books - they’re great when I’m prepping in the farm kitchen or driving in and out of town to get the kids etc. But they do get expensive so I’m always keen to find new things to listen too...some great podcast suggestions in this post, especially the comment thread.

Sweet dukkah? Jeepers, why didn’t I think of this before. The possibilities are mouth watering...sprinkled over natural yogurt and poached fruit, over ice cream, or any kind of tart that needs something extra (don’t we all). Or you could even dip wedges of fruit into this mix as you would bread into olive oil then savory dukkah. Love the idea of the cigars too.

Armchair travel, off we go to Iceland. Especially after these pics.

Love the idea of these breakfast cookies.

As soon as it cools down a bit, we are so having a mac and cheese party like this.

2015 is going to be a year of camping for our family. I can feel it. We gave ourselves a jump on this resolve last weekend and it was great. But next time I’ll print out this master list by Hugo and Elsa (and look - there’s a paella pan in there too, great minds!)

Dark chocolate popcorn with rosemary salt.

Loved this essay, Garlic with Everything

And still on good writing, though somewhat off topic...here are 51 of the most beautiful sentences in literature

Chocolate and blackberry loaf

Blackberries are ripening on our farm at the moment, only a couple of weeks left to wait until we can pull out the gumboots, the ladder and our nerves to brave the few bushes Tim has promised never to touch, but which also happen to be in a particularly snake-y part of the farm. But in the meantime, they are popping up at our local shops and market, and while I'm not sure the cultivated, less thorny blackberry bushes produce fruit as intense and beautifully flavoured as their wild and often unwanted  counterparts, they're still pretty delicious. Especially when folded into this dense, dark chocolate tea cake.

This really is a beautiful cake and it lasts well for up to a week (wrapped etc) so I'd highly recommend doubling the quantities below and making two. Give one away or slice the second and freeze each slice (in a layer of baking paper then plastic) for lunches.

1 cup plain flour
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1/4 cup espresso coffee (I used one shot from our little machine at home but you could also make a really strong plunger coffee and use 1/4 cup of that)
1/2 cup natural yogurt
1 tsp vanilla paste
150g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 cup blackberries (raspberries or blueberries would also be good)

Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a large loaf tin. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and a good pinch of salt and set aside. In another bowl, combine the coffee, yogurt and vanilla and stir well. Now cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the yogurt mixture and mix in on low speed. Then, by hand, fold in the flour mixture and finally fold through the blackberries.

Spoon batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is just pulling away from the tin's sides and it feels firm to touch.