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A spiced strawberry & rhubarb upside-down cake to celebrate 9 years of blogging

by Jeanne Horak on May 29, 2013 19 Comments in Baking (sweet), Fruit, Recipes

StrawberryRhubarbCakeTitle © J Horak-Druiff 2013

Nine years.

It’s quite a log time, really.  Longer than either of the two World Wars; longer than the musical Grease ran on Broadway; longer than the life of the oldest hamster ever recorded; and considerably longer than either of Britney Spears’ marriages.   Nine years ago last Thursday, I took a deep breath, sat down in front of my computer armed with enough knowledge of html to fill a small thimble, and miraculously after an hour I stood up having put together my fully functioning blog, CookSister.  Granted, it wasn’t particularly big or clever, only particularly… ummm… mustard yellow – but it was all mine and after a couple of hours of tinkering, I was able to publish a page of my own writing on the web for the entire online world to see. For somebody whose writings up to that point had primarily been handwritten in notebooks, shown only to a very select few friends, this was empowering to the point of making me quite giddy.

 

StrawberryRhubarbIngredients © J Horka-Druiff 2013

 

Back then,  nobody knew what a blog was.  You were greeted with looks of total incomprehension when you said that you were taking pictures for your blog, rather than being greeted with looks of eye-rolling disdain (which are, sadly, far more common today). It was something you literally did for your own fulfilment and no other reason.  There were so few food bloggers worldwide that we all knew each other and when a foreign food blogger came to town, practically all the London food bloggers would show up to have dinner with them.  PR companies’ discovery of blogs as a potential source of free coverage was still many years in the future; no bloggers had considered turning their private obsession into a published book; and social media as we know it today was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye. Oh what a difference nine years make.  It now seems that most of the literate world (and some from the illiterate world…) has dabbled in blogging.  It has become accepted wisdom that if you want to launch any sort of career, from publishing to TV stardom to retail, you need to have an online presence where your blog is the focal point of an ever-growing web of social media connections.  Everyone starting a food blog today seems so filled with purpose and bristling with business plans; and as bloggers we are now constantly bombarded with advice on how we should be blogging, how to devise a marketing strategy for our blog, and how to write optimally for SEO purposes.

 

StrawberryRhubarbCakeUnbaked © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

If it all starts sounding rather like hard work to you, don’t worry – you are not alone.  Because, you see, I am not really a blogger with a gameplan; or a writer-in-waiting who is blogging to plug my forthcoming book; or a TV chef building a following for my potential show.  I am a blogger’s blogger. I blog because… I truly love blogging, not because it is a means to an end. Yes, it has brought me teaching and writing and travel gigs that I have totally adored, but even if I got a full-time job teaching and writing tomorrow (dreamy dreams…) I would still blog. Because even after all these years, I still believe deeply and passionately in blogging as a manifestation of the right to freedom of expression; as a deeply fulfilling creative outlet; and as a living testimony to the Internet’s power to create and sustain communities of people with shared interests and goals.

 

StrawberryRhubarbCakeDetail © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

I also believe that sharing lies at the heart of any functional community and I can’t fathom why people think that sharing their know-how will somehow diminish their success.  So in that spirit, here are five thoughts (I hesitate to call them tips!) that I’d like to share with anybody currently writing a food blog, with my top tip for those who are just thinking of starting a food blog being just do it!

1.  Be the best you can be.  Invest in your skills.  Take a creative writing course.  Buy a decent camera and learn how to make a plate of brown lentil soup look edible on screen.  Never post anything on your blog that you are not proud of – content really is at the heart of any successful blog.

2.  Be the blog you want to read. Yes, you can make more money by selling every inch of real estate on your blog to advertisers; or by running a giveaway of bumper packs of loo paper for a fee almost every week – but be sure to think long and hard about whether you really want a blog that is an unattractive walking billboard for somebody else’s product, full of press releases rather than original writing.  Is that the kind of blog that you want to read? And if not, ask yourself why your readers would continue to read such a blog.  I am not against advertising per se, but where the revenue tail starts wagging the content dog, it’s probably time to rethink your strategy.

3.  Be confident of your own worth.  People tell me I am “lucky” to go on press trips or to receive free meals or samples.  There is nothing lucky about it – the fact is that if you have worked hard to build up a following on various social media,  PRs who offer you things are doing so because they want access to the audience that you have built up, plain and simple. By all means, be gracious when free things are offered – but do not feel you have to do a day’s worth of work in exchange for a free bag of crisps; and do not be afraid to turn down offers you are not comfortable with. There will be other offers.

 

StrawberryRhubarbCakeDiptych © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

4.  Be prepared for creatively lean times.  Writer’s block.  Blogger burnout.  Call it what you wish, but be assured that at some point it will come a-knocking at your door. It’s not necessarily a sign that you are all written out and that it’s time to stop blogging – like bubble skirts, spiral perms and hula hoops, it’s a phase.  It will pass. Step away and do something else for a few days; or force yourself to write for 10 minutes every day about something unrelated to food (your first day at school;  a first-person account of being a pet cat; what you liked/disliked about the last movie you saw or book you read; your fantasy holiday). The urge to blog will come back, I promise you.

5.  Be in it for the love of it. Like marriage, people enter into blogging for all kinds of wrong reasons.  Like marriage, there really is only one right reason to carry on blogging year in and year out – because you love it.

 

StrawberryRhubarbCakeCut © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

What better way to celebrate nine years of food blogging than with a large cake?  Those of you who follow this blog will know that I am not a huge baker, and when I do bake I am more likely to bake muffins or tarts than cakes – but every now and again, only a celebratory cake will do.  This one was inspired by my love of upside-down cakes, and the arrival in my kitchen of five sturdy stalks of rhubarb from the “share the bounty” surplus table at the allotments.  Strawberries and rhubarb are a match made in heaven, both in terms of colour and flavour and so they seemed to be the natural choice for this cake.  The recipe is adapted from The Kitchen Magpie’s rhubarb upside down cake, but I wanted something a little less sweet and a little more grown-up – closer to the spiciness of my favourite pear and cranberry upside-down cake, in fact.  I also used dark brown sugar instead of brown, and golden granulated instead of white, giving the entire cake a darker and more caramelised look.  The end result was spectacular – starting with the incredible aroma of the baking cake, following through with its decadent good looks, and finishing with a perfectly balanced sweet, tart and spicy flavour and gooey texture. It’s even better cold the next day… if it lasts that long!

 

StrawberryRhubarbCakeFinal ©  J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

Elsewhere on the food blogs…

  • Margot made a crumble with apple, rhubarb & ginger
  • Meeta made a strudel with rhubarb, ginger and quark
  • Jamie made a cobbler with cherry and rhubarb
  • Andrew made a sweet risotto with rhubarb compote

 

 

 

 

5.0 from 6 reviews
A spiced strawberry & rhubarb upside-down cake to celebrate 9 years of blogging
 
Print
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
70 mins
Total time
1 hour 25 mins
 
This cake is simple to make and uses up a lot of rhubarb if you have a surfeit - there is rhubarb both in the batter and the topping!
Author: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Recipe type: Cake
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 114 g (1/2 cup) butter, softened
  • 150g (3/4 cup) soft brown sugar
  • 150g (3/4 cup) white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
  • 250g (2 cups) plain white flour
  • 2.5ml (1/2 tsp) ground cinnamon
  • 1.25ml (1/4 tsp) ground ginger
  • 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
  • 2.5ml (1/2 tsp) baking powder
  • 250mk (1 cup) Greek yogurt
  • 2 cups (about 2.5 large stalks) of finely chopped rhubarb tossed and coated with 1 Tbsp of flour
  • FOR THE TOPPING:
  • 55 g (1/4 cup) melted butter
  • 200g (1 cup) packed soft brown sugar
  • 400g (2 cups) sliced fresh strawberries
  • 200g (2 cups) chopped fresh rhubarb
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Prepare a 32 x 22cm (13×9-inch) cake tin or Pyrex baking dish pan by greasing the sides with butter and pouring the melted butter for the topping over the base, tilting the dish to ensure even coverage.
  3. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the melted butter. Arrange the sliced strawberries on top of the sugar - feel free to be as random or artistic as you like - and then add the shopped rhubarb for the topping. Press all the fruit gently into the sugar.
  4. For the batter, cream the butter and both sugars together using an electric mixer. When fully incorporated, beat in the eggs one at a time, add the vanilla and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  5. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Gradually add the dry ingredients and the yoghurt to the sugar-butter mixture in an electric mixer on low speed - add about ⅓ of the flour, then ⅓ of the yoghurt and mix until fully incorporated; then repeat until all the dry ingredients and yoghurt have been added.
  6. Add the two cups of chopped rhubarb dusted in flour and gently mix into the batter until evenly distributed.
  7. The battter will be relatively dry - spreadable rather than pourable. Spread the batter carefully over the top of the strawberry & rhubarb topping mixture in the baking dish.
  8. Bake at 180C (350F) for about 30 minutes, then cover the cake with aluminium foil to prevent over-browning. Continue to check the cake every 10 minutes or so until the centre starts to crack a little and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean - mine took a whopping 70 minutes, but ovens vary.
  9. Remove from the oven and onto a cooling rack. Run a palette knife or spatula around the edges of the cake to ensure that it is not sticking to the sides of the dish.
  10. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then place a large platter or chopping board upside down over the baking dish (it must be large enough to cover the baking dish completely). Using pot holders or oven gloves, hold both the platter/board and the baking dish firmly and quickly flip over. Carefully lift the baking dish, shaking gently to release any bits of fruit or caramel - the cake should drop easily onto the platter/board.
  11. Allow to cool to room temperature and serve with a dollop of crême fraiche.
  12. Makes 15 square servings.
Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
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  1. Rosana @ Hot&Chilli says

    May 29, 2013 at 3:09 pm

    Ah! so that’s what you were baking! Sounds marvelous and looks fantastic. Happy Birthday CookSister! and thank for inspiring us new/or not so new bloggers. Lots of love Rosana x

    Reply
  2. Kit says

    May 29, 2013 at 7:43 pm

    Jeanne, I love you for being a blogger’s blogger and articulating so well what it means. I love that you write long, long posts full of stories, even though they tell us that online readers have the attention span of a gnat and we need to get to the point in the first 140 characters. And I love that your blog is taking you places without you going ‘commercial’ and decking it out in billboards. Happy 9th blogiversary!

    Reply
  3. Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.) says

    May 30, 2013 at 2:14 am

    Jeanne – thank you for writing this post. I really needed to read these words of wisdom right now. I’ve just celebrated four years’ blogging and these “tips” were so timely. I, too, am told, often how “lucky” I am but the truth is, as you say, the harder you work the luckier you are… funny that 😉 You are blogging for all the right reasons and it shows in your words and pictures. Thanks for reminding me what a joy it is to read a “bloggers’ blogger blog”. I’m pinning these words on my bulletin board (as opposed to, you know, “Pinning” them):

    “I still believe deeply and passionately in blogging as a manifestation of the right to freedom of expression; as a deeply fulfilling creative outlet; and as a living testimony to the Internet’s power to create and sustain communities of people with shared interests and goals.”

    Reply
  4. Bron says

    May 30, 2013 at 10:19 am

    Congratulations Jeanne – 9 years is a really extraordinary achievement given the unchartered territory it was when you started. Hope you enjoy the next 9 even more!

    Reply
  5. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    May 30, 2013 at 11:09 am

    Congratulations on 9 years and here’s to many more ahead!

    Reply
  6. Denise | TLT says

    May 30, 2013 at 11:13 am

    Congrats on 9 years of blogging and thank you, Jeanne. Thank you for teaching me what a blog should be, what is important and what’s not (or shouldn’t be). And for often reminding me about those wonderful South African dishes…! That P2P still has a very special place in my heart and I’m grateful to have met you in person. Can you believe I have been following Cooksister almost from the beginning, long before I decided on my career? Hope to see you soon and hope you’ll continue being one of the best bloggers out there. Big hugs!

    Reply
  7. Lynn says

    May 30, 2013 at 3:49 pm

    What a nice post to wake up to here in sunny Sacramento! Honest, inspiring and a breath of fresh rhubarb! I took on a huge work project which has left little time to blog. What surfaced is a bigger desire to support and read others- I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons. Thank you for your wise words and congrats on nine years!

    Reply
  8. Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says

    May 30, 2013 at 11:35 pm

    Jeanne, congratulations on 9 years of blogging! No easy task to keep a quality blog vibrant for that long, and you make it seem easy. Thanks for sharing your recipes, your travels, and your heart.

    Reply
  9. Krista says

    May 31, 2013 at 5:04 am

    I can’t believe it’s been NINE YEARS!!! That is incredible, Jeanne, and something to be truly proud of. 🙂 You’ve created a beautiful niche here, one that inspires and educates and entertains. I’m so glad you’ve stuck with it. 🙂 Congratulations!!

    Reply
  10. A Lady in London says

    May 31, 2013 at 10:32 am

    Beautiful baking! Congrats on 9 years of blogging!

    Reply
  11. Alanna says

    June 4, 2013 at 2:26 am

    Congratulations, Jeanne! What a thoughtful retrospective, I wonder how many of us from what I consider to be the “original class” of food bloggers miss the good ol’ days. Occasionally I run across a post listing some of those old blogs and check to see if they are still active – a surprising number are!

    Reply
  12. Kaitlin says

    June 4, 2013 at 11:46 am

    Huge congrats on 9 years – what an accomplishment! I started blogging in 2009, somewhat in the thick of social media, and I can’t even imagine starting farther back because it seems like it’s changed SO MUCH since just then. It must have been fascinating to see the landscape change so much. I love your thoughts and bloggers like you!

    Reply
  13. Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says

    June 4, 2013 at 7:27 pm

    Very pretty, I love rhubarb a lot. My mom always used to make rhubarb soup, quite sour one so as a child I really did not like it, now I would give a lot to taste it again (!)

    Thanks for the link 🙂

    Reply
  14. Laci Hansard says

    June 5, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    I have been blogging for 2.5 years and have come to the time (both kids will be in school full time) where I am ready to start making a little $ and investing time in my blog. Looking at other blogs gives me great ideas, but great worry that I might lose “me” in there somewhere. This made me feel like my instincts are right and I should follow them. Thank you!

    Reply
  15. Meeta says

    June 13, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    I missed your 9 blog anniversary! But you know how eternally thankful that blogging brought us together – you’re my rock and I love your writing, which always brings me here. Looking forward to a lot of grand years of blogging with you!

    Reply
  16. Liezl says

    July 1, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    At least once a week – when no one has commented on a post, and another Twitter follower has jumped ship because I would not follow them back just for the sake of following back – I lie in bed and think “That is IT! I am talking to myself and this is totally pointless and I am never, ever blogging again! Take THAT cyberspace!”. Thank you for reminding me that I started blogging because I love it, and for no one else (although, at 36, I secretly dream I will have a miracle baby, and one day my blog will be a journal of sorts for my kids to look back on.) Sometimes it feels like it’s a race, and if you don’t have thousands of followers, a book deal and a TV show in the pipeline then you are losing. But you are only losing if fame was why you did it in the first place, and I think that is untrue for most of us.

    Reply
  17. Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says

    August 7, 2014 at 10:58 pm

    Oh, that looks amazing Jeanne! I should have seen it before I made mine 😉

    Reply
  18. Julie McPherson says

    May 13, 2017 at 6:16 pm

    Hmm, your spiced strawberry & rhubarb upside down cake looks utterly yummy. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor.

    Reply
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At 800ft and 95 floors, it is the tallest building in the UK and western Europe and houses 26 floors of office space, 3 floors of restaurants, 19 floors of 5-star Shangri-La hotel, 13 floors of residential apartments, and London's highest public viewing gallery, @shardview, comprising the 68th, 69th and 72nd floors.

The viewing gallery has now reopened after the Covid-19 lockdown and here are my 6 top tips for visitors:

🏙 Book in advance via the View From The Shard website. Walk-ins are not currently accepted. Although you can make a same day booking via the website, tickets are up to 35%  cheaper if you book 14 or more days in advance. For example, a standard adult ticket costs an eye-watering £34, but can go down to £22 if booked in advance.

🏙 Entry is timed and you have 30 mins after your allocated time to arrive or risk losing your slot. Security procedures take a while, so arrive 15 mins or so before your allocated slot.

🏙 Once you are at the top there is no time limit so take your time! Savour the views in all directions, as far as 40 miles away on a clear day. Use the enhanced reality interactive telescopes to learn more about London landmarks.

🏙 You can buy a £5 "weather guarantee" per ticket - and then if visibility is so bad you cannot see at least three of: the London Eye the Walkie Talkie, Tower Bridge,  One Canada Square, and St Paul’s Cathedral - then you can come back for free within 3 months.

🏙 No cash payments are accepted, so make sure you have a card to pay for souvenirs and refreshments.

🏙 Make sure you visit the restrooms while you are there - it's the best view from a loo you have ever experienced!
PSA: you may want to hit the bookmark icon because PSA: you may want to hit the bookmark icon because trust me, this refreshing summer cocktail is a keeper! 

Over the last few years, there has been an increased interest in premium tonic waters - after all  what is the point of buying excellent, nuanced, small batch gin and smothering it in cheap tonic? 

In 2015 premium spirits brand Suntory founded @merchantsheart, a range of premium mixers designed to enhance the flavour of their spirits. The range includes plain, light; floral aromatics; hibiscus; and pink peppercorn tonics, as well as ginger ale. I have been buying the pink peppercorn flavour at Sainsbury's since last year so I was thrilled when Merchant's Heart asked if they could send me a gift box of their tonics to try. [GIFTED]

To show off the beautiful pink hibiscus gin, I made a raspberry & cucumber gin cocktail (swipe left  and turn your sound up to hear the fizzzzzz in the video!). To make 2 long drinks you will need:
🍸 50ml gin
🍸 2 x 200ml bottles Merchant's Heart hibiscus tonic water
🍸 a handful of fresh raspberries
🍸 cucumber ribbons 
🍸 ice

Muddle half the strawberries with the ice. Pour over the gin and mix, then slowly top up with tonic. Add the cucumber ribbons and whole raspberries and enjoy. The hibiscus tonic not only lends a pink colour but also a floral flavour without being sweet.

What is your favourite way to enjoy gin and tonic?
"What is this life if, full of care, We have no ti "What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare." - William Henry Davies

Seeing as I am not able to add much to my travel photo collection in 2020, I have been enjoying a trawl back through old travel pics like this one, taken about a year ago in beautiful hilltop town of #Carcassonne.

This spectacular old walled city stands in the middle of the modern town in the Languedoc region of southern France and was started in Gallo-Roman times. The citadel consists essentially of a concentric design of two outer walls with 53 towers and barbicans designed to prevent/survive attack by siege engines. Even today you can see the different building styles and materials of the Roman and Medieval sections of the wallls as you walk between them.

In the central keep, protected by its own moat and drawbridge, stands Château Comtal, a 12th-century castle which offers archaeological exhibits and a tour of the inner ramparts for history fans.

Or you can do as I did and just take a moment to stand and stare, dreaming of fairytale castles and knights in shining armour.

Have you visited Carcassonne or any other castles? I'd love to hear about it in the comments 🏰

📸  @federica_wine 🙏
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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