Food Blogger Connect 2011

This time last week I was at Food Blogger Connect 2011 (FBC), thanks to Olives from Spain, who generously gave away 4 tickets to the event via Twitter.

Held at the Hempel Hotel, FBC is a 3-day conference for food bloggers, covering a variety of food related topics and just about everything you wanted to know about blogging. Attracting food bloggers from all over Europe and beyond, there are guest speakers, workshops, cooking demonstrations and food/wine tastings. It's a great weekend for all, even those who are thinking about starting a food blog.

Some highlights of the weekend were:

► Tim Hayward - journalist & broadcaster, founder of Fire & Knives
► Babette Pepaj - from BakeSpace
► Jaden Hair - from Steamy Kitchen
► Fiona Beckett - award winning food & drink writer, she blogs at Food and Wine Finds
► Anjum Anand - TV chef & cookery writer
► Caroline Mili Artiss - rising cookery star & Malaysian food expert
► Leila Brandão - incredible handmade chocolates

Plenty of olives!

FBC11 was sponsored by Cuisinart, Olives from Spain, Cooklet and Vive Le Cheese. There were plenty of olives to try and the French cheeses were delicious. We were all given a goodie bag to take away - filled with awesome stuff - including a fabulous electric Cuisinart pepper mill.

Looking forward to trying some new products!

Anjum Anand, see the video here

Her summery salad dish


Watching a cookery demonstration


Caroline MiLi Artiss making a tapenade


Ingredients for the tapenade


In the food processor


Finished tapenade


Jaden Hair picking the lucky winner of a cusinart appliance

Some of the food:






As well as some of the old established food blog crowd, there were plenty of new faces there. You can read what others had to say about FBC11 by clicking on the links:

Love Through The Stomach
Provence Calling
MeLikeyUK
Culinaria Libris
Fabulicious Food!
I Am A Feeder
Junglefrog-Cooking
My Custard Pie
Yum and More

For more information on next year's conference, go to the Food Blogger Connect website.

Thanks once again to Olives from Spain for my weekend pass!

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This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2011 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
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Summer Berry Pudding, Deliciously Different!

Before the strawberry season comes to an end, here's my summer pudding with a difference. It's a great way to use fresh summer fruits, you can vary the quantities and put whatever fruit takes your fancy. Try using fresh peaches and blueberries, or strawberries and bananas - the combinations are endless. I made my own sponge cake using the same ratio in weight of butter, sugar, eggs and cake flour, but a store bought sponge cake is just as good, and makes this dessert extremely quick and easy to throw together.

We actually prefer this over the traditional summer pudding which I think can be rather sloppy. This is more of a cross between a cake and a summer trifle.


Marinating the fruit


Adding the top layer of sponge



Summer Berry Pudding
A great dessert for entertaining. Quick and easy, especially if you use a store-bought sponge cake. A thinner sponge works better. If you like, you can add an extra tablespoon of the liqueur into the whipped cream for a slightly boozier version.

1 vanilla butter sponge cake, mine was 22cm in diameter
175g strawberries
110g blueberries
110g raspberries
1 tablespoon caster sugar
2-3 tablespoons raspberry or strawberry liqueur (sub with orange juice if preferred)
284ml whipped double cream
Icing sugar for dusting and extra fruit to serve

Slice the strawberries into quarters and put into a bowl with the blueberries and raspberries. Pour over the liqueur and caster sugar, stir and leave to marinate for 15-20 minutes.

Line a large pudding bowl with cling film.

Slice the cake horizontally and then take one half and slice it into wedges. Line a pudding bowl with the cake wedges.

Strain the berries and brush the juice over the sponge cake, reserving some for the top. Fold the berries into the whipped cream and pile into the sponge-lined bowl. Top with the the other half of sponge cake, you may need to cut it into wedges to fit into the bowl. Brush with the remaining liqueur juice.

Cover with cling film and lay a small plate onto the top of the bowl to flatten it a bit. Pop it into the fridge until needed.

To serve, remove the cling film and turn the pudding out onto a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve with single cream.



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This content belongs to Nic at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2011 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
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