I know it may seem a bit unfair to review a recipe after making changes to it, but I think this recipe is very forgiving in that regard. So, I omitted the sausage and oil, and substituted chicken broth for the water. At the end, in place of the sugar, I poured some apple juice and because we had no parsley or dill, I threw in a bit of cider vinegar to give it a tang. With all of that, we thought it was a very good soup. We ate it cold with sour cream the first day and hot later. It may not be authentic the way I made it, but my husband (who is a dedicated beet hater) gave it a 9 and said he would definately eat it again. Oh, I also quartered and boiled the beets, carrots and potatoes in the broth and just mashed them with a potato masher instead of shredding beforehand, only because it was too much trouble to pull out the food processor. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

Reviewed On: Aug. 23, 2009

I've made this recipe twice so far, just mixing the ingredients by hand as I do not have a bread machine. Once I made it with the molasses and once I substituted brown sugar. Both turned out well, though I think I liked the brown sugar version better. It was a bit sweeter and tasted more like a parker house roll to me. I used slow-cooking oats both times. Once I just stirred them directly into the mix and once I followed another reviewer's suggestion to soak them first. Soaking made for a less chewy product, which I think I preferred, though next time I am out, I think I will just get some instant oats to keep on hand. I will definately keep making this recipe as it is an easy way to use the extra sourdough starter whenever I feed it (just can't bring myself to throw a cup of starter away). Very worthwhile recipe.

Reviewed On: Nov. 17, 2008

I haven't yet tried this recipe as a bundt cake, but I did use it to make 96 mini-cupcakes which I frosted with chocolate buttercream. Went down a treat at my garden club. I added a bit more extract (I am always upping the extract) and I did double the almond meal because I had bought a lot on sale that I needed to use up. I would say the double almonds made the texture a bit gritty - more like a shortcake than a regular cake, but the taste was excellent. We also ate some of the unfrosted cupcakes in a bowl with "canned in juice" peach slices and heavy cream and that was absolute heaven. I think next time, I will make this recipe specifically to use as a shortcake. The almond flavor is just right with peaches and cream and strawberry season is just around the corner.

Reviewed On: Mar. 14, 2008