sweet

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Healthy Chocolate Cake

Here are two different and super easy versions – one gluten free and the other gluten AND nut free – of my son’s favourite cake.
Pamela delighted in treating him to these, as well as ‘wibbs’ (aka barbecue spare ribs, soon to be posted).

1. FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE (based on Donna Hay’s)

200g dark chocolate
140g butter
5 separated eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar (4oz / 125g)
1 1/2 cups ground almonds (12oz)
icing sugar for dusting

Heat oven to 160 degrees. Grease a cake tin and line base with greaseproof paper. (I use a 9 inch or 23cm diameter round.)
In a large mixing bowl, melt chocolate and butter together, either in a bowl above hot water or (I do it) in the microwave bit by bit (see note below.) Cool slightly.
Stir in the egg yolks, sugar and almonds to the chocolate mix; and put aside.
Beat egg whites until stiff and glossy.
Gently fold egg whites into the mixture.
Spoon into tin and bake for approximately 45 mins or until cooked through (see note below).
Cool and turn out onto your favourite cake plate or stand and dust with icing sugar. A few berries on top would be nice too.

NOTES:

  1. If melting chocolate and butter in microwave do it a little by little, taking care not to burn; e.g. 30 secs, stir with a small whisk, 30 secs, stir, until smooth.
  2. Pierce cake with  a wooden skewer to test if cake is ready. If it comes out clean, it is; if not cook for a little longer.
  3. The cooking time is based on my fan-forced oven. Other ovens may take a bit longer or in the top oven of an Aga the cake may be cooked after 40 minutes.
  4. This tastes best the day after baking.
  5. If having difficulties understanding Australian measurements – check here: https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/conversion

2. HEALTHIEST CHOCOLATE CAKE EVER (based on Teresa Cutter’s)

200g dark chocolate, melted
60ml melted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut flour (2 oz / 60g)
1 and 1/2  teaspoon gluten free baking powder
A grind or two of sea salt
4 eggs whisked
3 tablespoons organic honey or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 160 degrees. Grease a cake tin and line base with greaseproof paper. (I use a 9 inch or 23cm diameter round.)
In a large mixing bowl, melt chocolate, butter and honey together, either in a bowl above hot water or (I do it) in the microwave bit by bit (note above.) Cool slightly.
Stir in the dry ingredients: coconut flour, baking powder and a grind of sea salt, until well combined.
Whisk the eggs and vanilla and stir into the rest of the mixture.
Spoon into cake tin and cook for around 40 minutes.
Cool and turn out onto your favourite cake plate or stand.  Serve with natural yoghurt, shaved dark chocolate and fresh berries. (A swirl of lavender syrup is super addition too.)

NOTES:

  1. This recipe is super quick  – if you want, just fling all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together with a hand whisk.
  2. This cake will rise well but not enormously, for a lighter cake, reduce baking powder to 1/2 teaspoon and separate your eggs as per recipe no.1. (stir in the yolks, whisk the whites and fold them into the mixture.)
  3. If you can’t find coconut flour and you don’t have to be nut-free, use 1 1/2 cups of almond or hazelnut meal instead.
  4. This cake is not super sweet, if you prefer sweeter then I suggest using maple syrup instead of honey and dust with icing sugar.
  5. If baking this recipe as cup cakes, only bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy! ..and don’t forget to tell me how it works out for you. I’ll add some photos soon.

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My, oh, my! Sugar high!

Thank you, Moi, for handing me the recipe card that you found recently (see pic). In Mum’s hand, is the recipe for Caramel Sauce. This one, though, is not to be confused with the Linda Landers Caramel Sauce recipe. The former could be termed the ‘lite’ version but as both contain vast proportions of sugar, it really doesn’t matter! Having just tasted a wee swirl atop my ‘lite’ frozen yoghurt, I am definitely soaring in the heady stratosphere of a sugar high. I have very fond memories of scraping the last remnants of melted ice-cream and caramel sauce from my dessert bowl at Sunday lunch (no rude comments, please, about where that led me!).

CaramelRecipeCardCaramel Sauce (lite version!)
Good on ice-cream and keeps soft form in a jar to use as a cake filling or a spread. (Also good for surreptitious larder snacks – eaten by the teaspoon from the jar!). This recipe (thankfully) only makes a small amount (approx. 120g).

Boil 1 cup of light brown sugar with 2 tablespoons milk and 1tablespoon butter for 4 minutes.
Take off fire, add 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and a good squeeze of lemon.
Beat until thick.

Linda LandersLinda Landers’ Caramel Sauce
Truly divine and decadent on vanilla ice-cream. Forms an increasingly gooey thick toffee coating atop the cold ice-cream, and can become hard, depending on your cooking technique.

Bring slowly to the boil: 2 cups packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons golden syrup, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 cup whipping or double cream.
Boil for 5 minutes. When off the stove beat in 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence.

Caramel04 Caramel05 Caramel09

CaramelRecipeCard

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Rhubarb crumble, scones and banana oat bites (bobs)

Hi! It’s been another long pause between drinks (or posting). Please be assured, I hadn’t gone troppo; just life took the rev out of my extra-curricular activities. So let’s crack along before I’m distracted again.

Good Housekeeping 1960

Wonderful colour of GH in 1960. A treasure trove of daily recipes.

There has been talk of the family’s appalling scone making record; no-one seems to be able to emulate Mum’s ‘quick as a flash’ scone making prowess. It may be that ‘speed’ is the critical element. So – this may help: I came across a 1960 Good Housekeeping pamphlet in the rabbit warren of Pamela’s hand-built cookbook.  Please let me know if the recipe below works for you, as I haven’t had another go recently.

I’m on a bit of a health kick at the moment and so the white sugar and white flour packets have been banished from the pantry. This also means that many of Mum’s recipes for puddings, pies and cakes are out of the question at the moment. HOWEVER – you can substitute with wholemeal, organic ingredients – she’d always support that.

Crumble was a big favourite round our family table; mainly due to an abundance of seasonal fruit from the garden and also it was quick. It’s a healthy dessert, as long as you don’t load up with too much brown sugar, and simply delicious as the crunch of the crumble meets the soft tart fruit and the silky touch of a dollop of fresh organic cream or ice-cream. Yum!

In her own hand - notice fromage frais (not easy to find in Oz but easier in UK)

In her own hand – notice fromage frais (not easy to find in Oz but easier in UK)

Mum’s recipe adds a bit of zest to your usual crumble, making it seem like you’ve created something deluxe without the effort. If you don’t grow your own fruit, I suggest a visit to your local farmers’ market to pick up whatever is in glut – the traders may have reject fruit that you can pick up for a song too – no harm in asking.

My last mini-ultra-quick-and-healthy recipe today is the Banana Oat Bites (aka Bobs) – these pop in the mouth lifesavers have diverted me from far worse indulgences and stopped a gap in a late afternoon hunger emergency. Ticking all the boxes, these little babies (sorry for the Jamie Oliverism) couldn’t be faster, particularly if you are a hoarder of black bananas in the freezer, as I am.

BOBS

Banana oat cookies

Quick, easy, healthy, sweet treats

Heat oven to 180C (approx 350F). Whizz 2 cups of porridge oats in your food processor, til they resemble a rough flour. Squeeze in 3 large bananas and whizz again. Grease a baking sheet or layer with baking paper. Dollop teaspoons of the mixture onto the tray and bake in oven for 15 mins. It should make approx. 24 bites – each bite being about 50 calories.

Additions: Today I’ve added a teaspoon of vanilla essence, a small handful of dark chocolate bits and a tablespoon of shredded coconut. You could add sultanas, other dried fruit like cranberries, peanut butter, nuts – whatever you fancy, but of course they’ll up the calories a wee bit.

RHUBARB CRUMBLE
The instructions are a bit slim but here goes:
Heat oven to 180C (approx 350F).
Chop about 4-6 big sticks of rhubarb and put in a saucepan. Grate in a thumb of ginger and add the zest and juice of an orange and a lemon. Simmer lightly til the rhubarb just begins to soften. Don’t boil it or you’ll have mush.
Spread out into a pudding/baking dish or into ramekins ( I like to do small individual ones, as they look good to serve up at a dinner party and keeping a few extra in the fridge are great for the kids’ after school tea.)
For the crumble: whizz together in a food processor 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour (white may taste better but this is healthier!) with 1 cup of your favourite muesli (failing that a cup of porridge oats are good), a tablespoon of ground or slivered almonds and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Then add in 1 cup of fair trade dark brown sugar and chopped up cubes of 6oz organic unsalted butter. Whizz until mixture looks like hefty breadcrumbs. Spread across your fruit and bake in oven for 15-20 mins.

PLAIN OVEN SCONES (Good Housekeeping Breads and Buns, 1960)
Heat oven to 230C (approx 450F).
8oz flour (try half white, half wholemeal), ½ tsp salt, 1½ oz butter, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp bicarb of soda, ¼ pint of milk + egg or milk to glaze. (If using baking powder instead of tartar and soda, use 2½tsp).
Sieve all dry ingredients and rub in the butter. Add all the milk at once – mix lightly and quickly (Mum used a knife) to a spongy dough and then knead slightly. Roll out to ¾ inch thick, cut out, brush with egg or milk and bake in a hot oven for about 10 mins til well risen and golden.

To make these sweeter, you can add a tablespoon of sugar and/or a large handful of dry fruit, e.g. sultanas, currants. I also like to make herby ones, by throwing in a large handful of parsley, chives and maybe basil or coriander. Grated cheddar cheese or small cubes of feta with a sprinkle of dry chilli flakes are good too!

Good luck everyone – please comment, post or email me with how your scones, crumble or bobs turned out!