Mixed Berries Orange Tea Cake

Once in a while you experiment and discover recipes that are worth keeping. This is one of them. Finding the balance between coconut flour and almond meal seems tricky at times but this cake just...takes the cake. It's very cake like and light to eat. Again, I serve it to friends who would not have guessed it's an no added refined sugar and certainly gluten free, and paleo cake. Hubby is also loving the citrus flavours. We love the citrus seller at our local farmers market. Oh, and for the first time, I used rice malt syrup just so that Asher gets to eat this too.

I really enjoy being at home and having the time to think about experimenting with different ingredients. Someone commented that I always seem to have a lot on my plate. I view it differently. I do like living life to the fullest- BUT I am also aware that there are some times that I need a little chill time as well. This is a lesson I have to learn.

It's what I think makes me who I am. A mum. An experimenter. A wife. And a whole lot of roles in between. However, I have to remind myself...

It's ok to have a cup of coffee and eat a slice of cake too!

Mixed Berries Orange Tea Cake 
1 cup of almond meal
1/2  cup of desiccated coconut
1/4 cup of coconut flour
juice of 1 whole orange
zest of 1 orange
4 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla paste
1 tablespoon of rice malt syrup or honey
3/4 cup of frozen berries
1 tsp of baking powder
pinch salt

flaked almonds to sprinkle

Preheat Oven to 180C. Line an 9inch cake tin with baking paper. Using a cake mixer, I whisked eggs, orange juice, zest, vanilla and rice malt syrup. Then I added all the dry ingredients. I fold in the berries last. Pour into the prepared tin, sprinkle flaked almonds and bake for 50 minutes.

Lemon "Cheesecake" with Berry Topping

I'm actually quite excited with this recipe. I made this for our wedding anniversary back in April (I know! Very late in posting this!) and it was a hit for hubby and myself.

It is only recently that I am onto the band wagon of making raw desserts. It's just to increase my repertoire of creating desserts at home I guess. I love the idea of having a cheesecake without the heavy feeling in my tummy. There is NOTHING wrong with enjoying a cheesecake from time to time of course, but hey, if I could re create something at home that is healthy and nutritious, I'm in.

This require a little planning with the soaking of cashews. It is a very nutrient dense recipe- and very high in calories as well with the amount of cashews in it. Still a treat food for sure.

I am still using my trusty ken wood food processor but lately, been wondering if it is worth investing in a Vitamix or Thermomix? oh first world problems. Nevertheless, I have promise myself that I will not have another appliance unless one breaks down.

As I'm typing this, I just remembered I have a few more slices in the freezer. Oopies! I guess I know what I'm having for dessert tonight.

What do you use? Food processor? Thermomix? Or a high powered blender like Vitamix?

Lemon "Cheesecake" with Berry Topping (12 servings)

Base
150 grams almond meal
100 grams of desiccated coconut
3 medjool dates soaked in water
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt

"Cheesecake"
500 grams of cashews soaked in water overnight
1 cup of lemon juice
zest of whole lemon
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tablespoon of honey
1/4 cup of coconut oil melted

Berry topping
1 cup of berries
1/4 cup water
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp of gelatine powder (mix with 1 tablespoon of water)

Make the base first.
Blitz everything up till it comes together. Press into a 9 inch lined cake tin. Fridge it while you make the "cheesecake".

Blitz all the ingredients together. Make sure it becomes like a smooth paste- not lumpy. Pour into base and freeze for around 30 mins to an hour.

Place berry topping except gelatine into sauce pan. Cook till it becomes soft. Cool and add the gelatine mixture. Pour berry topping onto cheesecake topping and freeze for a further 3-4 hours.

Defrost cake in fridge for 2 hours before serving.

Mocha Coconut Slab Cake

It only took me a few years, but I'm really excited when friends and family finally understands why I eat the way we believe in. It's not a fad, it's not a diet. I'm no longer wanting to lose weight. All I want is to be strong and healthy. Man, I'm not even looking at being an athlete or look like I have muscles bulging out. Being slim, toned and moving functionally is good for me.

As I persists on, people do not try to talk me out of eating the way I do anymore. In fact, I often think it's strange that we have grown to rely on sugar and processed food over the years and think of that as normal. Why is it not ok to eat food that comes from farms and not factories?

How do I know? We get invited to lunches over at friends and they cook clean for us! We receive invites from our lovely friends and families saying that they want us to eat clean and healthy in their kitchen too. In some ways, I felt a little bad that people are bending over backwards to serve us food that we love. But in other ways, I realised... hey, that's healthy food for them too! It's fuelling their bodies better. We had a lovely salad with green goddness dressing and the hosts tried their hands in making spelt pizza (still not completely clean BUT better than dominos), and then we were invited to another place where I had grilled chicken tenderloins with a pumpkin and feta salad. Oh, how about another lunch where we had grilled chicken winglets, meat balls, kebabs, and beetroot salad to boot. Seriously. They all tastes fantastic and we had a great time.

I'm in awe of people like OMGPaleo, or TheSpunkyCoconut. They make real food tastes even better. I adapted these little babies from Spunky Coconut to bring to my friends of course. They are more like mocha cakes- I wouldn't call them brownies at all. But still a good little treat.

Mocha Coconut Slab Cake 
1 cup of Almond Butter
1/2 cup of nepresso coffee
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut flour
3 tablespoon of cacao powder
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tsp of vanilla paste
1 tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt
Handful of shredded coconut

Pre heat oven to 180C

Put everything in the mixer. Whisk it. Then spoon into lined 8by8 baking pan! Sprinkle coconut on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Done!

Gluten Free Healthy Christmas Cakes

Counting down to our first Christmas with Asher. I LOVE Christmas. Celebrating the birth of Christ, presents and sparkling lights- what not to love? So far, we bought him a little outfit, did up our tree and bought a Christmas ornament with his name and year on it.

Oops- except I nearly left him off my Christmas list for presents from us. Ha! Talk about mummy brain. Lucky Asher probably wouldn't remember much for his first Christmas. At least there is still time to get something by the time I remembered.

I'm a little stingy as a mum. Truth be told, I really think that babies do not need that many toys before they turn 6 months. We have a play gym, a few gifted rattles and a swing (also 2nd hand)..and oh perhaps 2 toys which keeps him entertained when doing his tummy time. Often, I find that hubby and I are his entertainers as he prefers looking at us making funny faces and talking to him.

After 6 months though, I think children do need some form of stimulation but oh mind! The range is mind blowing. What a find balance between not going over the top versus trying to select the right toy for him. Finally, we decided that he can have 2 outfits and a small pram toy as his gifts. We did decided on n activity table but that will only arrive a few weeks later.

Every year, I try to make edible gifts for some friends and family. I think muesli one year and roasted nuts last year. This year, I decided to do a mixture- grabbing every precious hour that I can get in between Asher's play time. This is one of them.

This is actually my favourite. Christmas cake. Yes, it is a fruit cake during other times of the year but it is a Christmas cake in my books in december. I soaked mixed fruits in DOM a week before and got on with it. Teresa Cutter is my inspiration as usual as I mix and match my own version of this little gift. I reduced the fruit amount (to reduce sugar content), and added baking powder to create a lightness. Hers is certainly more dense than mine but I'm a fan of hers all the same.

Gluten Free Healthy Christmas Cake (Makes 30 mini cakes)
800 grams mixed fruit (I used a mixture of raisins, cherries, cranberries and sultanas)
1.5 cups of DOM alcohol 

6 eggs
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 orange juiced and zest
2 tsp of vanilla paste
3-4 tsp of cinnamon (Because I love cinnamon at this time of the year)
2 tsp mixed spice


4 cups of almond meal
1/2 cup of mixed nuts
2 tsp of baking powder

50 grams lindt dark chocolate melted

Preheat Oven to 180C. Line muffin trays with liners. Marinate mixed fruits at least 3 days, but a week will be better before making the cake.

Mix fruits, eggs, oil, juice, vanilla paste, cinnamon, mixed spice together. Fold in almond meal and baking powder. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 35-40 minutes till brown.

Cool little cakes. Melt chocolate and use a fork to drizzle chocolate over these little cakes.

ps- do not waste chocolate. I like to roll strawberries or cherries onto the sides of the jar i use to melt chocolate in! ;)

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

A Different Sort of Chocolate Cake

So recently we had our first family holiday. A coupon deal came up and we grabbed a one night stay at a 4.5 star hotel at The Sebel in Mandurah, Perth. To many West Australians, Mandurah is a sleepy little place just on border of metro Western Australia. To us though, it was where we sneaked out for dates when we were in University and when hubby popped the question at the jetty 4.5 years ago. It seems fitting that we bring Asher there for his first night out of home.

Truth be told, it's because we are "testing out" the waters of bringing Asher out overnight. We thought an hour away means we are far enough to do the testing, but close enough to return home if we get desperate. Thankfully, Asher adapted pretty well. I learned a few things in this short trip.

- It's ok to bring more diapers. In this case, less is not more!
- I would choose to have Asher's things in a separate bag next time if we are going for longer trips.
- Collect samples. I brought the samples on the trip for nappy cream, body wash, moisturiser and it worked a treat!
- Bring my baby carrier. I'm beginning to value my baby carrier more and more....
- Hubby and I had dinner at 6pm which is usually the start of Asher's sleep routine, to counter a very cranky baby in a fancy restaurant, I feed him and managed to put him down for a nap.
- If we really want to have dinner out, make it 6pm and not later! Poor Ash was clearly tired at 7:30 even though he had a nap.

No doubt there will be more thoughts as we begin planning our travel back to SG/KL end of January. Any tips from experienced travellers?

I'm a big fan of Teresa Cutter. It's my go-to place for treats and other healthy meal ideas. She made healthy food looks AMAZING and so delicious. In fact, I don't think I have ever had a bad batch of baking from her recipes before. This different sort of chocolate cake is not something I have not made before. Her one- bowl cake is delicious and really, I adapted her recipe to suit us but it's basically the same.

What I think it's different in this cake, is the Coconut Chocolate Ganache. Yup. It's ganache made of coconut cream instead of normal cream. It makes so much sense actually to replace normal cream with coconut.  So handy as I almost always forget to buy cream but I usually have coconut milk or cream in my pantry. First it adds flavour, and 2nd it doesn't leave me with the "I ate too much ganache" feeling. The 2nd point is dangerous though because it is tempting to polish off a bowl of the ganache. It's still a treat and it still has chocolate in it. Best of all, my parents in law who does not like dairy loved it!

If you are looking for a christmas treat, this could be an idea!

A Different Sort of Cake with Coconut Chocolate Ganache. (serves 25)
3 cups almond meal
1/2 cup of cacao powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
125ml olive oil or coconut oil
125 ml of almond milk
1 tablespoon of raw honey

Preheat fan forced oven to 150C. Whisk eggs, oil, milk,vanilla and honey together. Pour wet over dry ingredients and fold. Pour into prepared lined baking tin and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Coconut Chocolate Ganache
250ml Coconut Cream
200grams dark chocolate

Heat cream gently. Break chocolate into cream and gently fold till it melts and turn glossy. Cool before placing on cake.

Avocado Chocolate Loaf

The year 2013 certainly is going fast. I cannot believe we are in November already and heading to December real fast. Are we even ready for Christmas?

On another note, I'm very pleased to say I have lost 19kgs so far since the birth of Asher. 11 kg came off a week after birth (water, baby, placenta..etc) but the rest of it was through clean diet and exercise. I still have some way to go before reaching my pre-pregnancy weight but that's ok. I have given myself permission to be ok with that.

That was difficult for me. To give myself time and love my body for what it has done. Being health conscious and fit prior to pregnancy, it was hard to adjust to the fact that I needed time to recover. It's not just about the weight and size issue, but just how weak I felt post birth. Returning to exercise was hard. Getting my strength back was hard. I could not even carry Asher for more than 10 minutes standing. As I slowly started my walks, light intensity exercises and then finally more intense ones, not only am I slowly regaining my strength, but I'm staying in the moment and taking in the process.

So I rewarded myself with a new pair of trainers and started looking for healthy yummy recipes to bake. This is one of them. Who would have thought avocado could turn almond meal into something so yummy? This is good for breakfast, or as a snack. High in antioxidants, cacao almond and avocado turned this into almond bread. The avocado provided a creamy texture to it.

Avocado Chocolate Loaf (adapted from Living Healthy with Chocolate)
1.5 Avocado mashed
3 tablespoon of coconut oil
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoon of almond milk
2 eggs
1. 5 tablespoon of raw honey
2 cups of almond meal
1tsp baking soda
1/4 cup of cacao powder
50 grams of dark 85% chocolate chopped


Line loaf tin with baking paper. Preheat oven 180C.
Whisk avocado, coconut oil, vanilla, almond milk, honey and eggs together.  Pour wet to dry ingredients and fold. Pour in loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes

Pumpkin Bread

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Although thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Australia (as a public holiday), I personally think that it is a beautiful festival. A festival filled with good food, good time with families gathering together and simply, just being thankful.

What a concept. Being thankful.

As days get filled, and people get busier, it's not very often that we wait for a second and be thankful. After all, life is pretty fragile? In 3 days, I was made aware of a birth, a pregnancy and a death. It's times like that that make you realised how precious life truly is.

Then there are other things to be thankful of. Like having the a job, family to love, lovely weather, having the opportunity to travel, food to cook and enjoy, friends to spend time with and build memories.

Or perhaps negative experiences that deserved to be thankful of as well- like a family member's close brush with cancer, any kind of operation (yourself or someone close), close shave from a car accident or bad financial decision.

Good or bad, these experiences shape who we are and what we do. Our thoughts influenced our behaviour and feelings, and I truly believe that how we perceive each situation lead us to different path ways.

Like food. Eating clean can be challenging with friends sometimes. Preparing a lunch for friends earlier, I made us a pumpkin loaf to compliment some seafood skewers and a chicken salad. This bread was a big hit. It tasted even better toasted the next day with just a sliver (or more) of butter.

Pumpkin Bread (adapted from Teresa Cutter's Paleo Pumpkin Bread)
3.5 cups of grated pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of mixed spice
1/4 cup of coconut oil melted
 3 cups of almond meal
2 tsp of gluten free baking powder
3/4 tablespoon of honey
pumpkin seeds

Preheat Oven 160C. Line loaf tin with baking paper.

Mix grated pumpkin, almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. In a jar, mix eggs, coconut oil and honey together. Fold through dry ingredients and sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top of loaf.

Bake for 1.5 hours (check every 45 minutes).

Healthy Carrot Cake

You heard it before. Carrot cakes are healthy. After all it has carrots in it! I have been guilty of it too- having indulge with a few slices of carrot cake in my life time- including having it as our wedding cake. Hubby would bring home carrot cake whenever I am sick to make me feel better.

I come across as Teresa Cutter's recipe and instantly book marked it. It is a fabulous simple recipe with a lovely yogurt icing on it. I love the fact that this does not have any wheat and uses mainly almond meal. A mix and melt recipe means less washing and quick cake to whip out when guests decide to pop by on a weekday or on a lazy weekend. It could possibly even pass as a birthday cake.

I think a handful of raisins or even dates will go well with this cake. I increased the ratio of carrots and think it's nice to have some chunkier strips rather than the thin down version. Give it a go. You may surprise yourself by how delicious healthy treats are.

Healthy Carrot Cake (Adapted from Teresa Cutter)
4 carrots
3 eggs
1/2 tsp or less of vanilla paste
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
3 cups of almond meal
handful of crushed walnuts
1/4 cup of coconut oil melted
2 tablespoon of honey
few dates or 1/4 cup of raisins (omitted)

Icing
1 cup of yogurt- I use lemon myrtle. Try to find a greek yogurt than is low in sugar
1/4 lemon juice
toasted walnuts

Pre heat Oven 280C. Line 9 inch cake pan.
Whisk oil and eggs together. Place dry ingredients in a bowl. Pour wet to dry and mix well. Bake for 45-50 minutes till done.

Whisk yogurt and lemon juice together.

Cool cake. Ice with yogurt icing. Serve!

Date and Chocolate Slice

What does a girl do when she craves chocolate....? She makes chocolate slice.  Better still, a slice that does not need baking.

I have been distracted lately. We moved to our new home and is finally feeling more settled in after.... 3 months. It has been a challenging year for hubby and I- it just seem that every month, there is a curveball thrown at us. Individual work situations, family,friends, house, business,  It's life after all, and if it is all smooth sailing, it would have been too boring.

As Christians, we believe that God is testing us. Our faith, our commitment. Gosh, even our marriage. And there are moments that we falter, but mostly we stay strong and continue to march forward.

What do we do to keep ourselves sane?
We..
- cut back on our commitments and decide to stay grounded. Back to basics. Prayers, time together, simple dinners, routine.
- Precious alone time at the gym. The natural endorphins is much needed.
- For him, some alone time but getting involved in projects that he used to do but neglected to as we get busier.
- For me, a short trip to see my family. Grandma just had a knee re construction and it was very calming  and re assuring, just to see her. And on that note, she rocked. Totally. Strongest grandmother ever- walked after the 2nd day after the operation. My hero.
- For us, chats. and more chats.
- Surround ourselves with the positives. Be it friends, family or professionals.
- Chocolate.
- A dessert high in protein, low in sugar, filling and delicious.

No Bake- Date and Chocolate Slice 
5 Merdjool dates-pitted and chopped
1/4 cup of almond butter- make your own or cheat like me..from a jar.
2 tablespoon of dark cocoa or cacao powder
Chopped pieces of roasted cashews

Mix it all up. Press onto brownie tray. Freeze for 30 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cake

Elana's Pantry  is a good source of inspiration for me when it comes to healthy day to day recipes. This one caught my eye early one, but I never had the chance to make it till recently.

I'm not sure if this is my ultimate favourite chocolate cake- but I love the dense and rich flavour. It's simple and quick to whip up. Perfect for a quick chocolate cake fix.

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cake  (Makes around 7 mini cakes)
150 grams of dark chocolate melted (I used a combination of lindt 70% dark choc and passionfruit)
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs
2 tsp of espresso coffee

1/2 cup of almond flour
2 tablespoon of coconut flour
2 tsp of coconut sugar (or honey)
1/4 tsp sea salt


Preheat Oven 180C.

Met chocolate in 2x30 seconds bursts in the microwave. Stir and add coconut oil. Whisk vanilla essence, coffee and eggs.

In another bowl, combine almond flour, coconut flour, salt, coconut sugar or honey. Mix Well.

Spoon in grease or lined 9 by 9 tray or use mini loaf tray like me.

Honey Nut Cake

Being healthy, and having fitness as a goal does not mean we go without our treats. Saturdays are my days where I tend to "cheat"- no, not cheating my hubby of course. I mean having treats. If I want the lemon meringue pie, I am enjoying every single bite of it. Pad Thai? bring it on.

Because I believe food and nutrition need to have some balance. I was so tired of living the life of guilt in food. Sure, I still have the scales. And yes, I'm slowing weaning myself from stepping on the scales too often (it started from day to day, now it's weekly..and hopefully fortnightly, and then... who knows).

However, on some week nights or on Sundays...when we have friends pop over, and I do not feel like having a "treat treat" but still want to share a slice of cake with them, I like to experiment and make something that I can have and still know that it is full of nutrition and not sugar. So they are our week day or Sunday treats. ;)

I'm actually really surprised by this coffee honey cake- would you believe we got away with just TWO tablespoon of honey? Since it serves at least 8 people- it really isn't heaps when divided to single serves.  This is a very simple cake to make- a tea cake perhaps.

And they will never know that it is a healthy treat.

Honey Nut Cake
1/2 cup of coffee (instant expresso and water)
2.5 cups of Almond meal
1/2 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of bicarb soda
2 tsp of cinnamon
1tsp of mixed spice
2 eggs
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Line 9 inch round cake tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix almond meal, salt, bicarb soda, cinnamon and baking soda in a bowl. In a jug, whisk eggs, coffee and honey together. Pour wet to dry and fold in. Fold in walnuts last. Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt (with a squeeze of lemon juice) or some cream.

Mini Banana Swirl Cinnamon Bread

I come across this recipe via Pinterest. Where do I start with my love of Pinterest? They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I believe this reflect it. It allows me to check out other interesting photos and recipes, ideas for the home... and when I feel like I need some inspiration of any kind, it's there.


So Lovin from the Oven posted this recipe and I know that this would be the one that my new oven would be debuted. The first EVER dish my oven will cook.

This was my thought process when I was deciding what dish I should cook first in our oven.
- It has to smell heavenly. (ie cinnamon, something sweet probably)
- It has to make our home smell like a home (cookies, cakes?)
- it has to be fast (check out the dust that countless trades bring in)
- it has to make use of what I have in my pantry... as I had no time to grab anything from the shops
- it is to be made on the day I want to have treats
- something that is in my 10% of guilt free treats. got to make the most out of it. It has to be WORTHWHILE.

And so I decided on a simple cinnamon swirl banana bread. It smells fantastic, it's a measure and mix recipe, and it took me 20 minutes to whip it up. Easy. And then I threw all my equipment in my dish washer, made us a cup of tea...

and enjoyed it with ice cream.

I halved the recipe as I didn't want too many treats lying in our house. I made 4 of these mini loaves and savoured every bite of mine.

Mini Banana Swirl Cinnamon Bread (Makes 4 mini loaves)
3 bananas
1/6 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
3/4 cup flour

Swirl:
1 tablespoon of cinnamon (yes I'm crazy)
1/6 cup of brown sugar

Preheat oven 180C.

Mash bananas. In a jar, mix melted butter, egg, vanilla and banana together. In a bowl, mix flour, pinch salt and sugar together. Fold banana mixture to dry mixture.

For the swirl- small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon together.

Spray oil in small loaf tin. Spoon the banana mixture into the tin-fill to half. Sprinkle sugar/cinnamon mixture and then spoon the rest of the mixture on top. Repeat for 3 more loaves. Sprinkle the remaining mixture on top of each loaf.  Bake for 15 minutes.