Cinnamon Cakes

Two reasons why this next creation came into place.

                       1 = I had just bought a new silicon baking tray and I wanted to use it.

                       2 = I've been wanting to make something heavy with cinnamon. 

It can be as simple as that. So I dove into the kitchen, added some of my favorite ingredients in a bowl and whisked away. With no added fat, this cake is easy on the hips yet very yummy on the tongue.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp dark brown unrefined sugar
3 tbsp buckwheat flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 medium eggs
A handful of your favorite nuts (I used peanut)
160 ml soy milk

Way to do it:

1. Combine all dry ingredients (not the nuts)
2. Add the eggs and whisk till everything is combined.
3. Add the soy milk and whisk for a good minute.
4. Plop in the nuts and give it a stir with a spoon.
5. Divide over your tin and bake, in a pre heated oven, at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes.
6. Let cool before you transfer them.

This recipe is a little bid different from my usual ones because of the soy milk. This time the batter is very liquid, but a longer baking time still results in a delicious and light cake.

To make it sweeter, you can top with some powdered sugar dissolved in water, making a nice glaze, or you can dip them into cinnamon sugar (just mix some cinnamon with white sugar)

Enjoy
xx

Moist Chocolate Cake

A cake so moist, it sticks to your fingers and everything it touches. That's my latest quick and simpel recipe!

It was late, I was watching a movie and I suddenly just needed something sweet, something gooey. This moist chocolate cake was the result. I didn't really think about it. I just threw some ingredients in a pot, whisked them together and voila.

I love it when my weird impromptu kitchen adventures turn into something yummy and lighter than store bought desserts. 

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana, mashed
3 medium sized eggs
100 ml low fat cream cheese
1,5 tbsp dark brown sugar
50 gr milk chocolate, melted
50 gr almond flour

Way to do it:

1. I can't make it any easier....just whisk all the ingredients together!
2. Put the batter in a pie dish and bake for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees.
3. After 15 minutes of baking, you can poke the cake with a skewer. If it comes out clean, take the cake out. We want it to be as moist as possible.
4. Let cool or give into your urges and eat it while it's warm. 

I enjoyed my first piece with some light vanilla ice cream. The warm chocolate with the cold ice cream was just heaven. In the morning, I enjoyed my second piece with a cup of breakfast tea. If possible, it was even better due to the overnight time of letting the cake set.

No added fat, but low fat cream cheese,
         A ripe banana for the sweetness, making the addition if sugar minimal,
                                                    No white flour but a little bit of almond flour for body,
                                                                                               And some milk chocolate for the taste....

Enjoy
xx

Blueberry crumble bars

Feast your eyes on this!



Doesn't it look wonderful? This, my sweet friends, is what happens when it's sunny and with bikini season at the back of your mind, you start craving something sweet. This recipe, although light in calories, isn't very light on the stomach so you only need a small piece to get filled up.

I got the original recipe here, but for added healthiness, I substituted most of the sugar by honey and sweetener. I also chose to use half white flour, half buckwheat, because the good nutrition of buckwheat strengthens the body and upps your immune system. Granted, there is some butter here and if I make new versions of this recipe, I'm going to try and cut down some of the butter. But for now, just marvel at their deliciousness.

Ingredients:

100gr white sugar
2 teaspoons liquid sweetener
1 teaspoon baking powder
150gr white all-purpose flour
150gr buckwheat flour
200gr soft butter cut into small pieces
1 egg
a pinch of salt

400 to 500 gr fresh blueberries
1,5 tablespoons honey
50gr white all-purpose flour

Way to do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and grease your baking pan. Use any which one you like. I used a big, round, spring form but if you wanna make bars, I would suggest a square one.
2. In a big bowl (you need the extra space for the mixing) mix 150gr white four, 150gr buckwheat flour and baking powder. Add in the egg, liquid sweetener, salt and butter. Use your hands to knead the dough into a big ball. This could take some time but it's really worth it in the end.
3. Take half of the dough and spread it out evenly into your prepared tin. Pad it down all the way to the sides.
4. In a new bowl, sprinkle blueberry's with the honey and then add the flour. Turn the blueberry's over so that the honey and flour sticks to them. Then spread them out evenly over your batter.
5. Take the remainder of the dough and cover up all the berry's. Again, take some time to cover all of them, basically sealing them in.
6. Bake for 30mins at 200 degrees C and try to show restraint once the amazing smell of the baked fruit hits your nose.
7. Take out of the oven when the top turns slightly brown and leave to cool before cutting into bars or squares, as you prefer. They keep best in the refrigerator and they are even better the next day.

You can also leave the cake/pie/bars, whatever you wanna call it, into it's original form and serve as a lovely summer alternative to fattening pies and cakes. The crust, once cooled, cuts well so you can serve a nice piece of pie and maybe even add some lime or lemon sorbet for the ultimate summer dessert!

Enjoy,
xx

A recipe to enjoy at every time of the day

Hi everyone,

I don't really know what to call this cake, I just know that it's healthy, full of great fats and delicious at any time of the day. You can eat a slice as a little extra for breakfast, you can snack on it or you can enjoy this recipe with a cup of tea in the evening for when those late-night munchies have you running to the pantry.

If you're not a big fan of the 'nutty' taste of buckwheat, don't worry. The honey, apples and raisins make for a great coverup.

Ingredients:

100 gr buckwheat flour
200 gr almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
125 yogurt (I used alpro soy natural)
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sweetener
2 tbsp vegetable oil
A handful of dried raisins
1 apple, peeled and cut into small pieces

Way to do it:

1. Add buckwheat, almond and baking powder in a bowl and mix it untill all dry ingredients are combined.
2. Add egg and yogurt. Mix again. The batter will be crumbly at this point.
3. Add the honey, sweetener and the oil. Mix again and by now, your butter will be thick and sticky.
4. Fold in the apples and raisins with a spoon. Don't mix or you'll bruise the fruit.
5. Take a round, spring-form baking-tin and grease it with oil. Let the excess oil drip out. Pour the batter into the thin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.
6. Let cool before you take it out of the tin.
 

 

 

I hope you'll enjoy this recipe. It has more ingredients than I usually use but trust me, it's worth it.
Of course this recipe, just like my others, is very easy to make. No crazy cooking techniques, no long wait, just throw everything into a bowl and GO!

Forget bad fats and say hello to healthy fats from the vegetable oil, almond and yogurt.
Forget bad sugar and wave hi to good sugar from the raisins, honey and apples.

Enjoy
xx

My version of a classical French Yogurt cake

Hello everyone, summer has arrived...oh yes it has! Pretty soon I'll be using this season's best fruit to make light and healthy desserts, but first a twist on the classical French Yogurt cake.

What's the twist you ask? Well, alcohol and soy yogurt. I like yogurt...but there's something about the plain yogurt Alpro soya makes that's just amazing. It has a gentle taste, very few fat and low sugar so all in all, it's pretty great. Healthy and tasty, that's what we're going for here.

Just like all my other recipes, this is so easy, a child could do it. The cake itself might look boring and simple, but trust me, this lovely thing will delight both your and your family's taste buds.

As I'm typing this, I'm starting to smell the batter turning into something amazing in the oven...so let's get on with the recipe.

 

Ingredients:

2 portions of 125ml plain yogurt (I used alpro soya)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp Amaretto
2 cups op 125ml almond flour
liquid sweetner

About 10 crushed cookies (I used speculoos)

Way to do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 180degrees C and line the bottom of a round, spring-form cake tin with bakingpaper. Grease the sides with vegetable oil.
2. In a bowl mix yogurt with eggs, vanilla essence, amaretto and the sweetner. The sweetner is, as always, to your liking. I used about 2 tablespoons. Bear in mind that the ameretto is pretty sweet too so you might eveb omit the sweetner if you prefer.
3. Use your 125ml cups to measure the almond flour. Top both of them off with flour and add to the mix.
4. Mix till everything is well combined and allow yourself a little taste. Taste good doesn't it. Would it be wrong to just eat this as a sauce....
5. Enough daydreaming. Pour the batter into the baking tin and lightly sprinkle your crushed cookies over the top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool for about 5 minutes before you take it out the tin. The cookies will have been baked into the top, making for a lovely, crunchy, topping.

This doesn't make a very big cake, so feel free to double the portions to make a bigger cake.

For extra yumminess, you could slice the cake in two and add a thin layer of strawberry jelly. However, I don't really feel like it needs it. This cake a light, slightly boozy version of a classic French yogurt cake. And remember, no added sugar, no butter but bursting with flavor!


Enjoy
xx

Chocolate cake with avocado and banana

May I just say...wow! If I was a religious girl, I would thank the lord. Instead, I'm going to thank nature for blessing us with the combination of chocolate and avocado.

We have to get serious...you can't make a decent cake without butter. It just wouldn't taste right. So if ever we want to indulge, we'll have to settle for a little bit of fat. NOW, that's so not true anymore! Substituting butter with avocado is genious, delicious and healthy. Avocado is fat, yes, but good fat!

If you are looking for a chocolate cake that won't make you feel like a cheater, then look no more. Yummy, rich, healthy and a definite hit with the entire family...my chocolate cake with avocado and banana.

And oh, did I mention this cake is so easy to make?

 

Ingredients:

 

2 ripe avocados
2 ripe bananas
3 eggs
3 tbsp liquid sweetener
100 gr almond flour
100 gr dark cacao powder
100 gr of assortment of nuts (I used almonds, peanuts and cashew)

Way to do it:

1. Cut the avocado's in two and spoon out the flesh. Add with the mashed bananas in a bowl and stir.
2. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.
3. Add the remaining ingredients (liquid sweetener, almond flour and cacao) and whisk again.
4. Finally gently fold in the nuts.
5. Transfer to a baking tin lined with baking paper and bake for 35mins in a preheated oven at 180degrees C.
 

Let the cake cool before you take it out of the baking tin. You don't need to top the cake with any icing, it's packed full of flavor and it's very moist. However, adding some maple syrup or honey can never go wrong.

A good movie, a cup of great coffee in my new favorite mug (I got it at a second hand store and I'm just so in love with it.) and some home baked deliciousness. Yes...my life is pretty perfect.

Some of you may have already noticed, I'm a baker who loves simple and easy recipes. I don't like to huff and puff in my kitchen and I definitely don't like doing the dishes. So, you can expect many more recipes like this chocolate cake with avocado and banana, easy, yummy and healthy.

If you want to make a cake lower in carb, leave out the bananas and add a little more almond flour. I promise you, it'll taste great. Now if only I would stop myself from taking another piece....

Enjoy and till next time,
xx

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Hi Everyone,

I'm back with my first cake recipe so read on if you enjoy delicious jet low carb desserts!

It was my birthday on the 8th of march and for a dinner celebration on the 9th at my family's house, I really wanted to indulge in a nice dessert. One I could share with the entire family but that didn't leave me feeling like a cheater. Therefore, I took out my favorite cakes cookbook (this one, an old one but so good with many lovely and easy recipes) and adapted it to a low carb successful formula.

I hope you like it. This makes a very dense cake so you probably won't need to eat more than one piece.

Ingredients for 1 cake:

100gr almond flour
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
3 big eggs
2 tbsp sweetener (or to your taste)
60gr dark chocolate
60gr ground coconut
a couple of drops vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder and salt to match it

175g cream cheese
15ml Amaretto
2 tbsp sweetener (or to your taste)
2 tbsp soft butter

How to do it:

Preheat over to 190 degrees C.

Separate the whites from the yolks and beat the whites stiff.

In the bowl with the yolks add the sweetener, melted chocolate, coffee powder, baking powder, vanilla essence, ground coconut and almond flour.

Gently fold in the egg whites. This will give the cake it's height and make your dough more moist.

Bake for about 25minutes at 190 C. Check while it's cooking because all ovens are different.

Afterwards let the cake cool and in the meantime we can make the filling.

Mix the cream cheese with the sweetener, soft butter and add the Amaretto.

I would suggest putting it in the fridge to harden. This will make the smearing a lot easier.

At this point you could add some extra topping. I didn't because the cake is moist enough. But anyways, here's the ceipe if you want to do it.
You'll need:
120gr soft butter
3 tbsp sweetener
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

Whisk the butter in a bowl to loosen it up and make it creamy.

Add the sweetener, vanilla extract and cocoa powder.

The egg yolk is optional but I would suggest you use it. It gives the topping a nice glaze.

Now it's time to assemble the cake.

Cut your cake in half horizontally, making two nice flat discs.

Generously add the cream cheese filling and put both halves back together. Don't push them down, you want the extra height.

Finish with the optional topping. You can decide wither you want a thick layer on top or if you want to wrap the entire cake in chocolaty goodness. It's your cake so do as you please.

And there you have it. A wonderful yet low carb choclate cake for the entire family to enjoy. The carb amount on this one is higher than my other recipes, but hey, It's my party and I'll indulge if I want to.

Till next time,
Enjoy
xx

Low Carb Red Velvet with icing

Hi everyone, here goes for my first recipe!

2 Weeks ago on friday, Me, my brother and my sister had a sibling day planned. We went to the museum and afterwards we played boardgames at my brother's house. Good ol' family bonding time.

However, I knew it would be hard for me to say no to delicious snacks sush as cookies and chips...so I made my own snacks. I adapted the red velvet recipe from my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook to make it very low in carb. Even with the added icing, it's only about 2 carbs per cupcake. So don't be shy and grab another one before they're all gone.

I wouldn't say they are as good as regular 'real' red velvet cupcakes, otherwise life wouldn't be fair. But my brother did eat about 5 of them so they couldn't be bad right :D

Ingredients:

for the cupcake
100ml almond milk
120g butter
About 3 tbsp sweetener
2 large eggs
20 g cocoa powder
40ml red food coloring (doesn't add to the taste but it can't be red velvet without adding a little red)
A few drops vanilla essence
300 g almond flour
Half a tsp of baking powder
A finch of salt to make the baking powder work
for the icing
250g cream cheese (try and look for the one with the least carbs. I used a bio non-fat one)
3 tbsp sweetener

Way to do it:

Pre-heat your oven to 190 C and place your cupcakes molds in a special cupcake tin. That makes them easier to carry and they will keep their lovely shape.
Use a mixer to mix the butter and sweetener. To this you add your eggs and mix again.
Add your coca, red food coloring and the vanilla essence.
Now you can add in the almond flour and the milk.
At the very end you add the baking powder with a pinch of salt. Mix everything very well for a couple of minutes.
Divide evenly over the cupcake papers and bake in the oven for about 18 to 20 minutes.
While they are baking, you can make the icing. Simply add the sweetener to the cream cheese and mix it till it's smooth.
When the cupcakes are done, let them cool completely and then add the icing. You can decorate with a dash of cocoa powder if you please.

Note: all sweetener is different so try as you go. Too much sweetener will make your creation taste too 'chemically' so I would advise you use my amounts as guidelines but see what works for your sweetener.

Enjoy
xx