Tag Archives: cake

Redcurrant and Blackcurrant Yoghurt Cake

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We were lucky enough to get our hands on some fresh red and blackcurrants this week so I thought I’d put them to good use in this summery cake! You could use other summer fruits but the currants are lovely and tart and that really adds another dimension to this cake. Frozen red and blackcurrants could also be used!

I wanted to keep this lighter on the calories so opted for 0% Greek yoghurt (or dairy free yoghurt) and ‘half spoon’ sugar, and I also used wholemeal flour – which gave it a really nice wholemeal scone-like density and nuttiness but you can use any plain flour you like.  This is a larger, thinner cake and an 1/8th (which is a generous slice) comes in at approx 284 calories!

You will need:

300g redcurrants and blackcurrants

125g dairy-free margarine (or soft butter)

200g caster sugar (or 100g ‘half spoon’ sugar’

250g 0% plain Greek yoghurt (or non dairy yoghurt)

3 medium eggs

300g flour (I used wholemeal spelt flour)

1 tsp baking powder

Zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 190 C and grease or line a 26cm cake tin.

Put the margarine and sugar in a bowl and cream together. Add the lemon zest and then mix in each egg one by one. Add the yoghurt and mix well.

Mix the flour and baking powder together and sieve in to the wet mixture and combine. If using wholemeal flour the mixture will be quite thick. Spoon half of it in to the pan.

Add a layer of redcurrant and blackcurrants and then carefully cover with the remaining cake mix.

 

Bake for approx 25 – 30 mins, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 mins or so, then remove and cool on a rack. Enjoy warm or cold.

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Treating myself – Divaliciously Raw, a review

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Every now and then it’s important to look after yourself, so when I stumbled across this site –Divaliciously Raw and all Gail’s amazing goodies I decided I should most definitely take the opportunity to treat myself to some deliciousness! I couldn’t decide what to try so went for the Valentine’s box, which gave me a taste of all her main products. Although that box won’t always be available as a package, all the contents are. They are all raw, gluten, wheat and egg free and vegan!

It arrived so beautifully packed – it really was like receiving a valentine’s gift! There was even a card!

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And then just look at how stunning these cakes look! I couldn’t believe it! Wow – just wow!

IMG_1275So in my box of goodies I got:

Raspberry Rapture Love Bomb

Magical Mint Love Bomb

Oriental Orange (Orange and Ginger) Love Bomb

Two Goji Bites

Ultimate bar

Zinger Bar

Unconditional Love Cake

Now where to start…Firstly they were all beautiful so it was really hard to know what to try first! I ended up going for the love bombs.

The love bombs were just perfect – lovely chocolatey coating, moist cake inside and then a surprise creamy filling. The flavours are really good in these and they really feel like a decadent dessert. They have a great nuttiness to them and a texture that really works. The creamy filling is definitely the best bit and it was hard not to eat them all at once! I’m not sure which my favourite flavour was to be honest – they were all so good!

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Goji bites – these were a lot larger than I expected – which was great! They’re a little harder in texture than the bombs and kinda crumble in to your mouth – which i really liked. Lovely flavours – nutty and with enough goji to really taste it and balance the chocolate.

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Ultimate bar and the zinger bar – these were both delish. The ultimate bar has mulberries, goji berries and buckwheaties in which give it a fantastic crunch and sweetness – this was great dipped in a cup of tea! The Zinger was just bursting with flavour from the Incan (golden) berries which were a great balance to the dark raw chocolate.

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Last and by NO means least – the unconditional love cake! Sharing is caring so I did share this – not only with my very good friend Colette, but also with my husband. And we all agreed this was out of this world. Raw chocolate, filled with raw chocolate cake, chocolate ganache, caramel and a malted cashew cream. Oh my word! This was just amazing! Definitely my favourite!

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So there you go! That was one big, delicious treat for me! I highly recommend you check out Gail’s page on facebook and place an order. The cakes aren’t cheap but the amount of love, care and sheer dedication that’s gone in to them mean they are most definitely worth every penny and they’re not small either so you’re getting a lot of cake for your buck! Do let me know if you try any!

 

 

Marmalade Loaf – low gluten, dairy-free

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My mum makes excellent marmalade, marmalade so good even Paddington Bear would be licking his little furry lips 🙂 Soooo as it’s mother’s day weekend and in honour of my amazing Mum and her expert culinary skills I’ve decided to use her yummy marmalade and make a marmalade loaf! This is dairy-free and low-gluten. The oil makes it super moist and the tanginess of the marmalade really goes well with the sticky sweetness of the loaf. If you liked my scrumptious carrot cake or Banana bread you will definitely like this 🙂 If you find marmalade a bit too bitter for your liking, just up the amount of icing sugar in the glaze, or use a different preserve for the glaze.

200g Spelt flour (you could use a gluten-free flour mix if you prefer)
100g Raw golden caster sugar
1 tsp ground all spice
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
zest of 1 Orange
zest  of ½ Lemon
100g Currants, raisins and sultanas
140ml Olive oil or Almond oil
5 tbsp Homemade seville marmalade
125ml Soya milk
1 tsp White wine vinegar
2 tbsp Raw golden icing sugar
1 tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar/ raw unrefined sugar

Pre-heat oven to 150 – 160C. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper.  Put the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, ground allspice, caster sugar, orange and lemon zest and dried fruit into a bowl with a pinch of salt and mix together. Put the oil and 2 tbsp of the marmalade in a pan and heat very gently to soften the marmalade. Don’t let the mixture get too hot. Once the marmalade has melted stir in the milk (it won’t combine properly but just give it a good mix). Pour all this into the flour mixture, add the white wine vinegar and mix well. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and place in the oven for an hour, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

While the loaf is cooking you can make the glaze. Add 3 tbsps marmalade and 2 tbsp water to a pan. Heat gently and add the icing sugar. Stir and continue to warm gently until it’s bubbling and syrupy. You may need to add more icing sugar to taste and to ensure it goes sticky. Whilst warm it will be runny though so allow to cool slightly if unsure. You can always reheat to make it liquid again.

When the loaf is cooked remove from the oven and pour the glaze onto the top of the load and sprinkle with the coconut palm sugar. Let it cool in the tin and don’t try to cut it until it’s cool (or if you’re like me, ignore that last bit of advice and have fun picking up all the crumbly bits as it falls apart 🙂 )