laurasaur

I’ve been so slack at updating, my blog WAS broken but it’s miraculously fixed itself tonight finally. I’ve also developed a mean sewing addiction which is soaking up any spare time I have !

Apple and feijoa crumble pie and a fabric covered letter for Charlotte’s room. xxx

My gorgeous Aunty Robyn gave me this cake tin tonight, and to celebrate my pimping new oven straight from the 80s I baked this amazing cake. It’s amazing because it involves nothing fancier than a normal cake but comes out looking so fancy pants!

Check it out! This oven was in my parents house when they bought it over 24 years ago!! It has fanbake! And a lower oven! Haha. This is a pretty exciting day for me let me tell you…

The cake is Alison Holst’s lemon yogurt cake which you can make it the food processor in less than 5 minutes. Nice and easy, even when you have a crying baby strapped to you in a sling and a toddler demanding your attention

Spring has finally arrived in London, and it’s so lovely to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin again! I’m so looking forward to long summer days in the sun… just as soon as we get rid of Reuben’s chicken pox!!!

I’ve been on a bit of a health kick recently, my sister in law stayed with us for a few weeks and her self discipline with food really motivated me to get my eating habits back into what I consider ‘healthy’. Obviously healthy means different things to different people, but what works for me is a variant of paleo or basically low carb with minimal processed foods.

Ever since Reuben was born breakfast has been a real struggle, but I’m happy to say it’s been a week and a half now and I feel like we are winning! Neither of us has had any cereal, instead opting for this delicious smoothie. I call it a green smoothie, Reuben calls it ‘cah coh’ (chocolate) or just makes his usual hamster noise.

What we blend:

Scoop or two of whey or hemp protein isolate
1/2 a frozen banana and maybe a handful of frozen blueberries
about 3 cups of spinach (we just fill the blender to the top)
Few spoonfuls of full fat greek yoghurt (how much gets in depends on how much is eaten by Reuben in the process)
Water

That smoothie must not have had any cocoa powder in it as it turns it brown (duh).

It’s so easy, quick, and the only way I have ever found to get spinach or kale into Reuben. Don’t tell anyone but sometimes we have this for lunch or afternoon tea too……..

In other news, I’m a bit upset that my husband snapped away rare pics of me and little R snuggling and playing all day today and… the card was not in the camera. Damn you ‘shoot without CF card’ setting! Damn you to hell.

I don’t think this can rightfully be called a Clafoutis as Wikipedia tells me that a Clafoutis is a baked cherry dish.

I’ve no doubt this would be delicious with cherries. The best variant I’ve made has been lemon and blueberry. Personally I think any traditional fruit combo would work here. Rum and raisin anyone?

your fruit of choice, enough to scatter over your baking dish
4 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c milk
1/2 c cream

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T lemon zest
3/4 c all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Place the berries in the bottom of an oven proof dish. I used a 24cm flan dish but you can make it in anything, your baking time will differ though.

Whisk eggs and sugar together until pale. Add milk, cream, lemon zest and juice and whisk together.
Add the flour and salt and whisk together gently.

Pour over the berries/fruit. Place in the oven and bake until the middle is golden and just bounces back when pressed, about 25 minutes.

I like this warm and still enjoy it the next day.

You can see why we only have half a layer of berries in our clafoutis….

This

Cake

Is

AMAZING.

I try and eat paleo all the time (that’s another post in itself), and it makes me so sad because I love cake. So much. Until now everything I’ve tried to bake that loosely conforms to the “rules” of paleo has tasted either like a bit of a brick or a combination of wallpaper and baking soda. So pretty much I used to just give up and make evil refined sugar cake.

This cake is AMAZING. So satisfying thanks to the dense almond flour, the coconut gives it a real good crumb, the perfect amount of sweetness (once you eat low carb for a while then you will start to find regular baked goods way too sweet) and best of all made with completely natural ingredients with no refined carbohydrates or nasty vegetable fats. And so easy! One bowl – well two really because you have to melt the butter in something but just whack everything in and mix. You don’t even have to worry about over or under mixing. I actually prefer this to my all time favourite, white sugar and white flour packed banana cake recipe. CRA-ZY.

I’ve adapted this recipe from Paleo Gourmet

3 cups almond flour
1/2 cup desicatted coconut
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp raw honey *this amount is up to you. 2 tsp won’t  be enough for some but I recommend starting with it and seeing how you go.
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
80g very dark chocolate chopped or chips (we use lindt 85% or 90%)
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4c raisins or sultanas (optional)

 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees/180 celcius.  Line a 8″ square tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Mix in the eggs, melted butter, honey, chocolate bits, raisins and vanilla. Add the almond flour, coconut, salt, and baking soda. Mix everything really well.

Bake for 20 to 35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch.

I’ve calculated the nutritional info as one cake makes 12 servings which are really very generous servings.

Each piece has 9g of protein, 25g of fat and only 7.5g of sugars. If you’re into calorie counting (you shouldn’t be) – 322 calories per serve. And those sugars are coming from fruit and a touch of natural honey, nothing else.

*Disclaimer – I know a lot of people will consider bananas to be not paleo and yes they are high on sugar/starch, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend eating a ton of them but they are a far better alternative than sugar or any sweetener ever in my books.