Easter Simnel Cake

This is very much a last minute post before I rush out of the door to drive 5 hours north to Snowdonia for a 'relaxing' break with the family. I say relaxing...but there will be lots of walkng involved. Relaxing my mind for a few days is the intention here and something I am very much in need of.

I'm planning on switching off from the internet...so I may be a little silent for a few days (other than the odd bit of dabbling on my phone!)

It's Easter Saturday and I hope for many of you that means enjoying a long weekend. Relaxing? DIY? Family time? What are your plans?

Yesterday I promised you one final Easter themed recipe...this one is quick and easy and can be made as a a single or double serving. I've made mine as a sharer as that was the size of my tin but you can easily half the ingredients (or save half for latter) if you prefer.  It uses the  coconut  cream that has been popping up in a few recipes...I've yet to write a full post dedicated to it, but it so simple and versatile its crept in of its own accord!

This cake is based on a fruit cake recipe but it would be equally nice using my single serve 2 minute carrot cake as a base. You can make any 'mazipan' style eggs or use some of the thickened  coconut cream. I had some vanilla energy bar mixture left over from my taster session so I used that. If you want to follow my basic recipe... it's based on these bars using just dates dessicated coconut and vanilla.

The top of the cake should have 12  'eggs' on it if you are following the biblical tradition of the 12 apostles but I struggles with space! Here's some brief info on the traditions behind the simnel cake if you are interested.  :-)

Right, i'm off...Have a lovely Easter. Eat lots of good food and be happy!

P.s apologies the photos aren't up to my usual efforts.... I was littering clicking and posting as fast as I could with my family clamouring to get out of the door!!

Recipe: Mini Simnel Cake

Ingredients:

1/3 cup blanced almond flour*
3 tbs ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

1/2 cup mixed dried fruit and nuts roughly blended- I used cranberries, raisins and walnuts
1/2 tsp mixed spice and/or cinnamon
1 small apple grated (approx. 1/3 cup)

3 tbs orange or apple juice mixed with 1 tbs ground flax seed
1 tsb coconut oil- melted (or other)

*Note- this would probably work fine with regular flour or spelt too (but I haven't tried it that way)

topping:
3 tbs vegan yoghurt
2 tsp fine coconut flour
tiny pinch of stevia to taste
pinch turmeric (just for yellow colour)
few drops almond extract

Decoration: 12 'eggs' (or an many as you can fit around the edge!)

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Roughly blend the dried fruits/nuts and then add to the dry ingredients along with remaining ingredients. Mix lightly to combine.

Spoon into a smallish tin (I used two extra large muffin tins approx 8cm diameter).

Bake for approx. 20 mins at 180C until golden on top. Note this probably also work in the microwave for 2-3 mins cook time but it wouldn't go golden.

Allow to cool before mixing the topping ingredients together to form a thick spreadable frosting and spreading over the top of the cake. Decorate with eggs to the perimeter to serve.

P.s for some random reason I added some strands of saffron.. it didn't add anything... i'd leave it off ;-)

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Valentine's cookie sandwich

My last Valentine’s recipe is here! I can’t believe how organised I’ve been. I usually miss the holiday themed recipe opportunities…or only realise at the very last minute, so I’m pleased with my early preparations.

Let’s hope as you are reading this that I am cosied up in a little cottage in the middle of Herefordshire…and not stuck in a blizzard somewhere, since the weather conditions at the time of writing (just gone midnight into Friday morning) were somewhat suspect with snow and ‘freezing rain’ forecast…hmmm not the best start to a holiday!

For this final recipe I just couldn’t get this fudge out of my mind- it is simply so good and so easy to make! Here I’ve rolled it out so that shapes can be made with a cutter and it performs the job just beautifully. Sprinkle with a little coconut and stop here if you like.  But I didn’t want to stop there, I wanted to add a little bit of pink!

I played around with the ‘pink’ options for quite some time. I wanted to create a similar raw ‘smoosh’ recipe so that the whole process was very quick and simple. To take a pink dye the basic dough needed to be light in colour so the two options I trialled were marzipan and cookie dough.

The marzipan still needs a little more work in my opinion as I think the almond flour makes the marzipan stick the roof of your mouth a little as you eat it but the marzipan recipe original seen here was too oily for rolling. The overall taste is good and it forms the shapes well, but for me the texture is not 100%- but then again I am very picky when it comes to textures. I preferred the cookie dough option and this worked best with the chocolate layer on the outside as the cookie dough is very soft and quite sticky whilst the fudge is firmer to touch and so seemed to work best that way round. As you can see I have tried various options here- feel free to vary things and experiment with your own layering!

I also pressed a little desiccated coconut on the chocolate sandwiches to give a pretty delicate finish…this was my favourite option!

Recipe: Valentines cookie sandwich

Makes anywhere between 20-40 heart sandwiches (depending on size of hearts and method used)

Ingredients- chocolate layer (fudge)

½  can black beans- rinsed and drained

1 small mashed banana

½ cup cocoa powder (or raw cacoa powder for an even healthier boost)

1/3 cup dates

2 tsp vanilla extract

½  tsp cinnamon

¼  tsp stevia

½ cup ground oats

2 tbs ground flax

2 tbs chia seeds

Ingredients- pink layer

Option A- marzipan

½ cup ground almonds

¼ cup almond flour

2tbs tapioca or arrowroot

¼ cup coconut butter

2tbs agave (tiny pinch spelt)

1 tsp almond extract (more if needed to taste)

1tbs water (as necessary to form dough)

1-2 drops red food colouring

Option B- cookie dough

2/3 cup cashews
1/3 cup oats
4tbs agave
1 Tsp vanilla extract

3tbs dried cranberries

1-2 drops red food colouring (for a stronger pink colour)

Method (for all):

Blend all dry ingredients in a food processor. Add wet ingredients and then blend again. The dough should be fairly tacky but not too sticky and should still be easy to handle.

Roll out, chill if needed and use cookie cutter to cut out hearts for each sandwich. Assemble in desired fashion and store in an air tight container.

 marzipan hearts with chocolate fudge centres

cranberry cookie hearts with a chocolate fudge centre

coconut chocolate fudge hearts with a soft cookie centre

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

‘Twelve Days’ day 5: Stollen

Marzipan...marzipan...marzipan...!

When I was younger I didn't like the traditional Christmassy dried fruit extravaganza- Christmas cake, mince pies and Christmas pudding were all out for me as I was simply not a fan of raisins and currants.  My dad on the other hand loves the cake but doesn't like marzipan and so every Christmas as soon as the Christmas cake made its appearance from the tin I would make a beeline for his plate ready to 'help out' with the layer of marzipan and icing as it was peeled away from the top of his cake!

These days things are different. I like the fruit too!

But... I don't want to ignore the marzipan either so in the spirit of trying new things I thought I would put together a couple of marzipan recipes to get you going.

Obviously this could be no ordinary marzipan, it had to be a refined sugar free healthy marzipan!

So, first up is today’s recipe...Stollen.

Stollen is a traditional German spiced loaf and strangely enough I have never actually eaten it before. I was keen to make my own healthy version this year with a generous layer of marzipan running through its centre. The fruit I used was also a bit of a twist on tradition allowing for my personal favourites- dried apricot, sultanas and cranberries, they also add a lovely colour to the loaf but feel free to vary these fruits as you wish.

The stollen takes a while to make- but most of this is rising time (approx. 3 hours rising time in total) so as long as you plan ahead you can get on with other things, the actual method itself is pretty simple and the ‘active’ time spent is probably only 20-30 minutes.

The recipes for both the stollen and the marzipan are below. The marzipan recipe makes more than is needed for the cake...so there will be left overs for  the ‘Day 6’ little treats.... oh just wait until you see them, I'm excited just thinking about them!

Recipe: Stollen

Ingredients

75g each of three dried fruits- I used sultanas, cranberries and apricots (chop up the apricots)

75g ground almonds

Zest of one lemon

½ tsp each of nutmeg and cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract (or an extra tsp vanilla)

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375g mix of wholemeal and white flours as preferred (I used 175g wholemeal and 200g white spelt)

1 sachet dried yeast (7g)

50g rapadura

1 tbs ground flax and 2 tbs hot water (mixed together and set aside for 5 minutes to gel)

70g coconut oil

150ml warm soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)

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200g marzipan- see below for homemade version

Icing sugar for final dusting- optional

Method

Mix together the fruits, nuts, spices and extracts in a medium bowl. Once well mixed cover and set aside.

In another bowl (I used my Thermomix) mix together the flours, yeast, rapadura, flax mixture, coconut oil and soy milk. Mix to form dough and knead well (I used the TM dough setting for approx. 5 minutes) by hand for approx. 10 mins to ensure it binds together well. Place dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film, leave to rise in a warm place for approx.. 90 minutes until it is roughly double in size.

Once risen, knead the fruit mix into the dough making sure it is well mixed through. If the dough becomes very sticky add a little more flour (I added another 25g). Cover and leave to rise for another 30  minutes.

Whilst you are waiting for the dough to rise make the marzipan following the recipe below. Shape 2/3 of the marzipan into a log roughly 25cm long. Set aside the rest of the marzipan for ‘Day 6’  treats (or just roll into balls for nibbles).

Once the dough risen for the second time, knead briefly and roll out in a rectangle approx. 15mm thick. Place the marzipan log towards one edge running lengthways along the dough making sure it is slightly shorter than the length of the dough. Roll up the dough around the marzipan tucking into the ends as you go.

Place the stolen roll on a parchment lined baking sheet with the seam side down. Cover and leave to rise for approx. 1 more hour (we are nearly there I promise!!)

Preheat oven to 180C and bake stolen for approx. 40 minutes. If the surface strats to brown to early, loosely cover with tinfoil, test with a skewer when to check when done. Dust with icing sugar to serve if preferred.

Recipe: Marzipan

Ingredients

100g ground almonds

100g white coloured ‘healthy flour’ e.g spelt or other GF flour (I used a combination of buckwheat and tapioca flour)

100g coconut butter

50g agave (tiny pinch stevia)

1 tsp almond extract (more if needed to taste)

Method

Blitz all ingredients in food processor until a sticky powdery ‘dough’. Press the dough into a small shallow tin to then slice into cubes, press into shaped silicone moulds or roll into balls etc. Leave to chill in fridge. If you are making Stollen use approx. 2/3 of the mixture to form a log for the centre of the stolen loaf.

Note: you will probably find the dough feels oily as you mould it, this is just the oils from the coconut in the warmth of your hands. When cool the marzipan will not be oily.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.