Dairy and egg free chocolate cake

After a very busy 4 weeks, I finally have time to bake again! Today I really felt like cake and remembered an amazing recipe that I was sent a few weeks ago - dairy and egg free chocolate cake. My mother in law makes a very similar cake called crazy cake, but I have found my new recipe to be tastier and lasts longer. This recipe uses some random ingredients but they are all generally in my cupboard so is quick and cheap to make.

Dairy and egg free chocolate cake
 

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cup Self raising flour (sifted)
1/3 Cup Cocoa powder (sifted)
1/2tsp Baking soda
1/2tsp Salt
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Veg/rice bran oil
1 Cup Cold water
3tsp Vanilla/Peppermint essence
2tsp Vinegar

Method

Preheat oven to 190*.Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl (except vinegar).Pour wet into dry gently mix. Add vinegar and stir to blend. Pour into cake tin and bake for 45 minutes.
 

I then sliced the cake in half and added raspberry jam. I iced it with chocolate icing as well - yum!

 

Pineapple upside down cake

I really felt like cake today. Cake with cream and sauce. And wine. (2 sick, grumpy children here!). However, wine isn't really something I can serve to the toddler for dessert, and I thought I better make something slightly healthy. Adding fruit to anything automatically counts as 1 of your 5+ a day - promise!
I love a good warm piece of cake, with sauce and cream for dessert and we had a pineapple that needed using up so I made a 70's classic minus the cherries - Pineapple upside down cake. Easy to make and you can use fresh or canned pineapple and serve with whipped coconut cream, yummy!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Dairy Free)

Topping - 

1/4 cup of dairy free spread 

3/4 cup  light brown sugar

1 medium pineapple(peeled, quartered, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick)

Cake - 

170 grams dairy free spread

150 grams caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 and a half cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

125 mls of milk - I used coconut milk today

Method - 

Heat oven to 180 degrees, 

Place first amount of dairy free spread and brown sugar in a pot, and boil gently for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cut pineapple into chunks and place in a single layer in a non stick cake tin. Once topping is boiled, pour over fruit and place aside. 

Cream spread and sugar, once mixed add eggs one at a time and mix until fluffy. Add vanilla and mix again. Then place dry ingredients and dairy free milk of your choice and then mix slowly until all incorporated. Pour batter over pineapple and bake in oven until cake is golden and a knife comes out clean.

Leave in tin for ten minutes and then turn out on to a plate. Serve warm with extra caramel sauce and whipped coconut cream, or is nice cold too.

Easy dairy free snacks

I really enjoy baking and cooking so I tend to make a lot of our food from scratch but some times it's just so much easier to buy something from the supermarket. Reading the labels however is not so easy! I've gotten better at this over time as I now know what is dairy free but when I first started the shopping took a very long time!. I've written a list of things in the supermarket that are dairy free, budget friendly, and give children (and big children) some of the same foods as their friends - packets!! It is surprising how much choice there actually is, great for a quick treat or a party. However do be aware that they may be processed in a factory manufacturing dairy, and they aren't the healthiest or most natural options.

Dairy free shopping-

Original oreos
Arnotts hundreds and thousand biscuits
Mother Earth fruit sticks (not the chocolate ones)
Quaker muesli bars (even the chocolate ones!)
Ready salted chips, corn chips and vege chips
Caramel Pop'n'good popcorn
Butter flavoured pop'n'good popcorn
Whittakers dark chocolate all above 50% cocoa (under is not dairy free)
Corn cruskits
Budget biscuits
Homebrand gingernuts
Sunrise margarine
Honey puffs
Cherrios (cereal)
Cocoa pops
Marshmellows

Happy shopping!

The easiest chocolate brownie ever

I love a good chocolate brownie! I had never found a recipe I could adapt to be dairy free that was right though. I finally stumbled on a few that I could modify and taste brilliant with non-dairy and with butter as well. The bonus of these brownies is that they whip up in 1 pot (less dishes yay!) in about 5 minutes flat.
They taste yummy on their own, or with added extras - I love adding chopped dark chocolate, craisins and walnuts to make Black Forest brownies - yum!!

Dairy Free Chocolate Brownies

3/4 cup coconut oil or dairy free spread
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 eggs

optional - 
handful of chopped nuts - walnuts are great
chopped dark chocolate
craisins


Method -
Heat oven to 180. Melt coconut oil in a large pot with sugar and vanilla. Once melted add flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and the eggs last. Mix quickly with a whisk, then stir in any extras you are using. Pour into a lined tin and put in the oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes depending on how gooey you like your brownie. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Hot Cross Buns

I saw Hot Cross Buns in the supermarket this week and since I feel it's never too early for a good HCB, I decided to try and make my own. The supermarket buns have 2 things in them that don't work for me - dairy and raisins, so I made my buns without either. You could put raisins or currents in if that's your thing, and I will be nice and make some here too for the raisin lovers. I spent the morning looking for a recipe but everything I came across had dairy added or was complicated to make. In the end, I took my usual bread recipe, added spices and baked them. I made these buns in the breadmaker, however I'm sure you could hand make them too if you are that clever! There are a few steps to this recipe, since the crosses need to be added but they are soooo good and tasted so much better than the shop bought ones! We may have eaten almost the whole batch for lunch.....

Hot Cross Buns


1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon oil (I use olive or rice bran)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon mixed spice
3 teaspoons yeast

2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

Place the ingredients, in order, in the breadmaker and set to the dough setting. About half way through add your fruit if you are using. Once finished, place dough on a floured bench and kneed for a few minutes. Cut into 8-12 even pieces and shape into balls. (Depends on the size you want.) Cut a cross into the top of each bun and then place on to a tray lined with baking paper and leave somewhere warm to rise for an hour. I pop them into my oven on low. When they are nearly risen, make a doughof 2 tablespoons of water and  2 tablespoons of flour. Roll into lengths, cut into pieces and place on the cuts you had made on the buns. Pop the newly crossed buns back into a hot oven (about 180)  for 10 to 15 mins or until golden on top. While they are cooking make a sugar syrup with the sugar and water and as soon as the buns are out of the oven, brush them with the syrup. Leave to cool as long as you can and enjoy!

Bread recipe courtesy of my lovely sister in law, Karen. Find her blog here

Banana, oat and coconut milk pikelets

I had a few bananas to use up today and couldn't decide what to do with them. I made a dairy free banana bread with walnuts and chocolate chips yesterday so decided to do something a bit simpler this afternoon - pikelets! I also had 3/4 of a can of coconut milk to use up so thought that I would try it instead of rice milk. They turned out light and fluffy and both children loved them. I also hid some oat bran in them, great way to sneak in some extra goodies. I may be a master of hidden foods!

One thing to note - because the coconut milk is a lot thinner than cows milk, you do need to play around with the flour a bit to get the right consistency. I found that 1 cup of liquid needed about 1 and 1/4 cups of flour.

Pikelets

1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1and 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup coconut milk (or other dairy substitute) 

1 ripe mashed banana

1 tablespoon oat bran

Mix the egg, sugar, milk and banana together in a bowl. In another bowl combine all dry ingredients. Slowly mix the wet and dry ingredients together with a whisk. Set aside to rest for a few minutes. While the mix is resting, heat a frying pan till hot (depends on your stove top) and melt some coconut oil to lightly grease the bottom. Place one spoonful of the mixture in to test the temperature. Once pan is well heated, place spoonfuls of the mixture in, turning once bubbles have appeared on the surface and the bottom is golden. Repeat until mix is gone. Serve with extra banana slices (whipped coconut cream is also yummy).

Cashew Cream

What is cashew cream? Who even thought nuts could become a cream? Cashew cream is amazing! 2 ingredients, a bit of preparation and a cup of nuts becomes a dairy free cream with a multitude of uses. Dressings, desserts, fillings, cheese, the uses are endless. I have so much research to do with this, it is going to be hard taste testing everything! My first challenge is a dairy free chocolate mousse which I'm hoping to work on this weekend, but in the meantime - here is the cashew cream recipe.

Cashew Cream

2 cup of whole, raw cashew nuts
1 cup of cold water

Put the nuts in a bowl and cover the nuts with water. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge overnight.
Once soaked, drain and rinse the nuts. Place them in a blender with enough fresh cold water to cover them by 3 cms and then blend on high until very smooth.

That's it! Super easy and fast. This makes about 2 1/4 cups of thick cream. By using more water you can make a thinner cream which is better for pouring. Adding more water again makes cashew milk. It can be stored in the fridge for 2 days or frozen for up to 6 months (but needs another blend after).

Dairy Free Anzac Biscuits

The problem with being dairy free is that I miss the texture baking with butter gives you, the crunch and the chewiness just isn't right without it. I had been doing all my baking with dairy free spread but I'm not happy with all the chemicals that go in to it. I was doing some reading and coconut oil kept popping up again and again. I bought some and haven't regretted it since! It is a lot more expensive than butter or spread but I've weighed that up against the health aspect and it is something that I'm going to budget for. And the results are amazing! I had a craving for proper Anzac biscuits so decided to try them with the coconut oil - perfect! Crunchy, chewy and very good, so much so that they only lasted a day! I added a few extras to the mixture too.

Anzac Biscuits

1 cup Flour
1 cup caster sugar (I used raw caster sugar)
1 cup coconut
2 cups rolled oats
2 tablespoons golden syrup
125 grams coconut oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons boiling water
(I also added a good tablespoon of chia seeds)

Heat oven to 180C  Line a baking tray with baking paper. Place flour, caster sugar, coconut and oats (and seeds if using) in a bowl and stir to combine. 

Place coconut oil and golden syrup in a pot to melt. Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water. Add melted ingredients (I found the oil and water didn't mix too well but the end result was still good) and dissolved baking soda to dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Roll spoonfuls into balls and press onto prepared baking trays, allowing space for biscuits to spread while cooking and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and firm. Place on a rack to cool.

Courgette and Potato Fritters

I've just come home from a week away where I learnt some brilliant food ideas and spent the week eating whole, organic vegetarian food. I've been inspired by the chef - he was amazing!
I'm trying to get extra vegetables into the children, as come dinner time they are both tired and less likely to eat much. I took some of the techniques I had learnt and added them to a recipe that I love to create a yummy fritter that both children ate (almost leaving none for us!) It was full of fresh yummy veges out of my garden and tasted great. It does have a few steps, but nothing difficult or too time consuming but they make the fritters lovely and light.

Courgette and Potato Fritters

2 courgettes, grated
1 cup of grated potato
Pinch of salt
Handful of mint leaves
1 teaspoon of Lemon zest
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1/2 cup flour

Preheat your oven to 180c. Combine the grated courgette and potato in a bowl with a pinch of salt and put to the side. In another bowl beat the eggs whites until stiff. Squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the courgette and potato mixture then add chopped mint, lemon zest, egg yolks and flour. Mix till combined. Add a spoon of the egg white and gently mix until incorporated. Fold in the rest of the egg white until just combined but still fluffy.
Heat a frying pan with a splash of olive oil and fry on both sides till brown, then place on a lined tray. Once you had browned all of the fritters, place in the oven to finish cooking - about 20 minutes. They come out nice and crispy and fluffy - yum!

Dairy Free Pink Cupcakes

When we found out our then 15 month old was severely intolerant to milk protein, my first thought was - what do I feed her!?

 I found it hard to access information about substitutes for dairy that aren't chemical laden but are easily sourced and budget friendly. That's where this blog comes in. I've spent that last year and a half researching, cooking and baking and thought it would be great if I could put all my ideas on eating dairy free for a family (and as clean as possible), in one place.

Most of my food that I cook is eaten by our 7 month old, our 2 and a half year old and the 2 of us. It works for everyone, is easy and tastes better than butter!

Miss 2.5 asked for pink cakes today and being Valentines day tomorrow, I thought we could make some cute pink cupcakes for her Daddy to take to work. I took my old recipe that never fails and modified it to suit what I wanted.



Cupcakes -

1/2 cup coconut oil
3 eggs
3/4 cup of self raising flour (can sub rice flour and baking powder)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raw caster sugar

Put everything in a bowl and mix till nice and fluffy - about 2 minutes. No need to cream the oil and sugar, everything goes in together. Spoon mixture into cupcakes cases and bake at 180 for 10 mins or until risen and springy to touch.

I wanted pink swirls, so I coloured half the mixture with Barkers Blackcurrant syrup and then spooned the pink on top of the original mix.

Icing -

1/4 cup coconut oil
2ish cups icing sugar coconut milk for thinning (soy,rice milk or water works just as well)
2 splashes of Barkers Blackcurrent syrup to colour and flavour.

Using an electric mixer, beat the coconut cream with a wee bit of the icing sugar till it's smooth. Slowly add the icing sugar until the mixture becomes a bit lumpy and can't take any more sugar. Add a teaspoon of milk until you reach your desired consistency, I played around with this. Once you have the texture you desire, pipe or spoon (easier!) the icing on the cupcakes and decorate any way you wish.

I think I might try a coconut and pineapple flavour next time....