Wholemeal Apple Cake

At the Kindergarten we attend, a big fuss is made over birthdays.  Part of the special day includes baking a birthday cake in the Kindy.  Up until now, I had not wanted to interfere with the sacred ritual of birthday cake, so had accepted the non-vegan cake as an exception to our usual rules... anyway I finally had a chat to our teacher about what our options might be, and she asked me to give her a good cake recipe that they could try out... and here is the recipe I put together for her!

2 cups SR Wholemeal Flour
1 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1 cup Rice (or other non-dairy) Milk
3 tbsp Linseed Meal, soaked in 9 tbsp filtered water
3 small Granny Smith Apples, cooked, pureed and allowed to cool
1 small Granny Smith Apple, cut into small pieces
1 small Granny Smith Apple, cut into slices for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Grease / line a 9 inch round cake tin.(approx)
Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre and add the wet ingredients.
Stir until well combined, then add apple chunks and mix them in.
Pour mix into cake tin, and decorate the top with the apple slices.
I had a little fun and trimmed two of the slices to make a heart shape for the center of the cake :)
Bake 35-45 minutes, until cooked through.

Enjoy!!!

Solti's Birthday Choc~Almond~Goji Cake :)

It was my littlest one's Second Birthday at the start of July... this is the recipe for the cake that I made him!  I made a single batch recipe on his actual birthday, just dusted with icing sugar, and then made the mega-cake for his party!

CAKE:

1 1/2 cups Wholemeal Spelt Flour
1 cup Almonds, ground
3/4 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 cup dried Goji berries, ground
1 tbsp Raw Cacao Powder
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup rice / soy / nut milk
1 tbsp Chia Seeds, soaked in 3Tbsp water
Seeds of 1/2 Vanilla Bean, or 1 tsp of extract
Coconut oil for greasing tin.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Make a well in the centre and add wet ingredients.
Mix until well combined.
Grease cake tin with Coconut Oil.
Pour batter into tin.
Bake for around 25 minutes, until cooked through.


Chocolate Mud 'GANASH':

100g of Vegan Dark Chocolate
2 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 1/2 cups Cashew Nuts
1 tbsp Avage Syrup

Gently melt Chocolate and Coconut Oil over low heat.
Puree Cashews and Agave in high power blender to form a thick paste.
Add melted Chocolate and Coconut Oil to blender and ... blend to mix well :)
Work as quickly as you can to spread the mixture while still quite warm.

**This is not a refined recipe, texturally I would try a couple of things differently next time, like soak the cashews first and maybe add a little (or more) water to the mix to increase spreadability.  But damn it tasted good ;-) Ha ha **

Gingerbread Biscuits :)

140g Nutelex or other Butter replacement
1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
3/4 cup Golden Syrup
1 1/2 cups Wholemeal Spelt Flour
1 1/2 cups White Flour
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp ground Ginger
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground Cloves
Currants and sliced dried apricot for decorations :)


Place Nutelex, Sugar and Syrup into mixing bowl and cream together;
Add Flours, Baking powder and Spices and mix to combine into a stiff dough;
Flour down your work surface and tip out dough;
Knead, roll out and cut into shapes!
Place onto greased / lined trays and decorate;
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 12 minutes.

Sticky Date Coconut Rice

3 cups cooked Brown Rice

1 tin Ayam brand Coconut Cream

1 Tbsp Coconut Palm sugar

6 to 9 Medjool dates, finely chopped (yes, they turn into sticky clumps!)

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds

1 Tbsp Linseeds

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, gently bring to the boil while stirring.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Apple Crumble Yummm

This is a common weekend breakfast treat in our house, or even afternoon tea on a cold wintery day when Mummy has had the time to do it before school pick-up :)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.

Peel, core and chop 8 Granny Smith Apples, place into saucepan.
Add 4 curls of Lemon Peel (zest!) depending on taste preference.
[Optional addition of 4 Rhubarb Stalks cut into 1 inch chunks; or Stone Fruit such as nectarines, peaches, apricots, plums.  Whatever might be seasonal!]
Cover fruit with water.
Add 1 Tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar or other sweetener, stir to combine.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, until all fruit pieces are well softened.

While fruit is stewing, get out a mixing bowl and put together:
1/2 cup Wholemeal (Spelt) Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1 cup Almonds, partially crushed/ground
1/2 cup Coconut Palm Sugar
1/2 cup shredded / dessicated Coconut
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds

Take approximately 1 cup of cooked apple flesh from the stewing pan and puree.
Mix dry ingredients together, then add the apple sauce into the dry mix, stirring until it clumps nicely together. If extra liquid is necessary a dash of non-dairy milk will do the trick, even water would do in a pinch.

Use a slotted spoon or similar kitchen tool to move the remaining fruit mix from the saucepan to a pie dish, leaving the water behind.  It is up to you whether you want to pick out the lemon peel or let it remain for the full cooking process :)

Spread the crust mix evenly over the top of the fruit, place into the pre-heated oven and cook for 20 minutes.

Serve warm, accompanied by:

Coconut Cream!
Into a high powered blender place:
1 cup raw cashews
The juice and zest of 1 lemon
2-3 Medjool Dates
Water, enough to cover, with some on standby in case extra is needed for the desired consistency.

Bliss Balls!!

This recipe is an absolute regular feature in our house... here is our adaptation, based on the recipe from Bliss Cafe which can be found at http://blissorganiccafe.com.au/recipes.html

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup raw whole Almonds
2 cups pitted Medjool Dates
1 cup raw whole Walnuts
2 cups dried Goji berries
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Pepitas
1/4 cup Shredded Coconut
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds
1/4 cup raw Cacao Powder
Extra Coconut for rolling balls in!

Combine ingredients one at a time in a food processor or high powered blender (love my Vitamix!) in the order listed.  All ingredients should become relatively well pureed and become quite a heavy sticky 'dough'.  Form balls of desired size and roll in the extra coconut.  Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  Goes well with a nice cup/pot of green or herbal tea :)