Tag Archives: coconut oil

Chilled Carrot and Coconut Cake

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This cake is really light and refreshing as well as being made from totally wholesome ingredients. It is best served chilled because of the coconut icing. The sugar is replaced by maple syrup, plain flour by spelt flour and the butter by coconut oil.

The biggest difference with this cake is the icing…. made purely from coconut milk and a little honey. You will need to purchase a full fat variety of coconut milk and ensure that the can has been chilled for at least a couple of hours in the fridge so that the milk separates. It is this solid part (that floats to the top of the tin) that is used for the icing.

1/2 cup (4 floz) of coconut oil (melted)
5/8 cup (5 floz) of maple syrup
3 eggs
140g raw carrots grated (the texture of the cake will be lighter if the carrot is crated on the finest setting)
175g white spelt flour (I used this one)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

2 tins of full fat coconut milk (chilled and separated)
1 tablespoon of honey

In a bowl whisk the coconut oil and maple syrup until you have a thick mixture that looks like caramel. Add the eggs and whisk a little more. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre and add your liquid mixture – folding gently until combined.

Pour mixture (it will be quite sloppy!) into a baking dish – I used a Pyrex lasagna dish. Place in the oven for at 180c for around 30 – 40 mins. The cake will be ready when a knife comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely.

Meanwhile take the coconut milk out of the fridge. You want to use the hard solid part of the milk that should be floating on top (you can use the left over liquid as a refreshing drink or use it in curries or to cook rice in) Whisk the solid coconut milk until it is smooth and add the honey. Then pour this mixture over the cake. Keep the cake in the fridge and serve chilled.

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Blueberry Breakfast Cake

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This cake makes a lovely breakfast treat. It tastes more like a scone than a cake, it is made from wholemeal flour and is not too sweet…

300g wholemeal pastry flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
80g brown sugar
2 eggs
250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
60g melted coconut oil (or you can use melted butter)
150g blueberries
a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar

Grease and flour a baking tin (I used a lasagna dish which works well) Preheat the oven to 180c.

Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs until they are pale and fluffy then add the buttermilk and butter. Pour these into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Try not to over mix, it will look more like a bread dough as supposed to a normal sponge mix.

Place into tin and lightly push to the edges. Scatter the blueberries over the top of the mix and then sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bake in the oven for around 25mins or until a knife comes out clean.

Breakfast Bran Muffins

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These wholesome muffins can replace your normal breakfast cereal if you are too busy in the morning… most of their sweetness comes from the maple syrup (and a little brown sugar) and instead of butter a combination of coconut oil and yogurt is used. You can buy wheat bran from health food shops (try and use fine bran instead of the coarse type for a lighter texture)

275g stone ground whole wheat flour
150g wheat bran
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons of unrefined brown sugar
a large handful of chopped walnuts
16 fl oz yogurt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 fl oz maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut oil (or you could use melted butter if you prefer)

Preheat oven to 180c and grease a 12 cake muffin tin with coconut oil or butter.

In a large bowl combine the flour, wheat bran, salt, baking soda, sugar and walnuts. Make a well in the centre and add the yogurt, egg, maple syrup and coconut oil. Combine all the ingredients (but don’t over mix as the mixture will become too heavy)

Place into the muffin tin and bake for around 20 – 25mins (or until the cakes are golden brown and cooked through) Serve with yogurt and berries as a wholesome brekfast or eat on their own as a healthy snack.

Chocolate and Spelt Loaf Cake

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Chocolate Spelt Cake

This is a really rich chocolate cake and works well as a dessert. Serve with ice cream, custard or yogurt and berries. You can use all spelt flour or a combination of spelt and white flour (which gives a lighter texture) or even wholemeal, but ensure that you sieve the flour first (to remove any large grains) you may need to re-wiegh the flour afterwards to make sure you still have the correct measurements.

2 1/2 cups spelt flour (or wholemeal flour – sieve the flour first)
3/4 cup organic cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (or melted butter)
1 cup organic maple syrup
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk
200g ounces 70% chocolate, shaved or finely chopped

Preheat oven to 180c degrees, butter and flour a loaf tin. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the melted butter, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla and coconut milk. 
Pour the maple syrup mixture over the flour mixture and stir until combined. Add the chocolate and stir until everything comes together and is no longer dusty looking – avoid over-mixing. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for around 40 minutes.
The cake is best when it is slightly under-baked, so make sure you take it out when a knife comes out of the centre out when the center still with some cake mix on it.  Remove from oven and eat while still warm.

Organic Chocolate

Some other serving suggestions:

You could bake the cake in a round cake tin and ice it with a chocolate butter cream of 100g butter, 100g golden icing sugar, 2 tbsp boiling water and 50g organic cocoa powder. Make sure the cake has totally cooled before you ice.

You could also use this healthy alternative from My New Roots.  You have to make sure that coconut milk has totally separated (so that there is thick layer of coconut on the top) You could then roast some hazelnuts to add to the top.

The cake is adapted from recipe by Hedi Swanson.

Healthy Cookies

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Healthy cookies with big chunks of chocolate pieces

These cookies are really yummy and they are healthy too! They contain coconut oil instead of butter and are packed full of oats, banana and 70% chocolate. I found these on one of my favourite blogs – 101 Cookbooks.

Healthy cookies containing bananas, oats and coconut

 

3 bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, you could use olive oil instead
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup ground almonds
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 – 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped (I actually on used half this amount and the cookies were still lovely and chocolatey!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside.  In another bowl whisk together the oats, ground almonds, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don’t worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 – 14 minutes.