Healthy Lemon Yoghurt Pound Cake

Who doesn’t like a slice of pound cake with a cup of tea in the afternoon?

Heck as a Mum, I am grateful for anytime that I get to sit quietly & savour a cup of tea & a slice of cake!

In our house that usually means after the rugrats have gone to bed. That is if I have enough energy left after the craziness of the day 🙂

So bake this cake & hide it away until you can sit down & savour a bit of me time 🙂

It is lovely & decadent with a rich crumb, but the subtle lemon flavour with the slight tang from the greek yoghurt make this cake much lighter & more delicate than you would expect. It’s the perfect accompaniment to a nice cup of earl grey tea – just saying 🙂

This cake yet again is super easy to make, do I bake any other way??

Healthy Lemon Pound Cake a’la Mama Going Natural

• 1/2 c coconut sugar
• 1 c greek yoghurt
• 1/2 c butter
• 3 eggs
• zest & juice of two lemons
• 1 1/2 c spelt flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt

Pre-heat your oven to 170degrees.

In a food processor, mixer or thermomix mix the coconut sugar & butter until well creamed. Add in the yoghurt, eggs, lemon juice & zest mixing to combine. Add in the remaining ingredients & blend until just mixed. Pour into a well greased  or lined loaf pan.

Bake for 45 – 50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy

30 Second Mandarin Cake

We have had an abundance of Mandarin’s this summer.

We have been eating them like crazy, but still don’t manage to get through them fast enough, so I got to tinkering in the kitchen & came up with this super easy, super yummy, light, moist cake that even the little miss’s like.

This is a take on the 30 second Orange cake, but Miss 4 & 6 never really seemed to like that one, they found it “too spicy”, their word for anything with flavour…….god forbid!!

This Madarin cake goes down a treat as there is none of the bitterness that you can sometimes get with an orange cake, it has more of a delicate sweet flavour, like the Mandarins themselves 🙂

I make this cake in my Thermomix but it could be made in a food processor or blender just as easily.

30 Second Mandarin Cake a’la Mama Going Natural

• 4 large Mandarins (I prefer to use seedless)
• 225gm butter
• 3 eggs
• 150gm coconut sugar
• 300gm spelt flour
• 2 t baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Peel 2 of the Mandarins & leave 2 with the skins on. If your kids are more adventurous than mine & you want more of a citrus punch then put all 4  Mandarins’ in with there skins on. If your Mandarins’ have seeds I would recommend taking them out as they will just add bitterness to the cake. Place your Mandarin’s into the mixing bowl with the butter & mix at speed 8 for 15 seconds until the mix is smooth.

Add remaining ingredients to the bowl & mix at Speed 4 for 15 seconds until the batter is nice & smooth. The batter will be slightly runny but never fear it will come together.

Bake in a 20cm round cake pan for 50-60 minutes.

This mix also makes great muffins, just spoon into muffin pans till three quarters full & bake for approximately 20 minutes – they make a great lunch box treat.

Enjoy

Healthy Indulgent Mango & Coconut Tea Cake

What can I tell you, its the season for indulging around here!!

Summer! Its the season for indulging our sweet tooths, enjoying the abundance of tropical fruits & long lazy summer days around the pool. This cake recipe is divine its light, fresh, fruity & just plain yum!! This cake barely lasts a day in our household & is often requested because its just so divine. And like most of my recipes its super easy & foolproof (I mean I make it after all!).

Mango & Coconut Summer Tea Cake a’la Mama Going Natural

• 3/4 c coconut sugar
• 125gm butter
• 1/2 c coconut cream
• 4 eggs
• 1 c spelt flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 c ground almonds
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 mango’s peeled & cubed – 1 for the cake & 1 to add to the cream

• 1 c cream
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 t coconut sugar

I make this cake in a pot  – because I suffer from a little known illness which makes me allergic to creating & washing dishes! I think the medical term for it is Laziness, but who cares what they call it, who wants to wash dishes all day long – not me! Place the butter & sugar in your pot (if you too have an illness like mine) & gently melt the butter on a low heat. Stir to start your sugar melting. Take off the heat & add the coconut cream & let cool for five to ten minutes. Once your mix has cooled down add the vanilla extract & the eggs one at a time beating them in. Then gently fold in the dry ingredients (be sure not to beat the mix too much) until your batter is smooth. Split your batter between two round cake pans & top each cake with an equal amount of mango bake the cakes at 160 degrees for twenty minutes. Let cool before tipping your cake out of your pans or they will crack. Beat cream, vanilla & 1 t coconut sugar with a whisk until you get stiff peaks. Lay your first cake down on a plate, top with the reserved cubed mango & spoon the cream into the centre – it will get smooshed out (thats a technical cooking term) when you place the other cake on top. Dust with icing sugar if that’s your thing 🙂

Enjoy

Chocolate Orange Chick Pea cake – Gluten Free

I visited the “Kitchen” section of this blog today & I think I can see a theme here.

Raspberry Frozen yoghurt ice cream, Spiced banana Chocolate chip blondie, Caramelised chick pea fudge, Chocolate fudge, Spelt raspberry tea cake ……………

Lots of fudge recipes, lots of cake recipes & a couple of food recipes thrown in for good measure.

Anyone reading this blog would think all we do is sit around eating dessert all day, but I can assure you that is not true!! We eat our vegetables before we have our dessert 😉

One of the hardest things I have found (as a natural-born sweet tooth) in trying to eat healthy is finding healthy substitutes that will satisfy my sweet tooth. Little after dinner treats that hit the spot, little things that taste good that you can pack in lunch boxes, treats you can keep on hand for when the evil “Cadbury” is calling your name.

This is one of those very treats that we keep in our arsenal. My “little one” loves these little cakes & even her little friends at playgroup want to share her lunch when she takes these yummy little cakes along. I of course never let on that they might be “healthy”, that is a Mama’s secret after all…….

Chocolate Orange Chick Pea Cake a’la Mama Going Natural

You will need:

• 425gm cooked cooled chick peas (or canned if you prefer)
• 2/3 c fresh squeezed orange juice
• 4 eggs
• zest of 2 oranges
• 1/2 c coconut sugar
• 2/3 c cacoa powder
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t bicarb soda
• 1 T vanilla extract

Combine top 3 ingredients in a blender & blend till smooth. Stir in the rest of the ingredients gently. Pour mix into a well greased & floured pan as this mixture is very sticky. The mixture looks very wet, sort of like a smoothie consistency but don’t worry it will all be fine in the end. Bake at 170 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes completely cool before taking them out of the pan as otherwise they will crack.

This cake tastes better on the second day, the flavours seem to develop more & it seems more rich & chocolatey on the second day.

Enjoy your cake & eat it too