Dairy Free Zucchini Cake

The boys are going to their grandparents tomorrow while I work. The grandparents are going to be very busy as they also have my other 1&3 year old nephew and niece with them.

So to try and be of some assistance I decided to have the boys take a cake. My nephew and niece have been very dairy intolerant and although they are getting better I still omit dairy when I can.

The zucchini's are starting to really produce so instead of using apples I used zucchini. My spiced apple cake recipe is here - just replace the grated apple with 3-4 grated normal size zucchini.

Needless to say it is not going to the grandparents in one piece as everyone here has already had a slice!!!

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Easy Orange Cake - egg and dairy free

Well this is a first for me. I am on blogging someone else post. Well done Anne for this recipe. Click on the link to take you to her recipe and blog. This is egg and dairy free , which all my nieces are and I am always trying to find food they can eat that is different. I also think that with lowering the oven a tiny bit and changing the oil that it might be OK for Kerryn (minus the buttercream icing)  Domesblissity: Easy Orange Cake:  

I am only linking back to the lovely Anne and her blog post

Scrummy and easy chutney

The chutney roasting in the oven

My sister in law's book

The finished chutney

As I mentioned in my post yesterday I had chutney cooking in the oven while I was working (and blogging - shhh don't tell the boss that I multitask, drat that's right- he reads this!).

Yes I swear to you this chutney is that easy. No standing over a pot for a couple of hours waiting for the chutney to thicken, worried that it will burn. I chopped the ingredients then put them in the oven to roast and then put it all into jars. How easy is that!

Oh and did I mention it is some of the best chutney ever. My husband said it was like a Barkers chutney (now you need to understand that is the highest praise possible from him. Barkers in Geraldine make the closest to homemade tasting of all jams, chutneys, sauces etc).

The recipe I used was based on a book published last year by my sister in law. Deborah Hyde-Bayne. Called Coromadel Flavour. They live in the Coromandel and these recipes are with the seasonal produce from there. This book was three years in the making. Debs has worked hard and it is a beautifully produced book.

Anyway the recipe I used as a basis was the Roasted Feijoa Chutney recipe. I used my blackboy peaches. I altered a lot of the recipe as the peaches are a lot less subtle than feijoas. So I did not use the whole spices that she used but supermarket bought ground spice. The rest of the ingredients were just what I had in the cupboard so there was a bit of substitution. But when it comes to feijoa season I am going to follow the recipe to the hilt. I loved the fact that the recipe was low salt too.

If you want to buy one of her books just click on the link above and it will take you to her site.

My Blackboy Peach recipe - this quantity made three little jars
1.1kg  Blackboy peach flesh
350g   Normal white onion
2         Long medium heat green chillies
360g   Brown sugar
1         Dessertspoon salt
115ml White Vinegar
2         Lemons - juice and zest
2         Teaspoons ground cinnamon
2         Teaspoons ground cardamon

Cut the flesh of the blackboy peaches into about 1.5cm chunks. Chop the onion quite finely. Add all the ingredients together into a smallish sized roasting dish and mix well. I used a high sided non stick slice pan, the mixture looks quite dry. Leave it to sit overnight. This releases heaps of liquid and will fill the dish up.

Roast for 2-3 hours at 180oC (I roasted two hours and it was still really runny, so I fan baked it for 30 minutes. You need to do this until the mixture caramelises (goes thick and brown and sticky)

Spoon into sterilised jars and seal. Debs recipe says to leave a week before use. It was pretty yummy at the time. This was so delicious that I am going to make a batch double this size as it will be good for presents etc.

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Sorbet - Annabel Langbein style

 Berry Sorbet and real fruit ice cream

Well I decided to try making Annabel Langbein's sorbet that was on her current TV programme "The Free Range Cook, Simple Pleasures". It is so much easier to make than normal sorbet where you have to make a sugar syrup. But it left it a lot grittier and the berries have little pip bits that gave it a sort of crunch. It is nice, it is super easy and also is egg, gluten, fat and dairy free. But the boys did not like it. So I also made some real fruit icecream for them. Putting them both together in the same dish worked well as the smooth icecream meant the crunchy sorbet was not overpowering.


Annabel Langbein Berry Sorbet
I did 1/2 recipe and that was a lot.
500g frozen berries into the food processor, add 1 cup castor (or superfine) sugar and 1 tablespoon of alcohol (I used creme de cassis from Barkers). Process till smooth (this took a wee while) Put in the freezer for at least two hours before serving.

My real fruit icecream
Put frozen berries into foodprocesser, add icing sugar to taste - blend. Then put in some vanilla icecream and  whizz until it is all well mixed. Yummy on the spot and refreezes well.

Frozen berries into food processor

Add icing sugar

Whizz

Whizz till smooth with icecream in it

Or just eat it as it is.

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Super Easy Rhubarb Dessert

This dessert is sooo simple and easy. Tasty tasty and healthy. Egg, Dairy, Gluten, Fat free (fantastic for you Kerryn).

Take 500g rhubarb stalks and wash and cut them to the length of the container you are going to bake them in.

Lay them in rows (putting the little bits in the bottom so they can't be seen

Grate on the zest of two oranges

Squeeze the juice from the oranges onto the rhubarb

Add 5 teaspoons of honey (I have used the honey from the hives of our friend Dirk)

Put into the oven at 180oC for 20-30 minutes until the stalks seem soft to touch. Turn oven off and allow to cool. Serve as is - Gorgeous

If you want you can make some nut brittle and sprinkle on top. Or this is gorgeous for breakfast with some homemade muesli sprinked on and a bit of Greek Yogurt (so long as you can eat dairy!)

Spicy Fruit Bagels

The finished bagel

The boys and I watched "Rachel Allen Bake" on the weekend and she did bagels. When the boys were little I used to make spicy fruit bagels quite a lot as they liked them toasted with homemade jam on them for breakfast.

Why is it that we forget some of the great things we used to do? So all inspired today I thought I would do bagels for afternoon tea. I think I over rose them a bit - they really puffed up when boiling. I forgot how easy they are when you have a breadmaker. The boys are scoffing through them as I write this.

The dough

My recipe has no dairy, no saturated fat at all (great for you Kerryn - hot with some homemade jam on them) no egg (I specifically do not egg wash them so that they can be no egg.) Though if you do egg wash them they do go glossy and lovely on top.

Boiling the bagels.

Blackcurrant Jam and Dairy Free Banana Cake

The finished product

A great book

I have half a cow coming off the farm in the next few weeks so need to empty the freezer. Last year my blackcurrants were so prolific that I still had three containers of them in the freezer when I looked today. As we used the last blackcurrant jam on Friday, I figured that was what I would do with them.

For those of you with lot of blackcurrants what we normally do is free flow freeze (try saying that fast!) them and I use them instead of blueberries when making the blueberry muffin recipe. They are tarter and stronger in taste and we all love it.

Anyway this Jam recipe is a conglomeration of years of trying and a lovely Victorian Jam and Preserve book that my gorgeous friend Marie Pearce gave me as a wedding present (Hi Marie - still haven't finished making your birthday present, am working on those screens).

Rather than type the recipe out I have taken a photo of it. You should be able to read it ok. I use a higher portion of fruit to sugar than most recipes. I also don't stew the blackcurrants as long as most recipes as I do not want my fruit to be mush - I like fruit in jam to still be semi whole. More like a conserve.

Anyway this recipe is good and is not boiled so long that it goes hard in the jar the way it can sometimes. (My other hint is that I never buy specific jam jars. I just use jars that seal from chutneys, jams and sauces from the shop. They clean up and reseal very well)

The recipe

Dairy Free Banana Cake
I made this dairy free today as I did not have any butter out soft and I wanted to use the time the jam was cooking to make something. (and I had four bananas that needed rescueing)
into a bowl put: 1 and 1/8th Cups neutral oil, 3 eggs, 1 1/8th Cup sugar, 4-5 soft bananas mashed and whisk together. Into the liquid put 3 Cups flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder. Then put 1.5 teaspoons baking soda into 3 tablespoons warm water and dissolve, put with all other ingredients. Stir all well and pour into prepared tin. I used a ring tin as this is a large cake and the ring cuts the cooking time down. 180oC for about 40 minutes.

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Baking and a busy day

Dairy, Egg and Gluten free rice bubble biscuits

Well today first thing I made rice bubble biscuit. This needed to be gluten free and dairy free, as Mieke is intolerant of both. So I adapted the recipe to suit. I have no idea when I first got this recipe or from who as it has been around since before I was a child.

Rice bubble cake
4 Cups Rice bubbles (make sure they are a brand that are gluten free - I used Kelloggs) into a big bowl.
then into a pot put
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey

I love ginger gems

3 1/2 oz diary free spread - i used Olivio as it is made from olive oil (watch out as some still have dairy in them)
4 Tablespoons sugar
melt all together and then bubble at low heat stirring until the colour darkens and the mixture thickens. Pour into rice bubbles, mix together quickly as it sets fast. Put into a lined tin, press down firmly with wet hands and cut. (it is very hard to cut it once it is set). I keep it in the fridge until eaten.

Then we went outside and Eli mowed the lawn for the first time ever! Wow at 7years old. He was dead keen and did an amazing job. So Aaron dug all the compost out and we put it all around the garden. I weeded all the strawberries and pottered like that. The weather was gorgeous but then it went very strange and blew and rained. So inside we came and I made some old fashioned Ginger Gems. I just used the recipe from the Edmonds Cookbook. After a lovely afternoon tea Mieke and Alex came to stay for the night. So all is on!!! Aaron has both the kids on his knee reading to them at the moment. I have dinner ready, Mieke has had two pieces of her rice bubble cake and the boys are watching Chip and Dale.

Aaron loves having babies in the house

The kids watching Chip and Dale

Cheats Dairy Free Apricot Shortcake

I wanted to bake something for Jess as it is exhausting having little babies. As Jess is also dairy free now to see if that will help Alex with his reflux, I needed to think outside the square. Well I cheated. Instead of spending ages adapting a recipe I took the easy route and dashed to the supermarket and got a margarine that is made with olive oil - hence diary free. Oh my goodness, did you know that some of the promoted "healthy" margarines made with Olive oil cheat and have milk solids in them. I was really surprised and read labels very carefully. So good old Olivio was the only one I could guarantee to be diary free.

Then all I had to do was replace the butter content with the Olivio margarine. Simple, easy and it worked really well.

My diary free shortcake recipe:
4oz Olivio
1/2 cup castor sugar
mix those together well. Then add
1 egg and beat. Then add
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup self raising flour

This is a very soft dough. I do not roll it out as it causes problems being so soft.
Grease the tin you are putting it in (I used a foil disposable tin so Jess doesn't have to worry about returning things). Press half the dough into the bottom of the tin.

Drain a decent sized bottle of home preserves (I used apricots for Jess and blackboy peaches for our one). Give the juice to the kids to drink and put the drained fruit into your baking tin in a even layer. Flour your hands well and flatten the remaining mixture in between your hands and place on top of the fruit - trying to give even coverage. Bake 180oC about 30 minutes. (I check it every 5 minutes after 25 min of cooking).
Hey presto and yummy

Spiced apple cake - dairy free

Yesterday I had my niece for the day and she loves cake. So I thought I would try to adapt a gorgeous cake by Alison Gofton into dairy free. What a fantastic success.

Please note that this is not fat free, gluten free or egg free (sorry Susannah and Kerryn)

Everyone I know loves the original recipe for this cake. It is good for dessert with some custard or cream while hot, lasts for about 4 days just in the cupboard and holds together well for lunch boxes. I have always liked it as it is great when you are a mum. All mixed in a pot and in the oven 5 minutes later, plus having grated apple makes it seem healthier somehow.

My adaption
Spiced apple cake - dairy free version
Into a bowl put - 100ml vegetable or canola oil,
2 grated apples (skin on),
1 cup sugar,
1 egg - mix it all well
Then add
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda (this is not a typo - only B Soda is used)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp alspice (do not substitute for other spices)
1 tsp salt
Mix all till lump free (apart from the grated apples). Put into a lined tin.

Make topping in same bowl, don't worry about any mixture on the side it all just blends in.
3 T vegetable or canola oil
1/2 C rolled oats
1/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon - mix it all well. It will be crumbly. Scatter on top of the cake batter.

Put in the oven at 180oC for 30-45 minutes (springs back to the touch). The time varies each time as it depends on the type of apple you use. Some apples have more juice or breakdown and make the batter more sloppy.