Category Archives: gluten free

Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

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Healthy cupcakes.  Seriously.  These cupcakes are gluten-free and sugar-free… but it tasted soooo good! 

I was originally espoused to the idea that these were dairy-free too.  I may have just chosen to believe that butter isn’t really dairy.  If you are following a strict dairy-free diet, I’d suggest trying to make the cupcakes with olive oil and the frosting with coconut oil or a dairy-free margarine.

Ordinarily, I’m a little put off by recipes which call for you to whip egg whites for addition to batter, because my mixer only has one bowl.  It’s a right pain to have to stop, transfer the mixture into another bowl, then wash up so I have a clean bowl to start whipping my egg whites.  But this recipe doesn’t require a mixer to mix the mixture (try saying that 10 times fast!).  You can mix the mixture in the saucepan you start out with meaning the dish dilemma doesn’t present itself.

If I didn’t know better, I would honestly think these were just run-of-the-mill delicious chocolate cupcakes.  I’m stoked to have found a healthy alternative (even if I did use a bit of butter).

Ingredients – for the cupcakes
1/4 cup (60g) butter (see possible dairy-free alternatives above)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups xylitol  (or, if you’re not bothered by it being sugar-free, 1 cup caster sugar)
1 1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
seeds from 1 vanilla bean
1/4 cup soy yogurt (or sour-cream or regular yogurt)

Ingredients – for the frosting
1/4 cup (60g) softened butter (see possible dairy-free alternatives above)
60g melted dairy-free, sugar-free chocolate (I use Plamil Foods and find it’s the closest thing to the real deal about)
3 tablespoons xylitol
1-2 tablespoon cocoa powder
seeds from 1 vanilla bean

For the cupcakes:  Preheat your oven to 190°C (170°C fan forced).  Bring water and butter to the boil in a medium sized saucepan.  Once the butter has melted, remove saucepan from the heat and whisk in sifted cocoa powder.  Then sift in xylitol, quinoa flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  This mixture shouldn’t be hot any more.  But do make sure.  Then add the egg yolks, vanilla and soy yogurt and beat by hand until smooth.

Meanwhile, whip egg whites until soft peaks before gently folding this through the cupcake mixture.

Spoon about a 1/4 cup of mixture into each cupcake liner (held in muffin tins is best to keep their shape).  I found there was exactly enough mixture to make 12 cupcakes - awfully convenient.  Bake for 14 minutes.  Leave on a wire rack to cool before frosting.

For the frosting: whip softened butter and xylitol until butter become pale and fluffy.  Add remaining ingredients and continue to whip until all well incorporated and fluffy.  Using a piping bag with a large star nozzle, pipe frosting onto cool cupcakes.  You may find it easier if you pop the piping bag full of mixture in the fridge for just a couple of minutes (no longer) to firm up before piping.

NOTE: Xylitol and quinoa flour (pronounced keen-wah) should be available at your local health food shop.  In baking, quinoa flour is best toasted in an oven at about 100°C for 2 hours before letting it cool and repackaging it for future use.  This seems to mellow the grassy flavour quite a bit.  Also, if you’re not going to use your quinoa flour soon, best to leave it in the freezer, as it’s more likely to quickly spoil than regular flour.

Just a bit cheesy – Smokey Macadamia Nut Dip

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You may have read that I’m on a bit of a crazy freak-food diet – no dairy, no gluten, and no sugar, but with a side of extra walking.  Two weeks down, two to go!

To be honest, I can’t say that I’ve dropped a heap of weight in the last two weeks, nor have I started to feel miraculously good.  But, I am stubborn and will finish my commitment to 4 weeks.  Who knows, a motherland of healthy-eating-endorphins could rain down towards the end.  And if nothing else, it’s good for a clean out of my body and mind.

One of the more measurable benefits of this diet, however, is that I’m starting to experiment more with unusual ingredients and recipes that previously I would have overlooked.  Pre-diet Heike would have seen a recipe for Raw Vegan Nacho Cheeze (yes, with Z), and looked the other way.  Freak-food diet Heike, however, saw this recipe and got a bit excited about the thought of something dairy-free tasting remotely like cheese.  Turns out, I’m totally addicted to cheese.  To anyone who knows me, this might not be a revelation.  But I was astonished at my dependence.

Now, don’t freak out.  I’m not going to abandon dairy longer term.  So, you will soon see a return of recipes involving cheese on this blog.  Recipes such as my Roasted Tomato Bruschetta with Goat’s Cheese.  I can’t wait until I can eat that one again!

I digress.  When I saw Wayfaring Chocolate’s recipe for Raw Vegan Nacho Cheeze, and saw how simple it was to knock up, I raced to the kitchen to give it a go.  What did I have to lose?  I had all the ingredients in the pantry and, heck, it might just end the rebellion of my cheese cravings.

Ingredients
2 cups (240g) macadamia nuts
1/4 cup (60mls, approx 1 small lemon) lemon juice
1 tablespoon (15ml) coconut aminos (or soy sauce, or tamari)
1 tablespoon (15ml) ground turmeric
2 tablespoons (30ml) smokey hot paprika (or cayenne, if you prefer more of a kick)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of water (or more depending how saucy you like it)

Stick everything except the water in the food processor and hit wiz (or waz-it-up, as Jamie Oliver seems to always say).  Slowly add the water until you hit your desired texture.

Serve with rice crackers and celery and anything else you fancy.

Verdict:  Did it taste like cheese?  Well, for someone who’s not eating cheese at the moment – yeah – it kinda did.  For anyone who does eat glorious cheese though, maybe… not so much.  But, I would still recommend it as a great dip to serve with Crudites.  Not really cheese… but it tasted good!

I’ve just whipped up a batch of chocolate fudge cupcakes (made of quinoa flour and using xylitol instead of sugar).  They look great, but after I’ve run the most important test, the taste test, I’ll see if they are worth sharing with you!

If you liked the look of this recipe, check out these other blog posts featuring macadamia nuts, which I think look great too: 

Brussels bringing sexy back

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Were you a child who dreaded brussels sprouts being served with dinner?  I wasn’t.  Mum had the knack – she cooked them in chicken stock.

When my husband and I first moved in together, and I came home from the market with brussels sprouts, he did not look impressed.  In fact, I remember him looking like he was thinking through escape plans.  But, I turned him and now he goes back for seconds.

If you don’t cook brussels sprouts – I urge you to give it a go.  They need a little TLC, but they don’t take long to cook and they really are heart warming.

The bestest Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients
brussels sprouts (pick small even sized sprouts, because they’ll cook quicker and are sweeter)
prosciutto or bacon
chicken stock
a generous grating of nutmeg

Nutmeg

Snip your prosciutto or bacon into strips with kitchen scissors into a saucepan on a medium heat.  You can add a little bit of olive oil to get it started if you like.

Meanwhile, cut the stems from your brussels (which should see any bruised outer leaves fall away), and so they cook evenly, cut a cross (or single slit if they’re small) into the thick base of your brussels.  Then add them to the saucepan.

brussels sprouts

Add a generous grating of nutmeg and toss to heat the brussels up.  Then add enough chicken stock to come half way up the brussels.  Put the lid on and let them bubble away for 10-15 mins, depending on the size of your brussels and how soft you like them.  Keep and eye on them so they don’t boil dry.

That’s it.  That is the secret to the yummiest brussels about.  Not difficult is it?  So why not give it a go….

Brussels might not look like the sexiest of vegetables, but it tasted good!

I’d love to know when the last time you ate brussels was? and how your mum cooked them?  Comment below!

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Chocolate Cherry Meringue Pudding Cake

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It sent us all into a state of sugar OD… but it tasted good!

This creation was in honour of a special friend’s special birthday.  Happy birthday S.

S introduced me to Nigella’s cloud cake, in all its decadence, a while back.  So, I thought I’d make something inspired by that great cake for her.

Chocolate cherry meringue pudding cake

Bringing this cake to the party was like wearing a pretty new dress.  You hope it stands up to the other beauties around you.  With its sweet disposition, mixed with an ample amount of sassitude, this cake sat proudly along side the other amazing treats on the day.

The Chocolate Cherry Meringue Pudding Cake is a gluten-free marvel.  It begins with a flourless chocolate cake, followed by a layer of morello sour cherries, then finishes topped with torched meringue.

Chocolate Cherry Meringue Pudding Cake

Ingredients 

For the flourless chocolate cake – I used Nigella’s Flourerless Chocolate Lime Cake recipe (minus the lime).

150g dark chocolate, chopped
150g soft unsalted butter
6 eggs (for the chocolate cake)
250g caster sugar (for the chocolate cake)
100g ground almonds
4 teaspoons best-quality cocoa powder
a jar of morello sour cherries
2 egg whites (for the meringue)
1/4 cup of caster sugar (for the meringue)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a 23cm springform cake tin
a kitchen blow torch or grill

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan forced (otherwise 180°C) and line your cake tin with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter together either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave (following manufacturer’s instructions), then set aside to cool slightly.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until about tripled in volume, pale and moussy.

250 grams sugar, and 6 eggs.Mix the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and fold this gently into the egg and sugar mixture.

Eggs and Sugar whipping, Cocoa and Ground Almonds waiting.

Eggs and sugar whipping, cocoa and ground Almonds waiting.

Then gently mix in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter.  This will have a tendency to sink to the bottom so make sure you mix it in well without knocking the air out of the mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40–45 minutes (though start to check at 35).  The cake will be just firm on top, but still have a bit of wobble underneath.

Remove from the oven and sit the cake in its tin on a wire rack to cool.

Nigella's

Flourless Chocolate Cake

The chocolate cake part can be done the day before.

Once cooled, add a layer of squished cherries.  I squish them to make sure that people don’t lose teeth on pits.

To make the meringue mixture, (in a clean bowel) whisk the 2 egg whites until firm and voluptuous whilst gradually adding the 1/4 cup of sugar and vanilla a bit at a time.

Then spread the meringue mixture on top, using a pallet knife to create nice swirls.

meringue in place

ready to be torched

Now the fun bit!  Take a blow torch and gently brown the meringue.  If you don’t have a blow torch (you should get one because they are so fun, and useful, and not very expensive nowadays), you could pop this under a gentle grill (not to close to the element) for a few minutes – but watch it like a hawk!

chocolate cherry meringue pudding cake

chocolate cherry meringue pudding cake - ready to take to the party

Elegance went out of the window in the cutting of this beauty… but it really tasted good!

the proof was in the eating