Chocolate Torte-like Cake

Having been on a bit of a health kick for a while now, I've been looking into gluten-free recipes to see if it makes me feel even better!  Loving chocolate and knowing how well it works with beetroot, I decided to play and came across this wonderful idea for something that is gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free!

--- Yes, you read that correctly - chocolate and beetroot in the same sentence, and in this case, the same recipe! ---

Chocolate Torte-like Cake

Ingredients

300g pitted dates

200g cooked beetroot

1/2 tsp Shoyu sauce (Soy sauce)

125g raw cacao - grated, or use cocoa powder

4 eggs - beaten

130ml Hemp oil, or you could use olive oil, or vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin (preferably one with a loose bottom) with baking parchment.

2.  Place the dates in a small saucepan, cover with water and boil for 15 minutes.  Drain, discarding the liquid.  Puree the dates in a food processor until smooth.

3.  Add the beetroot, soy sauce and cacao to the date mixture and puree together.  Blitz until really smooth.

4.  Add the beaten eggs, oil, vanilla and baking powder and blitz again until thoroughly mixed.

5.  Tip the mixture into the prepared cake tin.  Place in the oven and immediately turn down the temperature to 170 degrees C.  Bake for about 25-30 minutes - it should have a smooth texture.  Allow to cool completely in the tin before cutting.

I found this to taste best when served cold, so store in the fridge until you're ready to eat it!

It's delicious on it's own and especially with plain vanilla ice-cream, but that takes away the non-dairy attribute!

Enjoy!

Caryl  ♥

Blueberry Banana Ice-Cream

After making Strawberry Rhubarb Gelato the other day, and discovering how easy it was, I decided to try a different flavour.  I only used coconut cream this time instead of coconut milk, to see if it would come out less icy - it did, a little!

I love how healthy and tasty this ice-cream is and the fact that it is vegan and lactose free means that anyone can enjoy it .... and you don't have to save it for dessert!

Blueberry Banana Ice-cream

Ingredients

1 cup fresh blueberries
2 small bananas - broken into small pieces
2 x 160g cans coconut cream - (You could use 2 x 400g cans of coconut milk, but only use the thick coconut cream from the top).


Place blueberries, banana and coconut cream into a blender. Blend until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a container and place in the freezer for approx 3 hours, or until it starts to freeze.

Transfer mixture back to a blender. Blend again, then pour mixture back into a container and refreeze overnight.

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

I came across this jam recipe on facebook the other day and thought I just had to try it, seeing as I had all the ingredients at the time and I love using chia seeds!  Well, it was the easiest and quickest jam I've ever made and it is also healthy and delicious, so I'm sharing it with you here.

Thank you, to thankfulexpressions.blogspot.com :)  I am so impressed with this jam that I may just be making all my own fruit jams from now on!

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients

1-1/3 cup strawberries
2/3 cup rhubarb - cut into small pieces
2 tbsp raw honey (or to taste)
2 tbsp chia seeds


Process all the ingredients in a blender (I used my food processor for this).

Refrigerate overnight, or at least a couple of hours.  The chia seeds will gel, thickening the fruit puree.

Add additional diced fruit if you like it chunky.

Enjoy!  We certainly did in our house!

Caryl ♥