Hello everyone and welcome back to my block,
After all the bad news we are getting from Beirut in addition to the Covid 19 pandemic restrictions, this summer is by far the worst for me. Today, I decided to prepare a birthday cake for my brother to change our mood a little bit since we are all glued to our phones and screens waiting for good news regarding our beloved country Lebanon.
I will be sharing with you my Healthy Summer Cake Recipe, hope you will try It and share your feedback with me.
INGREDIENTS
Cake
1/8 tsp cardamom
1 cup pistachios, plus extra chopped pistachios to serve
1 banana mashed
1 cup almond meal
1/2 cup fine semolina
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup Honey, softened
1/3 cup Coconut oil soften
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup coconut creme
1/3 coconut flakes
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs rosewater
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
ROSEWATER CREAM
200g Greek yoghurt
200g creme fraiche
2 tbs icing sugar, sifted
1 tbs rosewater
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 180°C.
1. To make the cake, place pistachios in a food processor and whiz until pistachios are chopped. Transfer pistachio to a bowl and add almond meal, semolina,cardamom, baking powder, coconut flakes and 1/4 tsp fine salt. Stir to combine.
2. Place oil, Greek yogurt, coconut creme and honey in a stand mixer and beat until well combined. With the mixer on, slowly add egg, beating well. Fold through the pistachio mixture, banana, then add lemon zest, juice, rosewater and vanilla until just combined. Spread the mix into prepared pan (today I am using to small pans to create a double layered cake) and use a palette knife to smooth the surface. Bake for 30 min or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean but a little oily.
3. Meanwhile, for the rosewater cream, place all ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk to medium peaks. Cover and chill until needed.
4. Optional: (I didn’t use in this recipe).
If you like to add an extra pinch of sweetness you can add a sweet syrup
SYRUP
100ml lemon juice
1/3 cup (80ml) rosewater
1/2 cup ice sugar
To make the syrup , in the final 10 minutes of cake cooking, place all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, drizzle with hot syrup (it looks like a lot of syrup; the hot cake will absorb it).
5. Sprinkle with extra pistachios and set cake aside in the pan to cool to room temperature.
6. Remove cake from the pan and scatter with roses and decoration and rosewater cream.
I was thinking what should I name the carrot cake, is it winter cake, or summer cake or fall cake, actually it is a year-round cake because carrots are pretty much always in season.
This healthy carrot cake recipe is very easy, fast and healthy. I tried different versions, substituted a number of ingredients until I got this one, and Im telling you with confidence that it is the BEST CARROT CAKE EVER.
Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups of flour
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup of crushed walnuts
2 tbs cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract
1/3 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup of honey
1 cup of greek yogurt
1 cup coconut milk
2 big spoons of coconut creme
2 tbs baking soda
3 tbs baking powder
1/2 tbs salt
1 cup coconut flakes
Greek yogurt Icing:
1/2 cup of greek yogurt
1/2 cup of heavy creme
3 tbsp of mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup of coconut sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract
Coconut flakes for garnishing
Instruction;
Preheat oven 180 degree celsius.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs for 10 seconds, then add yogurt, coconut milk, coconut creme, vanilla extract, honey whisk well and put aside.
In another bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt whisk well and set aside.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, until well combined
Add carrots, walnuts and coconut flakes whisk until combined, don’t over whisk.
Pour into a baking dish that you already sprayed with coconut oil.
Let it rest for 10 min than put in oven for 30 min
Prepare the Icing: in a bowl, mix the yogurt, heavy creme, mascarpone cheese, sugar and vanilla extract together.
If you are doing one big cake, transfer the icing on top of the cake a spread with spatula and garnish with coconut flakes or eatable flowers. If you are doing smaller portions like I did today, I used the muffins baking try, you can add the icing on each piece before serving.
Tip: If your yogurt is less than 10% fat, put the yogurt in a coffee filter or paper sheet on top of the bowl for 4 hours in the fridge until it stains.
Let me know if you try it would love to know your comment
Everyone who knows me will tell you that I am a Pumpkin lover; I use Pumpkin in almost everything.
November is here already and it’s great that the weather is still nice and I am still enjoying my morning coffee in the garden. During the Fall season, Provence has a very nice feel and its local products are very tasty. This makes it the perfect time to enjoy a tasty recipe with some of these local products.
Today I am sharing with you my favorite Cinnamon roll with PUMPKIN recipe:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tbs baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tbs ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp kosher salt
3 eggs
1 cup of brown sugar
2/3 cup of pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling:
8 oz cream cheese softened
2 tbs butter softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tbs kosher salt
Directions:
First, heat the oven to 180 degrees and prepare a tray with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized bowl mix together the spices, baking soda, baking powder, and flour.
Whisk well and leave aside.
In a separate bowl, add the sugar and vanilla, mix well then add the eggs and mix again.
Add the Pumpkin and whisk very well until the mix is smooth.
Now we have the mixes ready 😉
Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Pour the mix onto the baking sheet in the tray and smooth.
Bake it for 12 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven and carefully remove the cake from the pan to a cutting board covered with a dishtowel.
Roll the cake up from end to end, rolling the towel up with the cake.
Let it cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling.
In a small bowl mix together all the filling ingredients until smooth using a mixer.
Unroll the cake and spread the filling. Afterward, roll the cake up peeling the parchment paper from its back as you go.
Refrigerate 1 for 1 hour.
Then enjoy it with friends and family for a nice tea or coffee break!
Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Chicken Stew It is the fall season now and we all crave a nice and warm meal to enjoy with friends and family. Today I was shopping at a local organic market and I saw all these Pumpkins with different colors and shape,so off course I planned to cook any recipe I can find that includes PUMPKIN.
So today, I m sharing with you the recipe I tried and twisted to my preferences for you to try, because by far it is my favorite and easiest chicken recipe I ever made Enjoy 😉
INGREDIENTS:
One cup of cubed Pumpkin
One cup of cubed Carrots
One cup of cubed Sweet Potato
One medium chopped Onion
One tbs Paprika
One tbs Black Pepper
One tbs salt
One tbs Chilli Flakes
One tbs Cinnamon
Half tbs Cumin
One tbs Anis
Juice of one Lemon
One cup Vegetable Broth
2 Chicken Thigh
2 Chicken Breasts
DIRECTION:
First Chop the onion and cut all the vegetables and chicken in cubes.
In a pan fry the chopped onion until soft not brown, add the peppers,
Add the pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes and chicken
Stir for one minute so all the vegetables and onion absorb the flavors then add the vegetables broth and boil for 12 min covered.
After 12 min add the lemon juice and boil for another 10 min uncovered or until the sauce is thick.
Serve with Couscous
Bon Appetite
xoxo gracy ...
Everyone who knows me, know that Mougins is one of favorite villages in France and where I spend most of my time, every year in the month of June, the village of Mougins organizes an international festival entirely dedicated to gastronomy. For three days, the streets and squares of the old village welcome French and foreign chefs who come to share their skills and passion with the public. This year I was lucky to be invited by Chef Denis Fetisson to enjoy the event and cook with him at L’Amandier de Mougins at la place Roger Verger.
Enjoy our Authentic Provençal Farcis recipe 😉