Category Archives: Recipes

White Velvet Cake with custard buttercream and Raspberry filling.

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This is the cake of your dreams. Velvet is the perfect word to discribe this cake. It is soft and pillowy and light. The velvety smooth buttercream, rich in vanilla,  melts in your mouth and complements the cake perfectly. There is a layer of smooth raspberry jam that adds just the right amount of tang to balance it all out. Try it, you will not regret it. Perfect for any celebration.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:

  • 3/4 c / 170 gr. soft unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 c. / 300 gr. granulated sugar
  • 3 c. / 300 gr. Cake flour*, spooned, leveled, and sifted
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. kosher salt or (1/8 table salt)
  • 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1 tbsp. / 15 ml.  pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/8 c. / 270 ml. whole buttermilk, at room temperature

For the velvety Buttercream:

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 c. / 200 gr. sugar
  • 1/2 c. / 118 ml. Water
  • 2 c. / 450 gr soft butter
  • 2 tsp / 10 ml.  vanilla extract
  • to make your own cake flour, replace per 1 cup flour, a 1/4 cup of the flour with corn starch.

For the smooth Raspberry filling:

  • 1/2 c / 100 gr. Raspberry jam
  • 1/4 c / 60 ml. Water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line 2 x 9-inch/ 22 cm. round  cake tins with parchment paper. Lightly grease pans and parchment and dust with some flour to cover all surfaces then tip out excess flour.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat until light and fluffy, 4 to 6 minutes, scraping the sides as needed.
Beat in egg whites, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition.
In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients
Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a separate jug.
Gently add in flour and buttermilk mixture into butter mixture in the bowl in three times mixing gently on the lowest setting,  after each addition, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides in between to make sure all is mixed well.

Transfer batter to prepared pans.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30  minutes.
Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove cakes to wire racks and cool completely.

For the velvety Buttercream:
In a bowl beat the yolks with a hand mixer until pale.
Meanwhile melt sugar in a pan with the water until sugar is completely dissolved, do not stir! You can gently swirl, as soon as it boils remove from heat. 
In a steady stream, beat syrup into yolk mixture still beating, make sure syrup does not hit the beaters or syrup will fly everywhere.
Add in the butter gradually.
Ready to frost your cake.

For the smooth Raspberry filling:
Heat jam and water in a small pan, strain thru a sieve to remove seeds. Let cool.

To assemble cake.
Place first cake layer on plate, spread with raspberry filling.
Pipe buttercream all over and smooth out with spatula.
Place second layer on top.
Frost the entire cake with the remaining butter cream. You can add a little of the raspberry jam filling to the buttercream for a pink hue or dab jam on xake to create more deeper pink in certain places. Decorate and serve.
This cake is best on the day it is made. You can freeze the cake layers before frosting but I find it impacts the texture and the cake looses the lightness.

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Homemade Chocolate Pudding Pops

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We are very excited about these Chocolate Pudding pops, and I already know that they will be on repeat the whole Summer. What an easy recipe, so creamy and chocolatey, and smooth. With that perfect snap when you bite into them, yum! I love the fact that you can control the amount of sugar or sweetener you use, making this a healthier choice and the perfect cold treat without the guilt trip. You could skip all the sugar and add only stevia, although I love how rice syrup adds a certain chewiness to the pops, just like it does to my gluten-free chocolate brownies. Syrup also prevents crystallization and keeps the chocolate pudding pop creamy.  Next time I’ll be making creamy vanilla white chocolate pops, so stay tuned.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 a bag of chocolate pudding mix (28 grs)
175 ml. milk (I used barista Oat milk)
75 gr creamy almond butter
30 ml. / 2 tbsp. Rice syrup or maple syrup
200 gr dark chocolate* see note below 
15 ml. / 1 tbsp. Natural oil
A handful of mini chocolate chips
Ice cream molds

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the pudding mix with 75 ml of the milk in a jug and stir until everything is dissolved.
Bring the remaining 100 ml of milk to a simmer in a heavy bottomed saucepan.  Once the milk has reached a simmer, lower the heat and add the pudding mixture  to the saucepan,  stirring constantly for about two minutes. 
Remove from heat, add the almond butter and syrup and stir to dissolve and combine.
Let cool a little then fill ice cream molds halfway,  divide some chocolate chips over the pudding and top with the remaining mixture. Insert the sticks and cover the molds.
Place in the freezer for at least 6-8 hours.
Melt the chocolate and oil in a microwave safe bowl, in the microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Pour chocolate into a tall glass, so you can dip the whole chocolate pudding pop into the chocolate.
Remove the chocolate pudding pops from the freezer and take them out of the molds.
Dip each chocolate pudding pop into the melted chocolate and then hold in an upright position for 30 seconds until the chocolate sets. Place each pop on a parchment lined board or plate and put back in the freezer until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

More yummy desserts?

*There will be chocolate left over, but you need the initial 200 grams so you can immerse the entire pop in one go. Leftover chocolate can be poured into a plastic container and kept in the refrigerator or freezer for another time.

Whole Spelt Pizza with Chorizo, caramelized Onions and Basil

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Homemade Pizza is one of my favorite foods to cook at home , especially on my Pizza stone. If you bake a lot of Pizza’s at home it is worth buying a Pizza stone and a Pizza peel, it makes life so much easier. An other great method, which is what I used to do before I had all the Pizza baking equipement was, turning the baking tray in your oven upside down, it works great too, I do recommend placing the Pizza on a piece of baking parchment before popping it into the oven with this method so it doesn’t stick. When using a Pizza stone I find that the best non-stick method is to use semolina or polenta for underneath the Pizza when placing on the stone.

The spelt Pizza dough is really delicious and it has this nutty flavour that we love. The combination of the spicy Chorizo with the sweetness of the caramelized onions is pure heaven.

Makes : 3 large Pizzas or 4 smaller ones.

Ingredients:

400 gr / 2.5 cups whole grain spelt
100 gr / 3/4 cups white spelt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
350 -375 ml / 1.5 – 1 3/4 cups warm water

1 onion, peeled and sliced
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
Salt and pepper

2 cups shredded Mozzarella

1 – 1 1/2 cup Marinara sauce
30-40 slices chorizo approx* SEE NOTE
Fresh basil

Instructions

If you are using a pizza stone, place it in the oven an hour before baking to heat up.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine flour, yeast and salt.
Turn on the mixer to slow and add warm water and olive oil. Add a little more water if it seems too dry or add a little more flour if it seems to wet.
Knead for 5 minutes.
Place in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film.
Let rise until double in bulk,  punch down and shape into ball again, place back in oiled bowl and cover.
Now place dough in fridge until ready to use.

To make the caramelized onions;
Heat a frying pan and add the olive oil,  add the sliced onions and cook for 5 minutes,  add the honey and cook until golden brown,  about 3 to 5 more minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.


Remove the dough from refrigerator at least one hour before using.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface, I prefer to use semolina since this doesn’t stick to the baking stone.
Spread the Pizza base with marinara sauce, cover with a thin layer of the Mozzarella cheese then caramelized onions,  and then add some more cheese and divide the chorizo over the pizza. Lightly dust your pizza peel with semolina , gently lift the side of the Pizza and slide it under in one secure movement, transfer to oven. Alternatively, roll out on parchment paper and transfer to oven tray.
Bake at 230 for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the pizza half way. We like our Pizzas dark and crunchy but that is up to you.

*I always buy a whole Chorizo sausage and slice it myself, but do what works for you and depending on the size, you can use either more or less, these slices were small so we used 9 to ten slices on each Pizza.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Granola, only 6 Ingredients

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This fantastic Granola is chocolatey and super crunchy. It has very little fat and very little sweetener. All natural, all healthy, ’cause that’s what we’re doing this month. Are you with me?

…and ONLY 6 INGREDIENTS.

Chocolate Granola2

INGREDIENTS;

  • 4 Cups whole rolled oats
  • 1 Cup large Coconut flakes
  • 1/2 Cup whole almonds
  • 1/3 Cup honey
  • 1/4 Cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 Cup cacao powder

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METHOD:

Pre heat the oven to 160 C / 320 F

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients.
Layer a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the granola mix out evenly over the baking sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Toss the granola around at least 4 times during cooking time making sure it toasts evenly all over.
After 30 minutes. Take out the tray and leave to cool completely before storing away in a large Mason jar or similar.
Will keep for about three to four weeks.

Enjoy!

Myra XO

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