Chocolate Aubergine Cake

Yes you read the title correctly. The main ingredient in this cake is aubergine! I've baked with vegetables before mostly carrot, courgette, parsnip and beetroot but I've never tried using aubergine. I got the recipe from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache which is a lovely book by Harry Eastwood. She writes beautifully and the recipes are naturally gluten free. She uses vegetables and a combination of ground almonds and/or rice flour which makes the cakes healthier. This replaces the usual butter and sugar that goes in cakes. I really liked the title of this cake which is Chocolate heartache. I decided I had to bake it as it's named in the title of the book. Plus I was looking for a gluten free cake that contained chocolate for a celebration. The cake was really dense and chocolatey and you definitely can't taste the aubergine in the cake. Everyone could not believe that the cake was gluten free and contained vegetables! The cake was so good I baked it twice in the same week. The first time I made a simple chocolate icing to go on top but felt it was a little too rich to go with the already rich cake. The second time I covered the cake with fat free greek yoghurt and that worked really well as it helped to cut through the denseness of the cake. 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedgecombers. The theme this month is chocolate. 

Extra Veg hosted this month by Jo from Jo's Kitchen on behalf of Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food For Families. This cake is definitely a sneaky way to get extra veg into your diet!

Recipe of the week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes.

Tasty Tuesdays guest hosted by Mel from Le Coin De Mel on behalf of  Vicki from Honest Mum.

Bake of the week hosted by Helen from Casa Costello

 baking powder, cocoa powder, ground almonds, honey, dark chocolate, eggs and aubergine. 

 cook the aubergine in the microwave then peel off the skin and puree the aubergine in a food processor. Add dark chocolate and allow to melt or  blitz gently until mixed. 

 adding the chocolate aubergine paste to the remaining ingredients

 ready to bake 

 a lovely chocolatey fudgy cake 

 with chocolate icing 

 with fat free greek yoghurt 

Recipe is from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood. If you click on the amazon link, you can 'look inside' the book. The recipe is available to view online. If I get permission from the publisher then I will publish the recipe here.

Degustabox January 2015 review and a gluten free lemon cake

I know it's already halfway through February and this is the January Degustabox review but I received the box late in January and I just haven't gotten round to posting this. In case you have no idea what I'm on about, Degustabox is a no obligation monthly subscription which costs £12.99 including delivery. You get 9 to 14 surprise products and it's usually a good mixed selection of goodies. I have a special discount code for all my readers if you are interested in signing up a box for yourself or for a family memeber/friend. You get a £3.00 discount when registering by using this code F3TJ1 which makes it just under a tenner for a goodie box including delivery. 

It's a bit hit and miss what you get with the box. I was really pleased with my first box then less so with the next 2 boxes but am back to being impressed with this one again. The January healthy box has 2 versions, an alcoholic and a non alcoholic version but I received both drinks which was great! 

As usual I baked something from the contents of the box and it was a no brainer this month as there was a cake mix in the box. It's far from an ordinary cake mix as it's a sugar free, gluten free and wheat free cake mix. Just add water, eggs and vegetable oil and bake. It was extremely timely as I had to bake a gluten free cake for someone at work. I decided to use lemon as the flavour as she had mentioned that lemon drizzle cake is her favourite. The cake was really easy to bake and turned out beautifully. I added a simple lemon glaze and some lemon zest on top. The recipient was really pleased with the cake and said it tasted just like 'real' cake! I had a small slice and it was wonderfully moist and lemony. The sweetness was also perfect as I was slightly worried about the sour lemons. I was alittle sceptical that the cake would have a fake sweetener taste but it didn't! I was also impressed with the height of the cake as sometimes my gluten free cakes turn out a little flat. 

So what else was in the January Degustabox?

 A lovely selection of healthy-ish goodies 

 This is the non alcoholic drink. Simplee Aloe which is a natural Aloe Vera drink. It contains Aloe blended with fresh grape juice and lemon and it tastes a little sour but not overly so 

 Koko Dairy Free milk is a unique alternative to cow's milk made with freshly pressed coconut milk. It's allergen free and does not curdle when you add it to tea or coffee. It's great for drinking, baking or cooking. 

 Finn Crisp - these are great to accompany my soups at lunch which I am having quite frequently at the moment. They are light and crispy and I personally like the sourdough taste. 

 Haywards Piccalilli - pickled vegetables in a tangy mustard sauce. Brilliant with pork pies! 

 Special gift for this month is a box of Clipper Fairtrade Green Tea with Lemon. This is a really nice refreshing drink and I love the lemon zing which pairs well with the green tea. 

 Special for Chinese New Year - Kabuto Noodles. Just add water and you have a delicious ready meal. It had a good flavour and was quite filling. 

 Mornflake Top Porridge Pots - great for breakfast on the go and I love that it comes with a little packet of Nutella. 

 Mornflake Top Porridge Pots -this one with Lyle's Golden syrup. 

 Sukrin Cake mix - sugar free, gluten free, wheat free, egg free (but you can add eggs to the recipe if you wish) A great base for creating gluten free cake- just add whatever flavour you want. 

 Little Miracles organic energy drink which is a blend of organic tea, juice and ginseng. It's sweetened with agave and contains less than 90 calories per bottle. 

 Another Little miracles drink but with black tea and peach. 

 The alcoholic version for this month's box - a bottle of Magner's Light Orchard Berries cider which was a little too sweet for us. 

 Alfa One Rice Bran Oil which is high in natural antioxidants such as Vitamin E and Gamma Oryzanol, a naturally occuring plant sterol which has been shown to reduce cholesterol absoprtion.

 For the gluten free lemon cake 

 ready to bake 

 fresh from the oven 

 The cake had a good height to it 

 with a simple lemon glaze and lemon zest 

For the cake
1 pack of Sukrin ake Mix
3 eggs
150ml water
75ml vegetable oil
Juice and zest of 1 lemon

For the lemon glaze
Juice of 1/2 lemon
100g icing sugar
zest of 1 lemon for decoration (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Mix the eggs, water and oil in a large bowl. 
• Add in the cake mix and whisk until smooth.
• Add in the juice and zest of 1 lemon.
• Pour into a cake tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely.
• To make the glaze, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl. Slowly add the lemon juice and mix until you get the consistency required. 
• Pour glaze over the cooled cake and top with some lemon zest if you wish.

Disclaimer: I was sent a Degustabox for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review or to create a recipe. All opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Quick post today. January is turning out to be busier than expected so apologies for the lack of posts. I've had this recipe bookmarked since last year from Nigella's Christmas and I'm glad I finally got round to making them. They are just like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups but better! I watched Nigella demonstrate the recipe on her Christmas show which was the impetus for making these. I also needed some gluten free treats for my afternoon tea and I absolutely love peanut butter so this was a no brainer. A word of warning though, they are quite addictive! 

I'm sending this to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes. I've had this recipe bookmarked for over a year from my copy of Nigella's Christmas. The recipe is also available online. 

 Little peanut butter cups ready to be coated in chocolate 

 I used mini silver star sprinkles and I did a few colourful ones as well 

 This is what it looked like on the afternoon tea spread (top left) 

Recipe from Nigella's Christmas Kitchen 2007 which can be found online here 

Happy 5th Blog Birthday & Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. Hope 2015 brings you everything you wish for and more. It's been an amazing 2014 for me and I hope 2015 will be even better. Today is my blog's 5th birthday which is really hard to believe as time has just flown by. I honestly never thought that my blog would be what it is now when I first started writing it on 2nd Jan 5 years ago. 

I had an afternoon tea party on 1st Jan to celebrate the new year. I baked everything myself and I will be sharing some of the recipes over the next few posts. 2 of my guests had birthdays in the next few days so I baked a birthday cake which is also to celebrate my blog's birthday. One of my guests is gluten intolerant so I made a gluten free cake so everyone could enjoy the birthday cake. It's a take on a black forest gateau which is one of my favourite childhood desserts. 

I made Nigella's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake which is one of my favourite gluten free cakes. There is morello cherry jam and a generous helping of freshly whipped cream followed by canned cherries in the middle. It's topped with a chocolate ganache and fresh cherries. The cake is wonderfully moist and chocolatey and the cherries pair well with the chocolate. The fresh cream in the middle helps to cut through the rich chocolate and the jam added extra sweetness. 

I am off on a short holiday and will be back next week with more recipes. Happy New Year again!  

Flourless Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies

I was looking for something quick and simple to bake one evening with J. I had limited baking equipment and supplies so I decided on a brownie which does not require any fancy equipment. I used a BBC Good Food recipe as the title said 'Best ever chocolate raspberry brownies' They were indeed amazing and it was so good I felt I had to make it again. 

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge hosted by Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families has the theme gluten free. I adapted this recipe by replacing the flour with ground almonds, reducing the amount of butter and sugar and baked it in my individual brownie pan. The result was really good. I was told that these are the 'best brownies ever' and there wasn't a crumb left by the end of the day. The  brownies are really moist, gooey and chocolatey with a hint of tart raspberry. Personally I prefer the normal version as it's smoother and fudgier. The gluten free version tasted grainier and nuttier due to the ground almonds. However, they were both delicious and I'd happily eat a few of each version! 

As mentioned, this is for We Should Cocoa started by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and guest hosted this month by Michelle from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families. The theme is gluten free. 

I'm also sending it to Four Seasons Food guest hosted by Tina from the Spicy Pear this month. The challenge is usually run by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Eat Your Veg. The theme this month is The Colour Red and these raspberries are bright red!

And to Family Foodies hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and Vanesther from Bangers and Mash. The theme this month is Barbecues, Picnics and Outdoor Eating. You can easily make the brownies in advance and they are very easy to transport.

 adding the eggs 

 adding ground almonds and cocoa powder 

 adding raspberries 

 place 1 raspberry on top of each brownie square before baking 

 

 look at how gooey the centre is ... yuuumm!!

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food

Makes 18 individual brownie square as shown 

200g butter

350g soft brown sugar

200g dark chocolate

100g milk chocolate

4 eggs

50g cocoa powder

160g ground almonds

150g fresh raspberries

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place the butter, sugar and chocolate in a medium sized saucepan and melt over a medium heat. 
• Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly
• Add in the eggs and mix well.
• Stir in the ground almonds and cocoa powder.
• Finally stir in the raspberries reserving 18 for decoration. 
• Divide the batter evenly into an individual brownie pan. Place 1 raspberry on top of each square before baking. 
• Alternatively you can use a square baking tray. 
• Bake for about 18 -20 minutes or until the edges are cooked. If you want a firmer brownie then cook for a further 5 minutes.
• Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.