This morning I woke up to a super-hungry and grumpy little fluff ball (she's feeling better!) and... a white world.I've heard lately that Christchurch is actually inside a snow globe, and it just takes a little shaking to make it snow.
It could be true. Who am I to say? It's definitely abnormal for us to have snow this early, or two years in a row. Last winter it snowed not once, but twice, which caused old timers to muse that this had surely not happened in living memory.
Can it be merely a coinky-dink that since we started having big quakes, we are also getting the white stuff? (file under: things I'll probably always suspect but never know for sure).
Also this morning? The first weigh-in since I got a grip. After a week or so of good, hard training and sensible eating (more or less), I'm down 1kg (58.7kg today). I was surprised. Very surprised, considering that yesterday I made a delectable Gluten-Free, Vegan, Coconut Cake, and consumed.. mmm... quite a lot of it.
I believe that my friend Sara (from Inside and Out) would refer to this as vegan yum-diggity (she's Texan: and probably thinks snow is just a myth).
This is a super easy cake, it takes approximately 5 minutes to throw together and then it can cook while you are eating dinner, or doing your workout.
Easy Peasy, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Coconut Cake
Ingredients
1 cup dessicated coconut (for a more textural cake you could add some shredded coconut)
1 cup sugar (or for a lower-sugar version replace some or all of the sugar with erythritol). I used 1/2 demerara sugar and 1/2 erythritol.
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup rice flour or other gluten-free flour
Half cup almond meal (or leave this out and just use 1.5 cups rice flour)
either: 1 tsp gluten-free baking powder or
½ tsp baking soda and ½ tsp ascorbic acid or citric acid (you need an acid to activate the baking soda, even a tsp lemon juice might do the trick).
Pinch of salt
Tsp of vanilla essence
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°
Grease a loaf pan (or use a silicon one like I did) or small cake pan
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until there are no dry bits left
Pour the mix into your pan and bake for approximately 1 hour or until a knife inserted into it comes out clean.
This cake is lovely warm, but gains firmness as it cools.
I hope you enjoy this cake! Let me know what you think!
I hope you enjoy this cake! Let me know what you think!
Oh my GOODNESS, this looks and sounds divine. Bookmarking the recipe!
ReplyDeleteSo, what did you use in those pics for the "snow"? Shaving cream? Leftover coconut? ;) Very clever indeed.
Actual snow! I took my plate outside and froze my little fingers off just for the sake of blog pics. Dedicated. ;D
DeleteYou could use other types of milk too. It would work with almond milk, hemp milk...
The weather is just plain crazy all across this corner of the world. We've had flooding rain and unseasonal early snowfalls in the hills (we call them mountains; you Kiwis would call them hills...) - they're madly sandbagging down in Victoria's south-east. And Sydney has been pummelled by horrendous storms. It's probably "your" earthquakes that are responsible for the lot, you know. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm making that cake on the weekend. Also banana cake, since I have approximately 15 over-ripe bananas stashed in the freezer. Waste not, want not.
Me too. I didn't know ex-frozen bananas would work in cakes, but I guess that makes sense. I think it might be another version of this cake tonight seeing as today has turned all mental and overly busy.
DeleteAnd, I might add, the chance of someone else cooking on a Friday is running at slim to none.. as usual.
DeleteLooks like a yummy cake; so moist. Printing that out for after the comps. ;-0
ReplyDeleteYes, very moist! I think that it would be less 'moist and sticky'(haha, getting dirty around here) if you used baking powder and only flour instead of almond meal. BTW, I visited your blog, but you haven't updated...
DeleteYeah-I'm really not blogging anymore...total burnout...lol
Deletemmmm looks good, but snow looks COLD! Doesn't make me miss home at ALL - way too cold for me now (I am so soft after living in Queensland where "cold" is anything below 18 degrees!)
ReplyDeleteSO trying this cake, perhaps with coconut sugar :)
Coconut sugar might work, but there is also the possibility that it might be a bit 'fally aparty'. I think the sugar 'sticks' it together a bit. Could still work though. Put it on your blog when you've done it so I can inspect... :D
DeleteGlad to hear your fluff ball is on the improve.
ReplyDeletesnow in Christchurch... heck I thought that was a 'normal' thing!
Looks darn cold, glad I'm up here where it pretty much NEVER snows.
Cake looks very nice too.
I'm suffering, I tell ya. Last year I escaped the worst of it by going to Europe to see my sister. This year.. brrrr.
DeleteThat cake could almost make me tackle a baking experience.. almost.
ReplyDeleteGo on Matt! Give it go. What's the worst that can happen?
DeleteHi Sara! I stumbled on your recipe after a google search this morning, trying to come up with something different for a lazy Sunday afternoon in London. I used an 8-in cake pan so cooked a bit quicker, and it is de-lish! Thanks so much for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I love London BTW. We lived in York for a while and it was such an adventure to take the train for a weekend in the big city.
DeleteSo there is no xantham gum in this at all?
ReplyDeleteNope. Most coconut milks have guar gum added though. If you don't like gums at all then use a nut milk/hemp milk/sheeps milk/cows milk, whatever fits with your preferred eating style. I have made this with almond milk and added a tsp of acacia gum to make it stick. It works ok without though.
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