Cardamom Pear and Apple cake

Soft, spicy… it actually tasted a bit like a chai infused cake. Cardamom has to be one of my favourite spices… and it’s healthy! It’s good for bad breath, headaches, anxiety, settling your stomach and according to the principles of Ayurveda, cardamom helps balance the three ‘doshas’ or ‘defects’ in the body. In Ayurvedic science there are 3 body types characterised by three types of ‘dosha’ . Cardamom is a healthy spice that balances all the three ‘doshas’ and helps you stay healthy. So, its health benefits are all encompassing for all body types.

What you’ll need:

250g coconut oil, softened
1 cup unrefined brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
3 eggs
6 cardamom pods that have been soaked overnight
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2/3 cup milk
1 pear, soft
1 apple

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease and line an 8cm-deep, 19cm (base) square cake pan with baking paper.

Squeeze the cardamom seeds out of their pods into the mixing bowl and discard the pods.

Using an electric mixer, cream coconut oil, cardamom seeds, sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine. Add half the flour. Stir to combine. Add half the milk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Slice the pear and apple and place them evenly on the bottom of the cake tin. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar or cinammon.

Serve and enjoy x

I served the cake with a side of organic natural yoghurt, some grated ginger and chia seeds.

Aztec Hot Chocolate

A home-made hot chocolate is gooooood, but an Aztec hot chocolate is much better! One of my all time favorite drinks for the colder season is hot chocolate. We love classic hot chocolate but here’s a fun way to spice it up!

For one cup of joy, here is what you need:
– 1 cup of fresh organic milk
– 1/2 a cup of water
– 1 teaspoon of an Indian masala spice mix
– as much cocoa as pleases you
– a sprinkle of cayenne pepper
– rock sugar or unrefined sugar

Put everything in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and let simmer for a minute or two then serve. This one will surely warm the cockles of your heart.

Ricotta Cheesecake with Speculoos Biscuit base

This cake was very popular! The ricotta means that it’s not toooo heavy (as light as a cheesecake can be!) and the biscuit base gives it a faint spiciness that is reminiscent of my favourite country, India. Let me know what you think! Happy Weekend to you all xox

Base:
150g speculoos biscuits
100g butter

Filling:
500g ricotta
3 eggs
3/4 cup unrefined brown sugar
2/3 cup thickened cream
2 lemon rinds, grated

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease a 6cm deep, 22cm (base) springform pan. Line base with baking paper.

Make base: Combine biscuits in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs form. Transfer to a bowl. Stir in butter. Press biscuit mixture firmly into base of prepared pan. Refrigerate until required.

Make filling: Place the ricotta, cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. lemon rind and juice, and process until well combined. Add the eggs and egg white and process briefly until combined.

Pour the ricotta mixture over the biscuit base and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Tap the pan on the bench several times to allow the mixture to settle into the base.

Place the pan on a tray and bake in oven for 1 hour 35 minutes or until filling is just set and light golden. Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in the oven with the door ajar for 1 hour to cool slightly (this will prevent the cheesecake from cracking). Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 4-5 hours or overnight to chill.

Enjoy! xx

Sunny Saturday Carrot Cake and Latte

I think it’s important to do things that are good for our spirits, even if it’s simply to make ourselves feel good. My beau was away on the weekend and I was at home staying warm and doing homework, so I decided to make myself one of my all time favourite cakes: Carrot cake. It’s sweet smell filled up my apartment and I felt good baking and then indulging. However, I am careful not to over-sweeten my cakes and I use alternative flours a lot of the time so that it’s not as heavy and it stays relatively healthy.

For me, carrot cake should not be refined. I go with the idea that it’s more of a loaf, something I can eat for breakfast and not feel ill.

Here is how I do it:

1 cup almond meal
1 cup self-raising plain flour
1/2 cup quinoa
4 teaspoon mixed spice (I use cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon, pepper, vanilla)
1 cup brown sugar (or any unrefined sugar- makes the cake so much richer and gives a taste of caramel)
2 1/2 cups of grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts (half of these to put on the icing)
2/3 cup of either coconut oil or ghee
3 eggs, lightly beaten
150g of natural yoghurt

For the icing:
250 g cream cheese
1 rind of lemon or lime
honey

What next?
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 6cm-deep, 19cm cake pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.

Sift flour, almond meal, quinoa and spice into a bowl. Add sugar, carrot, chopped walnuts, coconut oil/ghee, natural yoghurt and eggs. Stir to combine. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean (cover loosely with foil if over-browning). Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing mix the cream cheese, grated rind and honey to taste. Spread over cake. Decorate with walnuts. ENJOY

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake and morning latté

Carrot Cake

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Shortbread for all!

I love cute things. So I have a ridiculous collection of cookie cutters. I made shortbreads on the weekend. Here is my recipe:

• Melted butter, to grease
• 225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
• 120g (2/3 cup) Rice Flour
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 225g cold butter, coarsely chopped
• Plain flour, extra, to dust

Preheat oven to 150°C. Brush 2 large baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease. Combine the flour, rice flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

Roll dough out until 1cm thick. Use a 5cm-diameter star-shaped pastry cutter to cut shapes from dough. Place on prepared trays. Bake in oven for 45 minutes, swapping trays halfway through cooking, or until shortbreads start to change colour. Cool on trays for 1 hour.

Enjoy! Who said cookie cutters are for kids? I disagree, adults should use them so they don’t forget the small pleasures in life!

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1 Year Anniversary of our PACS love in France

One year ago J and I signed a piece of French paper to declare us a couple under French law. We had an afternoon tea and champagne gathering to celebrate. Check out these absolutely gorgeous cakes, what a spread!

When we tie the knot one day it will be even bigger and better. I’m thinking in a garden somewhere in Australia. With lots of flowers. Yes I’m a dreamer.

J sporting his moustache. He is so dapper.

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A Macaron Class in Paris For Two ❤

My J treated me to a macaron class last week and boy was it fun! Who ever know just how complicated macaron’s are to make. Well, we didn’t.

We learnt a lot and just look at that concentration on J’s face.

In other news, look at this interview with me on The Kale Project.

J and I booked tickets for Istanbul for a 3-day getaway in November. I cannot explain my excitement in words. (I can in cartwheels)

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Amazeballs Superfood Energy Balls

I’m sick of wanting a small snack to go with my coffee or afternoon tea and finding that anything I consider bying is full of refined sugars, additives and other things I cannot pronounce! I took things into my own hands and made super dooper amazeballs jam-packed with goodness, superfoods and energy.

This is how it goes:

300g of fresh dates. Despite them being quite soft, I soak them for 24 hours. This will make them easier to digest and bring out their natural sweetness too. After soaking them for 24 hours I take out the pips and add the rest of the ingredients.

Half a cup of organic cocoa nibs.

4 tablespoons of chia seeds.

half a cup of coconut.

Blend it all up.

Add half a cup of cocoa.

Roll them into bite-size balls.

Sprinkle cocoa over them to make them richer but also easier to eat!

Store them in the fridge and enjoy one each morning with your morning tea or coffee to get you going and ready for the big day ahead.

If we are going to eat chocolate we may as well do it right, do it whole, do it with real foods! Chocolate is healthy for us, it’s is the processed chocolate with milk, soy, sugar and other chemical lab made ingredients that makes it unhealthy. When it is made with raw cocoaand a natural sweetner like dates in this instance it is loaded with vitamins, nutrients, and anti-oxidants – more than green tea, red wine and blue berries! This recipe is high in magnesium,great for energy, weight loss, a protein snack before a workout, an aphrodisiac and for FEELING GOOD!

Enjoy xo,

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Gluten Free Flourless Orange and Chocolate Cake

I love making flourless gluten free cakes because I don’t feel guilty and I gobble it all up because it is moist and feels nourishing. Here is my recipe:

You’ll need:

2 oranges
1 big chunk of fresh ginger
3 eggs
1 cup of muscovado
300g almond meal
1 generous cup of raw cocoa
1tsp baking soda or raising agent
1 shot of black coffee

Place the oranges and ginger in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Return to pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes (this will reduce the bitterness of the peel). Refresh under cold water. Drain. Coarsely chop oranges. Remove and discard any seeds.

Place the orange in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth.

Use an electric beater to whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale. Add the orange,cocoa almond meal and baking powder and gently fold until just combined. Add the shot of coffee. This does not make the cake taste like coffee, it simply makes the cocoa taste richer and takes away the bitterness of the rind.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool.

To decorate, I covered it with cocoa and added on four macarons and a sliced fig.

It was so moist and almost tasted like a fudge cake- minus all the dairy and flour!

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In Oh La La Livia’s Kitchen This Week

I am always curious to see what food people buy, I love looking in fridges (that seems strange?). So I thought you may be interested in seeing how I filled my fridge this week.

The weather is getting cooler, so I changed my vegetable and fruit selection. I am favouring fruits that I can grill with unrefined sugar and vanilla and vegetables that I can put in soups and roasts.

Figs: What better way to eat them than grilled with herbs of Provence and served with fresh goat’s cheese?

I have been meaning to get my hands on some himalayan salt. I finally did and boy is it tasty!
But what can it do for you I hear you ask? This is by far the purest salt available on earth and is absolutely uncontaminated with any toxins or pollutants. Some other great things it can do for you:

1. Regulate the water content throughout your body.
2. Promotes a healthy pH balance in your cells, particularly your brain cells.
3. Promotes blood sugar health and helping to reduce the signs of aging.
4. Assists in the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in your body.
5. Absorbs food particles through your intestinal tract.
6. Supports respiratory health.
7. Promotes sinus health.
8. Prevents muscle cramps.
9. Promotes bone strength.
10. Regulates your sleep — it naturally promotes sleep.
11. Supports your libido. (WOOOP!)
12. Promotes vascular health.
13. In conjunction with water it is actually essential for the regulation of your blood pressure.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR PEOPLE?

But what really made my day was the Turkish coffee gift I received from my lovely friend Emily. You can see my priorities are right, but come on, Turkish coffee is just so great.

With a spoonful of this unrefined, unaltered brown sugar it makes it even more delicious.

More details to come about this wonder sugar very soon.

What new additions do you have in your kitchen this week?

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