Archive for August 2014 | Monthly archive page
This recipe was adapted from our Speedy Chocolate Mousse recipe. In creating a Banting-friendly dessert, we used xylitol to replace the refined sugar in the recipe.
Chocolate that contains sugar (used in chocolate desserts), is difficult to replace in a Banting recipe – since there will generally be sugar present in any chocolate, unless you add a chocolate containing 100% cocoa or an artificially sweetened chocolate. For our recipe, we used Lindt’s Dark Chocolate with 85% Cacao (70% Cacao chocolate has been mentioned on the ‘Sometimes‘ list in Lose It! Magazine).
Ingredients:
300g Dark Chocolate, chopped (above 70% cocoa) 3 Eggs 1/4 cup (55g) Xylitol or use Stevia to taste 1 Tbs. Cocoa Powder 300ml Whipping CreamMelt the chocolate in a double boiler (place a bowl over a pot of simmering water, gently heat the bowl using the steam) and stir the chocolate until melted; or melt the chocolate on high in the microwave – checking every 30-60 seconds for overheating – stir the chocolate when the chocolate blocks are soft but still hold their shape. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool slightly. Place eggs and xylitol in a large bowl and beat for 5 minutes with an electric beater, or until mixture is pale, thick and doubled in volume. Fold in chocolate and cocoa powder until combined.
In a separate bowl, whip the cream. Use a large metal spoon to carefully fold the cream into the chocolate mixture, trying to keep the mixture as light as possible. Spoon or pipe the mixture using a piping bag into serving glasses or ramekins and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Remove from fridge 15 minutes before serving, and serve with fruit salad / berries and cream.
We rimmed our serving glasses with Yellow Star Confetti (although they contain sugar and are not Banting-friendly, we decorated the glasses for a bit of fun!)
Using vegetables in cakes is currently all the rage; so we tried our hand at making our own chocolate avocado frosting. Umm… yum. We inadvertently discovered a guilt free chocolate pudding in the process! We used our frosting to ice animal inspired mini cakes, perfect for a child’s 1st birthday.
As 1st birthday parties are an important milestone, and often a baby’s first taste of cake, Mothers are now opting to introduce their children to healthier cakes that are less loaded with refined sugar. 1st Birthday cakes are often referred to as “Smash Cakes”, since that is what is going to happen in the first 5 seconds of letting your child loose on their own birthday cake!
We used a basic chocolate cake recipe and cut out layers to assemble the mini cakes.
Frosting –
1 x Avocado 50g Dark Chocolate, melted 1 Tbs. Cocoa Powder 3 Tbs. Plain Yoghurt, Double Cream 4 tsp. Honey (add to taste)Blend the avocado till smooth; add the melted chocolate and remaining ingredients; and blend till combined. Refrigerate until use.
We created faces for various animals out of Nicoletta Ready to Roll Fondant and Marzipan, and created eye balls using Nicoletta Soft Pearl Balls. Lion face (we used a fork to spread out the frosting for the lions mane; we used marzipan and mixed red + yellow fondant to create an orange face; black fondant was used for the nose; and we mixed black + white fondant to create a grey mouth; lastly for the eye balls we used black soft pearls); Fox face (we used white fondant for the eyes, and for the eye balls we used black fondant and cream soft pearls; we created a black fondant nose; and we mixed red + yellow fondant to create orange ears); Monkey face (we used marzipan for the face and ears; black fondant was used for the nose; we mixed black + white fondant to create a grey mouth; white fondant was used for the eyes, and for the eye balls we used black soft pearls).
Owl shapes are terribly cute! We got our hands on a owl shaped cookie cutter and cut into a tray of freshly baked crunchies. These owl shaped crunchies were decorated with melted chocolate; White Heart Confetti noses; black and white Ready to Roll Fondant eyes; and the wings were detailed using Chocolate Writing Icing.
Ingredients:
2 cups Oats, rolled or steel-cut 1 cup Coconut, desiccated 2 Tbs. Sesame Seeds 1 cup Self Raising Flour 3/4 cup Treacle Sugar 50ml Golden Syrup/ Honey 200g Butter Pinch of SaltFor dipping –
150g ChocolateMelt the butter together with the syrup. Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix until the mixture is combined well and sticking together. Press the mixture into a tray to bake. Bake at 180°C for 30-40 minutes.
Allow to cool slightly before cutting into owl shapes. Allow to cool completely and before removing the cut shapes.
Dip the heads of the owls into melted chocolate (melt in the microwave or over a double boiler). Cut out white fondant eyes and add black fondant pupils. Stick the eyes and nose onto the owls using a little of the melted chocolate.