Blog, you have not been ignored, I have just been away for a few weeks, having an amazing time in Peru (a knitting-related post regarding Peru will follow at some point). So instead of waiting to start my next knitting project, I thought I would blog about this amazing cake baking book I have discovered.
As you know, I have been in search for a way to still do my baking every week but not end up massive from eating too much cake. I can't remember how but I stumbled upon a book on Amazon entitled "Red velvet chocolate heartache" by Harry Eastwood, in which the cakes include finely grated vegetables and nuts instead of butter. It seems a bit crazy, but the reviews were so good that I got pretty tempted. I had a look to see if any of the recipes were available online, and then tried the chocolate peanut cupcakes (which are make with butternut squash instead of butter) to test it. Note that I don't normally like cupcakes because I don't like icing (too sweet for me), but I decided that I could just make cupcakes without the icing, similar to tiny little cakes (and I guess easier to eat). I was pretty impressed with the results, the cakes were moist and chocolatey, albeit under-sweet but that was my fault for using less sugar.
So I took the plunge and bought the book. I have since made the banana cinnamon loaf in cupcake format, and they were absolutely delicious, probably the best banana cake I have ever made (I couldn't actually limit myself to one per day, ended up having two!). And today I baked the orange squash cupcakes, which again are made with butternut squash instead of butter, as well as ground almonds for a bit more moisture. The interesting aspect today was the I stuck to the recipe and used rice flour instead of regular flour, as suggested. If I am entirely honest, I am not sold on rice flour, the author says that it offers "a lightness of touch", which is true, but for some reason I am convinced it has a bit of an after-taste. But possibly that's just me. It can definitely be replaced with regulate flour, so I might alternate between in the two in the future.
As you know, I have been in search for a way to still do my baking every week but not end up massive from eating too much cake. I can't remember how but I stumbled upon a book on Amazon entitled "Red velvet chocolate heartache" by Harry Eastwood, in which the cakes include finely grated vegetables and nuts instead of butter. It seems a bit crazy, but the reviews were so good that I got pretty tempted. I had a look to see if any of the recipes were available online, and then tried the chocolate peanut cupcakes (which are make with butternut squash instead of butter) to test it. Note that I don't normally like cupcakes because I don't like icing (too sweet for me), but I decided that I could just make cupcakes without the icing, similar to tiny little cakes (and I guess easier to eat). I was pretty impressed with the results, the cakes were moist and chocolatey, albeit under-sweet but that was my fault for using less sugar.
So I took the plunge and bought the book. I have since made the banana cinnamon loaf in cupcake format, and they were absolutely delicious, probably the best banana cake I have ever made (I couldn't actually limit myself to one per day, ended up having two!). And today I baked the orange squash cupcakes, which again are made with butternut squash instead of butter, as well as ground almonds for a bit more moisture. The interesting aspect today was the I stuck to the recipe and used rice flour instead of regular flour, as suggested. If I am entirely honest, I am not sold on rice flour, the author says that it offers "a lightness of touch", which is true, but for some reason I am convinced it has a bit of an after-taste. But possibly that's just me. It can definitely be replaced with regulate flour, so I might alternate between in the two in the future.
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| Un-iced, but glinting from the sugar and orange juice I poured on top |
So my verdict so far is, buy this book! It might be a bit more effort to finely grate the veg (especially butternut squash is a bit of a pain), but the cakes are beautiful and it always seems like a bit of an adventure, as I have absolutely no idea how they will turn out!
