N is for... Naughty Chocolate Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday to me! Yesterday I turned the grand old age of 25, no longer can I claim to be 'early-twenties'...that being said I don't feel any different - I still love cake for starters! Many people might find it sad to make their own birthday cake, however not me. The treat of having a day off work meant I had time to bake - a nice leisurely bake (unlike the high pressure Great British Bake-off - I could not cope there!)

Although it's a special day, I'm afraid the low-carb diet stops for nothing and no one. I found a recipe in GoodFood 101 Cakes & Bakes for 'Seriously Rich Chocolate Cake' and I low-carbed it up while keeping it delicious, hence the naughty - it's full of full-fat butter and chocolate!

You don't have to be 25 to enjoy this cake

They didn't have any '1's left

Ingredients
50g butter
75g good quality, very dark chocolate (I used 85% cocoa solids)
3 eggs, separated
70g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
40g xylitol

M is for... Macaroons

My Baking the Alphabet challenge continues. These little coconut macaroons went perfectly with the stewed rhubarb I made for my Sunday roast dessert, and could be cooked at the same temperature as the lamb. I've made regular macaroons before – here. This time I went for a low-carb version, they are simple to make, sugar-free and tasty!

Ingredients

2 egg whites

a pinch of salt

55g (2oz) ground almonds

55g (2oz) unsweetened desiccated coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract (optional)

½ sachet stevia

Sunday Roast - The Desserts

The final post in my Sunday Roast special. I made two desserts for 'afters'. I chose quick and easy desserts so that I could concentrate on the roasts.

Firstly, Stewed Rhubarb with Cream, which I served with coconut macaroons

And the second, my mum's one-pan cake. The quickest and easiest chocolate cake you can make!

Sunday Roast - The Vegetarian Option

My previous post took you through a traditional Sunday roast, with lamb and roast vegetables. Now for the vegetarian option - and for a fussy vegetarian at that...

Veggie 'roast', cheese sauce and roasted pepper and courgette

I found a fake 'chicken roast' made from soya mince that I cooked as my main. It was very easy to make. You stir hot water with the mix and leave for 15 minutes. Then transfer to a greased ovenproof dish before baking for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure if I did something wrong with mine as it came out very crumbly (it didn't stick together at all), I think it was because I only made a portion of the mixture rather than cooking the whole thing.

Sunday Roast - Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb

I headed back to Kent at the weekend, and as usual I was in a cooking mood. I decided to challenge myself and cook a roast. My mum bought a shoulder of lamb (big enough for Sunday roast and a few days in the week). I cooked the lamb with roast vegetables underneath and did a separate lot of roast potatoes, alongside a vegetarian option for me. I have been a vegetarian for as long as I can remember and I don’t mind cooking meat just as long as I don’t have to actually touch it!

I looked through my Jamie Oliver books for inspiration (despite the collection taking up an entire bookshelf I rarely cook from them). There are recipes for roast lamb in most of them so I narrowed it down to a few and got my mum to choose the best one. I didn’t use the exact ingredients that he used, but it was close enough and I followed the technique. The recipe is from Jamie's Dinners.

Ingredients

1 shoulder of lamb

olive oil

freshly ground salt and black pepper
a handful of fresh rosemary

6 cloves of garlic

3 medium white onions, peeled and quartered

4 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into rough chunks

2 medium leeks, washed and cut into rough chunks

2 bay leaves
a handful of fresh thyme

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

500ml stock

L is for... Lemon Scones

Challenge time! This week's letter is 'L'. I wanted to make something lemony and settled on scones as they aren't very sweet usually so I thought omitting the sugar wouldn't matter too much. I based my lemon scones on a recipe from 'Be-Ro Home Recipes' a recipe guide from the 1920s! Scroll down to the end of the blog to see the original recipe book.

Lemon Scones
4oz plain gluten-free flour
4oz wholemeal rye flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
1½oz butter
1 packet Stevia (equivalent to 2 teaspoons of sugar)
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons of milk

Roxanne's Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Lasagne is one of my fall back dishes that I make time and time again. It is great to serve for friends or make in advance of a busy week to stock the fridge. I don't always roast the vegetables beforehand but it really does enhance the flavour.

Roxanne's Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Ingredients (to serve 6)
200g carrot, peeled and chopped
250g beetroot, peeled and chopped
250g winter squash, peeled, seeds scooped out and chopped
200g parsnip, peeled and chopped
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
200g white onion (2 medium), peeled and roughly sliced
100g celery (2 stalks), chopped
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cans chopped tomatoes
15g butter
15g plain flour
300ml milk
50g Cheddar cheese, plus extra to grate on top
1 box of lasagne sheets

K is for... Kale, Olive and Gruyère Tart

It's K time in my Baking the Alphabet challenge. Kale is a lovely green vegetable, if you're not a fan of spinach I would definitely recommend giving kale a go. The texture isn't as slimy as spinach and the taste isn't as strong, it makes a great addition to tarts - and works especially well here with the Gruyère cheese. Please excuse the dodgy looking photo, I couldn't find my phone.

Ingredients
500g shortcrust pastry
1 onion, thinly sliced
knob of butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
200g kale, roughly chopped
10 green olives, halved
150g Gruyère cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten

Sugar-free Brownies

My quest to make delicious chocolate brownies without refined sugar continues. However, this recipe leaves me wanting to admit defeat. They seemed to work fine, but any resemblance to a brownie ended at the chocolate colour. As they came out quite dry they work well as a dessert with custard. I found the recipe here.

Ingredients
6 packets stevia

¼ cup natural yogurt 

1 tablespoon egg whites (this works out as about ½ an egg white, reserve the rest for the custard)  

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

½ cup gluten-free flour (or regular)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder 

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons mixed chopped nuts (optional)

Apple Spiced Nut Cookies

My mum discovered this recipe when she was searching for sugar-free recipes she could bake for me. The original recipe uses dates which I can't eat, although recommends using stevia in its place. The recipe comes from a blog called Kat's Health Corner, it's a great blog full of alternative recipes - and so perfect for me! I based my recipe on the one here.

Ingredients (makes 7)
¼ cup walnuts
¼ cup mixed nuts (use almonds, pecans or even more walnuts)
⅓ cup porridge oats
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 packets stevia (equivalent to 4 teaspoons sugar)
1 eating apple
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon sunflower spread

Apple Crumble

I was at home for a few days this last week, which gave me a great opportunity to do some baking. I got the little sisters involved and we knocked up a couple of apple crumbles. Apple crumble is one of those desserts that is relatively simple to make, yet proves popular time and time again. With August coming to a close, Autumn feels nearer and crumble season officially begins!

We made two crumbles, one is a child-friendly (making and eating) 'normal' crumble using cooking apples sweetened with regular sugar, and the other is 'sugar-free' using eating apples sweetened with Stevia.

Ingredients
(regular crumble)
500g (1lb) cooking apples
4 tablespoons sugar
100g (4oz) plain spelt flour (or you can use normal wheat)
100g (4oz) rye flour (or use normal wholemeal)
100g butter
75g sugar

(sugar-free crumble)
1 eating apple (115g)
20g spelt flour
20g rye flour
30g butter
20g porridge oats
3g Stevia (equivalent to 6 teaspoons regular sugar)