thursday recipe: rhubarb and vanilla cakes

We could call these muffins but really what is the difference between muffins and cake anyway? Is it that calling it a muffin tricks us into thinking they are somehow healthier? The ingredients are the same so let's call it as it is, today's recipe is rhubarb and vanilla cakes made with spelt flour. (I'm not using the word cupcake either because I have an aversion to the whole cupcake obsession that hopefully is over, sorry cupcake lovers).

Pete and I have been eating stewed rhubarb most mornings with natural yoghurt as is or with oat and chia porridge. River and Sol can't stand even the thought of eating rhubarb so I made some of these cakes with and some without, either way they are super delicious especially warm with butter.

Rhubarb and Vanilla Cakes - makes 8 in large muffin tray

Ingredients

100 grams butter, melted
2 cups white spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi carb soda
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup milk of choice
2 eggs, whisked
1 tsp ground vanilla
stewed rhubarb

To make

Preheat oven to 180C
In a large mixing bowl put in flour, baking powder, bi carb soda, coconut sugar and stir to combine.
In a small bowl mix eggs and milk.
Pour egg and milk mixture into dry ingredients and add in cooled melted butter and stir to mix ingredients together thoroughly.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tray.
Make a little well in the top of each muffin and place a tablespoon of rhubarb in the centre, or leave some plain for those who don't like rhubarb.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden and cooked through.

My boys enjoyed the plain vanilla ones warm with butter for an after school snack yesterday, and this morning after a bowl of warm stewed apple + pear with cinnamon and yoghurt River had one toasted! What a way to start the day. Winter is in the air here and we're dreaming of heading north. As regular readers know each year we head north for winter, last year we went to Cape York, this year we are heading to the desert spending time in Alice Springs where Pete will work on Culture is Life.

How about you? Any travel plans this year? Do you escape winter or travel and homeschool your children? I'd love to hear your stories and especially love to know of any blogs you follow of families who do this.

Stay warm. Or cool depending on where you are!

my (not so) wholefood superheroes

Six years ago today I gave birth to my very own little superhero, named River. He is fun and funny, thoughtful, curious, observant, insightful, musical, beach loving and life loving. Today we had a party to celebrate him. 

I remember taking River home from the hospital and being so enraptured with him (still am). After loving other people's babies all my life since I was a little girl, at age 31 I was thrilled to have a baby of my very own that I didn't have to give back to parents.

River's birth was also the birth of Pete and I as parents. Still so much to learn but I feel so blessed to be parenting with Pete and to have our beautiful boys.

Happy Birthday sweet River.

I had been wanting to start a birthday tradition that went beyond cake and presents. This year the idea came to me to make a birthday 'flag' (see below) I have sewn six hearts on this one, one for each of River's years and I plan to bring it out each birthday and add another heart or a star or some other symbol from that year, a drawing or treasure. And by the time he is a teenager perhaps me and my birthday flag will become embarrassing and I will love that part of the tradition and parenting too.

The cake. This year River requested a spiderman cake. Despite not watching commercial television and being part of a Steiner community from his birth, those 'outside' influences are creeping in. I was very happy to create his dream birthday cake, though it meant breaking the wholefood rules and using wait for it...red food coloring! Beetroot juice colouring would just not give this brilliant red result:

I cut the whites of the eyes out of paper, spun a licorice web and it was done. Simple but effective, yes? Beneath that scarlet red buttercream icing is a dense and decadent chocolate cake that Pete and I tussled over the timing of when it should be removed from the oven. No one likes a dry cake agreed. But my dear Pete, raw cake does not really make for good eating either. I'm happy to say that between us we got the timing right and the cake was fudgy in the centre without being raw.

The recipe comes from a friend's mum who makes the cake each year for her grandson's birthday. It is so simple and a winner every time. This is the recipe as I received it:

1 cup of drinking chocolate
1.5 cups of caster sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1.5 cups milk
2 eggs
125 grams butter melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat all together.

I amended it because most drinking chocolate has sugar in it, the one I used is sweetened with stevia, so I reduced the sugar to half a cup (I used golden unrefined caster sugar). I added 2 tablespoons of cocoa and I also chopped up 100 grams of dark chocolate and through the chips into the mix. I wanted to make a bigger cake to I added another egg, 1 more cup of flour, took the butter up to 200g and added another half cup of milk. And then yes, mixed it all together. Poured into a greased and lined tin and baked at 180C for around 45 minutes.

We set the guest list at six children, one for each year and it was perfect. They played in the treehouse, played with musical instruments, enjoyed a treasure hunt and pinata, ate home made dips, spinach and ricotta pies, mini beef pies followed by cake and jelly orange quarters, washed down with homemade lemonade. Two hours of excitement and fun with his new school buddies. Part of me felt sad that his 'old' friends weren't there, his kinder buddies whose mums are my closest friends here on the Peninsula. But hey, he's growing up and I have to move with that.

And as the last 'lolly' bag (containing yoghurt frog, carob licorice and honey lollipop) was handed out and River's guests were all waved goodbye, the rain that had held off began to fall and I savoured the day as I washed dishes, picked up balloons and sorted gifts of magic kits, paints and games. Quiet fell on the house. River and Sol settled in to watch a movie and when I had happily restored our surrounds to order I sat down to a sweet moment of my first piece of birthday cake and a cup of tea with Pete feeling completely satisfied with the day. As evening neared River's words, "I never want this day to end" said it all. Blissfully he is six :)

happy (sugar less) birthday party

Happy Birthday Capricorns! My 5 year old arrived home last week from his friend’s birthday party with a box of lollies and a tummy ache. It isn’t the first time and probably won’t be the last time.

Children’s birthday parties don’t have to be sugar and fat fuelled to be fun.

I agree birthday parties are the time to enjoy celebration food, I don’t agree though that lollies, chips, chocolate, ice cream, cake, party-pies, sausage rolls and soft drink are all necessary at one party.

In my eyes, the 2012 children’s party menu includes real food options such as:

Homemade dips and rice crackers

Wraps with grated carrot and cheese cut into pinwheels

Sushi

Home made ‘sausage’ rolls (vegetarian filling reduces the amount of saturated fat)

Chicken sandwiches

For older children have the party at lunchtime and make your own pizzas or have a simple pasta dish, penne with pesto

Homemade fish and chips

Roasted vegie ‘chips’

Mini quiche

Zucchini slice

Fruit kebabs

Popcorn necklaces

The cake

If you want to have lollies at your child’s party the cake is the place to do it. Rather than having bowls of lollies, putting lollies on the cake means that each child gets a few lollies on their piece of cake instead of helping themselves to handfuls. Most children do not want to eat rich cakes with cream and icing.

A simple cupcake is a great option.

The icing on the cake

To avoid food colourings use vegetable juices such as beetroot or carrot juice to give you pink or orange icing, a few drops of liquid chlorophyll for green, tumeric for yellow.

Send them home happy and sugar less  

It is the being with their friends that children love and remember. Set a new trend in your group of friends and change the menu. As for the lolly bag? The best take home party gift I’ve heard of were A Peter Rabbit party where each child was given a seedling to take home and plant.

Our children's childhood is an opportunity to be creative, fuel their imaginations.

One of my favorite party tips I learnt when I first started planning my son’s birthday parties is to invite as many guests as years the child is turning. You really don’t have to invite the whole class, really you don’t!

Below is a carrot cake recipe I’ve made for birthdays both as a round cake and cupcakes.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Jude Blereau’s incredible carrot cake in her book, Wholefood. Jude’s recipe calls for pineapple, sultanas and walnuts, here I make a simpler version. It makes a beautiful birthday cake or any time that calls for cake. The icing is rich so it is optional, the cake is just as lovely with a light dusting of icing sugar and served with vanilla yoghurt.

Carrot cake

2 cups spelt flour (can be white or wholemeal or a mix of both)

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ cup of brown sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

½ cup coconut

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp nutmeg

4 cups grated carrot

½ cup almond oil (if you don’t have almond oil you can use 125g butter melted)

2 large or 3 medium eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream cheese icing

250g cream cheese, room temperature

120g butter, softened

1 cup of icing sugar

juice of half a lemon

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Lightly grease a 24cm round cake tin (spring form or regular) and line the bottom with baking paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices.

Stir in the sugar and coconut.

Add the carrot, oil (or butter), eggs, maple syrup and vanilla and mix well.

Scrape the batter from the bowl into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour or until you can insert a skewer into the centre and it comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning out on to a wire rack.

Allow to cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, beat together the cream cheese and butter with the icing sugar and enough lemon juice to achieve a smooth texture.

This makes enough icing to cut the cake into two layers if you wish and ice the middle.

Happy Birthday.