Baking till your heart content!!

Those who have seen me recently will know that i've recently had a baking phase... Ever since i was a munchkin, i was always fascinated by cooking shows on tv...the layering of flavours and ingredients to create wonderful dishes for the enjoyment we got from eating.. i believe in the art of eating.. Like I consider myself very lucky to have been raised in a country where i get to experience all the types of food around the world...my parents never got that luxury, sometimes food would just be soy sauce and boiled rice when they were young..so i have to be grateful that there such thing as an art of eating.. :p

Back onto the subject, i love cooking and creating dishes and desserts... i don't so much et to cook main meals anymore because thats always been mothers duty (even if i did she would try to finish before me so i would eat her food instead!) But a revolution has come around!!!

In all my life, whenever i cook something, make something to eat for the fam to try out, my mom has always hid her feelings of enjoying anything i make...she'd say 'this ingredient is good' and that was edible..but neverr "this tastes amazing!" So with that in mind, i've been baking desserts at night lately (because i can't sleep sometimes>_<) and i've made all sort of things..

 

New york style Cheesecake (Di and B-i know ur drooling ;p)

Gooey chocolate cakes (made my lil sis fat xD)

Strawberry and rasberry baked cheesecake (this was a hit with the friends and family too!)

and loads of Carrot cakes.. wanna know why.... BECAUSE MAMA LOVEDDD IT!!! :DDD

hahaha!! butt she wouldn't admit it to me..she just kept saying 'oh ray really liked your carrot cake' or 'your dad liked the cake' or 'so next time u bake another cake, dont give it out, leave it at home' and finally ' so i bought a fresh bag of carrots...' loool!! and i was like.." hold on 1 sec..u actually like it..no no..u really like it don't u..u want me to bake another one again don't u mother?? ;p uno i dont really care if other people like it or want me to bake another one, but if mama is craving my homemade HEALTHY carrot cake, just say the word mom.." lool and she would keep pretending other people asked me to make it..its sooo funnny!!

I'm gonna share my recipe for the carrot cake since its been such a hit with work, bible study, friends and family..and the best thing abut it is that it is sooo much healthier than the 'healthy' carrot cakes you buy...

Jeniniooo's Super Carrot Cake Recipe

175g self raising flour (for wholemeal flour, add 1.5tsp baking powder n 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda the the flour, pinch of salt and mixed well)

125g of dark brown sugar (or use 60g of Muscovado Sugar,65g of xylitol sugar for extra low gi)

2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

3 eggs beaten

150ml of melted organic coconut oil (leave some for greasing)

1 tsp of good quality dark vanilla essence

250g of freshly grated carrots

Frosting

75g low fat cream cheese

1 tsp of good quality vanilla essence

40g of icing sugar

1.Preheat oven to 180c (350F), Gas mark 4.

2. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg in a bowl and mix well.. make a hole in the middle and add the eggs, oil, vanilla and carrots.Mix it well but folding it so u get more air bubbles trapped so it rises well..

3. Pour mixture into a cake tin when its lined with baking paper (doesnt matter if u havet got any, jus keep the cake in the tin!!^_^) and brush the whole tin and baking paper with remaining coconut oil. Bake in oven for about 25-30 mins depending on your oven..i keep mines for 30 and check by poking a chopstick in..if theres no batter stuck to it, its cooked in the middle.. when golden brown, risen and perfect..leave to cool.

4. Making to frosting by combining the creamed cheese, vanilla and icing sugar..its will become creamy and once the cake is cooled, spread an even layer over the whole thing... and you're done :)

tip..u can add nuts and dried fruit in the mixture aswell but some people dont like dried fruit or nuts in my house so plain carrots were best for me! 

You get alot of vitamins and minerals fromt he carrots and the molasses in the dark sugars used..the organic virgin coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils in the world (more than olive oil believe it or not!) it has no trans fats (all cooking oils have hydrogen added to it to make it last longer but it changes the oil to a be potential health risk. Both my parents have health problems so if a dessert is what they want, i'll be sure to make it as healthy for them as i can...and to be honest..it didn't taste bland or worst...everyone liked it regardless of my sneeky health ingrdients added into it :p

good luck, lemme know if u try the recipe out.

xxx