Sunday, May 27, 2012

Birthday cake

It was my birthday a few weeks ago, and naturally I wanted birthday cake! Last year I treated myself to some Cheesecake Factory, because those cakes used to be among (my MANY sugary) favourites. That birthday cake  must have been my one and only "sugar incidence" last year... Many people find that once they are off the sugar, the ''white poison'' doesn't quite taste the same. This wasn't the case for me though! I had one piece, then another one, and I was in heaven! However, those next few days was much less divine for me... I felt like I was climbing up the walls, desperately craving more sugar and cake, like a former drug addict thinking she'd have just ONE more shot of heroine, then totally falling off the wagon... I stayed strong though, knowing it would pass, and finally I got over it. But that incidence made me realise just how strong an effect sugar has on me, and that having sugary cakes just isn't worth it - not even once per year... This year, therefore, I baked a sugar-free LCHF cake. This way I can have my cake and eat it too, without the post-sugar blues and cravings.


Cecilie's pink low carb baking bible (www.fristendelavkarbo.no) once again came to my rescue, with this divine raspberry and chocolate mousse  creation. It took a few hours to make, but was so worth the wait!


Crust:
5 eggs
100 ml erythritol
5 tablespoons  cocoa
4 tablespoons coconut flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon psyllium husk
50 g melted butter


Use a spring form measuring about 22 cm, and grease it with butter or coconut oil.
Beat eggs and erythritol until very fluffy. Combine cocoa, coconut flour, baking powder and the psyllium husk in a baking bowl. Sift  the mixture into the eggs. Then stir in melted butter.
Bake in the middle of the oven on 175 degrees C for 25 minutes.
Let the crust cool while you make chocolate mousse and raspberry mousse as per the instructions below. Then add one layer of chocolate mousse and then a layer of raspberry mousse on top of that. Decorate with a tray of fresh raspberries.


Chocolate mousse: 
200 ml cream
200 g 70 % Lindt chocolate
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
4 tablespoons erythritol, the icing sugar kind


Melt the chocolate in a non-stick pan. Let cool a little.
Whip the cream and put it in the fridge.
Divide the eggs. Beat the egg whites stiff together with the "icing sugar" erythritol. Whip the egg yolks lightly and combine them with the melted chocolate.
Fold the chocolate mass carefully into the cream. Lastly, carefully fold the egg whites into the combined chocolate + cream mass.


Raspberry mousse: 
300 g frozen raspberries
5 tablespoons erythritol
300 ml cream
3 leaves of gelatin


Defrost berries, and combine with erythritol using a hand blender. Remove the seeds from the berry puree by pouring it through a sieve (using the back of a spoon to "force" it through, as the puree is quite thick). I repeated this a couple of times to get rid of as many as possible of the seeds.
Place the gelatin leaves in cold water. Heat up a small amount of raspberry puree in a pot, then squeeze the water from the gelatin leaves and dissolve them in the heated raspberry puree. Now add this into the rest of the raspberry puree (which is cool)
Whip the cream and carefully fold it into the raspberry puree, little by little.


Enjoy!


The tablespoon measure used is the 15 ml size






Tuesday, May 15, 2012

LCHF breakfast rolls

My favourite Norwegian low carb blogger, Lena Beatrice on  www.lenabeatrice.net has written her first cookbook. Through the last year and a half I have found so much inspiration on her amazing blog. So of course I had to get her book! This amazing author personally mailed me the book all the way from Norway to Australia! Even with a very nice dedication and her autograph! Lena has lost 45 kgs following LCHF, and - like myself - she has found LCHF the solution for staying slim for life!

What I love about her cooking - and her book as well - is that the recipes are simple: Just yummy everyday foods with ingredients you can find in most food stores.

I thought I'd share her recipe for breakfast rolls: They are a bit oopsie-like and SO yummy. Enjoy!

4 egg whites
25 g almonds, grounded
25 g sunflower seeds, grounded
25 g linseed
25 g sesame seeds
1 teaspoon  baking powder
1 pinch of salt

Beat the egg whites stiff. Carefully turn in seeds and almonds. Use a spoon and place into four little piles on a baking tray covered in baking paper.

Bake on 175 degrees at the bottom shelf of the oven for around 20 minutes.