Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Clementine Cake

I wasn't sure I could do it when I first thought about it: taking a recipe with only 5 ingredients, changing 2 of them and still getting something that even remotely resembled what it was supposed to be. In this case, that something is a Clementine Cake. The recipe called for ground almonds, 5 whole clementines, 6 eggs, sugar, and baking powder. I set out to replace all 6 eggs and the sugar. Here's how it turned out:


I would say that's pretty successful!

Here's how I did it:

5 clementine oranges
1/2 cup honey
2 1/2 cups ground almonds
1 banana, mashed
1 Tbsp whole flax seed, ground + 3 Tbsp water
3 tsp egg replacer*
3 Tbsp water (or whatever liquid your egg replacer calls for)*
2 tsp baking powder

*I used commercial egg replacer. It's basically baking soda, corn starch, and other things, that you add water to. For this recipe, I used an equivalent of 3 eggs worth of egg replacer.

Wash the clementines. Put in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, covered, and let simmer for 2 hours. Check them periodically to make sure the water doesn't boil away. Drain and cool. When cool, split then open and remove and seeds. Put the clementines, peel and all, into a food processor and chop. Set aside.

This is what the clementines look like after boiling for a couple of hours. Oh, and the house smells divine!


And here they are chopped up:


Heat oven to 350. Grease an 8-inch spring-form pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Mix the ground flax and 3 Tbsp water in a small bowl. Let sit for a few minutes to become almost gelatinous.

I ground the almonds myself in the food processor. Cheaper than buying them pre-ground.


In a mixer bowl, combine banana, flax seed mush, egg replacer and water. Beat together. Add the ground almonds, honey, and baking powder. Beat again. Add the chopped clementines. Mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and put in the oven.

This is where things may turn out different for you. My oven is wonky and things never cook how they are supposed to. The cake took 70 minutes to bake in my oven, but I would check it after 40 minutes and then every 5-10 minutes after. I don't expect it should actually take any longer than 55 minutes in a reliable oven. I'll have to recreate this at my mom's house soon to test the baking time.

When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan and let fully cool on a serving platter.

The finished cake:



Just before you're ready to serve, you can sprinkle with powdered sugar if you wish. Next time I want to drizzle it with some melted dark chocolate or chocolate ganache!

So it was a successful day in the kitchen for me. Next time I'm thinking of trying an chocolate-avocado cake. Stay tuned.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Stay tuned for some big changes around here. Due to a huge opportunity approaching, I am changing my blog to more food-related topics. Things have been insanely insane lately (sick house since January 1!), but once things settle down, I'll start making the changes.

I hope to post recipes, with pictures, every couple of days.

Stay tuned, to here and your television set, for more! Hee hee.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Another new card!

I'm on a roll here with the kids feeling run-down and lazy and being forced to stay inside. I made another Charlotte card this afternoon. This one is for Atika's birthday, which is this weekend. Possibly too blingy? I like it anyway.

Prince Ian Card

Here's my card for day 4 of the CHA relay. I'm so impressed with myself for making 4 cards in 4 days!

I guess this can be a thank you card... Nice and simple. I love the stripes!


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Toby Cub card

Here's the next card in the CHA challenge over at The Greeting Farm. I can't believe I'm keeping up with things so far! Now I just need to remember to upload it to the contest site tomorrow morning!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Charlotte card

Here's my next card for The Greeting Farm challenge:






















I used a background I had already made up for my stash. I think it's quite pretty. Looking forward to the next one! Except I'm out of glue, so I had better get my butt to the store tomorrow for more.

Mer Ian card



Here's the card I whipped together for The Greeting Farm challenge. I was planning on just throwing something together, just so I could get the next stamp, but I'm actually quite pleased with the result. I used my oldest paper (!) because I immediately thought of this background when I saw the image. I'm most pleased with the shell I glued on the bottom corner. I think it finishes the card off nicely.

Now, on to the next challenge!