EGG LESS FRUIT CAKE

EGG LESS FRUIT CAKE

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

EDITED: This recipe was featured on Cook Blogg share link party on 2nd January 2018, check here.

Christmas is a time of joy and fun for everybody, the same is for me and my family. A lot of fun activities take place inside and outside our house during the Christmas season or I should say for the whole month of December.

The first one is the decorating of the Christmas tree, which my grandkids really like and surprisingly, every year they bring in some new ideas for the decoration of the tree. Some of the ornaments are made by them in their schools every year, under the supervision of their teachers and some ornaments we buy from the shops. This year we got a white Christmas tree.

The other fun activity inside the house is the elf on the shelf, every morning the kids are so excited when they look for the elf and really enjoy all the places they find elf sitting. The next activity which they really like is the opening of the gifts on Christmas day, which they get from Santa.

Apart from these indoor activities, we go shopping, which is a lot of fun during this festive season because shops and malls are decorated with Christmas decorations and lighting. Another fun activity which we do as a family is a tour/ride of the neighbourhood area to see the decorations and lights of all the different houses. Some houses look really beautiful with a lot of decorations and colorful lighting. There is so much effort and money that goes into these decorations, it is commendable that people put in so much effort during these dark nights!

The other attraction in our town is the Airdrie festival of lights, which is one of Canada's largest light displays. This festival attracts visitors from the past 21 years and is open to the public from 6-9 pm every day in the month of December. If you are nearby and interested in this event, here is the link.

There is another family-friendly fun activity that takes place in Calgary is the Calgary Zoo lights. These lights are the center of attraction in Calgary, and a highlight during the December holidays for many Calgary families. So these zoo lights are a package of fun and learning activities for the kids. A lot of activities are taking place at the Calgary Zoo, even in the winter months, they are teaching children about the migration, hibernation, conservation and behavior of all types of animal. Here is the link

Coming to the recipe, this Christmas instead of baking any cookies I made this - a dried fruit cake. This is a very simple, tried and tested recipe in which I have used buttermilk. I am very sure; if you try this recipe you will enjoy this cake as I did. To make instant buttermilk, take one cup of milk and add one tbs of lemon juice/vinegar and let it stand for 10 minutes at room temperature and the buttermilk is ready.

Recipe link- Joy of baking.com

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 and a half cup (200 grams) all-purpose flour/white bread flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 3/4 cup sugar (150 grams sugar)
• 2 cups dried fruits (300 grams)
• 1/2 cup melted butter (115 grams)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup buttermilk

METHOD

• Grease a cake pan with some butter and sprinkle flour on top of it.
• Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.
• Sieve the all-purpose flour with baking soda and add sugar and cardamom powder in it, now mix the dried fruits in it.
• Mix all wet ingredients-butter, essence and buttermilk.
• Now mix all the wet and dry ingredients together, mix well and pour the batter into the greased tray and bake for 50 minutes, till the toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool on a cooling rack, slice and serve.

I am sharing this recipe with Cook once and eat Twice and with Full Plate Thursday and with Heart and Soul link party and with Cook blog share and with Sweet Inspiration link party and Fiesta Friday and with meatless Monday.

ORANGE AND DRIED BERRY CUPCAKES (EGGLESS)

ORANGE AND DRIED BERRY CUPCAKES (EGGLESS)

EDITED: This recipe was published in the "Here's The Scoop" newspaper of Airdrie, Alberta on 22nd of June 2017/

EDITED: This recipe was featured at "Cook blog share" blog hop on 23rd may 2017, check here

I love oranges and love using them in my recipes whenever possible. When they are in season, I make these fresh orange juice cupcakes. Fresh juice gives nice flavor and color to these cupcakes.

I make different types of cupcakes so that my grandchildren get to eat fresh and healthy homemade snack during lunch at school. The only problem when I make cupcakes for school is that I can not add any nuts in them because many kids at school are allergic to nuts. I think it is a common problem here in North America. Every year we get instructions from school authorities that even if your children are not allergic to nuts, they should not consume them in the morning before coming to school because it could be dangerous to nut allergic kids as they shake hands and share books etc in school.

After reading a lot of health benefits of avocado oil, I am in love with this oil. Before I was using it only in salads but now I have started using in all baked cakes and savory baked items as well. I bake eggless cakes or cupcakes where butter is already replaced by oil of any kind in many recipes so it is a good idea to use avocado oil instead of sunflower or any other oil.

These are tried and tested cupcakes, one of my friends gave me this recipe a long time ago. I used all-purpose flour before but these days I prefer using brown flour. In these cupcakes, I have used all healthy ingredients like brown flour, avocado oil, greek yogurt, fresh orange juice and brown sugar.

RECIPE
INGREDIENTS

• 150 grams brown bread flour/whole wheat flour
  
• 100 ml avocado oil or sunflower oil ( any oil of your choice)
  
• 100 grams brown sugar or castor sugar
  
• 200 ml fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup dried berries
  
• 50 ml yogurt (half cup)
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  

METHOD



• Sieve brown flour and baking powder, baking soda in a bowl
• Add sugar and mix well
• Beat the yogurt with egg mixer and add orange juice and oil in a bowl
• Slowly add the wet mixture to a dry mixture and continuously mix in a hand or stand mixture for around 10 minutes, and fold in the dried berries.
• Heat the oven to 180 degrees C or 275 degrees F and grease the muffin tray
• Pour the mixture up to 2/3 level in the cupcake molds
• Bake for 20-25 minutes till the toothpick comes out clean
• Serve hot or at room temperature

15-20 cupcakes can be made depending on the size you make

I am sending this recipe as my blog post entry to Matless Monday and Sweet Inspiration blog party and with Cook Blog share and Hearth and Soul blog hop  and with I am pinnable and bake of the week, and with Simple and in Season and with cook once eat twice

EGGLESS DATES AND WALNUT CUPCAKES

#Edited- This recipe was featured as the best recipe at-http://etspeaksfromhome.co.uk/2015/10/tuesday-tutorials-2015-week-40.html

# Edited:- This recipe was published in the local newspaper "Here's the Scoop" on 16th October 2015

This recipe is suitable for vegans.

When I talk about egg-less cakes, I remember one interesting incidence – when my daughter-in-law was studying in a university in South Africa a few years ago, she was staying in a students hostel. One day she was craving for cake (she does not eat egg), so she went to a nearby bakery to buy the egg-less cake. When she asked the lady at the counter, “Do you have egg-less cake”, the lady gave a strange look at her and said, “I don’t think we can make cakes without egg.” My daughter-in-law was really disappointed. Then she called me and told me that, on her next visit, she will eat cake at home.

I am surprised that in this era of Google and Internet, some people are still thinking that cakes cannot be made without egg. So for them, the answer is cake can easily be made without eggs, and many varieties of cakes can be made.

In my original recipe of dates and walnut cake, which I got from one of my friends a long time ago I soak dates in milk overnight. But this time, when I wanted to make this cake, by mistake I soaked them in water. This morning when I wanted to bake the cake, I realized my mistake, and thought “ Oh no! What should I do now”.Then I got the idea and rushed and checked on the internet another recipe. Even in this recipe, there was water plus milk, which I changed it to only water because I wanted to use all the soaked water with dates so that the nutrients should remain in the water.

This is a healthy cake because of its ingredients. Apart from dates and walnuts, I have used honey instead of sugar. In this recipe, there is no egg, as I mentioned earlier, I am totally vegetarian and I do not use any meat or egg in my kitchen.

Original recipe  with minor changes from -vegrecipesofindia

Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 20 dates
• 2 cup all whole wheat flour
• ½ cup oil
• 1 ½ cup water
• 5 tbs honey( Vegans use any alternative sugar)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ cup walnut pieces
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• pinch salt

Method

• Wash and remove the seeds of dates.
• Add water in dates and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes.
• When cool, make a smooth paste in a blender, add honey and oil and mix well.
• Sieve flour and baking powder, add slowly in wet paste of dates, one tablespoon at a time and mix well
• Add walnuts and fold into the batter.
• Fill cupcakes tray up to ¾ level.
• Preheat oven to 200 degrees C/390 F and cook for 30-35 minutes till the toothpick comes out clean from the cupcake.

I am sending this recipe as my blog post entry for the event Food and fitness Friday and with Real Food Friday, with Food year linkup for September and with Meatless Monday and with what'd you do this weekend. and with Hearth and Soul.,and with creative kids Tasty Tuesday, with way wow linkup.and with Friday Free for all and  Tuesday tutorials., and with Healthy Happy and green blog hop, and with my two fav things on Thursday , and with Full plate Thursday, and with Wordless, and Wednesday, and with Idea box link party, and with Fiesta Friday, and with Cook blog share, and with Treat petite January.