Sugar-Free Carrot Cupcakes

Well I could spout excuses for why I haven’t blogged in ages until the sun don’t shine, but let’s be honest: It was my first summer working in London. I was far too busy having fun. That said, nothing jolts you into realising that life is too short not to do the things you love like illness. My dad’s unwell and is the source of inspiration for these sugar-free cupcakes, because he needs to stay away from the evil stuff for the foreseeable future. And let’s be honest, it won’t do anyone in my house any harm to cut down on the addictive white crystals (no not meth, you naughty lot).

So we went to the Cake and Bake Show at Earl’s Court on Saturday and my dad was thrilled to find a stall selling Xylitol, a natural sugar alternative with a low GI which can be used to make healthy (ish) sweet treats. I was a bit worried that these cakes would be stodgy and tasteless but I was pleasantly surprised by the fluffy texture. Obviously they just don’t taste as sweet as the sugar-laden alternative. You don’t get that buzz that we all crave, but I guess that’s the point.

Ingredients (makes 18)

225g plain wholemeal flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

4tsp ground cinnamon

3tsp ground ginger

75g Xylitol

2 large carrots, grated

Juice and zest of 2 oranges

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

90ml mild cooking oil

90ml milk

For the topping

2tbsp Xylitol

3tbsp lemon juice

200g low fat cream cheese

Ground cinnamon, for sprinkling

18 walnut pieces

Prepare two baking trays with paper cases. Preheat the oven to 150⁰C.

In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, bicarbonate, cinnamon and ginger. I was a bit concerned that that seemed like a lot of spices for a small mixture, but it doesn’t taste overpowering in the slightest.

Add the Xylitol, grate the carrots and orange zest and then add the orange juice, beaten eggs, oil and milk. I used olive oil for ultimate health benefits.

Mix until thoroughly combined.

Carefully and evenly distribute the mixture between the cases.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.

Now I have mixed feelings about this topping. In a way I think the cakes perfectly nice nude, but we do like to trick ourselves sometimes and it just doesn’t look like carrot cake without it. For obvious reasons it’s just not very sweet and kind of tastes just like…cheese. Try it for yourself though, but I think I’m going to experiment with some alternatives.

Stir the Xylitol and lemon juice together until completely dissolved. Mix the cream cheese in.

Smooth evenly over the cakes, sift the cinnamon (I did a fantastic job of that, I think you’ll see) and plop a walnut piece on top to finish. Ta daaa.

P.S. Bake off final this week. Richard to win all the waaay.

Mini Rose Éclairs (& a few profiteroles)

It’s been a busy old time but no matter how hectic things get, there always seems to be time for cake in my house. On the last May bank holiday, for no apparent reason, we decided to host a ridiculous and over-indulgent afternoon tea. When I say host I mean make an absurd amount of food and consume it all between the five of us. This quite obviously happened ages ago and I apologise for my complete tardiness in blogging something about it, but I’ve been a bit caught up doing silly things as usual. Like going to Japan. Everyone should do that by the way, if you can. It’s an exceptional place and if someone asked me to go live in Tokyo tomorrow I would go, no question.

Now my role in this afternoon tea faff was to make some kind of petit fours. I fancied making some choux pastry so this is what I came up with. I made half of them mini éclairs and the other half profiteroles because…I don’t know really, I just wanted to. These are delicious if I do say so myself but incredibly sweet so I recommend eating them with something savoury to try to offset diabetes.

Ingredients

100g plain flour

¼ tsp salt

75g unsalted butter

3 eggs, at room temp, beaten

Icing sugar

Rose water

Pink food colouring

Whipping or double cream

Heat the oven to 200⁰C and prepare two baking trays with parchment.

Sift the flour onto a piece of greaseproof paper that you’ve folded in half to create a crease.

Put the salt, butter and 175ml of water into a pan and heat gently until the butter has completely melted.

Quickly bring the mixture to the boil, then tip the flour in all in one go.

Remove the pan from the heat and beat furiously with a wooden spoon. Expect the mixture to look like a vile lumpy mess to begin with, but eventually it should turn into a smooth dough.

When it looks smooth put the pan back onto the beat and beat for a further 2 minutes until it looks like a glossy ball.

Tip the dough into a mixing bowl and leave to cool (otherwise it will cook the eggs when you add them).

Use an electric mixer to gradually beat the eggs into the dough. It should make a shiny paste-like dough that falls away from the spoon when lightly shaken.

Pop the dough into a large piping bag. To make this easier I stand the mixing bag up in a tall cup.

Snip the end off of the piping bag and pipe whatever shapes you want onto your prepared baking trays, remembering that different sized shapes will take different lengths of time to cook. I did about half as mini éclairs and half as profiteroles, mainly just to see which would come out better.

Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 180⁰C. Quickly open and close the oven to let out steam and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until crisp and golden.

Remove the trays from the oven and then using a small toothpick, make a small hole in each one to let out steam. Then return to the oven for a final 3-4 minutes or until firm. Cool on a wire rack.

While they are cooling whip up the cream with a spoonful or two of icing sugar- remembering that the topping will be very sweet. The cream should be whipped until it holds its shape.

Make the topping by combining icing sugar with a few drops of rose water and some pink food colouring. The brightness/flavour intensity is up to you, but I usually think f**k it and go neon.

Spoon or pipe the whipped cream into the éclairs and smear a line of pink icing on top.

Then put on a tiered stand with a bunch of other ludicrously over-the-top home baked goods and you have yourself an afternoon tea party.

Well we’ve certainly never been accused of not knowing how to have a good time…

Lemon Cream Cake

It’s been a big time of change in my life; starting a full-time honest to god job in London where they pay me for instance, among gallivanting off to Rome and Paris (my life is not as glamorous as it sounds). If there’s one constant in my house however, no matter what’s going on, it’s cake. It has been a while since I’ve had time to blog, but here’s the cake I made for my mumma’s birthday. And for any of my fellow graduates still out there trying to make it happen- keep going, all the hard work pays off in the end.

Ingredients

350g butter

350g caster sugar

300g self-raising flour

6 eggs

50g cornflour

3tsps baking powder

2 lemons, zest and juice

1 orange, zest

Lemon curd

300ml double cream

200g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180⁰C and line three 20cm cake tins.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.

Add the lemon and orange zest and juice of 2 lemons.

Add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of the flour until fully combined.

Sift the remaining flour, cornflour and baking powder.

Divide the mixture into three and pour into the tins, levelling the surface.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and springy to the touch. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

In my opinion the icing sugar made the cream filling too sweet and it would have been nicer with just simple whipped cream, but if you want to follow the recipe then lightly whip the cream, adding a spoonful of icing sugar as you go until fully combined.

Stack the cakes onto a plate or stand, and spread lemon curd and the whipped cream between every layer. Sift icing sugar liberally on top. 

Disclaimer: not for those on a diet!