Upside down berry cakes (dairy free)

Quick recipe that I found in an online magazine. It's a good way how to motivate yourself to go out for an autumnal walk and pick some blackberries. Or get the berries from a frozen section in a local supermarket (like I did) and take the cakes with you when going for that walk.

250ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil

300g berries

4 large eggs

300g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence 

250ml apple juice

280g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

110g polenta

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. 

2. Line each hole of 2 x 12-hole non-stick muffin tins (about 100ml each)with a circle of baking paper. 

3. Divide the berries among the holes. 

4. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence together until foamy. 

5. Beat in the rapeseed oil, then the apple juice. 

6. Sift the flour, baking powder and polenta over the top and fold in.

7. Divide the mixture between the muffin holes and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. 

8. Leave for 5 minutes, then tip out onto a wire rack.

Apple curd tart (dairy free)

I found this recipe in The Guardian recently and made a couple of small adjustments in order to make it dairy free.

Another seasonal apple win! 

For the curd filling:

350g (2 large) bramley apples (peeled, cored and grated) 


Juice and zest of 1 lemon

A pinch of salt


125g dairy free spread


250g granulated sugar


4 large eggs (beaten
)

100g ground almonds


2 tsp demerara sugar

For the pastry
:

250g plain flour

A pinch of salt


250g dairy free spread


2 tsp caster sugar


1 egg yolk


1½ tbsp chilled water

1. First, make the pastry. 

Add the flour, dairy free spread, salt and sugar into a bowl. 

Beat the egg yolk with the chilled water, then pour into the flour mixture and combine to make a dough. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead briefly until smooth, then put into a plastic bag or wrap in clingfilm and chill in the freezer for at least half an hour. The dairy free spread won't make the dough as solid as  butter would. It makes it nicely pliable though.

2. Put the grated apple, lemon juice and zest, salt, dairy free spread and sugar into a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently until the butter has melted, the sugar dissolved and the mixture is warm, but not hot. Pour in the beaten eggs, then WHISK the mixture over a gentle heat until thick and creamy – about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, fold in the almonds, then set aside until the apple curd has cooled.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 

4. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until 3-4mm thick. Line a loose-bottomed tart tin with the rolled pastry, trimming the edge. 

4. Line the tart tin and pastry with parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Blind bake the pastry for 12-15 minutes, until it is dry to the touch. Remove the paper and beans, or rice, then return the pastry case to the oven and cook for 5 minutes, or until lightly coloured. Allow it to cool for a few minutes, then pour in the apple curd. Sprinkle the demerara sugar and flaked almonds evenly over the top. 

5. Bake at 190C/375F/gas mark 5 for about 25 minutes, or until the curd has set and is lightly coloured.

Orange & almond cake (dairy free)

This is my favourite cake to eat. Super simple to make and delicious. Another plus is that it contains absolutely no fat, no flour, it has whole fruit in it, which, in my eyes, makes it a healthy cake!

Ingredients:

300g ground almonds

200g sugar 

6 eggs

1tsp baking powder 

2 large oranges

100g dairy free dark chocolate 

2 tbsp dairy free spread

Method:

1) In a large pan, boil the whole oranges for 1 hour

2) Once the oranges are soft, quarter then and blitz them in a food processor until completely liquidised. 

3) Add eggs and blitz

4) Add sugar, baking piwder and almonds and mix until all ingredients are incorporated

5) Pour into a lined round tin and bake for about 45 minutes at 200C, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. 

6) Once the cake has cooled down, melt together the chocolate and the butter (in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water) until smooth and spread on top of the cake