Carrot and Pumpkin cake

This year I have came up with this cake for my birthday. My friends found it sooooo yummy that I had to make a post.

We ate it so fast that forgot about the pic!

Ingredients:

1/4 Pumpkin, 1 large carrot, 100gr. almond meal, rice syrup, 7 - 8 plain biscuits, 1 tea spoon cacadamias and  a pinch of sea salt.

Directions:

Peal and cut the pumpkin into slices (+ / - 1cm think). Place them in a baking dish, add a bit of water and a pinch of salt. Cover with a lid and bake until soft (+ / - 15min).

Grate the orange rind and with the rest of the fruit, make juice.

If organic, wash the carrot (otherwise peel!). Grate it using the finest cheese grater and mix with the almond meal and grated orange rind. Put aside.

Smash biscuits into fine pieces. Mix them with the orange juice and a spoon of rice syrup. Boil a bit of water and cook agar-agar until dissolved. Mix agar agar with biscuits and spread the mixture evenly in a high rectangular baking dish (advisable using oven paper). Bake for approximately 20 min.

Smash pumpkin and mix with carrot mixture. Add two to three spoons of rice syrup and mix well.

Cut the dried apricots and cook them with the soaking water and a pinch of salt until obtaining a jam (aprox. 30 minutes, replace the water and smash with a fork if necessary). 

Place one layer (approximately 1cm think)  of the carrot mixture on top of the biscuit base. Add a fine layer of the apricots jam and top with a bit of mirin. Add the rest of the carrot mixture, finish with a very fine layer of the apricots jam and more mirin. Bake for 30 min and top with pieces of macadamias.

Let it cool and enjoy!!!

Apple Crumbel

Children... and not so children... love this recipe.

It reminds me to my friends David and Nicole and

I used it in my second cooking workshop with children. I loved to see how the smell attracted and awoke their interest.

It is so easy and yummy! You cannot go wrong ;)

Ingredients:

3 sweet medium apples (peeled and cubed), 1 orange (1 tea spoon of grated orange peel + the orange juice), 1 cup of fine / plain oats, 1/2 cup of whole meal or rice flour, 10 sun-dired unsulphured apricots (cut into quarters and soaked in just enough water), almonds or hazelnuts chopped (aprx. 10 per person), rice malt syrup to taste, cinnamon or vanilla, 2 - 3 table spoons of sesame seed oil, pinch of sea salt.

Directions:

Place the apples in a baking dish. Add a little bit of water and a pinch of salt. Cover with a lid and bake for about 15 minutes or until apples are half-cooked.

Mix well the flower, oats, cinnamon or vanilla and pinch of salt with the oil.

Add nuts, apricots, grated orange peel, orange juice and rice malt syrup to taste. Let it sit for 10 / 15 minutes (you may need to add a bit of water).

Top the apple with this mixture. Bake for another 15 - 20 minutes and grate for 5.

Serve hot or cold.

DESSERTS

Lemon kanten with strawberries and biscuits

Millet and fennel seeds cake with dried appricots jam

Apple Crumble
Carrot and Pumpkin cake

Lemon kanten with strawberries and biscuits

Ingredients:

1 tbsp agar agar flakes, 4 tbsp arrowroot, 1/2 l. natural apple juice, 1/2 l. water, rice syrup to taste, lemon juice and finely grated lemon rind, vanilla pods or natural vanilla essence to taste, biscuits, strawberries washed and thickly sliced, pinch of sea salt.

Directions:

Combine agar agar flakes and arrowroot with water. Mix well, add apple juice and the pinch of salt. Cook for 10-15 min.

Add rice syrup to taste and turn off the heat. Add lemon juice, lemon rind and vanilla. Set aside.

Cover the bottom of a large dish with a layer of strawberries (spread them slightly with rice syrup). Add a layer of biscuits and top with the kanten (the biscuits will slightly come up to the surface).

Leave to cool and serve.

Millet and fennel seeds cake with dried apricots jam

This is a great dessert! Because of the fennel seeds, it is specially good for breastfeeding women so I dedicate it to my beloved sister Leticia and her amazing daughter Valentina.

Ingredients:

1 cup of millet, 4 cups of water, 2 cups of rice or oat milk, 1 spoon of fennel seeds, 10 - 15 dried apricots (soaked for 30 minutes), rice syrup, a pinch of sea salt and lemon juice.

Directions:

Rinse the millet 2 / 3 times in fresh water. Place it on a pressure cooker and let it dry on low heat ( stir continuously and do not let it toast or burn).

Mix the water and milk and bring them to a boil. Pour the liquid over the millet and add the fennel seeds and salt. Lock the lid in place and bring to pressure, then lower heat and cook for 15-20 minutes. Allow pressure to drop naturally and remove the lid. Add rice syrup to taste and place the mixture on a mold dessert. Let it cool.

Cut the dried apricots and cook them with the soaking water and a pinch of salt until obtaining a jam (aprox. 30 minutes, replace the water if necessary). Finish with some drops of lemon juice.

Serve the cake with the jam on top.