Blog Archives

Best Gingerbread Birthday Cake

10/26/2017

Best Gingerbread Birthday Cake

My Art and Baking Club students, ages 10-13, baked my Gingerbread Birthday Cake for me yesterday. Isn't that wonderful! Why haven't I thought of this before? To get children to delightedly bake the cake for my birthday. We all sampled plenty of it over tea in cupcake form. This really is the best gingerbread recipe ever. Not bragging, no honestly I am bragging, there's only 1/4 cup cane sugar in the whole cake. I love the photo because there was this stillness and beautiful light in the kitchen after they'd left and I'd finished cleaning up. Their touch and laughter on everything mingling with the light and quiet.

baking Club showing off a sweet potato pie they'd made

Gingerbread Cake Recipe
We ate the cake this morning for my birthday breakfast. So good, moist, spicy, dark, rich everything gingerbread should be but without all the sugar.
Dry Ingredients
1 1/4 cup rye flour
1 1/4 cup potato starch
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons dried ginger
Whole spice mix (grind in spice grinder and sift)
1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
4 whole green cardamom pods
½ teaspoon allspice berries
3 whole cloves
½ teaspoon white peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seed
⅛ teaspoon stevia
Wet Ingredients
½ cup room temperature butter (1 stick)
¼ cup whole cane sugar
1 cup unsulphured organic blackstrap molasses
2 flax eggs (6 tablespoons water plus 2 tablespoons flaxmeal)
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste (about a 2-inch nub peeled)
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon extract or powder
4 cubes minced crystallized ginger

Method
Preheat oven to 350F and line with parchment and butter a 10-inch round springform cake pan
Grind the whole spices in a spice/coffee grinder and then sieve out fines
Measure out the rest of the dry ingredients
Add the freshly ground spice mix combine thoroughly
Peel and make a paste of the fresh ginger in a food processor or spice grinder
With an electric mixer,combine the butter and brown sugar
Beat until light and fluffy
Add the molasses, and continue to beat until well combined.
Add flax eggs beating well
Add fresh and crystallized gingers plus orange extract
Alternating, add the hot water and flour to the wet mixture, mixing after each addition.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan
Bake on a middle rack for 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Set the cake on a rack to cool completely in the pan before slicing.
With Love Enjoy!

0 Comments

Red Lentil Coconut Sweet Potato Dal

10/23/2017

7 Comments

It's almost my birthday again so that means I've taken a year hiatus from a blue dot kitchen's blog. Oh dear, but I'm back. I never stopped cooking or writing recipes, articles and food stories, but I needed some space to figure out just what part this blog plays in my life and feel so much clearer.
I want to share my recipes and cooking adventures. I'm not interested in selling you anything or filling this space with advertisements. I love your comments and presence and just knowing I have a few kindred souls out there. So thanks for being patient and here's a delicious soup I recently made that I think you'll enjoy. You can make it in the rice cooker!

Red Lentil Coconut Sweet Potato Dal

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts
Ingredients
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups chopped onion
1 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 fresh chili pepper (you choose heat level) minced
1 cup red lentils washed
1 large diced sweet potato
2 teaspoons toasted and freshly ground whole coriander
2 teaspoons toasted and freshly ground whole cumin
2 teaspoons dried turmeric powder
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 can/ 13.5 oz unsweetened full fat coconut milk
3 cups or more water
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
¼ teaspoon cayenne if you like it hotter
1 tablespoon brown sugar or maple syrup
Juice and zest of one lime
½ cup chopped cilantro

Instructions
In a rice cooker
Saute onions until soft in coconut oil about 10 minutes
Add ginger, garlic and chili
Sauté until soft and melty
Add lentils, sweet potato, spices, salt, coconut milk and water.
Liquid should cover solids by about 2 inches if not add more water.
Cook on regular cycle or until lentils and sweet potatoes are soft
Puree with hand held blender or in blender. It's also good chunky
Add chopped tomatoes, lime and zest, sugar and cilantro
Taste and correct seasoning

7 Comments