Chocolate Pumpkin Lava Cake

I am having a lot of fun this season creating a lot of things out of pumpkin. Here is a delcious dessert.

This was a recipe my girls used to love to make. I thought it was time for a healthier remake. This cake has completely whole grain flour, no white sugar, and it is incredibly moist. A lot of people think you have to sacrifice flavor when you cook desserts with whole grains, but this proves everybody wrong. This cake is incredibly gooey with a hot fudge sauce inside. Your holiday guests would be so impressed with this dish!

I changed it up by adding pumpkin to it.

Ingredients:

1 C whole grain flour ( I used spelt)

2 tsp baking powder

2 T cocoa
3/4 C canned pumpkin

dash of salt *optional

1/2 C almond milk

2 Tbsp melted coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C honey

Topping

1/2 C honey

4 Tbsp cocoa

1 Tbsp whole grain flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder. cocoa, pumpkin and salt. Sift together so that it is all combined evenly.
2. Stir in milk, oil, vanilla, and honey until just incorporated. Pour dough evenly into 4 to 5 ramekins. (You could also use an 8×8 pan instead of the ramekins, but you would have to change the baking time.)

3. In a small bowl, mix together honey, cocoa, and 1 Tbsp flour. You will have a thick, wet batter. Dividing the mixture evenly between the ramekins, scoop the new batter on top of each uncooked cake, spreading it gently. Try to keep it away from the edges as much as possible. 

4. Now take about 1/2 C of water and distribute it gently between all the ramekins, on top of each cake. Each ramekin should have about 1/4 inch water sitting on top, although it will soak in quickly. Place on a cookie sheet to bake them. Easier to get them in and out. 

5. Cook at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until top looks done. The cake may have chocolate sauce seeping around the edges, and the middle will still be moist.

6. Cool just until it won’t burn off your taste buds.  Leave plain or top with whipped coconut cream, whipped cream, or ice cream. Then devour!

Caramel Apple Cake (Whole Grain)

I really love these delicious whole grain cakes. This is a great season to make it with the apples that are in season. It is low in sugar and whole grain. It is healthy enough to eat for breakfast. This would also be wonderful for a Fall gathering with friends or family. YUM!

Ingredients
2 C whole grain flour (I used spelt flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 C coconut oil
1/2 C honey
2 eggs
3/4 C rice milk or milk of your choosing. 
1 apple, grated

Carmel topping
1 C coconut milk full fat
5 T honey
2 T coconut oil

Directions (serves 9) 
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl pour in flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Stir with a wire whisk until all combined.
2. In a separate bowl pour oil, honey,eggs, and milk. Blend with a wire whisk for a couple of minutes.  
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined.
4. Fold in the grated apples until all combined.
5. Pour into greased squared pan. Place in heated oven. 
6. While the cake is baking make caramel sauce.
7. Pour milk, honey and oil into a small sauce pan on medium heat. Let it come to a boil while stirring. Turn down the heat to medium low and continue to thicken until reaches about 180 degrees. It should be a light tan color. It should be thick but still runny. Take off the heat.
8. Bake about 35 min. Depending when toothpick comes out clean and the cake pops back up when slightly touched with one finger. Cool on wire rack. 
9. Cut up cake and serve on plates pour sauce on to each piece of cake. Serve warm. 

*You could also pour the carmel on to the cake before cutting it up. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cake (whole grain)

 This cake combines two great flavors chocolate and pumpkin into a wonderful moist cake that would be great for the holidays. I cut the sweetener way down from a typical cake and I used whole grain flour. I also used coconut oil.  The end result was wonderful and was enjoyed by my family.

We are entering this cake into The Great Denby Cake-Off Blogging Competition! Wish us luck! If you have interest in joining the fun, see the official rules here.

Ingredients

3/4 C coconut oil
1 C honey
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1 3/4 C spelt or whole grain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 C spelt flour or whole grain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C cocoa
1/2 C almond milk
1/2 C dark chocolate chips melted
1 T coconut oil
1/2 C finely chopped pecans for garnish

Directions  Heat oven to 350

1. In a medium sized bowl beat together oil and honey. Then beat in each egg one at a time until all combined. Beat in the vanilla.
2. Take out 1 1/4 C of mixture and set aside in a small bowl.
3. With the remaining batter make the pumpkin batter. Beat in the pumpkin.
4. Then beat in flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. Set aside.
5. Then for the chocolate batter beat in flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Then stir in or beat almond milk into batter. Set aside.
6. Spray bunt pan with cooking spray.
7. Pour in half of the pumpkin batter into the pan.
8. Then spoon on top half of the chocolate batter.
9. Spoon on the remaining pumpkin batter .
10. Then spoon on the remaining chocolate batter.
11. Swirl around a knife in the pan to combine batters a little.
12. Place pan in preheated oven.
13. Bake 45-50 min or until toothpick comes out clean.
14. Cool upright in pan on cooling rack for 10 min.
15. Combine melted chips and oil together in a small bowl.
16. Loosen cake around the edges and place on cooling rack for a 10 min.
17. Place cake on cake platter. Drizzle on chocolate. Garnish with nuts.
18. Serve and enjoy.

Moist Whole Grain Banana Cake or Bread

I had some really really over ripe bananas today. My two children that were here said I should make them into banana bread. I thought that was a great idea. It is rainy here today. It felt like a great day to bake. I was very happy how it turned out. Reducing the banana liquid adds a lot of flavor to the bread. You don't need a lot of other sweetener. It was moist and delicious. This could be made into a bread or cake. Yum! 


Ingredients
5 bananas 
1/2 C melted coconut oil 
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2  C honey
2 C spelt or whole grain flour of your choice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt


Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease pan with non stick oil.

2. Peel all the bananas place in microwave safe dish. Cover with plastic and poke a few wholes to vent. Place in microwave for 5 min on high. Take out and put bananas in a strainer over a bowl. Stir and mash the bananas to get out the liquid. It should be about 1/2 to 3/4 C in the bowl. I got a 3/4 C. Then pour liquid in a small saucepan on the stove. Turn on to med heat. Reduce until it cooks down to 1/4 C of liquid. The goal is to have a concentrated liquid, that will add a lot of flavor to the bread or cake. :)

3. Stir the 1/4 C liquid to bananas. Mash the bananas till they are all mashed. You could use a masher. I used the back of a plastic spoon. Then add honey ,eggs, oil, and vanilla. Beat together, and set aside.

4. In another bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking soda.

5. Stir the flour mixture into banana mixture until just combined.

6. Pour into greased loaf pan or square stoneware pan. 30-45 min. Till toothpick comes out clean.

8.  I rubbed a little coconut oil on top when it came out of the oven. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 min. Then remove from pan and serve. 

Great Job Britney!

Our Book!!!

The book is in stores and available online. We are so excited!

 

Britney did a great segment on Studio 5 today. You can see it here!  

Whole Grain Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

Today Is my daughters 20th Birthday. She is our 6th child. It is crazy to have your 6th child already be 20. She is a beautiful  young lady inside and out. The years are flying by. I remember 20 years ago when I had her. The years fly by don't they. She is accomplishing great things. I know this will be a great year for her. I feel lucky to be her Mom. :) Below is a recent picture of my sweet family. They are all growing up right before my eyes. Life is very good. I love being a wife and mother.

My Sweet Family

 Yesterday I made Peanut butter Texas sheet cake. I had seen this recipe and thought it would be fun to make it in a healthier version. So below is what I came up with. You can't lose when you make a dessert with peanut butter. It was delicious.

Ingredients
2 C Spelt flour or Whole grain  (or you could have 1 cup of the 2 Cups of flour be white flour.) 
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C coconut oil or you could use butter
1 C honey
1 C water
1/4 C  natural peanut butter
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk or 1/2 C regular milk & 1/2 T vinegar let it sit a few minutes

frosting
1/4 C coconut oil or butter
2 T natural peanut butter
1/4 C milk
2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions  Heat oven to 350

1. Sift flour, salt, and soda together. Set aside in a bowl.
2. In a sauce pan on medium heat put in oil, honey, water and peanut butter. Stir and let it come to a boil and then take it off the heat.
3. In the sauce pan stir in the eggs, vanilla and milk. Then stir in the dry mixture until just combined.  
4. Grease a jelly roll pan or put on parchment paper and then grease it.
5. Pour mixture into pan and cook in heated oven for 15 to 20 min.
6. While the cake is cooking make the frosting.
7. In a medium saucepan on medium heat pour in oil, peanut butter and milk. Heat until it comes to a boil. Take it off the heat.
8. Stir in the sugar and vanilla. Until it is all blended and nice and creamy.
9. When the cake comes out of the oven spread on while it is warm. Enjoy!    

Wholegrain Pumpkin Cake or Bread (low sugar)

Pumpkin Cake or Bread

Halloween is coming up fast. This month has flown by for me. If you read our blog very often you know that I am a big fan of pumpkin. It has such a wonderful flavor. I love all the spices that go into pumpkin treats. I don't just eat them in the Fall. I love them all year. I was interested to learn that heating up pumpkin with the spices before you mix it in with the other ingredients can make the pumpkin taste less tinny and a fresher pumpkin taste. I put that to the test with this pumpkin and really liked it. This recipe could be used as a bread or cake. I had a pumpkin cake mold and so I thought it would be fun to use it. I also cut down the oil and the sugar from the original recipe. It tasted great. It was a wonderful treat for my family.

Ingredients (I doubled this recipe for this big cake. This recipe makes two loaves)


15 0z can of pumpkin (Cook till equals out to 1 1/2 C after heating it)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C honey
1/4 C coconut oil
1/4 C buttermilk
3 eggs
2 C spelt flour or whole grain flour of your choice
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking sodaoptional* powdered sugar and water drizzled on top

Directions  Heat oven to 350


1. Place on stove a large pot. Turn to medium heat. Pour in pumpkin and spices and stir. Helping to reduce the water out of the pumpkin. It should take about 3-5 min.
2. Take off the heat. You can mix the rest of ingredients into the pot. Stir in the honey, oil. and milk. Stir until blended.
3. Stir in the eggs one at a time. Blend well.
4. Pour in the dry ingredients. Stir just until all blended. Make sure all of it gets mixed in at the bottom. 5. Pour the batter into a greased pan. This recipe will make 2 loaves.
6. Place in hot oven. Bake 40- 50 min. Toothpick will come out with only a few crumbs on it when done. Take out of the pan or pans and let cool. 
7. Optional* You can mix about 1/2 C powdered sugar and a couple tablespoons of water until it gets to the desired consistency. Drizzle over the top. Serve. (I love eating it warm) Happy Halloween!     
    

Strawberry Yogurt Kamut Cake (Low Gluten)

It was my Dads official 80Th b-day. We had celebrated it earlier at a family reunion. We had another low key party at the park. It was a beautiful night. I love this time of year. :) I thought this cake would be fun to make for the occasion. I made this cake out of Kamut flour. I was very pleased how moist it turned out. It would be wonderful breakfast or snack. I also used no butter only coconut oil and it worked great. I will be making this again. :)

Ingredients:
3/4 C coconut oil
1 C honey
3 eggs
3 T fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest * optional
2 1/2 C Kamut flour Or another whole grain flour
1/2 baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C plain yogurt or greek yogurt
1 1/2 C frozen strawberries
powdered sugar to sift on for a garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 Grease and flour pan bundt pan.

2. Sift together into a bowl, 2 1/4 C flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the zest. Put bowl aside.

3. Beat in a bowl, oil, honey until nice and light and creamy a couple min. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Then stir in the lemon juice. Then you alternate the yogurt and the flour into the oil mixture. Mix until it is all combined. Don't over mix.

4.Put the frozen berries in the blender and chopped them in small pieces. Then add 1/4 of remaining flour into the berries. (In the blender.) Fold into batter.

5. Pour the cake batter into the bundt pan. Bake in oven for 30-40 min., or when the toothpick comes clean, when you put it in the center of the cake. It should be a nice golden color. Don't over bake.

6. Place pan on wire cooling rack and cool 10 min in the pan. Then turn out on to the cooling rack. Let cool. Place on cake platter and sift powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!