Happy birthday @sift666! Plus sugar free, paleo, vegan birthday cake recipe (better than it sounds!)

How time flies! Just under a year ago I remember posting an orange almond birthday cake recipe for my own birthday. This one is a bit different.

The reason this is a bit different is that @sift666 recently did a three day water fast to have a digestive rest and then find out which foods might be causing an issue currently.

So far, the only foods he’s reintroduced are:

• Proteins: fish, shrimps, venison, buffalo and sheep yoghurt, goat feta, tempeh
• Fats: Lard, olive oil, avocado, most nuts (but not seeds)
• Carbs: a range of low starch vegetables, but no fruit
• Flavourings: salt, lemon juice, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, vanilla, raw cacao, stevia

Can I make a birthday cake out of these? Yes, I can.

Here’s what I did. I started with my Pumpkin cashew bread recipe and made some changes:

• Made a half mix, in case it was a disaster
• Replaced the eggs with flaxseed eggs I know we haven’t introduced seeds yet, but we’ll test them in this recipe. If they’re a fail, which we won’t know till tomorrow, more for me ;-}
• Added some orange flavoured liquid stevia, vanilla powder and cacao

So let’s give it a go.

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons (about 16gms) of ground flaxseed (measured after grinding)
• Plus 9 Tablespoons (135ml) of water (or you can use three pastured eggs)
• 250gm (2 cups) raw unsalted cashews
• 1 cup (220gm) pre cooked pumpkin
• 15 drops of Sweet Leaf Valencia Orange flavoured stevia
• ½ cup (35gm) raw cacao
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder (or pure vanilla extract would also work)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbs apple cider vinegar (optional) plus an extra 5 drops stevia

The method

Here’s a How To video:

First, prepare the flaxseed eggs by whisking the flaxseed and water together well.

Then put them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

Turn on the oven to 150ºC (300ºF).

Put the cashews into the food processor and blitz till the pieces are small (about like a pin head).

Add the mashed pumpkin and beat till thick and creamy. (Today I used boiled pumpkin which is wetter. Sometimes I use baked which is drier, so if you use that, you might need extra wet ingredients.)

My flax eggs weren’t quite ready, so I sifted together the cacao, vanilla powder, baking soda and salt, then put them to one side. If I’d been using powdered stevia, that would have gone in the mix too.

I also prepped my trays. I decided to make muffin sizes, so we can freeze some for later. I’m not 100% convinced that silicon is ok to bake with but I’d got some muffin cups to try out, so today was testing day. (Am I mad?)

My flax eggs were now thick enough.

Add the flaxseed eggs and liquid stevia (and if you’re using liquid vanilla, that too), beating till they are well mixed in. Scrape down the sides a couple of times if needed.

Add the mixed dry flavourings and beat again.

I often use a little apple cider vinegar to help activate the baking soda, though if the mix is very wet, I might leave it out. Today, the mixture was quite stiff, so I added 1 Tablespoon of ACV plus a little extra stevia to offset the sour.

Take out the food processor blade, and spoon mixture into the muffin trays. Today’s mix made 10.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 150ºC (300ºF), or until a skewer comes out clean.

Pimping them up a bit

For icing (frosting), I blended together:

• A small avocado
• 2 Tablespoons cacao powder
• 10 drops Sweet Leaf Valencia Orange flavoured stevia
• ¼ teaspoon orange extract

I don’t like avocado, except made into a mousse like this. But I’m also not that keen on stevia. @sift666 liked the topping (and he IS the birthday boy) but I could taste the stevia and the avocado, so I left it off mine. If I was making it for me, I would use a little maple syrup instead of the stevia.

I also melted some dark, orange, sugar free chocolate and made some shapes with it, for added visual interest.

The verdict

We tried one while they were still warm, and at that point it was a bit too gummy in the centre to be called a cake or muffin. More of a moist pudding.

Once they cooled down, they were more like cake, but still nice and moist. They weren’t sweet, but we’re used to not sweet and they were fine for us. Most people would want to add more sweetener. Or maybe a more intense sweetener like maple syrup. Those changes could affect the consistency so you might need to adjust the cooking time to suit.

All in all, the flaxseed eggs were a success, though I don’t know whether I would have dared to make an actual cake, rather than muffins.

Sorry, the photos aren’t very exciting, as everything was brown. But they give you an idea of the consistency.

And the whole concept is hopefully useful for other people on restricted diets. Not just this recipe, but the concept of how you can mix and match what you can have to create special treats.

Thinking about Easter variations

We’re only a week away from Easter, so I’ve been mulling over possibilities for Easter buns. Last year one of the recipes I posted was a coconut flour and ground almond Paleo Easter bun. I also posted an even yummier Cashew based Easter bun recipe. But both of those include eggs and fruit, so are off the menu this year.

By using cinnamon instead of cacao, this recipe could be something vaguely resembling a Hot Cross Bun. For a frosting, maybe I could use avocado, lemon juice and stevia, and make crosses?

I’ll try that next week and let you know it how it goes.

Thanks for reading

Images from Pixabay or by myself or @sift666, unless otherwise stated.

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