Category Archives: Cakes

Fudgy brownies

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no butter chocolate brownies

Chocolate brownies

This is another recipe that doesn’t use butter. I only had a rectangular tin but next time I would make it in a smaller square tin so that it was a bit thicker.

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup boiling water
2 large eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Oil and flour a square baking tin.

In a mixing boil, combine the cocoa and baking powder and stir in 1/3 cup oil. Add the boiling water and mix well. Whisk in the sugar, eggs and another 1/3 cup of oil.

Stir in the flour, vanilla extract and salt and mix well.

Pour into the baking tin and bake in the oven (180ºC) for 35-40 minutes.

Butter-free carrot cake

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carrot-cakeContinuing with my quest to find new recipes that don’t use butter that we can bake in our bread oven, the other day we baked a carrot cake. It was delicious. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
175g soft brown sugar
175ml sunflower oil
175g self-raising flour
3 large eggs
150g coarsely grated carrots
100g raisins
1 large orange, grated zest and juice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Oil and line a cake tin.

Whisk the eggs, sugar and oil together in a mixing bowl.

Stir in the sultanas, carrot, orange zest and orange juice and then mix in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.

Bake in an over (180ºC) for 40-45 minutes until cooked in the over. Again,if you are cooking this in a wood-fired oven, cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Turn 180º and bake for a further 15 minutes. Remove the foil and check after 5 minutes. If the top looks as though it will get too brown, replace the foil and cook for a further 5 minutes. Test and put back for another 5 minutes if necessary.

Flapjacks / granola bars

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flapjacksThis is our second attempt at making these bars and the second batch worked out a lot better: they were a lot moister and had a lovely fruity flavour. Basically you can adapt the recipe according to what you’ve got to hand so we added some peach leather, cut into pieces.

INGREDIENTS:
450g rolled oats
300g dried figs, cut into pieces
150g walnuts
150g almonds
125g cranberries
3 eggs, beaten
100ml honey
1/2 small glass sweet sherry
Splash sunflower oil
3 eggs, beaten
3 teaspoons vanilla essence
Grated zest and juice of 3 oranges

Combine all the ingredients and press into an oiled tin.

Bake in a hot oven (180ºC) for 20-25 minutes.

As we were baking them in the wood-fired oven, I covered them with foil and baked for 10 minutes, turned round after another 10 minutes and then baked uncovered for 5 or so minutes.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then cut into pieces and leave to cool completely.

Courgette cake

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Courgette cake

When the courgettes are in full season, this is a good cake to make. It seemed a bit stiff when I made it but it came out OK in the end. We baked it in the outside wood oven. The fabulous thing about it is that we can use our courgettes, our eggs and our walnuts. You can’t get much better than that.

INGREDIENTS:
3 medium eggs
240 ml corn oil
480 g brown sugar
720 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
salt
480 g courgettes, coarsely grated
2 tsp vanilla essence
50 g chopped walnuts

Cake mixture

Heat the oven to 180ºC.
Beat the eggs and oil together in a bowl.
Add the sugar and whisk until creamy and frothy
Fold in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased and lined tin.
Bake for 1 hour until cooked in the middle.

As I was cooking it in the wood oven, I covered it with foil and turned it round 180º after 20 minutes and cooked it for a further 20 minutes. I left the foil off for about 10 minutes and then put it back on towards the end once it had browned.

Courgette cake with cream

Orange butter-free cake

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P1010514

The hens have gone into overlay and so I thought it would be a good idea to make a cake to use up some of the eggs I’ve been amassing. This orange butter-free cake uses oil rather than butter – much like a carrot cake. I used the wood-fired oven which is always a bit tricky but was able to get the temperature more or less constant at about 190ºC-200ºC.

If you are using a wood-fired oven, cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Then turn through 180º and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove the foil, turn again and bake for 5 minutes and then bake for a further 5 minutes with or without the foil depending on the colour. Test with a metal skewer to check that it is cooked all the way through.

If you are using a standard oven,bake for 20 minutes and then turn through 180º before baking for another 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave for a final 5 minutes. Test with a skewer.

Leave in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a baking rack.

INGREDIENTS:
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (almond oil, sunflower oil, etc.)
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup orange juice
zest from 1 or 2 oranges
2 large oranges, very thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
3 tablespoons orange marmalade (optional)

METHOD:
Heat the oven to 180ºC.

To prepare the tin, brush with a mild oil (almond, sunflower, etc.). Cut a piece of greaseproof paper to fit the base of the tin. Place the paper on the base and then brush with oil. Sprinkle over some brown sugar and shake to completely coat the bottom and sides of the tin. Arrange the orange slices on the bottom of the tin so that they overlap slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy.

Gradually beat in the oil.

Stir in the flour and salt and then mix in the orange juice, marmalade, orange zest and vanilla extract.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in an oven at around 180ºC for 40 minutes or until cooked.