Search Results for: chocolate

Healthy Chocolate Birthday Cake

September 4, 2018 · 12 Comments

This recipe is the our easy, go-to, never-fail birthday cake base. We have been making it for years and everyone always loves it.

Making a birthday cake can sometimes feel daunting but trust me, this is so, so easy! My kids make it all the time themselves without any worries.

Birthday cakes are so expensive these days and the weird additives in them makes a homemade one much more appealing! You don’t have to get fancy with toppings (unless you want to!)

Just some thick cream (so you don’t have to whip it) and some strawberries is all you need.

Quick, easy and so good! Best of all, it’s made with love.

What more could you want for your birthday?

Healthy Chocolate Birthday Cake

Vital Stats: nut-free, vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free options

Okay, so this is what you need:

3/4 cup self-raising flour (for gluten free, I use the self-raising Orgran brand)
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/2 cup rapadura or coconut sugar
1 cup or 200g organic natural yoghurt (for dairy-free, use coconut yoghurt)
2 organic eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil

Okay, so this is how you do it:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line a round cake tin with toxin-free baking paper.

Sift together the flour, cacao and bicarb. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together.

Gently combine the wet and dry ingredients. Pour batter into the cake tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Hot tips:

This recipe is easy to double and bake in a lamington tin if you need to feed a crowd. It also freezes really well, so make it in advance if you are pressed for time.

This cake is not very sweet because that’s how we like our cakes! If you want it to be a bit sweeter, add 1/4 cup more sugar or don’t even worry if you are going to add a sweet icing.

We just usually top it with double cream (choose one without additives) and fresh fruit but if you need a healthy icing, check out these ideas.

Let me know if you make my Healthy Chocolate Birthday Cake! I love hearing from you. 🙂

Cool Ideas for Easter (that aren’t chocolate)

March 24, 2017 · 7 Comments

Cool Ideas for Easter (that aren’t chocolate)

This ancient pagan celebration has somehow turned into a commercialised chocolate-fest!

The pressure is on parents to make Easter another Christmas but with copious amounts of cheap, nasty chocolate. It’s easy for kids to get caught up the hype.

Okay, so how do you participate in Easter, enjoy some chocolate and not be a party-pooper?

My tips are to go back to basics.

Create family traditions based around making Easter treats together (homemade hot cross buns and Easter eggs are really not too hard to do!) You can put a limit on treats or let the grandparents supply the chocolate while you get the kids something else for their Easter basket.

When it comes to chocolate, buy smaller amounts of good quality, fair-trade chocolate and really savour it.

Here are some more ideas and alternatives for you.

♥ Bamboo Easter Signs

These bamboo signs are hand made in Melbourne and start at just $15.00 You can get a generic one or get it personalised with your kids’ or family name! Check it out here.

♥ Recycled Sari Easter Basket

At just $9.95, this gorgeous Easter basket is made from recycled saris and ethically made in Bangladesh. I want one of these for myself. Just adorable! Get it here.

♥ Terracotta Bunny Lantern

Perfect for the person in your life who doesn’t want chocolate for Easter but you still don’t want them feeling left out. It makes a gorgeous decoration for the house at Easter as well. Get it online here.

♥ Organic Crochet Bunny

Beautifully hand-made in Australia using organic cotton, you can get one of these adorable bunnies here.

♥ Wooden Counting Rabbits

This set of eco-friendly counting rabbits with carrots can be used as a puzzle or free play. Totally safe for kids with non-toxic paints and plantation timber.

Get it online here.

♥ BBYO Bunni Water Bottle

For those too old (or cool) for toys, this Bunni water bottle is super cute. The bottle has no plastic at all and is heat resistant so you can use if for water or hot drinks! Get it here.

♥ Oxfam Unwrapped

Gift some chickens or a goat or a myriad of other life saving things to those in need. Check out Oxfam Unwrapped here.

♥ Gingerbread Bunnies!

I am such a fan of Gingerbread Folk’s products. They are handmade in the Blue Mountains and contain no artificial nasties. The bunnies are wrapped individually in compostable packaging and perfect for baskets or for hunting! Get them online here.

♥ Healthy Marshmallows

The very clever Jo Whitton from Quirky Cooking has just come out with this yummy, all natural, honey-sweetened marshmallow recipe just in time for Easter. It’s so easy to make and relatively inexpensive too. Try out some different flavourings and have fun! Get the recipe here.

♥ Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

A really fun project to do with the kids is dyed eggs. Using natural ingredients like turmeric and beetroot, Mommypotamus shows you step by step how to do it. Read more here.

♥ Cute Eco Easter Bags!

Super easy, eco-friendly and really, really cute. A great way to share your homemade treats. Find the tutorial here.

♥ You might also like to read:

Healthy Homemade Easter Eggs

Your complete guide to a Healthy Easter

Healthy Hot Cross Buns

Healthy Easter Ideas

Chocolate Cherry Tart (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

December 8, 2016 · 6 Comments

We don’t eat a lot of desserts or sweets but every year for Christmas Eve, I make up something special for dinner.

This year I was thinking about chocolate and cherries because, you know …… yum!

Mandy from Crio Bru Australia kindly sent me some Vega Real flavour and I turbo-chocolated this tart with it.

Without sounding too food-wanky, the Crio Bru gives it a whole new delicious depth of chocolatey flavour. Vega Real is my favourite flavour but you could use any of the blends (probably not Mint or Mojito though).

What is Crio Bru? It’s ground cocoa beans that you can use in cooking or brew up to make a delicious hot or cold drink. It has loads of health benefits and the perfect substitute for coffee!

You only need a small piece of this tart – it’s rich and filling but I haven’t made it overly sweet. The best thing is you don’t even need to turn on the oven.

I really hope you enjoy it. If you make it for Christmas or any time, send me a photo!

Chocolate Cherry Tart

(Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

Vital Stats: gluten free, grain free, dairy free, vegan, raw

This is what you need:

Base:

1 cup almonds, soaked

1 tablespoon cacao

1/2 cup medjool dates

1/4 cup Crio Bru

Filling:

2 cups cashews, soaked

1 cup medjool dates

1 cup coconut cream (get one in a BPA free can)

2 tablespoons Crio Bru

1/2 cup cacao

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt

2 scraped vanilla pods or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g fresh cherries

Garnish:

Extra Crio Bru
Extra cherries

This is how you do it:

Soak the almonds and cashews for a few hours or overnight. This just softens them down and makes them easier to work with and digest.

Process the base ingredients until smooth.

Press into a 20cm baking paper lined flan dish or springform pan. I use the back of a soup spoon to get it nice and smooth.

Place in the freezer until firm.

Meanwhile, infuse the coconut cream with the Crio Bru in a saucepan on a low heat for ten to fifteen minutes. Let cool completely, don’t strain. The whole lot will go into the filling.

Whizz up all the filling ingredients except the cherries. Keep going until it’s nice and smooth.

I like to test it now to check the flavour. If you like really sweet things you may need to add in a drizzle of maple syrup or if you want it really dark and chocolatey, go another tablespoon of cacao.

Pit the cherries (I got a kid to do this!! but you can buy cherry pitters) and place cut side down on the base.

Whack in the filling and smooth the top out.

Cover and refrigerate until set.

Decorate with fresh cherries and sprinkle over some more Crio Bru.

Store in the fridge and bring out just before serving.

You could also use frozen cherries or fresh or frozen raspberries.

Want some more Crio Bru recipes?

Choc Hazel Bliss Balls

Crio Bru Christmas Cake

Crio Mac

Double Chocolate and Berry Biscuits

Homemade Chocolate Chai Syrup

(this post is sponsored)

Macadamia Chocolate Fudge

December 11, 2014 · 4 Comments

This fudge is so quick and easy to make.

Once you have the base sorted, you can top it with anything you like! Try all different types of nuts, coconut, goji berries, ginger or any dried fruit. For a supercharged nutrient boost, add some Superfoods for Kidz powders.

It’s not sickly sweet and it’s packed full of nutrients. Enjoy!

Macadamia Chocolate Fudge

Vital Stats: Gluten free, grain free, dairy free, egg free, refined sugar free

This is what you need:

2 cups sulphur-free dates ( I like the Honest to Goodness brand)

2 cups organic cashews

1/2 cup organic raw cacao

2 tablespoons organic maple syrup

1 vanilla pod, scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup organic macadamias, chopped

This is how you do it:

Soak the dates in some boiling water for ten minutes or so. Squeeze the excess water out.

Place into a food processor or thermomix with all the other ingredients (except the macadamias).

Pulse or turbo until smooth and well combined. I like it with a little bit of cashew still showing, but do it to your preference.

Using wet hands, press into a small slice tin that is lined with baking paper.

Sprinkle the chopped macadamias over the top and press down gently into the mix.

Refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares to serve. Keep refrigerated or freeze.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

April 25, 2014 · 21 Comments

Chocolate Chip Brownies

I have been playing around with this Chocolate Chip Brownies recipe for a while, tweaking and fiddling until I got a texture I liked. It’s moist, fudgy and quite delicious (if I do say so myself). 😉

I hadn’t used choc chips in cooking for ages. Everytime I checked the ingredients of ones at the supermarket, I bought them back on the shelf in a hurry. I boycott Nestle products and avoid anything I know has palm oil, soy, hydrogenated oils and artificial additives.

Thankfully, I found some awesome organic dark chocolate buttons at Nutra Organics. Their Wholefood Pantry Range chocolate buttons are dairy free and have no artificial weird stuff.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Vital Stats: Gluten free, Dairy free, Grain free, Nut free

This is what you need:

1/2 cup organic coconut flour

1/2 cup organic cacao powder

1/2 cup organic virgin coconut oil

3/4 cup honey or maple syrup

1/2 cup Wholefood Pantry chocolate buttons or chopped dark chocolate

6 organic, free range eggs

1 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 teaspoon vanilla or scraped vanilla pod

This is how you do it:

Pre-heat the oven to 180° celsius. Whack some non-toxic baking paper into a slice tin (mine was 28cm x 19cm).

Put all the dry ingredients in the thermomix and mix speed 5 for 10 seconds.

Add wet ingredients (and choc chips) and mix, reverse, speed 5 for 10 seconds or until well combined.

If you don’t have a thermomix, simply mix dry ingredients in a bowl and then add wet ingredients and mix lightly with a spoon until well combined.

Scrape out the mix into the slice tin, smooth it down.

Bung in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until cooked.

Cool on wire rack. Eat and enjoy!

Are you a lover of Brownies?

Healthy Chocolate Muffins!

January 8, 2014 · 39 Comments

My gorgeous daughter has done it again.

She has a love affair with chocolate and created these babies, inspired by a recipe at Elana’s pantry.

They are sooooo good! Lovely and moist with lots of chocolatey flavour.

You can ice them with whatever you like, but they really don’t need it.

DID YOU KNOW? coconut flour has the highest amount of dietary fibre than any other flour!

Healthy Chocolate Muffins

Vital Stats: grain free, gluten free, nut free, naturally sweetened

So this is what you need:

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup organic cacao powder

1/2 teaspoon good quality salt

1 teaspoon bicarb soda

6 organic eggs

1/2 cup macadamia or coconut oil (should not be solid)

1 cup honey or sweetener of your choice

So this is how you do it:

Preheat oven to 190° celsius.

Line a 12 cup muffin tray with baking papers. (I like using the If You Care range – there are no toxins!)

Put the dry ingredients in the thermomix and whizz on speed 5 for 10 seconds.

Add the wet ingredients and whizz on speed 4 for 10 seconds until just combined.

Chuck into the muffin papers and cook in the oven for about 25 minutes or until cooked through.

Don’t let the mixture sit too long, the coconut flour doesn’t like it and you will end up with dry, tough muffins.

Non thermomix instructions: Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other. Combine gently.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Let me know how you go with them.

Want more? Try these other recipes:

Rich Chocolate Cake

Beetroot and Strawberry Brownies

10 Healthy Muffin Recipes

Six Healthy Birthday Cakes

Homemade Chocolate Chai Syrup

November 8, 2013 · 25 Comments

I was gifted a yummy chai elixir some time ago and the kids have been begging me to buy some more. The health food store has it, so I checked it out. Not only was it expensive, its first ingredient was sugar. I thought …. surely I could make this at home!

I have been playing around with this for a few weeks now, testing different combinations and I have come up with one I really like. I had to add chocolate! I think it makes a great gift idea. It’s very quick and easy to make and economical.

Save your pretty glass bottles and jazz them up with some tags and ribbon. This bottle is a maple syrup one and they looks so funky!

Homemade Chocolate Chai Syrup

Makes: 2 cups Vital Stats: gluten free, grain free, egg free, nut free, refined sugar free, vegan

Okay, so this is what you need:

4 cups filtered water

1 cup Crio Bru ground cacao beans (any flavour but I used Vega Real)

2 organic cinnamon sticks

6 organic cardamom pods

1 organic star anise

6 organic whole cloves

2 vanilla beans (opened and scraped)

1 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg (use whole nutmeg)

8 organic black peppercorns

1/2 to 3/4 cup organic coconut sugar or rapadura sugar

[box]

≈Hot Tips≈

purchase the spices at an asian grocer for a great price

you can also use honey or maple syrup as your sweetener

try adding fresh ginger or orange rind for different taste

go hard-core and also add some organic tea leaves[/box]

Okay, so this is how you do it:

Put all the spices in a saucepan and lightly bruise with a wooden spoon.

Add the Crio Bru, water and coconut sugar.

Bring to the boil and then put the heat down low.

Simmer for 30-40 minutes.

While that’s happening, sterilize your bottles in some boiling water or in the oven.

Test the mix for sweetness and adjust.

Cool down and strain (I use a nut milk bag to get it nice and clear).

Use a funnel to fill your bottles.

Store in the fridge.

How to use:

Add to a nice cold glass of milk or nut milk – about 1/3 concentrate to 2/3 milk, depending on how strong you like it.

Use it to flavour ice cream. If you have a thermomix, freeze some coconut cream in iceblock trays and use it to make a sorbet with a generous dash of the concentrate.

Add some hot water and a splash of milk to make a hot drink.

Use it in your baking to add instant flavour.

Use it in my Crio Bru Chocolate Christmas Cake.

The ideas are endless!!

Are you a chai fan like us?

Click here to buy Crio Bru

Rich Chocolate Cake

August 21, 2013 · 22 Comments

I was so proud of my girl (age 12) for making this cake all by herself. She found a recipe, adapted it, thermified it, Aussified it, cooked it, iced and decorated it when I was out one day. I came home to chocolate cake heaven.

When I tasted it, I couldn’t believe how delicious it was! So moist, so chocolately! Then I found out the recipe had ….(wait for it)……10 eggs!!

Okaaaaaay. A special occasion cake or a cake for people with lots of chooks. But when I mentioned it on Facebook, you were all keen for the recipe, so here it is. Inspired by this one at Elena’s Pantry.

The Natural New Age Girl’s Rich Chocolate Cake.

Vital Stats: gluten free, grain free, nut free, vegetarian, naturally sweetened

Okay, so this is what you need:

10 organic, free range eggs

1 cup virgin, organic coconut oil

1 1/2 cups organic honey (or use maple syrup)

3/4 cup organic coconut flour

1/4 cup organic cacao powder

1 teaspoon pink himalayan salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Okay, so this is how you do it:

Preheat your oven to 160° celsius.

In your thermomix (speed7, 20 seconds) or food processor or by hand, whizz the eggs, oil (melted), honey and vanilla essence.

Using a sifter over the top of the thermomix or bowl, whack in the dry ingredients.

Mix together (thermomix reverse speed 5, 30 seconds) until well combined.

Pour into a large, deep, round cake tin, about 23cm diameter. I always line them with the If You Care baking paper.

Bake for 60-80 minutes or until the middle is firm.

You can also cook in two cake tins and reduce cooking time to about 40 minutes.

Leave in the pan to cool.

Icing:

My clever girl used a tub of cream cheese (don’t get the low fat ones, they have yucky fillers), honey and cacao powder. In quantities ’till it tasted good’ she tells me! Check out my other healthy icing ideas.

Decorate with fresh strawberries and enjoy!

Do your kids bake cakes?

Healthy home-made chocolate bars!

June 12, 2013 · 39 Comments

Do you have a favourite chocolate bar?

I know one blogger who has a thing for Cherry Ripe! Mine would have to be a Caramello Koala, but I haven’t had one in quite some time.

Although I think it’s totally fine to have these occasionally, how much more awesome is it when you could make your favourite chocolate bar at home, without the artificial stuff, using real whole foods.

Yes, I know they take time to make and are a little fiddly, but hey, this is a good thing because you won’t make them everyday!

I have eight healthy, whole food recipes for popular chocolate bars, just for you.

Where recipes call for agave syrup, I personally would replace it with honey, maple syrup or rice syrup.

Healthy home-made chocolate bars!

Paleo Twix Bar from Amazing Paleo.

Healthy Coconut Rough from Becomingness

Raw Homemade Snickers Bar from DAMY Health.

Homemade Healthy Mars Bar from Peta Serras.

Raw Bounty Bars from My New Roots.

Healthier Homemade Cherry Ripe from Health Food Lover.

(Michelle also has recipes for a bounty bar and tim tams!)

Raw Peppermint Patties from Rawified.

Sugar Free Top Deck Chocolates from The Merrymaker Sisters

Did you make it this far without drooling? How amazing are these recipes!

What is your favourite chocolate bar?

Real Food Chocolate Drinks for Kids

June 5, 2013 · 60 Comments

You may have noticed an uproar on Facebook last week about these new Coco Pops chocolate drinks.

These drinks have made the ‘green light’ category for Australian school canteens. That means it’s classified as a healthy food. Ummmm…. right.

Here is what Kellogs have to say: “With over 400,000 Australian kids and one in four adolescents skipping breakfast, Kellogg’s breakfast drinks are the latest in a series of innovations by the company aimed at helping parents find a way to give their families breakfast. We know it’s hard for many Australian parents in the morning when you’ve got bags to pack, lunchboxes to fill and school buses that won’t wait,” said Kellogg marketing director John Broome. “We believe Kellogg’s breakfast drinks offer a quick and easy, mess-free solution that can be enjoyed at home or on-the-go. Both Kellogg’ breakfast drinks are low GI, high protein and high fibre and contain around 10% sugar with the majority of that coming from low-fat milk in which sugar is found naturally.”

Here are the ingredients of the Coco Pops drink: Reduced fat milk (90%), sugar, skim milk powder, vegetable fibre (inulin), cocoa, flavours, stabilisers (460, 466, 407), minerals (calcium carbonate, iron), acidity regulators (339, 332), vitamins (niacin, vitamin D, folate, vitamin B6, riboflavin, thiamin).

And here is the nutrition information:

	Per Serve 250 ml	Per 100 g
KilojoulesCalories	740176	30071
Protein, g	9.8	3.9
Total fat, gSaturated fat, g	3.22.2	1.30.9
Carbohydrate, gSugars, gLactose, g	24.524.513.8	9.89.85.5
Dietary fibre, g	4.5	1.8
Sodium, mg	150	60

There is so much wrong here I don’t really know where to start.

Okay, let’s do some quick dot points of what I take offence to as a natural, new age mum.

Get up earlier and eat breakfast. It’s that simple! You don’t need to drink your breakfast in the car.
At best this is a treat food for kids, not a breakfast food.
A mess-free solution? Really? We can’t wash up a few bowls and spoons now? We need a disposable solution?
This product is heat-treated milk (UHT – ultra high treated). I try to avoid UHT milk for these reasons.
Reduced-fat milk is not healthy! Kids should be having full fat milk.
Sugar is the second ingredient and comes in at a whopping 24.5g per serve. That is a lot of sugar for a little body to process.
Inulin is a questionable substance and one I am not too keen on.
Flavours! Right there – that could be anything and everything!
Lots of numbers! They may be listed as safe but I don’t like my kids eating lots of numbers.
Probably synthetic vitamins. Processed food usually contains synthetic vitamins added back in after all the goodness is stripped out of a food.
Cashing in on the ‘Coco Pops’ brand – there are no actual Coco Pops in this drink. Confusing for kids.
Expensive! Fruit, oats, eggs are all cheaper than this.

Okay, I had my rant. Whew! I feel better now! But, I won’t just leave it there, I have eight better options for you. Real food options. I mean, who doesn’t love a chocolately drink right? Just make a real food one.

NNAM Home-made Healthy Milo