Kiwi and Lime Cupcakes

I love to bake but need to lose a lot of weight, and with my wedding coming up that's a pretty good incentive (though I'm not managing to do very well!). I'm trying to indulge my love of baking without indulging myself, and make things for other people to eat. A good way to do that is to use ingredients I don't actually like!

We had some kiwi fruit left over in the fruit basket at work one Friday so I took a couple home. I was going down to Dorset for my wedding hair and makeup trial, and thought it would be a nice touch if I baked some cupcakes. A bridesmaid and I went to the house of the hairdresser - a beautiful cottage in a pretty little village - and the makeup artist joined her there. We did the trial in her kitchen watched by two dogs and a cat so it wasn't like I was taking cakes to a busy beauty salon - it was a nice homely way to spend the day.

 

I had a massive tub of Stork for Cakes in the fridge so had a look at the Bake with Stork website and found this recipe for coconut, lime and kiwi cupcakes. I wasn't sure if I still had any creamed coconut in the house so decided to leave it out; I didn't even know dried kiwi existed so I left that out too. I chopped up the flesh of two kiwi fruit and stirred that in to the cake batter, which I found made the cake really light.

I didn't have any Midori either so added some lime juice to the buttercream frosting, which I piped in very satisfying little swirls on the cupcakes and topped each one with a little piece of kiwi. I don't normally eat kiwi at all but I tried a little bit of one cupcake and found the taste wasn't overpowering and it was a really light, bouncy cake and the icing was great too. The hairdresser and makeup artist seemed pleased with them too and asked if they could take a couple for their kids!

I'm sharing these with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at The Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi as their theme this month is Easter and Spring. The vibrant green colour of these cakes makes me think of spring and the zesty flavour might be quite welcome amid all the Easter chocolate!

Tea Time Treats, hosted by Jane at The Hedgecombers and Karen at Lavender and Lovage has the same theme so I'm also sending these to that challenge.

Slimming World Kiwi and Lime Sorbet

 

 

Now that summer and barbecue season is upon us, it's nice to have some summery desserts. I found this recipe in an old Slimming World magazine; it's really easy to make and you don't need an ice cream maker or anything like that - just a blender. It's also much lower calorie than most ice creams and sorbets!

 

To serve 4-6 depending on portion size (you could serve this as a small palette cleanser at the end of a meal) you need:

 

6 kiwis, peeled and chopped

zest and juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp. sweetener eg Splenda

1 tsp ground ginger

The recipe also says to use a piece of stem ginger in syrup, drained and chopped; I didn't have any so left it out. The flavour was still fine and it makes it even lower in calories and syns - the recipe says 3 syns per portion but without the stem ginger I'm not sure it actually has any.

 

 

 

Put all the ingredients into a blender, add 300ml water and blend until smooth.

 

Pour into a shallow container with a lid that can go in the freezer, put the lid on and freeze for about 5 hours or until set.

 

Either return the sorbet to the blender and whiz until smooth, or use a fork to mix around and break up the ice crystals. Then it is ready to serve.

 

 

 I am sharing this with Bloggers Scream for Ice Cream, hosted by Kavey Eats, as the theme this month is sorbets and granitas.

 

 

 

Watermelon Fake Cake

 

 This is a wonderful alternative to cake - and quite fun to serve to people who think it is a cake, until you cut inside, and reveal it is actually watermelon!

I got the idea from something I saw on a Slimming World Facebook page; if you left off the nuts around the outside the whole thing would be completely syn free.

All you need is a watermelon, a tub of Quark, sweetener (optional), flaked almonds or chopped mixed nuts (optional) and any fruit you like to decorate the top.

I've had a bit of an obsession with watermelon recently, as regular readers will notice!

Slice the top and bottom off the watermelon so it will sit flat and then use a sharp knife to remove the rind by cutting down from the top, turning it over and doing the same from the other side.

Mix the tub of Quark with a little sweetener (such as Splenda) if desired. Pat dry the watermelon with some kitchen towel and spread the Quark around the outside and on the top. I've already put it on a cake board at this point.

Take handfuls of flaked almonds or chopped mixed nuts and stick around the outside.

Top with fruit to decorate.

And here is the finished 'cake'!

I took this into work and my colleagues were surprised when they realised what was inside - and I think happy that I made something healthy! This is great for a summer party when it is too hot to eat cake but you want to make something.

 

Stuck In The Tree is a bingo review site that is about having fun online and off; they are running a 'bakespiration' competition so I am sending them my cake in the hope they will include it in their gallery.

I'm also sending this to Ren Behan's Simple and In Season, hosted this month by Sally at My Custard Pie.

Shaheen at Allotment 2 Kitchen is hosting a blog challenge called the Vegetable Palette, and this month is asking for entries using red fruits or vegetables. Watermelons are a kind of reddish pink so that will do!

Two-Tone Superfoods Smoothie

I know, it's green... but it's good for you! And I'm sure even picky children would find this fun to drink with the two-tone colour and the different fruits in each layer.

I was recently sent two cartons of Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk, with the challenge of creating a new breakfast smoothie. Obviously I know that most people are in a hurry in the mornings and want something they can drink on the go, but this can be partly made the night before - and in any case, the challenge asked for an "original and interesting smoothie recipe" - and mine is certainly that!

A year or so ago I'd never drunk any sort of dairy-free alternative to milk, but now thanks to a friend who has turned vegan, there is often a carton of soya milk in my fridge. I hadn't tried almond milk before and I can say I definitely enjoyed it - it has a more subtle taste than some dairy-free alternatives I've tried, and most importantly doesn't turn my cup of tea a funny colour like some seem to!

Almond Breeze is vegan and also low-calorie; the unsweetened variety has 60% fewer calories than even skimmed milk, while it is still a good source of calcium. It also comes in original and chocolate flavour. For more information visit www.almondbreeze.co.uk

I thought of several different smoothie flavour combinations but none of them seemed original enough for this challenge. As I was finding it hard to choose between my ideas, I decided to combine the two and make a two-layer smoothie!

Here are the ingredients I used. You can obviously adapt this and swap out any ingredients you want, but this is the recipe I used (of my own creation):
For the bottom layer:
1 banana
1 kiwi
1 tsp Matcha Green tea powder
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 cup Almond Breeze

For the top layer:
1 large slice melon
1 pear
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp hemp
1/2 cup Almond Breeze

First to make the bottom layer, I chopped a banana, kiwi and added a spoonful of Matcha Green Tea Powder. This is finely-milled green tea that can be made into a drink or used to flavour foods. It has all sorts of health benefits including being an anti-oxidant, boosting metabolism and reducing cholesterol. However, it's not to everyone's taste so if you were making this for children I might suggest leaving this ingredient out.

I whizzed it up in my blender with a cup of Almond Breeze and a spoonful of agave nectar - I could have used honey, but since Almond Breeze is suitable for vegans, I wanted to make sure the whole recipe was.

Transfer to a small tub that is suitable for freezing and place in the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.

When you are ready to drink the smoothie, prepare the top layer. I cut a large slice of melon

And also chopped up a pear

Continuing on the superfoods theme, I added a spoonful of hemp. You can get this in health food shops; I bought a small box from Holland & Barrett that contained different seeds in small sachets (such as flax) so you can try them all and see what you like. Hemp is a seed that is high in protein, magnesium and iron, and the health benefits are numerous. You can add it onto porridge or museli or stir it into yogurt, or as I did, blend it into your smoothie.

I also added some agave nectar

 

Finally half a cup of Almond Breeze

Whizz it in the blender

If you have frozen the bottom layer of the smoothie overnight, you will need to allow it to come to room temperature so you can crush it up (similar to waiting for ice cream to soften enough to serve). If you have frozen it for a few hours it should be the right consistency - a bit like a slushy, so it's not entirely liquid, but you can still drink it through a straw.

Scoop a few spoonfuls into the bottom of a glass

Now pour the top layer of the smoothie on top; it will sit on top nicely.

I accessorized with a slice of kiwi and a straw. It's actually quite fun to drink one layer at a time or you can mix them both up. I think even though this is green and might put some picky children off, the fun of reaching the bottom layer should hopefully make them drink up!

You can check out the other entries in the Almond Breeze smoothie challenge here.