Oven 350° Bake for 15-25 minutes (less for cupcakes, more for cake), makes 12 cupcakes or 1 8" round.
Read this recipe several times before you start. There are alternate ways to make this cake that may be confusing. For sugar free, pay attention to the underlined notes. For vanilla pay attention to the italicized notes. Frosting ideas follow at the end. Feel free to post any questions you may have.
Sift dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (for vanilla cupcakes use 1 3/4 cups flour)
3/4 cup sugar (for sugar free use alternate sugar, see below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder (for vanilla cupcakes skip the cocoa powder)
Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until it is mixed.
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (for vanilla add 1 Tablespoon)
1/3 cup oil
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup cold water (to use honey as your alt. sugar only use 3/4 cup water)
For sugar free cake use 1/2-3/4 cup of honey or 3/4 cup coconut sugar.
This cake is really good with the frosting recipe on the can of Hershey's cocoa powder. I've also made it with cream cheese frosting which is also super yummy.
Cream Cheese frosting
1 stick of butter soft
1 brick of cream cheese soft
1 teaspoon of vanilla
powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached
For my sugar free experiments I followed my cream cheese frosting recipe but used the agave powder and honey (with some corn starch added). For the chocolate frosting I started out the same but added cocoa powder and honey. I also tried using super fine powdered milk to thicken the frosting. I'm not happy with any of my sugar free experiments, but they are doable.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Day 10
Wow! We're 1/3 done. Overall I'd say it's been fairly easy. We already ate pretty healthy so mostly we've cut out candy and unhealthy snacks. I think I've lost 3 pounds so obviously we were eating more than I thought.
Breakfast- Kendra and Riley tried the pepperoni roll, they said it turned out good. I also made pancakes which we topped with blackberries (the girls had butter and I had maple syrup.)
Lunch- Kendra and Riley had bag lunches today (Field trip to the Zoo). They had pepperoni rolls, strawberries, carrots, string cheese and almond balls. They also had Original Lays potato chips and 100% juice boxes.
Turns out I was scheduled to go to the Zoo too. I'm glad I brought my own lunch too. I had tuna pasta salad, a yellow pepper, carrots, strawberries, coffee (black) and a dried mango slice. Later Riley had an apple and I had dried fruit, sesame sticks and cashews. The girls had another bag of Lays and both had more carrots. It was hard to be on a field trip and not munch on the leftover bag lunches that were packed for the kids, esp. the Oreos (they even had the white Oreos, sigh, I love those kind.) I resisted though. Kendra and Riley are already not big fans of Oreos so it was no biggie to them.
Dinner- I made homemade chicken soup with dumplings. The dumplings turned out very soft. The only thing I did different was add some garlic powder and I used coconut milk instead of regular milk. I'm beginning to suspect coconut milk may not work the same as regular milk? The thing is I've used it before for baking with no adverse affects so I'm not sure what the deal is. We also had sparkling water with some juice added.
Dessert- Kendra and Riley had almond/pb balls. I had a cupcake with experimental frosting.
Baking adventures and experiments-
Tomorrow is my birthday so I figured I ought to see if I could make cupcakes without sugar. My conclusions are as follows: Cake-YES, Frosting-NO
Here's what I did:
I made my Whacky Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe I found online last year and substituted honey for the sugar. Not as sweet (I'll add more honey next time.) but still tastes like chocolate cake.
I then tried to make frosting using Agave powder. Not only is it not as sweet as sugar but it does not work the same way or is even close to powdered sugar (proof that it's not how something or someone looks on the outside, but what's on the inside that counts.) I ended up having to add honey to sweeten it. By itself the frosting was kind of eh, but surprisingly I liked it on the cupcakes. I also tried to make frosting with honey and cocoa powder. By itself it wasn't too bad, but I didn't love it on the cupcakes. I'll post the recipes.
Something I discovered that made me a little bummed. Some artificial vanilla has invert sugar in it. Grrrrr! I guess I have to read EVERY label. (I know, I should be baking with the real stuff. I just go through it so fast making cakes all the time that I buy the cheap stuff. I guess now I know better. As soon as I use up the industrial sized jug of imitation stuff I just bought I'll be sure to replace it with the real stuff. The jug by the way does not have that invert sugar junk in it- WHEW!)
In addition to making cupcakes I made some cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast etc. this week. I had a piece for a bedtime snack. Warm and yummy! I also had some tea.
Decluttering for the day started out trying to find my kitchen sink. Anything that doesn't fit in the dishwasher winds up in the sink to do "later". (We all know how that goes.) I was doing ok, making dinner, doing dishes, feeding Tobin....Then I decided to bake. Let's just say any progress I made is now long gone and replaced by an even bigger mess. I think if I found someone who loved to clean as much as I love to bake...? Who am I kidding, we don't live in a perfect world yet.
Breakfast- Kendra and Riley tried the pepperoni roll, they said it turned out good. I also made pancakes which we topped with blackberries (the girls had butter and I had maple syrup.)
Lunch- Kendra and Riley had bag lunches today (Field trip to the Zoo). They had pepperoni rolls, strawberries, carrots, string cheese and almond balls. They also had Original Lays potato chips and 100% juice boxes.
Turns out I was scheduled to go to the Zoo too. I'm glad I brought my own lunch too. I had tuna pasta salad, a yellow pepper, carrots, strawberries, coffee (black) and a dried mango slice. Later Riley had an apple and I had dried fruit, sesame sticks and cashews. The girls had another bag of Lays and both had more carrots. It was hard to be on a field trip and not munch on the leftover bag lunches that were packed for the kids, esp. the Oreos (they even had the white Oreos, sigh, I love those kind.) I resisted though. Kendra and Riley are already not big fans of Oreos so it was no biggie to them.
Dinner- I made homemade chicken soup with dumplings. The dumplings turned out very soft. The only thing I did different was add some garlic powder and I used coconut milk instead of regular milk. I'm beginning to suspect coconut milk may not work the same as regular milk? The thing is I've used it before for baking with no adverse affects so I'm not sure what the deal is. We also had sparkling water with some juice added.
Dessert- Kendra and Riley had almond/pb balls. I had a cupcake with experimental frosting.
Baking adventures and experiments-
Tomorrow is my birthday so I figured I ought to see if I could make cupcakes without sugar. My conclusions are as follows: Cake-YES, Frosting-NO
Here's what I did:
I made my Whacky Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe I found online last year and substituted honey for the sugar. Not as sweet (I'll add more honey next time.) but still tastes like chocolate cake.
I then tried to make frosting using Agave powder. Not only is it not as sweet as sugar but it does not work the same way or is even close to powdered sugar (proof that it's not how something or someone looks on the outside, but what's on the inside that counts.) I ended up having to add honey to sweeten it. By itself the frosting was kind of eh, but surprisingly I liked it on the cupcakes. I also tried to make frosting with honey and cocoa powder. By itself it wasn't too bad, but I didn't love it on the cupcakes. I'll post the recipes.
Something I discovered that made me a little bummed. Some artificial vanilla has invert sugar in it. Grrrrr! I guess I have to read EVERY label. (I know, I should be baking with the real stuff. I just go through it so fast making cakes all the time that I buy the cheap stuff. I guess now I know better. As soon as I use up the industrial sized jug of imitation stuff I just bought I'll be sure to replace it with the real stuff. The jug by the way does not have that invert sugar junk in it- WHEW!)
In addition to making cupcakes I made some cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast etc. this week. I had a piece for a bedtime snack. Warm and yummy! I also had some tea.
Decluttering for the day started out trying to find my kitchen sink. Anything that doesn't fit in the dishwasher winds up in the sink to do "later". (We all know how that goes.) I was doing ok, making dinner, doing dishes, feeding Tobin....Then I decided to bake. Let's just say any progress I made is now long gone and replaced by an even bigger mess. I think if I found someone who loved to clean as much as I love to bake...? Who am I kidding, we don't live in a perfect world yet.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Day 9
Tobin slept 5 hours straight last night!!!! I feel like a new woman!
Breakfast- Kendra had matzo and cheese and a banana. We all had oatmeal. Riley and Kendra sweetened theirs with honey and cinnamon. I sweetened mine with a banana and a touch of honey.
Snack-We went for a walk and picked up Ambrosia Apples at Kowalskis (yum!), dried mango.
Lunch- I had a pb and honey sandwich on Ez. bread, tuna pasta salad and a pb ball. Kendra had tuna pasta salad a butter sand. on Ez bread, string cheese and a pb ball. Riley had a butter and honey sandwich on Ez. bread string cheese and a pb ball.
Dinner- Tacos! I seasoned the ground beef myself with onions, tomato sauce, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano and salt & pepper. I warmed up a can or organic re-fried beans, made some brown rice, salsa and grated some cheese. We ate it with taco shells and organic tortilla chips. We drank sparkling blueberry juice (Trader Joe's-yum!)
Dessert- Kendra and Riley made peanut butter balls and almond butter balls. They rolled some of each in chia seeds, unsweetened coconut and sunflower seeds. We should be good in the chocolate-peanut butter "candy" department for a while.
I'm making homemade bread for lunches this week. Kendra requested pepperoni rolls (she tried a sample at the bread shop one time and has been asking for them ever since.) (The pepperoni I have unfortunately has dextrose in it. I need to use it up then I'll search for some at the Whole Foods store to see if there are any sugar free options.) Hopefully the bread turns out.
Breakfast- Kendra had matzo and cheese and a banana. We all had oatmeal. Riley and Kendra sweetened theirs with honey and cinnamon. I sweetened mine with a banana and a touch of honey.
Snack-We went for a walk and picked up Ambrosia Apples at Kowalskis (yum!), dried mango.
Lunch- I had a pb and honey sandwich on Ez. bread, tuna pasta salad and a pb ball. Kendra had tuna pasta salad a butter sand. on Ez bread, string cheese and a pb ball. Riley had a butter and honey sandwich on Ez. bread string cheese and a pb ball.
Dinner- Tacos! I seasoned the ground beef myself with onions, tomato sauce, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano and salt & pepper. I warmed up a can or organic re-fried beans, made some brown rice, salsa and grated some cheese. We ate it with taco shells and organic tortilla chips. We drank sparkling blueberry juice (Trader Joe's-yum!)
Dessert- Kendra and Riley made peanut butter balls and almond butter balls. They rolled some of each in chia seeds, unsweetened coconut and sunflower seeds. We should be good in the chocolate-peanut butter "candy" department for a while.
I'm making homemade bread for lunches this week. Kendra requested pepperoni rolls (she tried a sample at the bread shop one time and has been asking for them ever since.) (The pepperoni I have unfortunately has dextrose in it. I need to use it up then I'll search for some at the Whole Foods store to see if there are any sugar free options.) Hopefully the bread turns out.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Peanut butter balls
For a decent peanut butter/chocolate candy substitute:
1 part peanut butter or almond butter or combine both
1 part powdered milk
1/2 part honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together, form into balls. Chill
For a chocolaty taste add 1/4 part cocoa powder.
Roll in coconut, chia seeds, sunflower seeds etc.
Add whatever, dip in chocolate....have fun! Yum!
1 part peanut butter or almond butter or combine both
1 part powdered milk
1/2 part honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix together, form into balls. Chill
For a chocolaty taste add 1/4 part cocoa powder.
Roll in coconut, chia seeds, sunflower seeds etc.
Add whatever, dip in chocolate....have fun! Yum!
Day 8
Too much TV this weekend, crabby kids. I think Tobin has teeth coming in, he was up every 2 hours last night. I managed to de-clutter his toys (I found a cute basket/toy box today.) and the rocking chair. Ok, on to food:
Breakfast-Riley ate cold cereal. Kendra ate grilled cheese on homemade bread. I had cold cereal with coconut milk and coffee at church.
Snack- Kendra and Riley found the wolf at Trader Joe's and got a treat. It was a fruit bar of some sort. The ingredients were not on the packages, I'm sure there was some sugar. I had granola which had some craisins and dried pineapple. I was driving and opted to eat the contraband rather than pick them out and cause an accident.
Lunch- Tuna pasta salad. The spice blend I mixed in with the mayo had some malto-dextrin in it, but I felt it was better than using straight Thousand Island dressing that would have had high fructose corn syrup in it. I also had an almond butter and blueberry preserve sandwich. Riley ate a bunch of cherry tomatoes, sesame seeds (I think she's addicted), puff-corn and a bite of pasta salad.
Snack-We all munched on dried fruit, nuts and sesame sticks (shoot! I forgot to buy more of these at Trader Joes today.)
Dinner- Matzo pizzas and orange-scented couscous. Kendra had sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoni, sauce and cheese. Riley had cheese, pepperoni and sauce. I had cheese and sauce. The pepperoni has dextrose in it. The sauce was purreed tomatoes with Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt. We used cheddar and mozzarella cheese. (I discovered Matzo makes great thin cracker/crust pizzas. They only contain wheat and water. Just top with your favorite toppings and put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.)
Dessert-Frozen strawberry and banana.
I am so tired and cranky and the pb m-n-m's are screaming to me from the cupboard. I'm going to try really hard not to cave. I'm thinking a pb ball, ya! I haven't had those in forever. Ok, now to remember the recipe....
I found a recipe. In fact I found several recipes. I'm going to try them and if it's good I'll post the recipe. I also found a chart for baking with sugar substitutes. I'm hoping I'll have more sugar free baking success than I have been.
Breakfast-Riley ate cold cereal. Kendra ate grilled cheese on homemade bread. I had cold cereal with coconut milk and coffee at church.
Snack- Kendra and Riley found the wolf at Trader Joe's and got a treat. It was a fruit bar of some sort. The ingredients were not on the packages, I'm sure there was some sugar. I had granola which had some craisins and dried pineapple. I was driving and opted to eat the contraband rather than pick them out and cause an accident.
Lunch- Tuna pasta salad. The spice blend I mixed in with the mayo had some malto-dextrin in it, but I felt it was better than using straight Thousand Island dressing that would have had high fructose corn syrup in it. I also had an almond butter and blueberry preserve sandwich. Riley ate a bunch of cherry tomatoes, sesame seeds (I think she's addicted), puff-corn and a bite of pasta salad.
Snack-We all munched on dried fruit, nuts and sesame sticks (shoot! I forgot to buy more of these at Trader Joes today.)
Dinner- Matzo pizzas and orange-scented couscous. Kendra had sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoni, sauce and cheese. Riley had cheese, pepperoni and sauce. I had cheese and sauce. The pepperoni has dextrose in it. The sauce was purreed tomatoes with Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt. We used cheddar and mozzarella cheese. (I discovered Matzo makes great thin cracker/crust pizzas. They only contain wheat and water. Just top with your favorite toppings and put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.)
Dessert-Frozen strawberry and banana.
I am so tired and cranky and the pb m-n-m's are screaming to me from the cupboard. I'm going to try really hard not to cave. I'm thinking a pb ball, ya! I haven't had those in forever. Ok, now to remember the recipe....
I found a recipe. In fact I found several recipes. I'm going to try them and if it's good I'll post the recipe. I also found a chart for baking with sugar substitutes. I'm hoping I'll have more sugar free baking success than I have been.
Day 7
Breakfast- Kendra had biscuits, I had toast with pb and honey. Riley had toast and scrambled eggs.
Lunch- Kendra and I had noodles with cheese, broccoli and apples. I had a couple homemade oatmeal cookies and a clementine. Riley had mac-n-cheese.
Snack-I had dried fruit and almonds and a homemade cookie. Kendra and Riley had dried fruit and applesauce.
Dinner-We all ate "clean-out-the-freezer" soup with rice. It turned out pretty good.
Dessert-Kendra and Riley had frozen banana and strawberry "ice cream". I had a pb and honey sandwich on Ez. bread.
Snack-Kendra and Riley had cold cereal and puffs, Riley also had an apple.
It was hard to curb the munchies being at home all day. I wanted to go into the kitchen to grab something all day, but knowing I had to post whatever I grabbed made me skip it. I filled my water bottle or made myself some tea instead.
Lunch- Kendra and I had noodles with cheese, broccoli and apples. I had a couple homemade oatmeal cookies and a clementine. Riley had mac-n-cheese.
Snack-I had dried fruit and almonds and a homemade cookie. Kendra and Riley had dried fruit and applesauce.
Dinner-We all ate "clean-out-the-freezer" soup with rice. It turned out pretty good.
Dessert-Kendra and Riley had frozen banana and strawberry "ice cream". I had a pb and honey sandwich on Ez. bread.
Snack-Kendra and Riley had cold cereal and puffs, Riley also had an apple.
It was hard to curb the munchies being at home all day. I wanted to go into the kitchen to grab something all day, but knowing I had to post whatever I grabbed made me skip it. I filled my water bottle or made myself some tea instead.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Day 6
Breakfast- Kendra, leftover pigs and a blanket. Riley, cold cereal. Me, cereal with coconut milk.
Lunch- Kendra had a cheeseburger with homemade bread and mustard, vegetables and leftover homemade fries. Riley had a butter and raw honey sandwich on homemade bread, tortilla chips and vegetables. I had a cheeseburger on homemade bread with mustard and ketchup (I need to make homemade ketchup since I seem to be needing to eat it on stuff.), salad (same as last night) and homemade oatmeal raisin cookies (I had to test them!)
Leslie and I had to shop for our afternoon activity so I picked up a few items for home. I knew I needed more brown rice syrup and thought I'd get some more honey too. What did we find upon entering the store? A display with local honey for sale! Not only that but if you bought the big jug or the spun honey you got a cute little bottle of honey for free (in the shape of a bear, how cute!)
Snack was our downfall today. The activity at TLC was "Iron Chef". It was a ton of fun. There were 2 teams of 10 kids cooking 3 dishes with the secret ingredient, oranges. When all the dishes were finished and presented everyone got to taste and "judge" (the kids had great positive feedback for each other.) Kendra, Riley and I tried most all of the dishes and some did contain sugar. It was a great activity and only now am I realizing we forgot to take pictures, bummer! The recipes the kids chose and made were:
Orange-Apricot Crescent rolls
Orange Frosts (similar to an Orange Julius)
Orange Citrus Bars (too much sugar but really good, I'm going to try to "healthify" this recipe)
Orange-Scented Couscous (Surprisingly very good.)
Citrus-Yogurt Sundaes
Dinner- Riley went to a friend's house for the night and had DQ for dinner. Kendra and I stopped at the bookstore coffee shop for some Mother Daughter time and had an "Izzy" and one Godiva strawberry truffle each (very yummy, but I sure feel guilty for eating so much sugar today.) I had a butter and spun honey sandwich for dinner. Kendra wasn't hungry after trying all the Iron Chef food she opted to not eat any dinner.
Snack-Me, another cookie a banana and some carrots. Kendra, carrots.
I'm hoping to be completely sugar free tomorrow!
On a side note, I'm pondering a second challenge for this month. De-cluttering a little bit every day. We'll see what tomorrow brings I guess!
Lunch- Kendra had a cheeseburger with homemade bread and mustard, vegetables and leftover homemade fries. Riley had a butter and raw honey sandwich on homemade bread, tortilla chips and vegetables. I had a cheeseburger on homemade bread with mustard and ketchup (I need to make homemade ketchup since I seem to be needing to eat it on stuff.), salad (same as last night) and homemade oatmeal raisin cookies (I had to test them!)
Leslie and I had to shop for our afternoon activity so I picked up a few items for home. I knew I needed more brown rice syrup and thought I'd get some more honey too. What did we find upon entering the store? A display with local honey for sale! Not only that but if you bought the big jug or the spun honey you got a cute little bottle of honey for free (in the shape of a bear, how cute!)
Snack was our downfall today. The activity at TLC was "Iron Chef". It was a ton of fun. There were 2 teams of 10 kids cooking 3 dishes with the secret ingredient, oranges. When all the dishes were finished and presented everyone got to taste and "judge" (the kids had great positive feedback for each other.) Kendra, Riley and I tried most all of the dishes and some did contain sugar. It was a great activity and only now am I realizing we forgot to take pictures, bummer! The recipes the kids chose and made were:
Orange-Apricot Crescent rolls
Orange Frosts (similar to an Orange Julius)
Orange Citrus Bars (too much sugar but really good, I'm going to try to "healthify" this recipe)
Orange-Scented Couscous (Surprisingly very good.)
Citrus-Yogurt Sundaes
Dinner- Riley went to a friend's house for the night and had DQ for dinner. Kendra and I stopped at the bookstore coffee shop for some Mother Daughter time and had an "Izzy" and one Godiva strawberry truffle each (very yummy, but I sure feel guilty for eating so much sugar today.) I had a butter and spun honey sandwich for dinner. Kendra wasn't hungry after trying all the Iron Chef food she opted to not eat any dinner.
Snack-Me, another cookie a banana and some carrots. Kendra, carrots.
I'm hoping to be completely sugar free tomorrow!
On a side note, I'm pondering a second challenge for this month. De-cluttering a little bit every day. We'll see what tomorrow brings I guess!
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