Heavenly Gluten and Dairy free Tenerina Cake

What you see above is a typical chocolate cake from Ferrara. I tasted it last summer (without the reindeer decorations..) for the first time, during a wedding's brunch in that very same town. After the first bite, my whole face lit up with sheer joy and surprise! This cake was light, super chocolaty and moist. It was heaven.

I had the chance to try it again this winter when my gorgeous friend Silvia made it at her house here in London.  

I wanted to try a gluten and dairy free version of Tenerina to prepare during my family Christmas lunch, as both me and my cousin were not having either, but were surrounded by Panettone and Pandoro everywhere! My mother only had white sugar in the house,  however this Easter I will be experimenting with coconut palm sugar or other different, more nutritious alternatives to white sugar.

To my surprise, this gluten and dairy free version was a huge success with my whole family!

I used coconut flour which, in addition to being gluten free, is also high in fibre. And instead of regular milk I used unsweetened rice milk ( as I couldn't find my regular unsweetened almond milk in Milan) and swapped the same amount of butter for the delicious coconut oil. Worked like a charm.. I love using coconut oil in my recipes as it has antimicrobial properties and your body uses it straight away as energy rather than storing it as fat. 

But less talking and more cooking. Let's go!

200g dark chocolate, chopped

3 tbsp coconut flour

3 tbsp unsweetened rice milk

100g coconut oil

150g white sugar

3 eggs ( dividing eggs whites from egg yolks) 

Powdered sugar to decorate ( optional) 

Pre hear your oven at 180 degrees.

Melt your chocolate with the coconut oil on a low heat. Put it to the side to cool lightly, and in the meantime you can whisk your egg whites till you get stiff peaks and put to the side.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the go chocolate mix. Add your egg whites last, folding them in slowly in order to keep the air in. This will make the Tenerina cake nice and light when you taste it!

Pour the contents in a baking tin lined with baking paper and pop in your oven for 20-25 min. Check that the cake is ready by inserting a toothpick in the middle and making sure it comes out dry.

Let the cake cool for 5-10 min before enjoying it with your friends!

Have a delicious Easter :)

xxx

Ciao!

Foodolina

Laura's Coconut Crème Caramel

I am FINALLY on summer break from Uni!!!Whoop! This means I can now dedicate more time to Foodolina as I have neglected this blog too much due to  being overwhelmed with assignments at school...

So, the first post of summer season is this ridiculously good recipe by my fabulous friend Laura.
She's a my classmate, a strong, gorgeous, smart woman and incredibly talented cook.

A couple of weeks ago, some of us girls from class, went to Laura's house to revise for our exams.

(This is Truffle. Laura's dog, nothing to do with recipe itself but too cute not to include in the post..)❤️

After our morning session, our host showed us inside for lunch, she had prepared the most amazing dairy free dishes and added a gluten free twist to some of them so I could try them too :)

Everything was so tasty and light and nutritious and so colourful!I was in foodie heaven..

After I had a second serving of almost everything (I'm tiny but you have NO IDEA of how much I can eat..) Laura served us dessert. WOW.

A dairy free coconut crème caramel that left us all speechless (we were too busy eating it..) and oh so happy!

When I posted a picture of this delicious treat on Facebook I got a few recipe requests and Laura has kindly shared her recipe with me so here I am passing it on to you.

Because life is too short not to have dessert.

Enjoy!


COCONUT CRÈME CARAMEL

INGREDIENTS

1 x 400ml can coconut milk

5 egg yolks

Agave syrup to sweeten the mixture to taste

Juice of half a lime + grated rind

FOR THE CARAMEL

3 tbsp coconut sugar
1tbsp water


Put coconut sugar in a pot heat with 1 tbsp of water. Shake pot to mix sugar with water, do not stir.
When it begins to look like caramel turn off the heat. It should only take a few minutes.
Spoon into individual ramekins or teacups and set aside.


Now whisk egg yolks and add agave syrup, lime juice and rind and finally coconut milk.
You can add a little water to increase the liquid if need be.

Add hot water to a roasting dish.
Fill the ramekins with coconut filling but do so delicately without upsetting the caramel in the base.
place the ramekins in the roasting dish, cover with foil and cook in the oven at 170c for 20 minutes until the top is springy to the touch.

Best chilled overnight.x

Banana-Almond Butter Ice Cream with Crushed Walnuts

This ice cream always takes me back to my childhood. Grandma used to buy these banana ice cream sticks the looked the actual fruit. I had one every time we visited her for dinner. Yes, fine,maybe I had two..So since moving away, if I was missing my grandma, I would sometimes get myself an ice cream cone and one of the flavours would be banana. It was never the same though, too sweet, not sweet enough, didn't quite taste right.. And then I discovered this recipe! It's incredibly quick and easy. I added some homemade almond butter for an extra layer of flavour and a protein kick, and topped it with crushed walnuts to add crunch and healthy fats.

All you need is a food processor and in no time you'll have a bowl of delicious ice-cream. xxx

INGREDIENTS ( makes 1 bowl) 

2 medium bananas ( sliced and frozen for a few hours or overnight) 

3 tbsp brown rice milk 

1 tbsp almond butter 

1 handful walnuts crushed into pieces

METHOD

Just pop the frozen banana slices and milk in the food processor and let it go for about 5 minutes. Every now and then you might have to use a spatula to add the mix detach from the sides of the food processor ( I only had to do it once). When it starts to become smooth just add your almond butter, and once you get that creamy consistency transfer it to your favourite bowl, top with walnuts or any other other topping you might prefer and enjoy.