Truffles!

I was inspired to make some truffles in a Rachel Khoo book but added and changed a few things in the recipe that makes them vegan and healthier...recipe below...

Fig&Date Truffles

85g Figs

85g Dates

40g Pistachio

zest of an orange

20g coconut oil (slightly warm will be easier to blend with fruit and pistachio)

pinch of sea salt

100g plain choc

70g blanched and toasted almonds

I haven't got weighing scales, you can do the measurements roughly

1. Blend all ingredients together (not choice or almonds!)
2. Roll into balls
3. Melt choc in bain marie
4. using forks roll balls into melted chocolate, then the chopped almonds
5. Leave in the fridge for a little while on a plate or greaseproof paper...the coconut will solidify

cocoa dates halva

i used to cook for a living...mainly cakes and vegetarian food...now i cook for friends...much better...no money involved just love x x x x x x cooking is love

chocolate & tahini

 

This weekend the river flooded the marina and me and my neighbours were marooned for a day. As I watched the river rise and zoom past my kitchen window I mixed up a banana cake. It was one of the cosiest feelings ever, the fire was roaring, the wind was howling, rain lashing and for a moment the sun shone as I whisked the eggs into the sugar mix, mashing up the bananas and adding some flour and cinnamon. The smell of a cake baking is pure comfort.

 Living on a boat makes you feel the weather that little bit more. Your boat becomes a part of you, a bit like a car or bike does...you know what i mean..you give it a name, it has a personality!?! I certainly know when it's raining, when it's cold and how cold before I even get out of bed. Yeah I'm not the best at getting out of bed when there's a frost on the window and my breath turns to mini fog...but there's nothing like having a fire to warm you...and when you can bake a cake and share it everything feels alright.

The cake above is my chocolate and tahini mix...make your usual chocolate sponge and add this delicious frosting... Tahini + Sugar = Halva flavoured Heaven! I decorated with sesame seeds, cocoa powder, and chocolate curls. 

A Tahini Icing

225g cream cheese

160g icing sugar

a good spoonful or two of tahini

pinch of salt
(could add a tsp of cocoa powder for colour, add little more cream cheese if you do)

x peace & cakes x

Pleasant

Pleasant is a new cafe in Lewes, East Sussex owned and run by painter Sara Grieswood. This is where i learnt a lot about cooking lovely food,  Sara is a good teacher of baking and inspirational cooking. It's a cafe and food store with a unique environment.  Food is cooked and baked in the open plan kitchen and the veg and most of the fruit (citrus from Spain) are sourced from local organic or biodynamic farms, Ashurst Organics, Fletching Glasshouses, Plaw Hatch. There is local honey, free-range and biodynamic eggs, local milk (Goodwood Organic and Northiam Dairy), cheese (High Weald Dairy) and bread baked by Firle Bakery, Flint Owl and the Gypsy Bakers. Also available are stone baked pizza cooked outside in a clay oven .
I really enjoyed working in an environment where things are considered, there is thought to support the local community and stock food ingredients that not only taste good but are good for you YUM YUM YUM

Gluten free Orange and Sussex Honey Polenta Cake

we stock organic seville orange

Cranks, Leon, Morro, Rose Bakery, Ottolenghi, Manna from Heaven

these are good eggs

Pleasant Menu

Ashurst Organics Squash, roasted and ready to be tartified

Cavelo Nero from Ashurst Organics

i just love making these delicious little beauties

Sara's infamous Pleasant Chocolate Brownies with Raspberries

eclectic music selection

ooohhh apple and maple syrup cake

Pleasant Breakfast Muffins with blueberry and apple

hi-tech sound system