Upside-down Spelt Pear Cake

I haven't posted in a while but happy New year & I hope you're 2017 is going great so far. To start off my year of recipes this is a sticky, comforting kind of cake, perfect for a January day. I love a good upside down cake as they tend to range from being really moist to being a gooey mess, which is pretty much my kind of cake! This cake uses spelt flour which is easy on digestion than wheat & coconut sugar which is much less refined than run of the mill plain white flour. You can play around with how you lay your pears, overlapping they whole way around looks great too. You could also try using different fruit like apples or quince or throwing in a few seasonal berries.

Ingredients:

• 115g butter, plus 2 tbsp for bottom of the pan
• 200g coconut sugar, plus 2 tbsp for the bottom of the pan
• 3-4 ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced into quarters
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea-salt
• 125g spelt flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp bread soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 100ml almond milk, or milk of your choice

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350ºC/Gas 4. Melt 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp coconut sugar in the bottom of an ovenproof frying pan, over a low heat. Add the coconut sugar to the pan and stir until the sugar has melted.

2. Arrange the pear slices on top of this and remove from the heat.

3. Beat together the rest of the butter and coconut sugar. Add the eggs one at a time beating between each addition. Add the sea-salt and vanilla extract and mix through.

4. Fold in the spelt flour, bread soda, cinnamon and ginger. Lastly add the almond milk and bring together. Pour the cake batter over the pears in the pan, transfer to preheated oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until cooked through.

Lemon & Poppy Seed Scones

Some zingy scones for the weekend. They are made with spelt flour which is lower in gluten than wheat & many find easier to digest. They are sweetened with maple syrup instead of the usual white sugar so will keep you blood sugar levels on a more even keel. The poppy seeds provide a pleasing crunchy texture to offset your chosen creamy or sweet fillings. I chose homemade raspberry jam & a thick natural greek yoghurt for mine.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 350 spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bread soda
• 100g butter, cut into cubes
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 175ml almond mik
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 egg, beaten to glaze

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Gas 3. Line a flat baking tray with a sheet of baking paper.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, bread soda and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and begin to rub it in to the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the lemon zest and poppy seeds stir to distribute evenly.

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the milk and lemon juice and maple syrup. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mix, bring together to form a dough. Shape the dough into a round and roll out on a lightly floured board. Use a round cutter to cut out as many scones as you can, then bring the dough together and roll out again. Repeating the process until you have used all of the dough.

4. Place the cut scones onto your prepared baking tray. Brush the top of the scones with the beaten egg, this will give them a nice golden colour. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving with your favourite toppings such as butter, jam, cream, fruit or yoghurt.

Chocolate & Walnut Banana Bread

A slice of banana bread is a handy snack to have to hand for that mid-afternoon slump. I often make a loaf, slice & freeze the slices individually. I'll defrost a couple of slices as necessary & eat them as they are or maybe warm gently on a frying pan or on top of the toaster before enjoying with a cup of tea. This version is made with a mix of ground almonds and coconut flour, making it naturally gluten free and high in easily digestible plant protein.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 100ml olive oil

• 3 tbsp honey

• 4 bananas, mashed

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 75g coconut flour

• 1 tsp bread soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 75g ground almonds

• Pinch of sea salt

• 100g dark chocolate chips

• 75g walnuts, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4. Grease and line a loaf tin.

2. Whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, olive oil and honey. Add the mashed bananas and cinnamon, mix through.

3. Sift in the coconut flour, bread soda and baking powder. Fold through the ground almonds and salt. Lastly add the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix together well.

4. Tip the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Transfer to the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Blood Orange Spelt Sponge With Figs

This cake is a beauty, give it a try & feel free to substitute whatever fruit is in season. It's a basic sponge recipe with the addition of a little blood orange. I used maple syrup instead of the usual caster sugar and spelt flour instead of plain white flour. In doing this I increased the nutritional content a little. Even though I know a slice of cake is never really going to be a health food I always try and sneak in extra goodness where I can.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter, softened
• 200ml maple syrup
• 4 eggs
• 2 blood oranges, juice and zest
• 225g spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Filling/topping:

• 250ml double cream, whipped
• 75g pistachio nuts, chopped
• 3 fresh figs, sliced
• 1 blood orange, peeled and segmented

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
2. Grease and line 2 x 8-inch cake tins.
3. Whisk together the butter and maple syrup.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition.
5. Add the blood orange zest and stir through.
6. Sift in the spelt flour and the baking powder.
7. Add the juice of the blood oranges and mix well.
8. Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch.
9. Leave the tins to cool on a wire rack, then remove the cakes from the sandwich tins. 
10. Lay the first layer on a plate and spread with a layer of whipped cream. Lay some fig and blood orange segments on top of this.
11. Place the next layer of cake on top carefully.
12. Spread some more whipped cream over the top of this and arrange the remaining fruit on top.