may contain nuts

I often think Pinterest has a lot to answer for. I go through stages with my 'pinning' and am currently as obsessed with it as I was when I first joined this time last year. I say it has a lot to answer for because it is filled with the most wonderful possibilities for inspiration. Be it beautiful fashions to swoon over, must-have home wares, new places that need to be travelled to and much much more and all this makes me think I want it all. Then there's the food and suddenly I feel the need to cook.

My family were especially pleased yesterday, because I found a delicious recipe on Pinterest for a cake that's all but gone already yet will be made again and that's a fact. Our children have several allergies, including gluten and grains, which means puddings and cakes are not the simplest of things to provide but this one ticks all the boxes, plus it's healthy too .. not to mention delicious! I tweaked the original just a little to suit the kids, and converted the main into 'english speak'!

Carrot and Coconut Cake

300g ground almonds

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 inch piece large cinnamon stick, ground (or 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder)

50g coconut oil, melted

50g honey

1 inch piece vanilla pod, ground with a little of the coconut oil

4 medium eggs

1 medium (approx 100g) carrot, grated

1 medium (approx 200g) courgette, grated

1 medium (approx 135g) apple, grated

Vanilla Cream

100g cashews, soaked a few hours then drained/rinsed

100ml fresh apple juice

1 medjool date, pitted and roughly chopped

1/2 vanilla pod, scraped (save the remains for vanilla sugar)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 9 inch cake tin. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients. Pour wet mixture into the dry and stir to incorporate. Pour into prepared cake tin and cook for about 50 minutes, or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

To make the cream, put all the ingredients into a fast blender and blitz till completely smooth. Smooth it on top of the cake when cold, or serve on the side. That's it!

Having extolled the benefits of cooking with coconut before, I use it in all our baking, principally because it is gluten free but also because it tastes so good and does your body a favour too!

Changing the subject, I was flattered to be contacted by be@home a couple of weeks ago, asking if they could feature me in one of their 'best of the web' articles. You can check it out here if you like and you may like to read their tips section too. There are some interesting hints to be found there!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, the weather here is amazing.