3x cake

As you all can see, I love cakes. I love them too much. And because of my love for cakes and other sweets I have gained some extras on my body this summer:D. Well, to excuse my actions, It has been an awful summer, with only a few days with nice weather and a bunch of days with rain, wind and 16 degrees. So, we got to make this up with something..


With what you ask?



Dum dum dum daaaaa


CAKES!


Lucky for me, I tend to, or at least try to make all my pastries as healthy as possible. And preferrably vegan. Not so much for my husband... He is more like eggs and wheat and heavy cream and lots of sugar guy. Sometimes my cookings can be weird, because glutenfree flour and egg substitutes act differently and the result might be different than excpected.

I will share 3 recipes I made that turned out pretty well.

CAKE #1

Blueberry Pie
(Original recipe here as Almond Lemon Blueberry pie bars http://minimalistbaker.com/almond-lemon-blueberry-pie-bars/)

Crust:

1/2 cup olive oil or vegan butter
1/3 cup sugar (unrefined)
1 1/4 cups flour
pinch salt
2 Tbsp Almondmilk

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/4 cup sugar (unrefined)

1/4 cup flour

1 small lemon, zested + juiced

1/3 cup raw slivered almonds

 

Instructions:

Combine crust ingredients and process them until even. Put a parchament paper on a small cooking pan. Spread the crust evenly and let it set in the refridgerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Bake the crust for  25 minutes.

To make the filling, add all the ingredients, except almonds to a saucepan. Cook them on a medium heat, crushing the berries, until smooth, but still can see a texture of the berries. Remove it from the heat. 

Put the filling on top of prebaked crust, add the almonds, and bake for another 28 minutes.

Let it cool.

Or if you can`t wait like I did - take a spoon and dig in! Yum! Too crumbly though when not completely cooled...

 

 

CAKE #2

Chocolate Birthday cake
The way its set, is improvised. The recipe for the sponge cake is here: http://freelancersfashion.blogspot.fi/2015/07/sunday-baking-quick-vegan-banana.html 

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
around 50g of dried dates + a hint of water
1dl coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1-1,5 dl cocoa
3 dl flour (GF or regular)
1 tsp baking soda
1 dl oil 

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Put the dates with a water on to a small sauce pan and stir on a low heat until dhe dates have dissolved. Mash the bananas. Add everything else and mix them to a nice pastry.
Pour it on to a baking tray and bake for appr. 40 min. Use a stick if you want to try if its done.
Let it cool.

I cut it into a 2 halves and filled with a cream made of soy cream cheese, cocoa and agave nectar.
On top is Coconut Whipping cream (I prefere soy whipping cream or just whipped coconut milk - a note for next time) and berries from my garden:).

CAKE #3

Crumble!

This one is completely improvised! It was ment to be a surprise cake for my husband who likes crumblecakes, but we didn`t have wheat flour or dairy butter in da house (muhahahahaha!!!!).

Ingredients:
3 cups Flour ( I used buckwheat, chickpea flours, rolled oats, coconut flakes)
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup  unrefined brown sugar
jam (homemade)

I put everything into a food processor, and processed it until nice and crumbly. Add flour or oil if needed.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Pour 2/3 of the crumble to a small pan. Add jam as much as you desire (not too much though). Then add the rest of the crumble or crust.
Bake 25 min or until golden.

Here I am enjoying my crumble with almondmilk and some extra jam heheh.

Black bean muffins

I have done those several times before, but this time they were especially delicious! Damn Im good... Actually the best is Minimalist Baker, where I found the recipe. You can find the recipe and follow them right here:http://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-gluten-free-black-bean-brownies/

What I love about this blog is that the recipes are really simple and usually require only up to 10 ingredients! Love it! Quick and easy!

I served my muffins, or as they called them, brownies with an chia strawberry jam and sprinkled some coconut sugar on the side. All you need to do for the jam is to crush the strawberries and mix them with chia seeds. Chia seeds get thicker when they are mixed with liquid and therefore the jam will get nice and thick. No need for sugar! (tell it to you grandma too)

 Ingredients:
1can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 large flax eggs
3 tbs coconut oil
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
heaping 1/2 cup raw sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 
Optional toppings: crush walnuts, pecans or semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
First prepare the flax eggs. Process the flax seeds to make a flour and mix it with a 4tbs of water. Set aside.
Put all the other ingredients (except optional toppings) in a bowl and puree it when you get a nice mixture. Add the flax egg too.
There we go!
Now just put 2 tbls of the batter in each muffin tin and cook them for 25min.
This leaves the top and sides crusty and inside soft and creamy! Yum!
Let them cool before you enjoy!

You are welcome!

THE best banana loaf!

Actually its the first and only banana loaf recipe I have tried. But it is sooo good and I have made it so many times, I haven`t felt the need to try different recipes too. And everybody likes it!

I have made it with different berries, and gluten free, and raisins and nuts. I have topped it with whipped coconut cream and i have eaten with peanut butter. And they are all good! This one with rhubarbs is so moist and yummy. I added only a littlebit of honey, maybe a half from the recipe. But I think the sweetness of bananas and strawberries is enough to balance the sour rhubarbs.

I will share the basic recipe and you can all change it like I have done or do some modifications.

The recipe is from book "Jooga Köögis " by Kadi Toompere and the recipe is added by Sukhdev Kaur as her favorite cake.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp chickpea flour
250 ml spelt or other flour
2 bananas or 250 ml pumpkin puree
160 ml honey
80 ml oil (I use coconut or olive)
250 ml rolled oats
80 ml vegan milk ( I use almond milk - "Almond Breeze"
80 ml nuts/raisins/seed (I have skipped this part or subbed it with berries)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp clove

Mix flours and add baking powder, soda, spices and salt. Add oats and nuts and seeds.
In other bowl mix oil and honey. Add milk . Mix everything together with crushed bananas or pumpkin puree.

Bake in preheated oven 180 degrees for 1 hour.

You are welcome!:)

Vegan omlette - oh why I haven`t tried you before!

This is totally addictive! I have done it several times now and changed the ingredients and also the amount of flour and water.
The things you need are: chickpea flour and water. The rest is up to you! You can add whatever you have in your fridge and season however you like.

Ingredients:
5 tbsp chickpea flour
appr. 0,5 cup of water
salt, pepper, ...

Combine chickpea flour and water into a batter. If you make a thick batter (add less water), then the omlette will turn into a thicker and harder omlette, that you can easily eat from your hands. If you add half of cup or more, then it will be softer omlette. I prefere the softer one. My batter looked runny, but a lot more thicker that made with eggs.
Add whatever you like: onions, tomatoes, cheese (vegan or not), mushrooms, caparis.... Whatever you want!
Fry on both sides and enjoy!

Infusion Tallinn is nearly here!

It is the 4th time I am organizing my annual festival - Infusion Tallinn, and it keeps getting better every time. As it is getting closer and closer I am spending all the time ment for internet using - organizing.  Here are the posters for the 2 shows:

Lazy day lunch

I love food. I spend a lot of money on food. And on good food. I am not a vegan, nor do I eat raw food very often, but I prefer my food vegan, raw, gluten free and refined sugar free. I prefer locally grown and organic vegetables and fruit. I can eat anything, but I just preferre these things.

Today was kind of a lazy day and I didn`t feel like making something difficult. And sometimes raw food and vegan food can be easiest to make and the best for your health too! So I made some banana avocado chocolate mousse and vegan hot chocolate. I also had the most simple and delicious bread with avocado spread with some freshly ground sea salt and pepper. Johann had also some yesterdays veggie soup with coconut milk and also smoothie he had left from the morning.

Vegan chocolate mousse

2 ripe bananas
1 avocado
4 soft dates
2 tbsp raw cacao

Blend everything until smooth. I served it with some pistachios and pomegranade seeds.

Vegan hot chocolate

1 glass almond milk
1 tsp raw cacao
1 tsp of honey or other sweetener (swithc it to agave syrup if you are vegan who doesn`t eat honey)

Heat almnd mil and mix it with cacao and honey. You can add some maca or baobab powder too if you wish.

Enjoy!

10 things I love about Tribal Fusion

This is going to be the first post about my "10 things I love about ..." series. I decided to write down the things that I love doing and point out the most special. Why 10? Seemed like a nice number. Probably there can be many more, like 20, or 30 things for some. But lets stick to the top 10!

So here we go! Tribal Fusion. It is a dance style where east and meets with modern and traditions, masculine and feminine, limits and limitless. Tribal referres to tribal bellydance style that was created in USA in 60s. And fusion means that you can fuse any other dance style into it. You can read more about it if you use google! or search some famous dancers on youtube (like Rachel Brice, Zoe Jakes, Mardi Love, Mira Betz, Unmata would be a good start). The dance style has existed less than 20 years, so its really new. And sometimes if somebody asks, try to explain the dance style and then add: "I don`t know what it is, but its really cool"! Here is a small documentary film created by Manca Pavli, "What is Tribal Bellydance"

I am not going to talk about what is tribal fusion in my opinion or what does it mean to me. Instead I am going to list some things a love about it!

1. Freedom.
It gives me freedom to choose. To choose the theme, music, story, costume, make up. When I used to dance Egyptian cabaret bellydance, I usually picked arab music and really pretty sparkly bellydance costume. And there is nothing wrong with it! It is perfectly fine and I still love cabaret costumes and those fabulous dancers. But when I started dancing tribal fusion, a whole new world opened up to me. I can choose whatever music I like: arab, electronical, balkan, dubsteb, instrumental, pop song and so on. I can wear sparkly things and rhinestones and next day i can wear shorts and paint half of my face black. For example. I haven`t done it, but hey, its an idea!

2. F for fusion.
Fusion in tribal fusion means that you can fuse different dance styles into your style. Some often fused dance styles are: classical indian dances, contemporary, hip-hop. If you see a performance you never know what to expect. There are dancers who have danced ballet since they were 2 years old and the way they use it to fuse tribal fusion is breathtaking. And next performer can fuse tribal fusion with charleston and next one with breakdance. And this is what makes this dance style very interesting to watch and dance.

3. I still know nothing.
I have danced bellydance 10 years, and tribal fusion 5 years from it. And there is still so much to learn! I love going to the studio and start exploring. And I like drilling technique that i already know and find out that I didn`t know anything about it. I love taking classes and workshops from other dancers to find out stuff that I didn`t know before.

4. Community
Since the dance style is not very new, our dance community is not very big. And everybody seems to know everybody, which makes us a one big family! Squeeeeee!

5. Technique
Tribal fusion, like any other dance style is based on technique. And we, tribal fusion dancers shure like to drill our technique to perfection. At least I do:). There are some periods when I don`t drill my technique that much, like all that 3 weeks of summer here if we are lucky. But even a short period of time can affect your technique. And not in a good way.
Liquid arms, waves, and ooey gooey hips. Sharp locks and hits and pops. Tribal fusion has a big variety of different movements. I know that bellydance might not be as popular as hip-hop or dancehall or contemporary, but all those styles have hip figure of eights or arm waves and many more that also bellydance have. So actually all those dance styles and many more have so much in common with bellydance. Sometimes I feel like I have so big advantage in my hip-hop class, since we tribal fusion dancers drill so heavily all our technique.

6. Teachers and mentors
Since every tribal fusion dancer has her/his own unique style, Im lucky to have so many amazing teachers and mentors in my dance life. And all of them have influenced my style and my life as a dancer in a different way. I am going to name a few who I can truly call my biggest influences.
Mira Betz has teached me how to find myself as a dancer. How to find my unique style and how to be a better performer.
Zoe Jakes was THE dancer thanks to who I found tribal fusion and fell in love with it. Thanks to her I love drilling and work hard to be better every day.

7.  Confidence
I wasn`t a popular girl in highschool. I always wanted attention and wanted to be seen, but never wasn`t really confident about myself. But I guess dancing in a bra in front of a group of people shure can help lift your confidence! Now, after dancing more than 10 years and after many performances here and abroad, I can say I AM AWESOME! I am confident, beautiful and I know what I want!

8. Costumes and make up
As I`ve said before - I am a woman and i like stuff! Pretty stuff! Excpensive stuff! Tribal fusion has given me opportunity to have more of that:D. Antique assuit, antique jewelry, pretty skirts and belts and bras. Give me more! And, all of your costumes don`t have to cost much! In my latest choreo I wore just shorts and bra and a some ribbons around my arm and leg. Yay!
And you can just go crazy with your make up. Usually I do really dark eyes and add a lot of glitter! ohh do I hear envy my dear non bellydance readers?

9. Travelling
Thanks to dancing I have been able to travel so much! Going to dance festivals or teaching has taken me to USA, UK, France, Spain, Italy and many other places in Europe. And travelling I love indeed!

10. Friends
Most of my closest friends right now are also dancers. But thats totally understandable since my life is dancing. Besides my dear Estonian friends, I have met so many awesome people abroad which Im really thankful for. You make my life amazing!