Tag: dessert

Gluten free sticky date pudding on a white plate in the foreground, a gold spoon drizzling caramel sauce over the sticky date pudding. 3 sticky date pudding serves in the background.

Sticky Date Pudding | Gluten Free | Dairy Free

The most delicious sticky date pudding – gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, soy free, egg free and coconut free.

Over on Facebook I asked you guys what you wished you had an allergy friendly recipe for. There were dozens and dozens of requests, and it was so hard to choose. So I got my 8 year old, Ashton to choose. And he chose Lily’s request for sticky date pudding that is gluten free, dairy free, soy free and refined sugar free. I know lots of my readers are egg free and coconut free as well, so I also took those into consideration when developing the recipe. As usual, there are no funny substitutes, just a recipe I developed to be naturally free of the things that most of us avoid.

Nut free

This is my go to flour combination that I base my cakes, mug cakes and brownie recipes on. However with the nut butter, its not super nut allergy friendly. As a result, I would like to develop a version of this recipe that uses a simple store brought gluten free flour blend to rid the need for nut substitutes. So if this seems a bit fiddly for the nut free folk, stay tuned and I will add that version as soon as I have perfected it!

I always triple test my recipes for quality. While it often takes me a little while to get a recipe on to the blog, when it makes it here, you can rest assured that it has been thoroughly tested to minimise the chances of you having a recipe flop. I know first hand, how heartbreaking it is to waste precious and often expensive allergy friendly ingredients, not to mention time. That’s why I always ensure my recipes are sufficiently tested first. And they often based on methods and ingredients combinations I know and use all the time.

You can find more dessert and sweet treat recipes here.

I love hearing when you’ve made my recipes! If you make this don’t forget to tag me on Facebook, or instagram.

Print Recipe

Sticky Date Pudding – Gluten Free | Dairy free

This sticky date pudding is sweet, sticky and delicious. It is free from gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, refined sugar and grains.
Course: celebration, Dessert, pudding
Cuisine: Gluten free, Grain free
Servings: 4 Adults

Ingredients

  • 150 g Dates (1 heaped cup)
  • 1 cup hot water (just boiled)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup tapioca starch
  • ¾ cup almond meal (sunflower seed meal for nut free)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅓ cup nut butter or tahini (almond butter, cashew butter, or at a stretch, peanut butter) (almond, tahini or cashew work best to keep the flavours neutral)
  • ¼ cup olive oil or coconut oil

Caramel Sauce

  • ⅓ cup coconut sugar* (honey, maple and erithritol / stevia blend* also work)
  • 1 cup coconut cream* *(see notes for a coconut free caramel sauce recipe)
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 180°c fanbake.
  • Place the dates in a bowl and cover with the 1 cup of hot water. Add the baking soda.
  • Place the tapioca, almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
  • Puree the dates with a handheld blender or in a blender / food processor. Set aside to cool.
  • When the dates are cool – and it's imporatnt to make sure they are not any hotter than luke warm, as adding hot dates to the flour mix will react with the tapioca causing a gummy texture – add the nut butter or tahini and oil and mix together.
  • Pour into the dry flour mix and stir everything together.
  • Grease or line a baking tray or individual pie dishes or remikens. Pour the mixture in.
  • Bake in the oven, on the middle rack. For 4 large individual serves: 20 minutes. If doing 1 large dish or several smaller dishes, you may need to adjust the cook time. 30 minutes for one large dish, or until cooked in the centre.

Make the caramel

  • Put a small pot over a meduim heat. Pour in the coconut sugar, and let it sit on the bottom of the pot until it melts.
  • When the sugar is melted, take the pot off the heat and let rest for a minute, so it doesnt burn the coconut cream when you add it.
  • Pour in the coconut cream and add back to the heat. Add the vanilla and salt. Let it boil in the pot, for five minutes, stirring occasionally, or until it is thickened. It will thicken more as it cools.
  • Serve the sticky date puddings with the caramel drizzled over the top.

Notes

*coconut free date caramel sauce:
1/2 cup dates
1 cup milk of choice (the creamiest milk, that’s safe for your diet) 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt
Put the dates in the blender with the milk and blend until smooth. 
Pour the mixture into a small pot. Add the vanilla and salt. Over a medium heat, heat the mixture to a simmer, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes, or until it’s thickened, but still a pourable / spoonable consistency. Taste for sweetness, and add honey or maple if you would like it sweeter. 
 

Kayla

Chocolate & Raspberry Mousse Tart

Ingredients

Base
1 cup dates
1 cup nuts or seeds
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 T coconut oil
Pinch of salt
2 T cacao powder

18 – 20 cm baking tin, pie dish or 4 individual pie / tart dishes.

Choc mousse
3/4 c coconut cream
1 medjool date or 2-3 regular dates (soaked) Or 1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp cocoa or raw cacao
1 Tbsp gelatin + 1/4 c water

Raspberry mousse
1/2 c coconut cream
1 c raspberries (i just use frozen)
1 Tbsp Maple syrup
1 Tbsp gelatin + 1/4 c water

optional – additional raspberries for scattering through mouse and to garnish on top.

what to do

Base – put the nuts or seeds into a food processor and break them down until finely chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it forms a sticky crumb.

Line a dish, cake tin, pie dish, whatever you are using with baking paper and press the base into the tin. Set in the freezer while you make the mousse.

Choc mousse
add the gelatin to the water and leave to ‘bloom’ – chuck the rest of the ingredients in a blender if using dates – if not then just mix all together in a saucepan. bring to a gentle heat and add the gelatin mix, stir until dissolved and pour over the base. Put back into the freezer to set.

Raspberry mousse
While the choc mousse sets you can make this part. Add gelatin to water to bloom. Because i used frozen berries i start by putting the remaining ingredients in a saucepan to gently heat. Add galtin and stir until dissolved. Add all to blender and blend until smooth. Take the mostly set (doesnt have to be fully set) tart from the freezer. If using, scatter berries over the choc layer, then pour the raspberry mouse layer on top. Put back in the freezer, or the fridge to set.

This is best served around 24 hours after making, and stored in the fridge. Sadly, unlike my cheesecake recipe it doesn’t keep quite as well in the freezer so best to prepare the day before. It *can* freeze and be stored in freezer and eaten defrosted but it slightly changes the texture of the mousse, which personally i think is best eaten fresh. This has, however not stopped me from keeping some in the freezer to pull out for pudding over the course of a few weeks!

I had heaps left over from the base recipe (which is pretty much just my simple bliss ball mix) so I roll the extra into bliss balls. For my Christmas version I’ve also doubled the sweetener, because you know, Christmas (and that it will be served to guests who are used to partaking in regular sugar filled baking and treats, so they might be a bit more inclined to prefer it sweet!)

Kayla

Chocolate cake – real food and top 8 free!

So this recipe stems from an original recipe, a somewhat famous cake in the real food world – the 84th and 3rd chocolate cake! The original recipe calls for pumpkin and has eggs in it, so we have made some adjustments to the ratios and ingredients, by changing out for seasonal veggies and substituting the eggs. If you are not egg free then go check out the 84th and 3rd best real food chocolate cake recipe ever ! (but stick around here for the marshmallow icing!)

This recipe has been tried and tested half a dozen times between Justine at Our Kitchen Adventures and Myself. She was kind enough to adapt the original recipe first and share it with me! I have also made the original recipe, which isn’t egg free, for Ashton’s birthday, when Felix was too little to eat cake! I’ve made it with pumpkin, kumara (sweet potato) and carrot, i’m not a huge fan of the pumpkin version, but kumara and carrot are both delicious. This time i used carrot because kumara is like $10 a kilo right now!

Justine from Our Kitchen Adventures made the cake for her sons 2nd birthday dinosaur party.

And for her son’s Thunderbird’s birthday party

Ingredients

Cake:
1/2 c cocoa or cacao powder
1/4 c coconut flour
2 Tb psyllium husk
1 t cream of Tatar
2 t baking soda*
1/2 c maple syrup***
1/2 c water
1/2 c coconut oil
2 c Kumara, carrot or pumpkin finely grated
1 t vanilla extract
* or 1 t baking soda and 1 t baking powder

Chocolate Icing:
1 block dark dairy free chocolate (this part is not refined sugar free! the darker the chocolate the less sugar it has)**
1 400ml can coconut cream
1 t vanilla extract
** for a refined sugar free icing do try to the 84th and 3rd dairy free ‘buttercream’!)

what to do

Preheat oven 180 degrees c.

Cake

Put all the wet ingredients into a bowl and stir in the finely grated vege.

Sift the dry ingredients on top and then mix everything together, let sit for 5 mins for the mixture to thicken slightly.

line a cake tin with baking paper. I used a 18cm cake tin and split the mix in two to make two thin layers – so for the whole cake i made three batches of cake and 6 layers. (i made 1 batch a night and froze the layers to minimize the kitchen marathon!)

if you are doing two layers, bake each layer for 20 – 25 minutes, or a full cake batch for 35 minutes. lift out the baking paper and carefully place on a wire rack to cool. Without eggs to bind the cake is fragile so minimal handling works best. If you are wanting to layer or shape it, i recommend freezing for for easier handling. It freezes and defrosts beautifully, and actually tastes better after a couple days in the fridge!

icing

Melt the chocolate and add the coconut cream, refrigerate for an hour or so until firm then whip the mixture on high using an electric beater until fluffy and spreadable.

layer up with choc ganache icing between each layer, we also added strawberry chia-seed jam between each layer too, which was delicious!

If you want to add the marshmallow layer on the top then the instructions for that is here. Otherwise use this as your canvas to create whatever you want!

This part could be made a couple days in advance and stored in the fridge then the marshmallow icing added on the day or day before.

***for two of the cake batches i ran out of maple syrup! So i used coconut sugar made into a syrup, by measuring out half a cup of coconut sugar, then pouring boiling water over to reach the half cup measurement and stirring to dissolve.

Kayla

Marshmallow Icing

This is what I poured over the top of Felix’s birthday cake in the weekend, to get the yellow drizzle topping.  You can find lots of party snack photos on our facebook page and i’ll add more recipes for everything throughout the coming week.

Ingredients

1 cup water
3 Tbsp gelatin (we use great lakes or vital proteins)
100g honey or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
Natural colour if you wish (i used 1/4 tsp turmeric, beetroot powder would probably work for pink – use your imagination im sure the natural colour options are endless.

what to do

put 1/2 the water in a large mixing bowl with the gelatin and leave to bloom while you prepare the honey.

In a saucepan heat the honey, water, vanilla, natural colour and salt until melted and combined.
Using an electric beater or stand mixer, start to beat the gelatin and water on low, while slowly pouring in the honey mix. Once combined turn the speed up to high and beat until it starts to become fluffy marshmallow texture, can take anywhere between 5 and 15 mins depending on the speed of your beater. Mine takes no longer than ten mins.

I’m not sure if i over beat it every time, but i find it sets too fast to ice a cake with, so i then melt it in the microwave ever so slightly (5 seconds at a time!) to make it a pour-able texture. Don’t worry if you melt it too much – it will firm back up on standing! But you need to make sure its loose enough or it won’t pour over the cake!

Depending on your climate it might set out of the fridge (its freezing at my house!) otherwise an hour or two in the fridge will firm it up.
Alternatively pour into a baking paper lined tin and cut into squares of marshmallow when set.

Kayla2 Comments

Choc Almond Cranberry Bliss Balls

Ingredients

1 c almonds
1 c dates
1/2 c dried cranberries
1 t vanilla extract
1 T coconut oil
1 T raw cacao or cocoa powder
1 c desiccated coconut

what to do

Put the almonds in the food processor and pulse until they are broken down. If you want almond chunks then leave them a bit chunky, if you want them all blended in then grind them to a powder. Add the rest of the ingredients and process on high until the dates are broken down and the mixture is clumping and sticky. Roll into balls and store in the fridge or freezer. I store them in the freezer and they get eaten straight from there.

Remember there is lots of dried fruit in these, even though they are wholefoods etc, they are still a ‘sometimes’ treat 🙂 they are especially good as an after dinner sweet or a high energy lunchbox treat.

Kayla

Chocolate Custard Tart

I made this chocolate custard tart as an Easter dessert – it combines the base from my cheesecake recipe with a chocolate custard I’ve been working on. There are lots of options to make it allergy friendly (except eggs – sorry!). Some of the options I’ve tried – but others, i haven’t tried and i’d love to hear if you give it a go!

Ingredients

Base:

1 cup dates
1 cup nuts (I used a mix of Brazil nuts, almonds and cashews) or seeds for nut free
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 T coconut oil
Pinch of salt
2 T cacao powder

Custard:

75g butter (You could try 50g coconut oil – but I’ve never tried this way)
1 1/3 cup milk or cream of choice (I use coconut cream)
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 cup sweetener (I use maple syrup)
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
4 T tapioca flour
2 T raw cacao or cocoa powder

what to do

Start by making the base – blend up all the ingredients in a food processor (start with the nuts, then add the rest), line a tart tin (or casserole dish – what ever is handy!) with baking paper and press the mix in evenly. Put it in the freezer to set while you make the custard.

To make the custard:

In a pot, melt the butter and add the cacao, stir to combine. Add the sweetener, milk and vanilla and bring to a gentle simmer.

In another bowl put the whole egg, 2 yolks and tapioca flour. Stir to combine.

Take a ladle of the hot milk mixture and add it to the eggs – this helps to bring the temperature up slowly so the eggs don’t scramble. Once its mixed, add another ladle of the hot mixture, stir to combine, then repeat.

Take the pot off the heat and add the egg mix into the pot and stir to combine. Turn the heat right down, put the pot back on and stir until it starts becoming thicker. When its ready it should heavily coat the back of a spoon. If you manage to split the custard (i often do this because i’m impatient and always have the heat too high or don’t temper the egg mix enough) then a stick blender through the mix can magic your custard back into smooth glorious life!

Once its thick, pour it into your base and set in the fridge for a couple hours, or, if you are impatient like me, in the freezer while you eat dinner.

Kayla

No Bake, Dairy Free Black Forest Cheesecake

This no-bake, gluten free and dairy free cheesecake is a sight to behold! It is deliciously decadent yet light and fresh. It’s also egg free, grain free, probably paleo and has options you can use if you are avoiding certain nuts.

When we first had to go dairy free, I never in a million years imagined I would enjoy something like a cheesecake, ever again! This no bake dairy free cheesecake is very special to me because it’s one of the very first recipes I lovingly developed, practiced and refined and shared on the blog, not long after I first started it.

The recipe below includes instructions to make a ‘Black Forest’ flavour – cherries and chocolate. Feel free to mix up the flavours. You could try:

Strawberries’ and cream

Use only strawberries for the berries – either fresh of frozen. Divide the mixture into two instead of 3 and add the strawberry puree as you would the berry puree in the instructions. This mix will also make a strawberry jelly for the top

Berry Cheesecake

Replace the cherries and strawberries with any berries you like – raspberries, boysenberries, blueberries – the possibilities are endless.

Make it Vegan

This is really easy to make vegan, since there is no gelatin in the actual cheesecake, you just need to replace the gelatin in the jelly 1:1 with agar, or even chia seeds. Though you would need to make sure it’s a thick chia jam so that it stayed in place. Also, use a vegan sweetener like maple syrup or rice malt syrup. Maple is my personal favourite, it gives it the perfect balance of texture and sweetener.

The Jelly on top

This is based on my healthy jelly lollies recipe, the gelatin I usually use is Great Lakes Gelatin in the red tin, which is the one that sets them firm. I’ve used it for years now and it still remains my favourite gelatin to work with.

Cashew nut free?

If you are avoiding cashew nuts, but have have other nuts, then you can replace the cashews in this recipe 1:1 for macadamia nuts. There are notes on how to do this at the bottom of the recipe.

Print Recipe

No Bake Dairy Free Black Forest Cheesecake

This no-bake, gluten free and dairy free, probably paleo cheesecake is a sight to behold! It is deliciously decadent yet light and fresh.
Prep Time40 mins
Course: celebration, Dessert, treats
Keyword: cheesecake, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, no bake, no bake cheesecake, paleo, treats

Equipment

  • Food Processor
  • 18 or 20cm Round spring-form cake tin

Ingredients

Base

  • 1 cup dates*
  • 1 cup nuts (I used a mix of Brazil nuts, almonds and cashews)
  • 1 cup dessicated coconut

Filling

  • 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 Tablespoons cacao powder**
  • 4 cups cashew nuts (soaked for 4 hours***)
  • 3/4 cup sweetner (I used half honey, half maple syrup)
  • Scant 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup + 60ml Coconut oil (melted)
  • 3/4 cup coconut milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup cacao powder
  • 1.5 cups Berries strawberries, cherries, raspberries, boinsenberries or a mix (this will also be used for the jelly)

Jelly

  • Berry Puree from the base
  • 2 Tablespoons gelatin
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 Tablespoons sweetner I used coconut sugar

Instructions

Base:

  • Put the nuts and coconut in the food processor and blend into course crumbs.
  • Add the dates, salt and cacao and blend to combine into sticky crumbs that hold together when pressed.
  • Line the cake tin with baking paper. Press the mix firmly into the bottom of the tin.

Filling:

  • Put the cashews, lemon juice, vanilla, salt and sweetener into the food processor, blend until it's all super smooth and creamy.
  • Add the coconut oil and coconut milk and blend again to combine. Leave the mix in the processor, or tip out into a bowl if you will need it to blend the berries. (I just used my stick blender for the berries).
  • Blend the berries, (thawed first if frozen) into a purée.
  • Get two bowls, Pour 1/3 of the mixture into each bowl. Pour the ⅓ that's left in the processor into the cake tin, on top of the base, and return to the freezer.
  • In one bowl mix in the cacao powder, and in the other mix in 1/2 of the berry purée.
  • Pour the berry filling on top of the vanilla and swirl it round a little with a knife to create a marble effect. Return tin to the freezer. Let that layer set in the freezer while you make the jelly. Your chocolate mixture will still be in a bowl. Leave that there for now.

Jelly:

  • Put the other half of the berry purée, water and sweetener in a small pot and bring to the boil, then simmer on low. 'Bloom' the gelatin by mixing with 3 Tablespoons of cold water until it's expanded and thick, then add to the pot.
  • Stir for 2 minutes until dissolved, taste it to make sure it’s delicious. Add more berries, sweetner or whatever, if you need.

To finish:

  • Add the chocolate filling layer to the cake tin, spoon it over carefully and evenly so it doesn’t break through the other layers.
  • Set in the freezer for 30 mins to an hour while your jelly cools and you clean up the horrific mess in your kitchen.
  • Add the jelly layer to the top and return to the freezer for another 30 mins. Then you can either keep it in the fridge until it’s time to serve (a couple of days) or keep in the freezer and thaw out the day of serving.
  • If you are like us and usually stick to cheap ingredients and easy fuss free recipes you can now congratulate yourself on completing this monstrosity! (If you had a child helping in the kitchen and you kept your cool, you can also congratulate yourself on that too). I promise you will be impressed when you unfurl it from its tin, and marvel in its grandeur.
  • This is a monster of a cake, we had 8 guests for Christmas lunch and we didn’t even make it through half the cake. Serve it plain or dress it up with some fresh berries and whipped coconut cream, it looks magnificent either way!

Notes

*depending on your food processor you might need to soak your dates in boiling water first.
**no cacao? Use cocoa instead. What’s the difference? Cocoa has been processed at a high heat, stripping the product of some of its vitamins and minerals, whereas cacao is a raw product retaining important nutrients (like magnesium) and antioxidants.
*** cashew nut free? Macadamia nuts work in place of cashews, just soak them overnight first, also you can alter the type of nuts in the base to suit your needs. 
A slice of the No-bake dairy free Black Forest cheesecake.

Kayla