Dairy-free Blackberry Pancakes

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 2 people

Calories per serving: 263

 

 

You might say I'm a little bit obsessed with pancakes. They're my ultimate favourite breakfast. I eat them probably five days a week. I just love them. From thin crepes full of strawberries and Nutella, to thick, fluffy almost-muffins jam-packed full of berries; pancakes are delicious, versatile and nutritious.

 

Because I love them so much I've experimented with pancakes a lot... different recipes, different fruits, adding something here, trying something there. And I've finally settled upon my favourite recipe. Blackberries work wonderfully in pancakes! Here's my dairy-free and consequently low-calorie recipe for blackberry pancake

 

Ingredients:

• 100g plain flour
• 15g soft light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 115ml unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 a medium egg
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• Fry-lite oil or spray butter substitute

Method:

• Place the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the almond milk, lemon juice and egg together. Add to the mixing bowl and whisk to make a smooth batter.
• Add the vanilla extract and salt and whisk. Add the blackberries and gently fold them in.
• Place a large frying pan on a medium heat and spray with oil or butter substitute. Heat until the oil has become transparent then ladle four dollops of batter into the pan. Cook for around 4 minutes on each side.
• Serve with maple syrup.

Dairy-free Squidgy Banana Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 10 people

Calories per serving: 417

Photo courtesy of my friend Mel



So, here is my very first recipe, and it's one I created completely from scratch using my own knowledge of baking, taking a few hints from other recipes for the basic structure, and simply experimenting. This recipe is quite advanced, particularly the caramel. And judging the difference between an under-cooked cake and a cake that’s squidgy but cooked isn’t easy. But I’ll offer a few pointers along the way.

I should just add that this recipe is absolutely delicious! I've never tasted such a wonderful banana cake (even if I do say so myself!).

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 80g pecan nuts (broken up in a pestle and mortar)
• 350g over-ripe bananas (mashed)
• 160g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 165g golden caster sugar

Salted Caramel Sauce:

• 120ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 155g light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 170C/ 150C fan oven. Grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin.
• Using an electric whisk, cream the non-dairy, non-soya spread with the golden caster sugar until it is turning slightly pale. This usually takes 3-5 minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of flour with each, to prevent curdling, whisking into the mixture until smooth. Add the bananas and whisk briefly to ensure they’re properly mixed in.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture, folding in gently. Stir through the vanilla extract, vegetable oil (this makes the cake extra squishy) and pecan nuts.
• Place the cake mix into the cake tin and bake for around 1 hour 20 minutes. You’ll need to check the cake to see it’s progress… press gently on the top. It should spring back but still feel a little sticky. Stick a skewer into the centre. It should come out clean. As I said it’s not easy to judge a squishy cake, but if it’s not cooked enough when you take it out of the tin you can always put it in the oven for longer.
• Leave in the tin for ten minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Salted Caramel Sauce:

• Place the coconut milk, coconut oil, brown sugar, golden syrup and salt into a saucepan. Place on a medium heat and whisk continuously until the mixture starts to heat up. Whisk constantly! Do not allow to burn! Once the mixture starts to simmer, reduce the heat and boil for around 6 minutes. (When I made this I didn’t cook it long enough and it wasn’t thick enough and didn’t taste much like caramel. I put it back on the heat and tried for longer). Eventually the mixture will start to darken and the predominant smell will be caramel, not coconut. It will also be considerably thicker. Don’t take it too far or it will be ruined. (If in doubt, take it off the heat and allow to cool. If it’s not thick enough, put it back on the heat like I did). Once you’re convinced it’s cooked enough, remove from the heat and beat in the vanilla extract.

• Drizzle over the cooled cake whilst the caramel is still a little warm. Serve.

Welcome!

Why hello there. It's nice to meet you. I'm Linni, and this is my brand new baking blog. I've been baking as long as I can remember, but I've only recently started experimenting with flavour combinations and new ideas to create my very own recipes. I've also become intrigued by dairy-free baking. A friend of mine has a daughter who is allergic to dairy and soya, and through baking things for our weekly meet-ups that she can eat, I've learned a lot about baking without using dairy products. It's been quite a challenge at times, but I'm really inspired in a whole new way.


I'll aim to post a recipe per week... each week I take a new creation along to my friends and they taste it for me and give me (surely honest! ;)) feedback. And then my friend Mel takes very beautiful and professional photographs. (It's a great trade-off).

The recipes on this page will all be dairy and soya-free. I'll also aim to create some gluten-free recipes too.

I hope you enjoy discovering, and hopefully trying for yourself, my recipes. Feedback is always appreciated of course.

I'm so excited to get started! :D