Sea Breeze Sourdough Cake

Due to holiday baking and general baking, I ran out of coconut sugar. For 2015, I'm still on the low-sugar kick (as in minimizing white sugar, organic sugar, the granulated stuff) because it was very helpful in maintaining a stable mood. Don't need to throw off my meditation practice because I've been eating blood sugar spiking foods, eh?



 



Since I still have cranberries from December, I made cranberry orange cake with agave, not sugar or coconut sugar. Some people say agave is the devil because it's not low-glycemic. It doesn't make me mood swing like regular sugar, though, so I use it. If agave puts you on the blood sugar roller-coaster, then by all means, avoid it. The original recipe for this cake uses coconut sugar, which is lower on the glycemic index. Why care about this high-glycemic, low-glycemic stuff? The glycemic index is the measure of glucose, or sugar, in a food per serving. The lower a food is on the glycemic index, the less it affects blood sugar. Some foods raise your blood sugar a lot, some foods raise it a little. There's a lot more science involved than I want to delve into at the moment, but it's useful information in determining, say, what kind of breakfast combination is going to give you sustained energy. If you're interested, read more here.

 

Sea Breeze Sourdough Cake

After Sourdough Carrot Cake

• 1 cup GF sourdough starter, unfed

• 1 orange, peeled
  1 cup raw whole cranberries


• zest of 1 orange

• 2 teaspoons vanilla


• 3/4 cup water (option: replace 1/4 cup of the water with vodka to make it a real Sea Breeze)


• 1/4 cup psyllium husk


• 1/2 cup agave nectar


• 1 cup pumpkin puree


• 1/2 cup canola oil

• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
  3/4 cup sorghum flour
  3/4 cup GF oat flour
  1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
  1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom


• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 cup raisins/currants
  1 cup hempseeds
  1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9*13-inch glass baking dish.

In food processor or blender, chop the cranberries and orange into small bits. Strain the extra liquid from the mixture (instant seabreeze!).

In the food processor or blender, blitz the pumpkin, oil and agave until smooth. Blend in the psyllium, water (and vodka), and vanilla until smooth, scraping down the sides again.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, xanthan gum, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Toss the hempseeds, raisins, and coconut in the dry mixture and mix to coat. Stir in the sourdough starter until it makes small clumps in the flour mixture. Add the rest of the wet ingredients, the pineapple, and the carrots and mix well until completely combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth out. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. The agave will make it brown sooner than it's done, so you may need to tent the cake. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely in the pan before frosting.

Cream Cheeze Glaze

• 4 oz vegan cream cheeze


• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk


• 1/4 cup water


• 1/4 cup agave


• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blend all ingredients in the blender until combined. Drizzle over cooled cake. The frosting will set up a little after a day in the fridge to make slicing easier.



 

Parting Shots:

 Yoga mat recycling: my Gaiam mat is falling apart after four years of heavy use. The mat I bought at Marshall's is falling apart after one month. The Gaiam mat may have met its end at Wasteland Weekend, but it's still sticky enough to use as rug backing for the evil slippery rug in the kitchen. Ever since TC waxed our snowboards on the floor, that one rug slides like crazy. Now only part of it slides.

 

 



 

 

 

 Snowy fields on the way to Boulder!

 

My neighbour lent to me The Patchwork Girl of Oz, an Oz book I haven't read yet. Here's a picture of Scraps, the Patchwork Girl herself.