I’ve been a busy Lizzy creating recipes for my upcoming lunchbox ebook (we start shooting it next week, eeek!) but with an abundance of lemons and poppyseeds, I decided it was time to create a new simple cake recipe for the blog while I was at it.

This cake is deliciously tangy and lovely and moist due to the yoghurt and olive oil.

It’s bright, tangy taste pairs perfectly with a good dollop cream and sweet, tart berries.

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Spelt flour
Baking powder
Desiccated coconut
Rapadura sugar
Olive oil
Vanilla powder

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Lemon Yoghurt Poppyseed Cake

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 2 cups spelt flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2-3 tablespoons poppyseeds
• ¾ cup rapadura sugar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup yoghurt
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Notes

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
Grease and line a loaf tin or square tine with baking paper
Place the flour, baking powder, coconut, poppy seeds and rapadura sugar into a large bowl and mix to combine creating a well in the centre.
Place the oil, eggs, yoghurt, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla into a jug and whisk to combine.
Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the dry and mix until just combined
Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted removes cleanly. Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so in the tin before removing it to cool completely on a wire rack.
Best served with cream and berries.

If you know someone who could use some wholefood recipes please share this recipe with them. Feel free to share my FREE breakfast ebook below  too : – )

If you make my recipes please take photos and send them to me, or if you share them on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek or #brendajanschek,  I’d love to see what you make!

Here are a couple other easy cake recipes you might like – Cardamon Spice Cake or my Gluten-Free Brownie Cake.

Bren x

Last Saturday I had one of those days. I was unstoppable! Which is another way of saying I was in a snowball-like frenzy. Yes, we’ll mash anything in this house, whether it’s food or grammar! Anyway, while Master 10 and his dad were doing the cricket and golf run, Miss 7 and I had the kitchen production line set to 11, churning out a variety of beauties.

While I like to create my own recipes, I adore discovering, trialling and sharing recipes by other wellness mums. As a result, we had lots of nourishing goodies to see us through the week, which dramatically reduced the drama of ‘what should I cook today?’

Here’s what I made:

Nectarine sorbet

Thermie made this delicious icy treat with only 4 ingredients – nectarines, coconut sugar, egg white and ice cubes. We had it as a special after dinner treat over a few nights. Mr 10 is desperate for a mango version so I’ll get onto that this weekend.

Choc-Mint Fudge

This one was made specifically for the lunchboxes, but has been gobbled down by guests on two occasions for afternoon tea. I love the extra boost of nutrition with the addition of pepitas. Pepitas are full of goodness like magnesium, zinc and Omega 3’s.

The recipe is by Cut Out the Crap and you can find it here

Gluten-Free Banana bread

I am mindful of reducing the wheat and gluten load when cooking for my family, and this recipe by Alexx Stuart is a total gem. It’s the second time I’ve made it, but this time I included the ginger. The whole family enjoyed it toasted for breakfast with a side of cinnamon yoghurt and frozen berries.

Mayonnaise

This is the best recipe ever! Another thermomix recipe from the awesome Quirky Cooking. I didn’t add the shallots cause I didn’t have any, and raw shallots don’t really agree with me anyway. Also, I used a mix of Avocado, Macadamia and mild Olive Oil. We dolloped it over fried barramundi one night and chicken schnitzel the next and dipped our vegetables in it both nights. Mr 10 has requested some chicken schnitzel for his lunchbox and demonstrated the (huge) size of the container to be filled with mayonnaise to dip his schnitzel strips into!

Pizza

Thermomix sure got a work out today! Next on the list was pizza dough, which Thermie conjured in a flash. I use Quirky Cooking’s spelt flour pizza dough recipe. We made the dough for pizzas to have the following night and topped them with home-made pesto, lightly fried garlic, red onion and kale, fresh mushroom and goats cheese. And there were leftovers galore for the kids lunchboxes. Yipeee!

 

Huevos Rancheros and Vegetarian Nachos Sauce with Kidney Beans

I was exhausted by the end of the day, but had two hungry men heading home and Miss 7 starting to bug me about dinner. Somewhat ironically, I couldn’t think of a thing to make! A deep breath and a quick search later, and Quirky Cooking saves the day again. This recipe is sure to become a family staple, it took 10 minutes to make and hit the spot after a long, but productive, day in the kitchen.

I also had some brown rice soaking to cook the next day so I could make the kids some sushi rolls for their lunch boxes.

The next day I spent lazing about the beach and swimming in the ocean – it’s all about balance, after all!

Do you ever have the urge to cook all day? What do you like to make? I’d love to hear from you.

If you are keen to learn about how you can create nutritious real food lunchboxes and how to make some of my favourite lunchbox recipes, check out my next workshop here.

Bren x

I have great memories of hot summer days spent at the beach, running to the kiosk to grab a Split or Banana Paddle Pop. If only my mother knew what was in them!

There’s no need to deprive our kids completely, but be warned – most store-bought ice blocks are full of preservatives and refined sugars, and pose more of a health risk to them than a benefit. Sure, eating the occasional one is alright for our healthy kids, but the reality is that in summertime, our kids can easily hoover down more than one a day. That’s where the Zoku Quick Pop Maker comes in, where you can whip up your favourite healthy ice-blocks within minutes!

It has taken me some experimenting to figure out the Zoku and what will work (I can be daft like that). In the end, I opted for the ‘keep it simple, stupid’ approach and created a couple of recipes that cooled the kids down, provided a well-balanced snack, and tantalised their tastebuds all at once!

The other day my kids could not hide their disappointment when I brought out the old ice blocks that we had previously made in plastic moulds. They like to be involved in the spontaneity and magic of the Zoku – creating, mixing and pouring the mixture and watching it freeze before their eyes.

In only seven minutes you have an icy, delicious flavour explosion!

The recipes I created make a fruit-filled snack full of fibre, vitamins, good fats and protein (yoghurt, milk and little extras to boost the nutritional content of the ice blocks).

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Banana Choc-Honey, Mango Lime, Blueberry Smoothie, Mango Surprise!

Mango Lime

1 – 2 mango cheeks (to taste)
1 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 lime
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Blend all the ingredients, pop into fridge to chill, then pour into the Zoku

Miss 7 loved the mango suprise

Mango Surprise (variation of Mango Lime!)

Chop 1 mango cheek into small cubes
Blend yoghurt, lime and maple syrup
Drop 2-4 mango cubes into bottom of Zoku, pour over the yoghurt mixture and repeat until the top

Could they look any happier?!

Banana Choc-Honey

1 large banana (fresh or frozen)
1 cup milk (I use raw or unhomogenised)
1 tablespoon cacao
1-2 tablespoons raw honey

Blend all the ingredients , pop into the fridge to chill, then pour into the Zoku

Berry Smoothie

I used leftovers from the bluberry version of this recipe so just popped it in the Zoku. No waste and great taste!
Halve the recipe if you just want to make it specifically for the Zoku.

Thank you LimeTreeKids for sending me the Zoku, we plan to have lots of fun beating the heat this summer!

Do you have a Zoku? I’d love to hear your favourite recipes?

Bren x

The ginger and molasses in this recipe produce a taste reminiscent of gingerbread men and all things Christmas. Experiment with other ingredients like dates and walnuts, but this one is hard to go past on its own, judging by the ‘double thumbs up’ from the ladies at the workshop not to mention my family!

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Ginger and Molasses Loaf

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup white spelt flour
• 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• small pinch nutmeg
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 100 gms butter
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/4 cup yoghurt
• 1 egg beaten

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a loaf tin and line it with parchment paper.
• Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, bicarb soda and sea salt into a bowl and combine.
• Warm the butter, sugar, molasses, and maple syrup in a saucepan over low heat until the butter has melted. Pour this into the dry mixture and add the yoghurt and egg and stir until just combined.
• Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 40-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack.
• Once cool wrap it up in baking paper keep in fridge for 3-5 days before eating. Or just bock in whenever you want to!
• Slice and spread with butter and enjoy!

Other recipes you might like…

Ginger Biscuits

Ginger, Cardamon, Molasses Cookie Hearts

Cardamon Spice Cake