Back on the wagon again!

Good afternoon everyone! Yay! Winter hit!!!!! Did you ever see anything like the change yesterday afternoon? One minute we were sitting outside commenting on how warm it was and removing layers; one minute later the clouds covered and we were shivering! Amazing!

But that is not the only thing that happened this weekend. As y’all know, I am now three months off sugar. You can read about my decision here and the three-week-in report here.

Everything has been going great – no cravings, life hasn’t changed too much, I haven’t died of starvation. I have cut down on the amount of nuts I’m eating, I’m off the dried fruit and I have changed the fruit I am eating (fewer bananas and grapes and more berries and kiwis, which are lower in sugar).

Nonetheless, this weekend I decided to bake the amazing Konditor & Cook's Curly Whirly cake (it is my go-to chocolate cake. It is in all honesty, amazing. I came it via my friend Rose – she of the Nuetnigenough restaurant review. She recommended increasing the recipe by one third; I doubled it and used this chocolate buttercream icing for the centre, and smothered the whole cake in the K&C cream cheese icing).

I baked the cake on Friday, and served myself up a medium slice after dinner. Now, I have had the odd sugary snack over the past three months with few noticeable side effects. Maybe it’s because we were on the sofa, in the peace of our home, but my stomach began speaking in Morse code to us for the rest of the night. I didn’t sleep particularly well on Friday night – I don’t know if there is a link between the two. The noisy tummy wasn’t the only side effect, but that is all I’m prepared to say on that subject right now!

So, what did I learn from all this? I’m going to stay off sugar for the time being. I haven’t noticed that I have more energy being off it, but I felt pretty 'bleugh' on Friday evening, and I definitely felt a bit 'heavy' over the weekend. Also, not eating cakes and the like, means that I can indulge on things I actually prefer, like cheese, with less of a conscience.

BRAND NEW! The 365things diet – guaranteed* weight loss!

Here at 365things, I’m always eating. Ok, maybe not always, but regularly. But I am always looking for ways to counteract the effects this has on my waistband. So at the last Clandestine Cake Club, I shared some of my top tips with the other CCC guests. Everyone agreed that I was onto A Sure Thing. With this in mind, I now proudly present you with the brand new revolutionary 365things diet! Move over Atkins and Dukan: this is going to be The Next Big Thing. Yay!

1. Broken food doesn’t contain calories. 
The calories fall out. Simple! Now, we had a debate over whether the food had to be found broken, such as the inevitable last biscuit in the tin, or if the biscuit accidentally breaks when you're lifting them off the baking tray, VERSUS purposely breaking biscuits so that the calories fall out. I'll let you make up your own mind on this, but I fall into the former 'accidental' breakage camp. 

2. Food from other people’s plate doesn’t contain calories either. 
I’m not sure of the physics behind it, but the food is on someone else’s plate, that person consumes the calories even if they don't consume the food. This goes double for food from a child’s plate – children are so active, they burn the calories extra quick!

3. Calories consumed on birthdays and other occasions don’t count.
This could be your own birthday/wedding/christening/promotion or someone else’s. So, go on... enjoy that extra slice of birthday cake!

4. Particles that drop off your food contain more calories; don’t eat those.
Gravity is your friend! For example, if you’re eating a croissant, the little bits that flake off are heavier and so fall off. So enjoy your croissant or pain au chocolat in peace! Just remember not to pick up all the crumbs with your finger. 

5. Gravity has an effect on food. 
The heavier, fat-dense parts of the food drop to the bottom, so avoid the lower 0.5cm of your cake. And yes, the calories from any icing drop through the cake and accumulate at the bottom too. See the below photo of a peanut butter and salted caramel brownie for a detailed explanation.

ß gravity means that the heavier, fat-dense calories fall to the bottom, so you should eat all this bit

↓
↓

↓
↓

↓
ß but not this bit of the cake.

6. Eat outside more often!
Ah, al fresco eating. You can’t beat it. In from my extensive research and studies**, I can conclude that eating outside can help you consume fewer calories. Why? Well, if it’s windy, the wind simply blows away some of the calories! And if it’s sunny, well the sun just burns off some. Is it raining outside? Well great! The rain washes away some of the calories.

7. Exercise is good for everyone!
We all know that exercise helps burn off excess weight, but did you know that this extends to your food? Now, it does take a bit of time, but with a bit of planning you can snack on-the-go and not worry about gaining pounds. Simply pop your snack of choice (a Snickers bar for example) into your handbag and carry it with you on your day-to-day business. Not only are you burning calories by being active, but so is your chocolate bar! Simple!

8. Food that comes in two or more parts, divides the calories.
Well this is just simple mathematics. Food that is divided obviously contains a fraction of the calories found in the whole. For example, take this slice of this 4-layer white chocolate and cranberry cake. Well, as there are four parts – or layers - to the cake, evidently there are a quarter of the calories in a slice! 

9. Home-cooked food contains fewer calories!

It's home-made so therefore it is healthier and better for you. Time to fire up that oven and bake some cupcakes. Food bought from artisan shops has a similar effect. Just mind the mass-produced stuff. That contains LOADS of calories. As for organic???? Go for it. It's total carte blanche. Calorie and fat-free! 

10. Food eaten in the dark doesn't contain calories either!
Gosh, at the rate we're going, we'll be looking for tips to gain a few kilos, as if you follow all this advice, you may just fade away! Tip #10 is thanks to WhyIamnotskinny who tweeted me her words of wisdom: food eaten in the dark does not contain calories. I'm going to expand this slightly to not only include food eaten in the dark (such as a cinema) but also food consumed in the after-/nearly-/semi-/almost-dark (so, twilight, late evening, with one side lamp on, a rainy day, very early morning, curtains drawn, room with a very small window, tents, marquees, etc) is also included. The more philosophical amongst you could further expand upon this to if you're in a 'dark' mood or dressed in dark colours. Honestly, the world is your oyster here.


So, over to you. Do you have any top diet tips to share? And let me know if you are following the 365things plan – I’d love to hear how you are getting on. You may also inspire others with your success stories!

* Guaranteed? Eh… Maybe not.

** that'd be none at all.

A plethora of desserts – chocolate fondants and white chocolate and cranberry cake

I have a very sweet tooth, which I’m trying to keep in check, but that is a post for another day. I fell off the wagon this weekend when the family was over, and I made three desserts – I really like having a selection to choose from.

My SiL is allergic to cinnamon, so she couldn’t eat the red fruit and apple crumble I made. She loves chocolate fondants, so I decided to try making some for her, which gave me the opportunity to test out some new molds I’d bought. Aaaand dessert #3 came in as I figured the kids wouldn’t eat either the crumble or the fondants, so I made a white chocolate and cranberry cake for them. Well, in the end, only the adults ate the cake, the kids were the biggest consumers of the fondants and only four portions of crumble went.

Felicity Cloake did the legwork on the fondant recipe – this is from her ‘perfect’ series. I doubled it to make four. This recipe makes two.

60g butter
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
60g dark chocolate
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
60g caster sugar
1 tablespoon of plain flour

Heat your oven to 200°. Grease the inside of 2 small ramekins or pudding molds, and then put the cocoa in one and turn it to coat the inside, holding it over the second mold to catch any that escapes. Do the same with the other mold.

Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted. Allow to cool slightly.

Whisk the egg, yolk, sugar and a pinch of salt until pale and fluffy. Gently fold in the melted chocolate and butter, and then the flour. Spoon into the prepared molds, stopping just shy of the top – at this point the mixture can be refrigerated until needed, or even frozen, as the puddings will not wait around once cooked.

Put on to a hot baking tray and cook for 12 minutes (14 if from cold, 16 if frozen) until the tops are set and coming away from the sides of the molds. Leave to rest for 30 seconds and then serve in the ramekins or turn out on to plates if you're feeling confident – they're great with clotted cream or plain ice cream.

Chocolate fondant - still in the mold

The cake I made was the one we tasted at the last Clandestine Cake Club. I used this recipe – here is the UK/gram equivalent. It actually looks really festive, so it would be great for a Christmas party. It looks as good as it tastes too.

Cranberry and white chocolate cake

For the jam

350g of fresh cranberries

150g sugar

the rid and juice of an orange

a teaspoon each of ground ginger and cinnamon

a couple of cloves – just remember how many you put in

(if all this is too much, just use a jar of cranberry jam – Carrefour does a delicious cherry, cranberry and red currant (I think…) jam)

For the cake

225g of white chocolate

300g of plain flour

a small sprinkle of salt

140g of soft butter

270g of castor sugar

4 eggs

a good teaspoon of vanilla – I use a jar I got in Ireland of Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste. I’ve seen the same brand, but not the vanilla, in the International Home of Cooking at Rue Léopold 3, 1000 Brussels (its near Sterling Books).

A good dash of milk

For the icing

170g white chocolate

100g of soft butter

50g icing sugar

another good teaspoon of vanilla

You start off by making the filling. In a saucepan, mix all the filling ingredients for it and bring to the boil. Once boiling, simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from the heat. Once its cool enough to not scald yourself on, go through it and fish out all the cloves you added. Then, whizz it through a food processor for a few seconds.

For the cake, melt the chocolate in a bowl over some boiling water until it is fully melted.

Pop your oven on to 190° and grease and line two 20cm cake tins.

In another bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light n fluffy and its gone white, or at least a lot paler. This will take about 5-7 minutes of mixing. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition and add the vanilla with the last egg. Finally, mix though the flour, baking powder and salt until it’s just about combined and then mix though the melted chocolate. If your mixture is a bit thick, add a few dessertspoons of milk to loosen it. It should be the consistency of honey.

Spread the batter into the prepared cake tins.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on wire racks for 10 minutes before removing them and cooling completely.

The vanilla bean paste I use

For the icing, melt the white chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Leave it to cool for about 20 minutes (I didn’t pay attention to this, and added the warm chocolate to the rest of the icing, and well, the whole lot curdled. Bin!). Even after 20 minutes, it hadn’t started solidifying again, so no worries in that department.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, vanilla and the icing sugar until fluffy. When the chocolate is cool, mix it through the icing.

To construct the cake, slice each of the cakes in half horizontally and slather the jam on layer 1, put the other half on, slather that, then layer 3 – more jam – and then the lid of the cake. I only covered the top of the cake with the icing.