The Best Cake Recipes Ever!

This recipe I originally had back in the late 1990's when I went out for dinner at a friend's place. Once I tasted the first mouthful, I was hooked!!! The cake has a very moist chocolatey texture, and goes very well with whipped cream

Ingredients
125g butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup yoghurt
1/4 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups (350g) grated zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 170 C.

Grease and flour a 24cm cake tin. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence and yoghurt and mix well.

Sift the dry ingredients together and add with the zucchini to the mixture.

Stir gently to combine, do not over mix. Pour batter into prepared tin and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake for 45 minutes or until centre feels firm and a skewer comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream.....oh baby!

This recipe I found at Wild Health Food which is a site dedicated to healthy food. There are some fantastic recipes here and I have tried quite a few, but this cake, takes the cake!!! It's sweet and lovely and goes fabulous with yoghurt, especially Greek, give it a try!

STICKY PRUNE CAKE

This spicy cake is incredibly quick and easy. It took less than 20 minutes to make it for the first time. I was impressed! You can choose to use spelt flour or a gluten free flour mix. Delicious served with a dollop of thick greek yoghurt or cream. By the way, when it comes to cream or yoghurt a little of the real wholefood thing is far superior to a fat-reduced processed alternative.

250 g prunes
100 g dehydrated cane juice sugar ("Shakar" or "Rapadura") or brown sugar
100 g honey
200 ml rice bran oil
4 free range eggs
300 g flour (choose spelt for wheat free, or a gluten free baking mix)
1 t baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice or five-spice
1 tsp nutmeg
A pinch ground cloves
200 ml yoghurt (or rice/soy milk). The yoghurt makes it moister.

1) Wash the prunes and place in a pot. Just cover with water and simmer 10 minutes until tender. Drain, remove stones and roughly chop.
Blend together sugar, honey, oil and eggs. Do this by hand or in a mixer.

Note: If using cane sugar and it's lumpy, then whiz in the food processor until fine before beating with the eggs.

2) Sift in flour, baking soda, and spices.

3) In a separate bowl mix the prunes and yoghurt together gently. Add to mixing bowl.

4) Stir everything together until just mixed. Do not over-mix.

5) Pour into a large greased cake tin. I used a 26 cm springform tin and it was perfect. You could also use 2 loaf tins.

Bake at 180ºC (350ºF) for 25-30 minutes, until firm to the touch.

This recipe I have made a dozen times because it's very simple to make and everyone just loves it! It's a wonderful finish to a meal and served with whipped cream, it's to die for, trust me, you'll love it!!!

Ingredients

180g butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup almond meal
2 Beurre Bosc pears or similar
1/2 cup demerara sugar (you can use brown sugar as a subsitute)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Whipped cream to serve.

Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Grease and line a 22cm (9 inch) cake pan.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla using a mixer (or muscle power) until pale and creamy. Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Using a large metal spoon gently fold in flour and milk alternatively, in 2 batches, until well combined. Sppon into cake pan. Sprinkle almond meal over cake.

Cut pears into quarters. Remove core and thinly slice each quarter leaving stalk intact. Arrange over cake, overlapping slightly. Whisk remaining eggs, demerara sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a jug. Gently pour over pears. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand for 5 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream