10 best sites for Eggless baking

I have recently been to many baking classes and since then I have been searching for an egg less cake recipe that that is fool proof.  Many people do not consume egg in any shape of form, this may be due to health reasons,allergies or religious reasons. I having been working my way through many egg less cake recipes to find one that works best for me that will give me a light sponge. Most recipes I have tried give the cake either a rubbery texture, some make the cakes really dense and others give an after taste from too much raising agent that needs to be added to make the cake rise.I have tried recipes with fizzy water, cola and even adding egg replacers such as apple sauce, flax seeds and yogurt,sour cream and apple cider vinegar.The recipe that I found that works best for me is adding the apple cider vinegar.This gives me the best texture,moistness and lightness in the cake.Some eggless recipes that I have created  are eggless cookies, eggless muffins,eggless pancakes, eggless cakes and eggless  mousse.

During my search, some of these sites have become my favorite sites which are very good and informative. They all cover different types of egg less recipes and offer helpful advise, tips and tricks for egg less baking so I thought why not share them with here my readers. If you are looking to improve your eggless baking do drop by and check these sites.

1.Madhurams egg less baking
2. Chef in you
3. Divine Taste
4. Gayathri Cook Spot
5. Bhavnas vegetarian kitchen
6. Edible Garden
7. Tarla Dalal
8. Manjulas Kitchen
9. Nisha Madhulika.com
10. Red Chillies

Three Dimensional Easter Egg and Bunny

These simple 3 D Easter Egg and bunnies are simple and easy to make.

Ingredients:

8 oz / 220 grams Milk chocolate
Edible coloured sugar and Flowers to decorate.

Method:

1.Break the chocolate into small pieces and place it into a  microwave safe bowl.
2. Melt the milk chocolate once it has melted gently pour it into the silicon mould which has been placed on a baking tray
3. Sprinkle coloured sugar and flower decorations of  choice on the egg shapes and place the tray in the fridge to set.

4.After 2 hours gently peel off silicon mould and slide the two egg shapes together to form a 3 D egg.(Do this very gently otherwise the chocolate will break.If you are having difficulty to slide the pieces together shave a tiny bit of the chocolate off in the slits using a sharp knife to make the slit wider.)
5. Slide the bunny shapes together and add a small white chocolate eye.

This inspiration for this post came from Selena blog- garnish food, Selena is a wonderful fruit and vegetable carving artist, she has some amazing creations on her blog and she has also made video of how to make these 3D Easter Eggs which you can check out here.

I purchased this Easter Egg/ Bunny silicon mould ( 1.99) from Lakeland they also do a similar heart shaped mould ( £2.49) that you can use to make lovely 3D chocolate hearts.

Submitting to:
Lets Cook for Kids event by simply.food

Chocolate coins for Easter

These simple and delectable little chocolate coins are simple and easy to prepare and make wonderful Easter treats.

Ingredients:

8 oz / 220 grams White chocolate
8 oz / 220 grams Milk chocolate
Edible coloured sugar or sprinkles to decorate.

Method:

1.Break up each type of chocolate into small pieces and place it in two separate bowls that are  microwave safe.
2. Melt the milk chocolate first once it has melted  drop spoonfuls of it onto an acetate sheet that is placed on a baking tray.Spread the chocolate with the back of a spoon to form round circles about 5 mm thick and 2 inches in diameter.

3. Sprinkle coloured sugar or sprinkles of choice on the chocolate circles and place the tray in the fridge to set.
4. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and follow the same method as for the milk chocolate.
5. Place it in the fridge to set.
After 2 hours gently peel off the acetate sheets and remove the chocolate coins. You can place these in a cellophane bag and tie the top with ribbon to make Easter presents.

Submitting to:
Lets Cook for Kids event by simply.food

Easter Chocolate mousse tarts.

Delectable little tarts filled with creamy rich chocolate mousse and garnished with mini Easter eggs

Ingredients:

For Mousse:

16 oz / 400 grams milk chocolate or dark chocolate, chopped
1½ tbsp golden syrup
1½ tbsp milk
200 ml fresh double  cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
mini chocolate eggs for garnish

For sweet pastry:

8 oz / 200 grams plain flour
4 oz  / 100 grams cold butter
Iced water
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt

For tarts

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C /375 degrees F
2. In a food processor add the flour, butter and salt and blend to combine.
3. Add the sugar and blend again

4. Add 2-3 tablespoons iced water and blend just enough to form a dough.( You may need to add little or more water, adjust as per need)

5. Transfer the dough to a bowl and lightly bring it together, wrap it in cling film and chill it for half an hour.

6. After half an hour, remove the chilled dough from cling film and roll it out on  a floured  flat surface to approximately 5 mm thick.

7. Cut round circles using a cookie cutter. They must be bigger than your mini tart tins.

8. Line the mini tart tins with the cut out pastry circles and prick the base of each tart tin with a fork.

9. Line the tart tins with parchment paper and add baking beans. Blind bake the tarts for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

10. Remove the tarts cases from the oven and remove the baking beans, allow the tart cases to cool completely.

11. Once cooled gently release them from the tart tins and keep them one side.

For Mousse

12. In a heat proof glass bowl add the chocolate, golden syrup, and milk and melt it using a double boiler. Once chocolate has melted keep it aside to cool.
13. In another bowl add the cream and vanilla and whisk until thickened and forms stiff peaks.
14. Combine the chocolate into the cream by gently folding it in.This is important to retain the air in the mousse. Do not over mix.
15. Once combined chill the mousse for 1 hour in the fridge.
16. To serve, spoon some mousse into the prepared tart cases and garnish with the mini eggs.
17. Any leftover mousse can be spooned into individual serving glasses and chilled. Garnish with grated chocolate or strawberries.

NB- Both the tart cases and mousse can be made ahead of time but only assemble them just before serving otherwise the tart cases will absorb moisture from the mousse and become soft.

You may like:

Black cherry Tarts

Submitting to:
Lets Cook for Kids event by simply.food

Novelty Kids Sandwiches ~ Cheese and cucumber Flower sandwiches

Delectable little kids  cheese and cucumber sandwiches made into little flowers.

Ingredients:

4 Slices of white or brown bread
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
Cucumber slices
Cheese slices
Carrot slices
Red grapes cut into halves.
Shredded lettuce

Method:

1. Using a cookie cutter cut out four circles from each slice of bread.
2. Spread butter /margarine on them and place them on a tray in pairs.
3. Using the cookie cutter cut out some round circles from the cheese.
4. Place a cheese slice circle on to a bread circle, and top it with a slice of cucumber.Place the second slice of bread circle butter side down on top of cucumber to form cheese and cucumber sandwiches.
5.Cut the carrot slices into flower shapes by cutting out 5 "V"  shaped notches

6.On a serving plate place some shredded lettuce, on top of the lettuce place the cheese and cucumber sandwiches, Place a carrot flower on top of each sandwich and top it with some grape halves.

You may like:
Kids Novelty sandwiches Cucumber caterpillar

Submitting to:
Lets Cook for Kids event by simply.food

Hemp seed and Oats cookies (eggless) and Good Hemp product review / giveaway.

 Healthy and delicious eggless Hemp seed  and Oats drop cookies .

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

4 oz / 120 grams sweet Cinnamon Hemp seeds
6 oz / 180 grams cups oats
6 oz / 180 grams plain flour
6 oz / 180 grams soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
20 grams egg replacer

Wet Ingredients:

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75 ml  cup Hemp milk
75 ml  Flora cuisine ( olive oil)

Method:

1. In a jug add the hemp milk, flora cuisine and vanilla and whisk it all together. Keep aside.
2. In a large bowl add the flour,baking powder, oats, hemp seeds, sugar and egg replacer and mix well to combine all the ingredients.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and form a cookie dough, if the mixture is a little sticky just add 1/2 tablespoon more flour.
4. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees C / 375 degrees F.
5. Line three baking trays with parchment paper.
6. Using a mini ice cream scoop or spoon drop rounds of  the cookie mixture onto the baking trays leaving adequate room between the cookies.
7. Bake for 14-18  minutes until cookies are golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and transfer them to wire rack to cool.
Serve with a glass of cold orange juice.

NB- These cookies do not spread much in cooking and have a moist centre. If you want the cookies to be crisp, flatten the cookies using the back of a spoon to spread them a little before baking.

Hemp seeds- Hemp is naturally high in fibre, which helps to maintain a healthy colon, lower your cholesterol, and assists in  reducing the risk of developing heart disease. The fibre content in the seed reduces hunger by giving you a feeling of fullness that will help  dieting and leads to healthier eating patterns.

• Hemp is the most environmentally sustainable crop on the Planet. 
• Hemp does not need any herbicides and pesticides to grow, it is 100% Natural.  
• Hemp is a complete source of protein.  It is rich in Omega 3, with an ideal ratio of Omega 3 to 6, Hemp   is the only source of vegetable protein containing all 10 Essential Amino Acids
• Although the Hemp crop is in the same family as the Cannabis plant, it contains no THC (the psychoactive substance in Cannabis) – so it is completely safe to eat.

 Some of the foods available from Good Hemp are Hemp oil, Hemp milk, Hemp seed and Hemp protein.

GOOD OIL – A nutty, cold-pressed Hemp seed oil that is great for cooking and garnishing, containing half the saturated fat found in olive oil.

GOOD HEMP MILK – A healthy alternative to dairy or soya milk and also packed with omega 3, containing 50% of daily omega 3 in one glass.

GOOD SEED – A seed pot that comes in four flavours that can be eaten as a healthy snack or used as an ingredient for almost any dish.     

GOOD HEMP PROTEIN shakes – A range of protein powders aimed at building and repairing muscle, exercise, fat burn and weight loss.

I would like to thank Good Hemp for introducing me to the benefits of Hemp and providing me with the samples of the Hemp products. Being a vegetarian I am always looking for new ways to include good nutrients in my family’s diet. All the views and opinions in this post are my own.

Good Hemp have also been generous and has offered some Good Hemp  products to one simply.food visitor. 
The prize is:
I bottle of Hemp oil
1 carton of Hemp milk
4 tubs of good seeds snacks 
£5 off an online order and a free shaker for mixing hemp protein shakes.

How To Enter:

• Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries and see the terms and conditions of entry.
• Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc
• This competition is open to UK residents only .Please read the rules below .
• Leaving a blog comment is mandatory and failure to do so will void any other entries.
• Closing date - 11th April 2013 6.00 pm

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thorntons Easter Eggs ~ Product Review

Easter is just around the corner and every where you go there are Easter goodies for sale. Cute little Easter chicks and bunnies in wicker baskets to mini Easter eggs to amazing family size Easter Eggs from many well known companies that weigh a ton and are a chocoholics dream treat.

A couple of weeks ago I was sent two lovely Easter Eggs by Thornton’s. One being their Black forest gateau  and the other was a family sized giant Easter egg called The Marvellously Magnificent.

My favourite cake is the Black forest gateau so I was thrilled to receive the black forest gateau Easter egg. I was intrigued as to how the flavours of the Black forest gateau be replicated in an Easter egg. I was pleasantly surprised, the egg is made with chunky dark chocolate, juicy cherries and chocolate curls. It has a gorgeous blend of textures and berry flavours.

The Marvellously Magnificent egg was big and proud; it weighed 1 kg and was seriously humongous. It had solid walls of chocolate almost 1cm thick. The chocolate was rich and creamy and melted on the palate. 

The best thing about the Thornton’s Eggs is that they are suitable for vegetarians; they have no gluten in them and are free from any artificial colours and flavours. Thornton’s range includes eggs of all sizes and prices so whether you want a mini treat for Easter or a family sized Egg, there is something for everyone with reasonable prices to suit every budget.

Thankyou to Thorntons for sending me the Eggs to review, unfortunately they did not last until Easter day as they were so delicious. All the views in this post are my own.

Novelty Kids Sandwiches- Cucumber Caterpillar

Novelty kids cucumber sandwiches in the shape of a caterpillar, perfect for parties.

Ingredients:

6 slices white or brown bread
1 tablespoon butter or Margarine
Cucumber slices
I small tomato
2 raisins
2 spaghetti sticks
Shredded lettuce

Method:

1. Using a cookie cutter cut out 4 round circles from each slice of bread.
2. Butter the bread circles and lay them out on a tray in pairs
3. On half the bread circles place thin slice of cucumber and make a sandwich by placing the second circle buttered side down onto the cucumber.
4. Break small 1 cm pieces from the spaghetti  and push it into the tomato on the top right and left sides making sure some of the spaghetti is sticking out.
5. Cut the raisins in half and push them onto the spaghetti sticks onto the tomato to form eyes.
6.Break two more 1 cm pieces if spaghetti and push them at the central bottom area of tomato.
7. Cut a semi circle out from the cucumber to make a mouth shape and push it onto spaghetti sticks secure it on to the tomato to make caterpillar mouth.
8. Take along spaghetti and thread onto it the 6  prepared sandwiches to form the caterpillar body.
9. Add the tomato by pushing that onto the spaghetti also to form caterpillar head, make sure eyes and mouth are placed forefront.
10.Break off any remaining spaghetti stick not required.
11. Place some shredded lettuce on to a plate and place the cucumber sandwich caterpillar onto it.
Serve immediately.

You may like:
Novelty kids Fish shaped cheese sandwich

Submitting to:
Lets Cook for Kids event by simply.food

Grated carrot salad ~ Secret recipe club challenge March 18th

This is my assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select a recipe and try  it and blog about it.
My assigned blog was That skinny chick can bake. When I saw the name it brought a smile to my face and I was eager to read the blog which  is run by Liz Berg.The blog is full of tips on advise on baking and cooking and has a range of recipes. I looked through the blog and found this simple yet delicious Cafe Style carrot salad which is perfect for lunch boxes or picnics.I reduced the quantity of the recipe by half.

Ingredients:

2 medium carrots
1 tablespoon raisins
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon Roasted peanuts
1/2 green chilli (optional)

Dressing:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon mild olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

1. Peel and wash the carrots and  coarsely grate them.
2. Soak the raisins in the orange juice for 15 minutes.
3.Coarsely chop the roasted peanuts
4. Add all the ingredients under the dressing list to a jar with a lid.Shake the jar to mix the dressing.
5. Add the grated carrots to a bowl, add the soaked raisins, peanuts  and the chopped chilli and mix.
6. Pour the dressing over the carrots and toss.
Serve Immediately.

You may like:
Mango Posset

My day at Blog Summit ~Bristol March 2013

Friday March 8th I attended the Blog Summit that was held in Bristol with a fellow Blogger Jag from Jagruti's cooking Odyssey. This is my second visit to such an event the first was in London in September 2012. There were some 70 bloggers all full of energy and armed with pens, pads and cameras to the ready. It was a little daunting to start off with as everyone seemed to know every one else but me but once the ice was broken it was great to meet the faces behind the blogs.After the mingle session over with Actimel yoghurts, coffee and tea, we took our places in the room for a brief welcome introduction by Sally Whittle  the founder of Tots 100. (Sorry no click of Sally to share here, she refused to have her photo taken!! maybe she was joking but fear of being chucked out of the summit like a naughty child I obeyed.)

Actimel were the sponsors of Blog summit Bristol, they came with  fridge load of Actimel in all the flavours under the sun and we were encouraged to drink as much of it as we wanted, always a good start to any event. They explained how bloggers can get involved in 2013 campaigns and how it works.
Next we were introduced to Christine Mosler and Annie Spratt both ladies had some interesting information and tips to share about working with charities.( Annie even suggested cycling naked to raise funds a little extreme but I guess it grabbed attention!)There were some good tips on how to approach charities and how to get involved in campaigns to help  raise money for charity.
A brief talk by Jason from tots 100 ads followed, it was interesting to know that you can sign up your blog to show these ads on your blog and make money from it.
After all this information over load it was time to refresh with some more coffee, tea, cakes and Actimel of course!! It was time to mingle and play with the camera and props that were laid out for us to take wacky photos. I don't know what happened to mine and Jags click  I need to see how it came out.

Break over and it was back to the session on SEO, this was presented by Tom from Fresh Egg. The talk was very informative  and covered topics such as key words, page ranks, follow / no follow links and much more.It was a very informative session and I certainly came home buzzing with lots of information  that will help me improve my blog.

Lunch break and there was more mingling over sandwiches fruit, tea and coffee and more Actimel!! Yes you are right I was on my 5th bottle of it by lunch time, I guess my gut was lined with super good bacteria at this stage!!! Luckily it has no after effects from over consumption and I forgot to say the coconut flavour is by far the best , try it if you dare!!!

The afternoon session was kicked off with a fantastic talk by Cathy James of Nurture Store, she gave a very visual presentation and talk about how to increase traffic using Facebook page and pinterest. She shared some fantastic tips and tricks to maximise traffic and to use Facebook and pinterest more effectively.

Last but not the least we were introduced to Tom and Becky of Arblog, both of them gave a demo and visual presentation on photography, angles to use to shoot photos and brilliant tips on lighting. Who would have known that  a simple hand held halogen lamp is all you need to provide perfect lighting for your photos.I am sure this tip will definitely increase sales in halogen lamps as 70 mad bloggers fight their way to an electrical store to lay their hands on one!

Finally our day at blog camp ended, loaded with yes you guessed right more Actimel!! The lovely people at Danone even gave us some to take home!!!With  our head buzzing with so many ideas, tips and tricks  Jag and I made our way back to London. Bristol is a beautiful city the 3 hour journey each way to Bristol and back was definitely worth it and I look forward to attending the next camp.

My day at Tots 100 SEO Academy.

I was recently invited to an SEO Academy hosted by tots 100. Since my knowledge of SEO is absolutely zero, I jumped at the chance to attend. The workshop was presented by Dave Sottimano of Distilled.

Some of the topics he covered were:

Understanding SEO- SEO is short for search engine optimisation, it means writing content that can be found easily by people who search on the net via search engines.  

Using Key Words- using key words in the title gives maximum impact, key words are words that people use to search for specific topics ie if they want a chocolate cookie recipe they search for chocolate cookie So using relevant key words in title will optimize the search. Head terms is one word that describes your topic ie Cookies, Longtail terms are a sentence ie How to bake chocolate cookies? It is also advised to include  head terms and longtail terms in your post.

Permalinks- You can customise your post permalinks to include your key words so that you get maximum optimisation in Google search.

Link building- Build links with other blogs and well know trusted sites. Visit blogs with comment love that allows you to leave a link of your last post. “Ego Stroke” visit other blogs and leave meaningful comments encouraging the recipient to visit your blog and reciprocate.

Follow / no follow links- Be aware of Google wrath, if you are accepting sponsored posts or doing product reviews make sure the content fits in with your blog theme(contextual text) and do follow the guide lines for no follow links. To understand this concept a simple guide to follow / no follow  for bloggers can be found here.

Disclosure on paid posts and reviews- You must declare on your post if the post is review or paid sponsored post. This topic is fairly complex so get more knowledge on it you can read the article on tots 100 “Should I remove disclosure statements on paid posts”  and "What makes a good disclosure policy" explaining this in more detail.

Add creative commons license - Add creative commons license on your blog home page. Creative Commons license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and even build upon a work that they have created. CC provides an author flexibility (for example, they might choose to allow only non-commercial uses of their own work) and protects the people who use or redistribute an author's work, so they don’t have to worry about copyright infringement, as long as they abide by the conditions the author has specified.

Images- Make sure all images are named with relevance ie if it is a chocolate cookie image name it chocolate cookie rather than a random  image number. A lot of Google traffic comes from image search.

Text- Make sure you have a minimum of 500 words in your post as this is good for Google search, avoid posts with images only. A mix of text and images is best.Google servers find it difficult to search image only posts.Add a category list to your blog side bar to enable easy search of specific topics for visitors.

Blog promotion-Add your blog URL to your email signature, promote your blog via Google plus, twitter, face book , pinterest, stumble upon and other social networking sites.Encourage others to tweet and share your posts.Add a blog role and swap links with other bloggers.

The workshop was very interesting and covered the above topics and a few others in much detail.I have shared a few key things that I had noted and I would like to thank Tots 100 for  inviting me to the SEO Academy .

Devon Scones~ A perfect British afternoon teatime treat

These Devon scones are a British teatime treat that are simple and easy to make and the recipe is very versatile. You can make many different varieties by adding ingredients such as chocolate chip, dried fruits, sultanas or fruits.They are a firm favorite for a British afternoon tea.

Ingredients

225 g / 8 oz self raising flour

60 g  / 2 oz sultanas

Pinch of salt

60 g / 2 oz butter

30 g / 1 oz caster sugar

150 ml  / 5 fl oz milk

1 egg for glazing (optional)

For serving- Jam and clotted cream.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 220 º C/425 º F/ Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter to form a bread crumb texture. Add the chocolate sultanas.

3. Stir in the sugar and then the milk a little at a time to make to get soft dough.

4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly.

5. Roll out the dough to round circle approx 2 cm thick. Use a 5 cm cutter to cut out scones place them on a baking sheet.

6. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough and cut out more scones to until you use up all the dough.

7. Brush the tops of the scones with the beaten egg. Bake for 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden.

8. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

To serve cut in half and spread with jam and add a dollop of clotted cream.

You may like:
Eggless Banana Muffins

Submitting to:

Flavours of United Kingdom event by simply.food guested hosted by saffron streaks

Novelty Kids Sandwiches ~ Fish shape with cheese filling

Kids novelty fish shaped cheese sandwiches.

Ingredients:

4 slices of brown /white bread
1 teaspoon butter
60 g / 2 oz grated cheddar cheese,
small piece of cucumber.
small piece carrot
2 raisins

Method:

1. Cut the crusts off the bread slices.
2. Cut out a fish shape from each bread slice(freehand or using cookie cutter)
3. Butter the fish shape bread slices and place them on serving dish.
4. Sprinkle some cheese on top of the fish shape bread slices and sandwich the second shape on top of it to make a sandwich
5. Place some shredded lettuce on a serving dish and place the fish shaped sandwich on it.
6.Cut some green strips from the cucumber peel and arrange them on the fish tail  to represent stripes.Cut out some carrot strips and arrange them on the fishes body to make stripes
7. Cut the raisin in half and use to make eye.

Serve Immediately
You may like:
Jammie Dodger Sandwich.

Submitting to:
Lets Cook for Kids event by simply.food

Event RoundUp ~ Flavors of Italy

This event is the first in the Flavours of Series 4 ~ Europe. It was guest hosted by Divya Prakash of Divya's culinary journey. Thankyou Divya for guest hosting this event and to all the participants who sent in their entries. We had a wonderful response .
Here is the round Up.


Our next stop in Flavours of series 4 ~ Europe is Flavours of United Kingdom At Sukanyas Blog -Saffron Streaks. Do drop by her blog to check out details of how to enter.