Usually for breakfast I like my multi grain toasts with no desire to change but once in a while I like to treat myself with some fancy little bites like these ones. I would have called those mini cakes (which in French gâteaux are what those are), but I feel they’re more muffins than cakes, as per American standards. Cakes are described as sweet, with frosting and no fruits.

They’re light, very airy, moist and perfect for breakfast or as afternoon snack. The base is like the traditional French yogurt cake, but I used Greek Yogurt instead and oat and almond flours instead of regular white flour. I used a pear but you could also use an apple.

Ingredients for 6-8 muffins

• 1 1/3 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tbs stevia powder
• 1 Greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp vanilla powder
• 1/4 tsp bitter almond extract
• 1 pear, peeled and grated
• sunflower seeds for topping

Preparation

Preheat oven at 365F. In a large bowl, mix flours, baking powder and vanilla powder.

In another bowl, beat eggs with coconut sugar, stevia, oil, yogurt, bitter almond extract. At the end add pear. Mix well.

Pour the bowl containing the eggs/sugar mixture into the bowl containing the flour mixture. Mix well.

Divide batter in individual muffin molds. sprinkle with coconut sugar and sunflower seeds.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Spring is here and I am just excited about a new season coming. I love spring, except for the allergies due to pollen. Hopefully this year will be mild allergy season.

One of the simple things that make me happy in life is eating coconut ice cream. Since I have no coconut ice cream, I would be just happy eating anything “coconuty” today. Since I have a lot of ingredients made out of coconut in my kitchen, I thought to make something simple, yet light and delicious.

I like the fact that this cake doesn’t need anything special in the making process such as dividing the whites from the yolks and beating them separately, etc… all ingredients are mixed together and that’s it.

For those with some gluten intolerance, I made those gluten free, otherwise you can make those with regular flour, it can be with whole wheat flour, or any other flour you prefer. I don’t have any problem with gluten but I was out of whole wheat flour so I used gluten free flour. I was gluten free for about eight months, I wanted to see if I would feel any different, since everybody is telling you, you have to remove the evil gluten from your diet. I my case, there was absolutely no change in the way I felt, weight, health, or anything else, so I decided to go back to gluten.

These cakes are so light that after eating one of those, it feels like you didn’t eat anything.

You would think that for a coconut cake, the result would be a snow white cake. I love snow white cakes, but you just have to use white sugar. In this case, the raw coconut sugar being brown like a brown sugar, you end up having a brownish cake. Oh well “tant pis“, they’re delicious, so the color doesn’t really matter in the end.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 5.3 oz (or 150 g)  raw coconut sugar
• 4.5 oz (or 130 g) raw coconut oil
• half can coconut milk (I used the light one)
• 5.3 oz (or 150 g) shredded coconut (I used the reduced fat kind)
• 4.2 oz (or 120 g) gluten free flour
• 1tsp baking powder

Preparation

Pre heat oven at 375F. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Divide the batter in eight paper cups (or regular greased molds) – Cook in a preheated for about 35 minutes. You can enjoy slightly warm or cold.

Financiers are a traditional individual little French cakes made with almond powder and brown butter. Usually they’re rectangular but I gave them their original round shape. They’re sometimes called Visitandines, due to their original fabrication by Visitandines nuns. They used to be round like these ones but became rectangular over the years and especially after arriving in Switzerland where the Swiss decided to make them rectangular.

Financier in French also refers to people working in the finance field. It’s been said that these tiny cakes were created by a pastry chef or what we call pâtissier so that finance people would not make their fingers dirty while eating them. I don’t know if it’s true, but I think that there is always something true in popular ear-say.

After surfing the wonderful site called l’Atelier des Chefs, I saw this little dessert that tempted me and I decided to try it out. Do not hesitate to make these financiers, they’re delightful. I only substituted agave nectar to powdered sugar in the coulis which adds a more natural and flavorful touch, other than that the recipe remained the same.

Since peaches are in season, it’s the perfect time to grill them and eat them warm with these green tea cakes…and what’s better than a strawberry coulis to add the final touch? nothing. These mini cakes are very moist and absolutely perfect for any occasion.

Ingredients for about 10 financiers

For the Financiers

• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) almond flour or powder
• 1.76 oz (or 50 g) white flour
• 0.35 oz (or 10 g) matcha green tea powder
• 6.17 oz (or 175 g) powder sugar
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g) egg whites (about 3)
• 5.29 oz (or 150 g) butter

For the coulis and peaches

• 6 peaches
• 1/2 lb (or 250 g) strawberries
• agave nectar

Preparation

For the financiers

In a mixing container combine all ingredients except butter. Melt butter in a pan and let it brown. Do not let if cook too long until it becomes too dark. It needs to have a nice nutty color. Let it cool and add to the other ingredients. Divide the batter in muffin molds (fill in the molds to half). Cook in a pre heated oven at 180C.

For the coulis, blend strawberries with agave nectar.

Cut peaches in slices and grill on a skillet on both sides.

Serve financiers with grilled peaches and strawberry coulis.

I have always wanted to try to bake a vegan cake that tasted like a non-vegan cake, the great news is that this one tastes better than a non-vegan cake made with eggs and butter. This cake is so moist and flavorful that all my future banana cakes will be vegan. Sometimes you get stuck with some set ideas, such as an eggless cake cannot taste good. I am happy I decided to go against what I thought was right. I had a great weekend and these mini cakes contributed to it….and Prince too, since I went to see him perform in San Jose. What an incredible and talented artist! I knew he was talented but didn’t know he reached this level of musical genius. So Prince and these cakes made my weekend. I have to admit that my ears are still ringing from the sound of the concert, I think I lost some sense of hearing.

I have been very busy lately, and sadly not had much time to post any exciting recipe, nor time to experiment and develop new ideas. I have had a few requests for gluten-free or vegan meals lately, and I will be experimenting more gluten free and vegan desserts. In this particular cake, the ripe bananas mashed into a cream replaced the eggs and made these cakes amazingly moist. No need for eggs!Those mini cakes are perfect for breakfast with fresh fruits or as a little “encas” (snack) with tea or coffee in the afternoon. They’re so healthy and moist, pure velvet in your palate.

I added walnuts and dried apricots in the batter and I couldn’t have found a better ingredient combination for those ones. I used a little grape seed oil instead of vegan margarine, I think oil adds more moisture to the cake than margarine and will always be my first choice when baking vegan.

Ingredients for 5-6 people

Dry ingredients

• 4.23 oz (or 120 g) wholewheat flour
• 4.23 oz (or 120 g) brown rice flour
• 4.23 oz (or 120 g) brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla powder
• 3 tbs walnut, chopped
• 3 tbs dried unsweetened apricots, chopped

Wet ingredients

• 2 large ripe banana, mashed into a creamy texture
• 7 oz (or 200 g) coconut milk
• 2.82 oz (or 80 g) grape seed oil
• 1 tsp banana extract
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation

Mix all “dry” ingredients together in a mixing container. In another container, mix “wet” ingredients. Add wet ingredients to “dry” ingredients and mix well to obtain a smooth batter. Using individual silicon molds, divide batter in 6 molds or one large cake dish. Cook for about 45 min at 365F, you might need to decrease temperature if the top starts getting a little dark. The cakes are cooked when you slide a knife and the blade comes out “clean”. Let it cool and sprinkle some unsweetened coconut flakes on top. Eat warm or cold with coffee or tea.

Well it might no longer be crab season, but I have urges of a pregnant woman when it has to do with food. Anytime I see crab, I cannot help and buy some. I am a big supporter of eating seasonal and local products, except for crab, I see it, I buy it, which I know goes against what I preach. I hope I will be forgiven.

Don’t get confused, there is no pasta in this dish, just cucumbers cut like spaghetti. I love to make those cucumber spaghetti with fish terrine, or any appetizer bouchée that has seafood in it, it is so refreshing. The thing is you cannot make those ahead of time because the cucumbers produce a lot of water, then they will be soaked in it and lose their crunchy texture. Whenever you grate them, you have to serve them right away.

Crab and shrimps are a great combination. You just need to be careful when you break the shell of the crab legs to remove the flesh, they have some thorns that can be quite dangerous if you are not careful.

Ingredients for 3 (2 crab cakes each) 6 crab cakes

For the crab cakes

• 3/4 lb king crab legs (leave some extra for decoration)
• about 12 large shrimps, ground
• 3 shrimps cut in half for decoration
• 1 egg
• 6 tbs plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1 tsp tarragon, chopped
• 1 tsp capers, chopped
• 1 tbs red onion, chopped
• 1/3 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper
• paprika for decoration

For the cucumber spaghetti

• 1 english cucumber
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp hot Dijon mustard
• 1/2 honey
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp fennel leaves chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the crab-shrimp cakes

Break crab legs and remove flesh, set aside. Remove shell from shrimp and devein them. Grind them in a mixer, not too thin. Mix with crab flesh. Add all other ingredients and mix well. For small patties about 2 inches diameter.

Heat olive oil in a pan and cook cakes on both sides until golden brown and cooked all the way through, about 5-6 minutes at medium heat.

For the cucumber spaghetti

Start making the dressing. Mix olive oil, honey, lemon juice, mustard and fennel, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Set aside

Peel the cucumbers and grate them lengthwise using a julienne cutter, place in mixing bowl with dressing and serve right away. Spoon a tbs of cucumber in a small plate, add one cake on top and decorate with shrimp cut in 2, topped with a little crab, fennel leaves and paprika.