Paula’s Real food Lumberjack dessert cake
Just like my Date & coconut bundt cake, this is an old favourite which has been screaming ‘make me healthier’ for years now, but had been lost amongst my pile of forgotten recipes . . . that is until now! Having extra time at home over the COVID-19 crisis, with the social (physical) distancing and my children home schooling has provided the opportunity to finally get around to sorting through my recipe collection! I must say that a large portion of my recipes are already organised digitally as booklets or hand-outs for my 10-day Real food detox program and one-on-one-clients. This is of course my collection of especially nourishing recipes which I have in my toolkit of resources to support and inspire my clients both online and in person over their personal health & wellness journeys. I truly believe that food is medicine and if my real food recipes can bring about even just a little change for the better in the kitchens and households of the people I connect with, then my efforts have been well worth it. . . But getting back to my recipes! The remainder of my recipe ‘collection’ here at home looks more like organised chaos . . . piles of paperwork hidden in plastic files on my pantry book shelf with scribblings and notes that date back to even before I first started sharing my wholefood recipes on my Mixing it up HK blog! So, I thought it was time to sift through these pages and dig out the recipes I would still like to make today, resign others to the recycling bin, and get back to work making adjustments or improvement to those recipes which no longer support my way of eating, but have the potential to do so . . .
My next idea, rather than to make this a purely selfish undertaking, was to finally get to work publishing some of my recipe favourites to the web again (which all started back in early 2012 with my Thermomix recipe blog Mixing it Up HK) . . . but this time as part of my Nourish Me Natural adventure. What this looks like is that you will find a number of recipes finally going ‘live’ on this website, some which I posted back in 2016 but were hidden from public view until I was ready to publish them (oops that was sometime ago), plus backlogged recipes from social media posts that I still need to share the details of (feel free to make any requests from some of my older posts), and of course some newer additions beginning with this recipe today! Moving forward it is my plan to share recipes with you on a regular basis. I certainly have enough work to catch up on which will mean a steady stream of recipes coming out for a while yet. I hope you enjoy my return to this area of the digital space!
If you haven’t already been following me on Instagram or Facebook please pop in and say hello. I am hoping that I might even see some old Mixing it Up HK supporters come across too! It would be lovely to re-connect with you again! You will of course see notifications of my new recipes and other stories on these platforms. If you’re interested in learning more about my 10-day Real food detox events you can do so here. Lastly, your interaction in the comments both here and on my social media pages will inspire me to continue to share my recipes. So if you are enjoying them please do let me know.
So here is the recipe . . . if you are not familiar with Lumberjack cake, just like the original recipe this cake is moist, a heavier style and dessert-like. The bonus is of course that this version is guilt-free! Just remember to think occasional treat ;)
what you’ll need:
2 medium apples, core removed & quartered
195g dried, pitted dates
1 heaped tsp bicarb soda
180g boiling filtered water
2 large pastured eggs
120g unrefined, virgin coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/4 -1/2 tsp pure green leaf stevia powder (optional)
150g almond meal (or freshly ground raw almonds)
50g tapioca or arrowroot flour
2 tbsp (25g) coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder (gluten-free)
good pinch of fine good quality salt
topping
50g butter (or coconut oil)
30g raw honey
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
100g shredded coconut
how to make it:
Preheat fan-forced oven to 160 degrees C and grease and line a 7-8” spring form pan. Grate the apples and finely dice the dried dates (use a sharp knife or cut with kitchen scissors) and place in a medium glass bowl or jug. Add bicarb soda and pour over the boiling water. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs (room temp), softened coconut oil, vanilla, green stevia powder and salt. Next add the apple and date mixture to the egg mixture, combining well, then fold through the almond meal, tapioca (or arrowroot) and coconut flours and baking powder. Mix until well combined. Pour the cake batter into the prepared spring form pan. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and then cook the remainder of time (about 10-15 minutes) that it takes to be done covered in a sheet of foil to prevent the cake from darkening too much. Test if done with a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. While the cake is cooking make the topping by combining ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat on the stovetop until the butter has melted. Mix well and spread over the hot cake and bake a further 10 minutes at the same temperature or until light golden in colour. Allow cake to cool for a few minutes before carefully removing from the springform pan. Enjoy! Keeps best in the fridge and returned to room temperature or warmed slightly to serve. Enjoy!
thermomix method:
Preheat fan-forced oven to 160C and grease and line a 7-8” springform cake pan.
Add apple quarters and dates to TM bowl. Chop on speed 7 for 10 seconds or until finely chopped. Decant mixture into a medium glass bowl and sprinkle with bicarb soda.
Weigh boiling water from a kettle into the TM bowl and pour over the apple and dates mixture. Stir to combine and allow to cool.
Combine eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, green stevia powder and salt in TM bowl for 2 minutes at 40C on speed 3.
Return the cooled apple and date mixture, and add baking powder, almond meal, tapioca and coconut flours to the TM bowl. Combine on speed 5 for 10-15 seconds. Pour cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake is golden and a skewer comes out clean when tested for doneness. NOTE: You may need to cover the cake with a sheet of foil after about 30 minutes to prevent the cake from darkening in colour too much.
Rinse out the TM bowl and prepare the topping while the cake is cooking. Add all topping ingredients to the TM bowl and cook for 2-3 minutes on reverse speed 1 at 80C until butter or coconut oil has melted. Spread over the hot cake and bake a further 10 minutes at the same temperature or until the topping is light golden in colour. Allow cake to cool for a few minutes before carefully removing from the springform pan. Enjoy! Keeps best in the fridge and returned to room temperature or warmed slightly to serve. Enjoy!
Hi I’m Paula!
I’m a Functional Nutritionist, Health Coach & Certified GAPS Practitioner. I’m also a mum of two teenage girls and a real food foodie!
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