Chocolate Brownie Cake - Allergen free!!!!!!!!!!!

I HAVE DONE IT!!! It took until my 33rd Birthday (after over 2 years of a crazy restricted diet!) to succeed at making a sucessful cake!

It has it all; an amazing cakey texture, moisture, sweetness...and it actually, genuinely (no I am not just fooling myself for once) TASTES GOOD!!!!! Woo!!!
*** I Have updated this recipe, all changes are in this colour :) They're deliciously brownie-like now!!! Have basically added chia seeds into the mix and ground the flours more finely! ***

Here's the recipe and method:

100g cocoa powder (unsweetened, not cross contaminated!!)
1/2 cup oil (I used grapeseed - prob best to use olive oil if you can find one that's not got a strong taste)
100g Xylitol (natural sugar substitute- extracted from birch trees)
1 heaped tbspn agave syrup
100g flour - made up of: 60g buckwheat flour, 25g ground pumpkin seed,15g ground linseed -All ground finely
A tablespoon and a half of chia seeds, ground
1 egg (or linseed/flax 'egg')
1 tspn bicarbonate
1 tbspn raw apple cider
apple juice as needed for more moisture in cake mix....


Beat the egg and sugar/xylitol. Mix in the agave syrup.
Pour oil into a bowl that's sitting in hot water (to slightly warm the oil). Mix the cocoa into it.
Incorporate it into the egg and sugar mixture.




Loosen the mixture with apple juice if necessary, either before, during or after adding the flour - whatever makes it manageable.
Fold in the flour and bicarbonate.
I grind my own pumpkin seeds, linseed and chia seeds in this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Martin-Wahl-ZX595-Grinder-Stainless/dp/B000HEZ98C/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1390252900&sr=8-6&keywords=grinder
I now grind the seeds more finely which adds to 
When fully mixed, splash in some vinegar to activate the bicarb. This is what will make the cake rise a bit.
As I said, you may need to add a bit of juice.
LET it stand for a minute, then go back to it and you'll see that it's got stiffer, it's absorbed the liquid and got 'airier'. Splash in some apple juice until it returns to a thinner mixture again. Again let it stand and go back. I do this two or three times, then when it's a really good thick gloopy but not spongey mixture, go for it with the next stage:
The mixture should be VERY sticky, difficult to smooth into a (paper-lined) baking tray, as it won't want to let go of the spoon or spatula! It shouldn't be too liquid or too dry. I spread it into a layer nearly 2cm thick. Admittedly with my fingers at times lol. It rose to about an inch.
I call them chocolate brownie cake, as it may resemble a brownie and taste like a brownie - but the texture is more cake-like. THESE modifications have made it amAZingly cake-like but beAUTifully moist like brownies, without being heavy. I am SO pleased with them!! Will put up a new picture... if any of them ever see the light of day, they tend to get made and scoffed in an afternoon/evening!!

Enjoy!!! Must be eaten rapidly (within a day or two) or they go a bit dry (my all time FAVOURITE excuse lol!!)

Fish pie!

Well, it seems to me that we are a little over-complicated with our food at times!
'The simpler the better' is what I am learning!
But people do have their pre-requisites, habits and their expectations about things... so I hope you will not harshly judge my humble and very very simple but very tasty fish pie!!

This is TGF safe if you omit the beans.

I simply do the following:

Fresh or frozen wild white fish
onions, preferably red.
White beans/ kidney beans or any veg you can have, in chunks (I have done it with cubes of courgette before...peppers or aubergines maybe? I am off nightshade personally! Have also done it with olives- surprisingly good!)

Slow fry the fish gently, breaking it up as it cooks and flakes naturally. Season well and add onions a few minutes before the end. I use the lid to sweat it for the last few mins. Take off heat when cooked and add fresh herbs as desired. I normally just use parsley or coriander. I then stir in some drained and rinsed white beans or kidney beans or green beans...or whatever you fancy. I have also added tuna or salmon from a tin to it before just to bulk it out (not very glamorous, I know, but easy and it worked a treat!)

2 medium to large sweet potatoes
olive oil
sea salt

Boil or steam in large chunks until soft. Mash with olive oil and sea salt. Leave aside.

2 Leeks,
olive oil,
fresh nutmeg,
salt + pepper

Cook the leeks in a heavy bottomed pan, in olive oil with freshly grated nutmeg and black pepper and the lid on. Cook, shaking or stirring occasionally, until soft and deliciously melty, mmmm.........  :p

In a large oven dish (I use an ex-terrine, deep dish) put the first layer in the bottom: leeks!
Then the fish, onion and bean or veg mix.
Then spread over the mashed sweet potato! I fluff it with a fork to get crispy bits on top! I also sometimes sprinkle over ground linseed with a drizzle of oil, or slightly oiled whole pumpkin seeds.

It is all cooked, so I just put it in the oven until hot through - depends how freshly put together it is - but generally it has cooled quite a bit by then for me, as I make it in a million stages - so I put it in the oven for about 20 or so minutes, until the potato starts to colour a bit round the edges...

Et voila! It really isn't dry, I promise! It's succulent, sweet, herby, spicy and tasty - all at once! Tweak it to please yourself - add in your preferred ingredients. But it's dead simple and even easier if, like me, you do it in stages whenever you get a few minutes here and there in the day...

Will come back to add a picture if I ever take one before gobbling it all up!