I can’t imagine a life without cake.. especially homemade, wholesome, delicious cake.
If you love cake (and any kind – cream cakes, banana cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake, nutty cakes, raw cakes, syrup cake, fruit cake) you may agree that there’s almost nothing quite as satisfying and enjoyable as a piece of good cake, when you really feel like it. Perhaps with a coffee or a cup of tea.
Sharing cake with family or friends while catching up on life can be the most enjoyable thing. I also believe that it’s such good medicine. If you feel like cake (or crave it) and you allow yourself to have some, and enjoy each mouthful mindfully (enjoying it slowly, with attention and intention), you are truly satisfying, being kind to and embracing your body’s needs. It’s true.
Some of my clients feel they eat too much cake (and/or too many sweet things) or find themselves eating too much when they do. Or, they avoid sweet things and/if when they have something sweet they end up having a lot of it and then feel guilty. This is not an uncommon concern and is something I often discuss with clients using a non-diet approach.
It’s an approach that helps us to really enjoy cake whenever we feel like it (and not feel guilty), while also keeping balance and looking after our health.
It’s about being well in-tune with our body and our emotions and learning to eat intuitively and mindfully. Once we trust our body’s ability to tell us what it needs, fuel our body with what we truly feel like and are mindful when we eat, we can enjoy all foods. Including cake!
Because.. I believe life’s too short not to enjoy cake x
Cake is just so good and makes us happy.
Speaking of cake, this lemon cake recipe, which was a recipe experiment, turned out to be sooooo good. I followed a Donna Hay recipe, although I didn’t have several ingredients so used what I had, and luckily it worked. It contains olive oil and Greek style yoghurt so is incredibly moist and moreish. It’s easy, wholesome and delicious. A beautiful one to share with loved ones.
Also.. if you do make this cake, when you have a slice try to take the time to eat it slowly, concentrate on eating the cake and as you’re eating it notice how it tastes and how it makes you feel. When we eat mindfully we can really enjoy something and will more easily have an amount that makes us feel good and is good for us, as our body will tell us. If you’ve ever baked cakes and find yourself eating more than you actually feel like (because the cake sits there in your kitchen staring at you, hehe), try this exercise. When you have a slice really pay attention to how it makes you feel, and pause after you’ve had a slice, paying attention to how you feel and whether you really feel like more, it will help you to enjoy an amount that makes you feel satisfied, content and happy.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1- 1.5 Tbsp. finely grated lemon rind
Juice from 3 medium lemons
1 cup natural or Greek style yoghurt
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
3 tsp. baking powder
For the icing:
1 cup icing sugar
Juice from 1 lemon
Boiling water (if need)
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and grease and line a round cake tin with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, add oil, eggs, lemon rind, lemon juice, yoghurt and sugar and briefly whisk together (using a whisk of fork) until well combined.
3. Add flour, and mix well until combined. You can use an electric beater, just briefly, as this is an easy and fast way to ensure there are no clumps of flour and all is mixed well.
4. Pour cake mixture into cake tin and bake for 50- 55mins. Check the cake at 50mins, using a wooden skewer, and once golden on top and cooked inside remove from oven and allow to cool. Once the cake is cool remove from tin, and place on a plate or wooden board. You don’t have to add icing, but if you love super lemony things I recommend it! – Just mix icing ingredients in a bowl and once combined pour icing over cake, spreading with a knife, it will drip down the side and harden once cool providing extra lemony edge.
Gestational Diabetes –
This cake is a lovely one but yes it is sweet. For this reason, if you’d like to bake this cake and do have GDM I’d suggest a few things – firstly I suggest using coconut sugar and only 1/2 a cup, I would also suggest not making or adding an icing (icing sugar is very sweet). If making this cake with these adjustments and wanting to enjoy a slice (occasionally – i.e. you could bake to share with others or freeze some of the cake sliced) I would suggest cutting the cake into 24 slices at least. To do this, slice the cake in half, then make 6 slices out of each half (to make 12 slices), then halve each slice (to make 24). If dividing into 24 slices, one slice is a suitable amount to enjoy as a snack for most women with GDM. However, it really depends on your BGL management. We are all different however, so if unsure of what’s suitable for you I would recommend you speak with your Dietitian or feel free to reach out to me via email or social media.
Lara x