Sweets as treats!
As you might have noticed if you follow my blog I have been on a Ketogenic diet for the last month. Keto is a bit different from Paleo, although there are many overlaps. More and more my direction in nutrition and food is becoming a quest for “food for true health”.
Deepening my studies of nutrition I realize every day more that you can not make from every grass a bundle, especially when it comes to diets and physiology. Every body is a highly individual unit, and it reacts in a unique way to its environment.
Understanding that is helping me immensely to create better programs for my patients so the journey to health becomes easier and less daunting.
There are some basic common rules, though, that do apply to every single body, at some level.
One of those rules is that the over-consumption of sugar and simple carbohydrates eventually leads to a vast array of problems, first of all insulin resistance.
That is why in a digital world dominated by food porn and where reader traffic is driven 80% by sweets and treats, I still choose to steer clear from sweet recipes, even Paleo ones. Sweets should be an occasional treat, not a daily FOOD!
Well, that’s if you want to be healthy.
(If you do want to indulge, this is probably not the right blog…)
BUT…if we were going to indulge in something sweet, wouldn’t it be great if the treat was not just delicious, but also GOOD FOR YOU! or alt least NOT BAD?!
That was my goal as I created this recipe, inspired by an old European cake.
Orange Cakes and Poppy Seed Almond Gluten Free Cupcakes
I am not a person with a sweet tooth. I do not particularly like cake, and I really do not like regular cupcakes at all. yes, I know, I am weird!
And I am even weirder because I have this strange obsession with orange cake. Almost any kind of orange cake…
I almost fantasize about the moist texture and fragrant aroma of an orange infused cake…in Italy we use Grand Marnier to soak the dough, making it a delightfully adult treat, but you can actually use the juice of the oranges, and the wonderful zest…so that every bite will be infused with the golden warmth of a sunny orange grove!
In this recipe you use the whole orange, that why is really important that you choose the highest quality organic orange, so that your zest will not be imbibed with nasty pesticides, but only with sweet fragrance. I would recommend Valencia, if you can find them. Also Sicilian blood oranges would make for a very interesting result, but they are harder to come by!
- Serves: 6
- Serving size: 1 cake
- Fat: 33 gr
- Carbohydrates: 19 gr
- Protein: 14.3 gr
- 2 organic oranges
- 2 cups almond flour
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 pastured eggs
- 3 tablespoons organic butter, melted
- 1 packet of Stevia
- Frosting
- zest and the juice of 2 organic oranges
- 4 tablespoons pastured butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut cream
- Put the oranges in a small saucepan with water enough to cover them.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, on a low flame for about 40 minutes.
- Drain the water and let cool.
- When cooled down, cut the oranges in quarters, remove seeds.
- Put the quarters in a food processor and process until smooth.
- Add the eggs and the melted butter to the orange puree and blend until well mixed together.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a muffin tin and line the bottoms with parchment paper, pre-cut to size.
- Find an oven dish that will fit the muffin tin, and half-fill it with hot water.
- In a large bowl combine the almond flour, poppy seeds, baking powder and ½ packet of stevia.
- Now add the orange-egg mixture and stir together well.
- Pour mix into muffin tin holes.
- Cover muffin tin with a sheet of greased parchment paper.
- Now put the muffin tin in the Pyrex with the water and place in the oven.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- FROSTING
- First make the orange sauce, by mixing the orange zest, the juice and the other ½ packet of stevia in a small saucepan over low flame.
- Let reduce for about 15 minutes.
- Mix in the butter and coconut cream.
- Once the sauce is cool, place in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Before serving remove the frosting for the fridge and whip with an hand whip or an immersion blender.
- Spread the orange frosting on the cupcakes and serve.
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These sound delish. Just a question that might sound silly, direction 1 – do you peel the orange?
I also am on the hunt for the way of eating that will make me feel my best. Right now I’m off starches and sugar and I’m attempting a paleo lifestyle. Keto will be something I start researching now.
thanks for a great blog!
Leah
Hi Leah! No, you do not need to peel the orange. Just wash it good, organic oranges a re a must here, as the conventional ones are full of pesticides.
Good luck on your journey! I started out with paleo too, and recently moved to keto, which is much better for me!
looks delicious! wow.
Len, actually the cakes tasted much better than they looked. They were fluffy and moist! Unfortunately the photos did not translate as well as I wanted! 🙁
So you boil the oranges and then mix one of them with the shell??? Is that correct? Can you do the same with lemons? I just LOVE lemons 🙂
Caroline, I would think so ….maybe would be a bit more bitter…but sounds really good!!
PS make sure they are organic when you have to eat the peel!!
Ca I replace the stevia with honey?
Sure, if you can tolerate sugar…this is a keto blog so I do not use sugar 🙂
How much (grams) is in a packet of Stevia? And is it pure Stevia or a sweetner mix with Stevia? I live in Germany and we have different products and measurements and would be grateful if you could give me some info on that so that I can go ahead and make them:-). Also, could I substitute Stevia for honey? If yes, how much honey would you use? Many thanks!
Hello Annette, The one I use is pure stevia and in a packet there is about a gram.
I would experiment a bit with it, so that you can make it the perfect amount of sweetness for your taste.
You can use honey, if you have no problems with sugars. I do not recommend any kind of sugar as this whole blog and my lifestyle is about a diet that does not include it 🙂
BEAUTIFUL!! Craving them now!
Oh Thank you Adrienne! I love the bitter flavor of almond and orange…it’s a European thing I think 😉
HI there, Have tried this recipe and now it’s in the oven I’m confused as the butter is still out!! Where does the butter go in the recipe? I, too, have had issues with the amount of Stevia so have experimented. I had a wee taste before putting the first batch in the oven and they definitely needed more stevia. In Australia packets are just 2g and always mixed with erithrytol. First batch took 10g but the second have just gone in with 16g so we’ll see. May need to adjust with the frosting which I wouldn’t normally bother with. I have also used hazelnut flour as I had some that needed using up. Thanks for the basic recipe and would really love to know what I should have done with the melted butter…
😉
Thanks
Hi Wendy. Sorry the butter goes in the batter with oranges and eggs. I corrected the recipe 🙂
I eat keto and love your blog! I also cook for my father who eats a modified keto diet because he’s type 1 diabetic. I’m this is the first recipe I’ll be trying for him and don’t see the fiber content to figure out total carb count for his insulin calculation. Any idea? If not, I can look it up for myself.
I can’t wait to see what he thinks of these!!!
Thank you ☺
Pamela, I would not recommend this recipe for a diabetic, this is a Paleo recipe, not a ketogenic one.