words and images by Becca Allen

Vegetarian, vegan, raw vegan, wheat free, lactose intolerant…. there are so many dietary needs and intolerances in today’s society and I am just skimming the surface with my knowledge.

Saying this, all the recipes I conjure up and adapt and post for you guys to try out are full of ingredients I have tried and tested. You can find most of this on the web but it usually takes me a while to find at least 3 recipes I can turn into 1 before I am happy with the result.

I have baked 3 cakes in the last week. 2 of which my work colleagues had the pleasure of sharing with me. (I didn’t scoff them all to myself)

I started with lemon & almond polenta cake as I have a new found love for polenta and I am exploring different ways to cook with it. It’s so cheap and easy and has the best consistency!

1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup bio raw sugar or agave nectar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup of polenta
3 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
zest 2 lemons
juice 2 lemons

Set oven to 160 degrees
Line cake tin with coconut butter

CAKE – I whisk the sugar, oil and eggs first then add in the vanilla essence, zest of two lemons and juice of 1 lemon.
I then combine the polenta, baking powder and almonds together and add the the mix gently stirring in. Cook for roughly one hour. Cover if you need, to stop it browning too much. Once removed and cooled down drizzle with lemon syrup.

SYRUP-
The juice of 1 lemon and 1/3 cup of icing sugar heated over a pan and then drizzled over the cake

I served my cake with some natural soya yogurt mixed with some lemon zest. So good!

This cake will keep in the fridge for (so far I have tried 5 days and it tasted fine) I would say 1 week.

Once you have tried this recipe it’s really easy to remember and the ingredients last a while, all you need to do it buy the eggs and lemons.
Let me know how you get on. I would love to see any images of attempts. Add me on instagram – drawdesigndo.

I have so many amazing breakfast recipes I have invented that keep me full for hours, no one in the office can believe it. I have breakfast at 8am and lunch at 2.30pm. So I am thinking of starting a small blog for friends who are interested in my inventive breakfasts. This is certainly something in the pipeline so I will keep you Cooler readers posted.