Put to the test: Raw Nibbles Caramel Slice

Photo: © childsdesign

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When someone offers you a slice of cake, it’s pretty hard to refuse, so when I received an email from Raw Nibbles asking if I’d like to review one of their products, it was a done deal!

You may have noticed that I haven’t been reviewing products very much lately, on my blog. There’s a simple explanation for this – I am very picky now, which I hope is a good thing.
Emails regularly drop into the Cheeky Spouse inbox from PR companies, in a bid to get me interested in reviewing various products for them (for free, I might add!), but I’m always looking for things that are a little less mainstream in favour of something different.

Raw Nibbles products certainly fit the bill. They’re from a (very) small Norfolk company, made by hand in small batches and everything is raw. I don’t know much about gourmet raw food and I am making an effort to learn, I promise you, but what I do know is, that it isn’t just carrot sticks!

Up for the test was a Raw Caramel Slice. It looks just like a gorgeous hunk of Millionaires Shortbread but there’s no butter in there and being dairy free it is perfect for vegans.
You don’t miss the butter though as the biscuity base is rich and nutty tasting that more than makes up for that.

On top of the biscuit is the caramel, all oozing and soft, just as it should be, but not made from cane or beet sugar, as you would expect. I noticed the ingredients list contains coconut sugar, agave nectar and dates, so I suspect that is what gives the sweetness and toffee-like flavour. Clever stuff!

The final layer is raw ‘milk’ chocolate. Again, no dairy. Raw chocolate isn’t so strange and the more types I’ve tasted, I’ve found it to be extremely delicious with such a smooth texture that doesn’t cling to the tongue – an altogether pleasant sensation.

That generous hunk, which was enough for two to share, most definitely gets a thumbs up and I’m not even a vegetarian/vegan. Even the most ardent dairy lover wouldn’t miss the butter, cream or milk.

Could these type of raw food indulgences be the way forward to treating yourself more healthily? I’ll let you decide after you’ve had a look at the Raw Nibbles website www.rawnibbles.co.uk

Lemon Polenta Cake with Rosemary Syrup

Photo: © childsdesign

Is it a cake or is it a pudding? I’ll let you decide, but it is so moist and delicious and you need a fork to eat it… or a spoon so I’m electing it for pudding. Aside from the obvious chocolate cake, this is another baked delight that has the ability to assuage any intense cravings for comfort food. In my case, anyway.

Juicy with the full flavour of refreshing lemons and a texture which is pleasingly crumbly, moist and sticky, all at the same time, I can never refuse a slice. And there’s the temptation to lick the plate! 

Rosemary may seem an unusual ingredient in a sweet cake, but I can assure you that it really works.
Do use fresh rosemary though, for a real fragrant flavour.

Rosemary seems to be the only herb in the garden that can survive the ravages of winter. The others have died back and gone to sleep, or look forlorn and lack the essential oils of the summer season.
So if like me, you can’t wait for the return of the full flow of spring, rosemary will always be at the rescue.

Ingredients
For the cake
175g polenta
50g plain flour
11/2 tsp baking powder
good pinch salt
5 tbsp natural yogurt
5 tbsp rapeseed oil (use extra virgin cold pressed)
2 lemons, juice and grated zest (see my tip on how to get more juice from your lemon)
3 eggs
200g caster sugar

For the syrup
200g caster sugar
200ml cold water
2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas 4. Prepare a 20cm round cake tin by oiling it and lining with baking paper.

Sift together the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

Put the yogurt, oil, lemon zest and 2 tbsp lemon juice into a jug and stir well to combine.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they achieve a creamy consistency. Then beat in the yogurt mixture until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined being careful not to over-mix.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and place in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. The best way to tell if the cake is cooked all the way through is too insert a skewer into the centre which should come out clean when you pull it out.

Meanwhile make the syrup. Put the sugar in a saucepan with 200ml water and the rosemary sprigs. Heat gently until the sugar completely dissolves and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and then strain through a sieve into a jug.

When the cake is cooked, place it on a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then invert and remove the baking paper.
Place the cake on a plate and prick all over using a skewer. Drizzle over half of the rosemary syrup and allow the cake to cool completely.

To serve, slice the cake and drizzle over more syrup You can also serve with a scattering of raspberries and a dollop of Greek yogurt.

It's a bit of an animal

I was watching Dara O'Brian's Science Club on television the other night where they covered the topic of lab-grown meat. This is not news to me as it is a subject that had been circulating in the press a few months previously, however it is still a hot topic.

We are now living in age where the consumption of meat has become so huge, to an extent where it is suggested that the demand is putting an immense strain on our planet.



As much as enjoy a good piece of meat, I am not someone who feels the need to eat it everyday but those that do and believe a meal is not complete without it are being encouraged to adopt at least one meat-free day each week.

Back to the subject of the laboratory, it requires just one small biopsy taken from a live cow. The cow remains unharmed and carries on with its life as usual while its cells in the lab are mixed with various growth cultures and with some scientific manipulation, muscle fibres grow.

It is indeed very clever science, something I marvel at, but I can't help but think that this is perhaps not the route to take to solve the world's meat production issues.
For starters, the lab meat is not like meat as we know it. The scientists demonstrating on the TV programme said it would be used to make hamburgers, so it looks like it is a long way off from being used to construct a nice juicy steak.

A small piece was even cooked after it had been seasoned with salt. The scientists sliced into the anaemic little piece of stuff and gave their verdict. What did it taste like? Chicken apparently. So to emulate the flavours of a hamburger I think it would require a fair amount of additional ingredients and additives to even resemble anything like beef. Already this lab meat is on its way to becoming a heavily processed foodstuff, something I'm not keen on.

No doubt this type of science is a spin off from growing human organs in a lab, which I can see has a valid application, but there must be other experiments and studies into solving the world’s food crises that warrant the time and money spent.

At this stage although growing meat in a lab – from the scientists point of view – has been largely successful, it has taken them years to get as far as they have and by their own admission they couldn't even produce enough yet to meet demand. In addition the current process takes so much energy it is hardly sustainable so perhaps we're still better off rearing real animals in the traditional way.

Food is life

It is very true to say that food feeds the soul as well as the body and I can vouch for the positive effects that the involvement with food can have on mental well being.

I began this blog some years ago as I am excited by food, not just eating, but cooking, the history, the culture and how it is so much part of our lives interests me. I wanted to share what I enjoyed, my knowledge and passion for all things edible, whether it be family recipes or those from my favourite cookery books to even venturing into relating my very much intuitive recipes to the page.

My blog's beginnings were a little sporadic at first as I discovered it takes a great deal of time to write a recipe and having a regular day job could be draining leaving me little time to indulge my passion. Then a couple of years ago something happened that left me in a very dark place indeed. I must have been heading into the dark days of depression well before I was put in a very awkward position that meant I could no longer stay in my job. Was it a nervous breakdown? I'm still not sure but I had been in denial of what was happening to me and then boom, I fell down the biggest and blackest metaphorical hole in the universe.

I find it hard, even now to express how I really felt back then, but my thoughts were often suicidal.
One of the things with depression is that you can lose the want to do the things that you once enjoyed. On the advice of my doctor I tried very hard to continue to pursue my hobbies, my blog being one of them.

I can honestly say that it was very good therapy. It gave me focus and purpose and still does although perhaps I'm not as prolific as I was. However there is a very good reason for this. My blog became a springboard for a business I set up with my husband, whose help has been absolutely invaluable and now my passion for all things food is directed into The Artisan Food Trail.

Could I say that food saved my life? It would have to be a resounding yes. Also without my husband's encouragement, support and steadfast faith in me and what I was capable of I wouldn't be sharing my story today.