Skinny tea-party chocolate cake

Nothing beats a big slice of chocolate cake, eaten with a dainty fork while curled up on the sofa watching your favourite reality tv show. Of course, cake and couch sitting can be a diet disaster combination but if you whip up this light and beautiful chocolate cake, you won't have to feel so guilty! I like to call it my skinny tea-party cake because of the dainty jam layer and the light sponge texture of the cake.

This post will teach you how to make a gorgeous chocolate cake fit for entertaining or enjoying solo. Dress up with edible glitter, baubles or flowers if you are baking for a party.

Light Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
6 fresh dates with seed removed
50 grams of dark chocolate (80%)
1 cup of self-raising flour
½ cup of caster sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
1 egg (room temperature)
½ cup of milk of your choice (room temperature)
3 tbsps of vegetable oil

For filling:
Sugar-free strawberry jam

For icing:
½ packet of low-fat cream cheese
¼ cup of icing sugar
2 tbsps of cocoa powder
Sliced strawberries
20g of dark chocolate

Directions:

Chop the dates and chocolate, and pour over hot water until just covered. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together. Blend the chocolate, dates and water until smooth. Beat the egg, milk and oil with an electric mixer. Gradually add sugar until combined. Add the chocolate and date mixture and mix. Fold in dry ingredients until combined, but try not to overmix.

Oil a cake tin and put baking paper on the base. Put the cake mix into the tin and bake for 30 minutes in a moderately hot oven at 180 degrees. Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

When the cake in completely cool, carefully cut the cake in half using a bread knife. Using a plate and large spatula, flip the top layer onto the separate plate. Heat the jam in the microwave until warmed and spread over the top of the bottom layer. Using the spatula, take the plate with the other side of the cake and carefully tip on top of the jam layer.

Using an electric mixer, whip cream cheese, cocoa and icing sugar until soft and blended. Ice the cake and top with sliced strawberries and grated dark chocolate. I also think hundreds' and thousands' look super cute.

Indulgent tea

Herbal tea not only offers many health benefits, it is virtuosly sugar-free and the perfect skinny treat. All day long, I religiously sip my favourite herbal teas of green, camomile and ginger.

Since I have become so in love with my tea habit, I decided to investigate the best tea on the market. For the most sumptious indulgent tea combinations, you cannot exceed Tea Forté. This luxury brand of tea has irristable flavours like lemon sorbetti, cucumber mint, white pear and ginger, cherry cosmo, kiwi lime ginger, and lychee coconut. Amazing.

Oprah said 'If you are a tea lover, this is as good as it gets.' Try sipping out of gorgeous Wedgewood tea cups or scour an antique store for floral mugs.

frankie's french toast muffins

The combination of French toast and Frankie magazine makes me feel very happy indeed! French toast is somewhat my speciality breakfast and I love that you can never ruin French toast, the dish carries much less pressure than 'whipping up' (for anyone who has tried this, it just isn't that simple) batch of pancakes.

What is so special about French toast is that you can create a very delicious treat for breakfast with nothing more than egg and bread, and it manages to feel so indulgent. The experience can make a regular old Tuesday morning feel like a relaxed Sunday brunch.

Trust the folk at Frankie to notify me of the important revelation of French toast muffins. I am intrigued to translate this breakfast flavour into muffin form and whilst I have heard of French toast cupcakes before, I've never attempted them.

Frankie has borrowed this recipe from Sprinkles Bakes blog, and I am borrowing it from them, with a few amendments of my own to skinnify the recipe.

French Toast Muffins

* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1/2 tsp. baking soda
* 2 tsp. baking powder
* 2 tsp. powdered cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups reduced fat buttermilk or low-fat soy
* 60 grams of butter, melted
Sugar-free maple syrup
Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line cupcake pan with papers, set aside.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk/soy, egg and melted butter.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture.Stir until just incorporated. Do not over-mix!

Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full. Bake for 10-15 minutes,(check at 10 minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Poke holes in the muffin tops and gently spoon over one or two tablespoons of sugar-free maple syrup onto each cake. Dust with icing sugar.

Passionfruit and walnut biscotti

Biscotti is a great skinny sweet because it doesn't contain butter or oil, is cut into small pieces for portion control and satisfys sugar cravings. I used what I had in the pantry to make this flavour combination but you can really let your creativity (and pantry supplies) determine what type of biscotti you want to bake.

Some good combinations to try are:
* Cranberry and pistacio
* White chocolate and macadamia nut
* Dark chocolate and candied ginger
* Shredded coconut and dried apricot

Remember to cut any dried fruit into small pieces to blend evenly through the biscotti and to not interfere with slicing the biscotti into pieces. You won't need to roast any of the nuts or buy nuts without the skins on them, all this will add flavour and nuts will roast while you bake the treat.

My recipe is as follows, but use these as the base for creating any combination you wish.

Passionfruit and walnut biscotti

Ingredients:

* 2 eggs
* 1 cup of caster sugar
* 2 cups of plain flour
* 1 teaspoon of baking powder
* juice of 2 small passionfruits or 1 large passionfruit
* zest of 1 lemon
* 50 grams of walnut, chopped
* 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Directions:

Beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla, passionfruit and lemon zest until pale and creamy. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and add the walnuts. Fold these ingredients until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough. Lightly knead the dough and seperate into 2 pieces.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Roll each piece of dough into logs roughly 30 cm long and 5 cm wide. Place onto the tray with space between each piece and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until lightly browned.

Remove baked dough and let completely cool (takes about 30 minutes). Use a serated knife to cut logs into pieces. Lay these back onto the oven tray and bake for another 10 minutes or until all pieces are golden. Turn biscotti and bake the other side until also lightly toasted.

Store in a airtight container; will keep for 10 - 14 days if stored correctly.

Fancy ice cubes

Berry Ice Cubes

This is an easy way to fancy up any drink.

Ingredients (hardly complex!):

* mixed berries
* filtered water

Fill up an ice cube tray with water
Drop a berry into each compartment in the tray
Freeze and add berry cubes to water, lemonade or punch.

Try a myriad of fruits, including grapes, chunks of kiwi fruit or passionfruit ice cubes (omit the water for these).

I also like rose petals or baby rose blooms frozen in cubes. I found baby rose blooms at a speciality store near my house, I will take a picture and add it to this post on the weekend. If you buy rose petal to use, make sure they are organic as they won't have pesticide spray on them.

Rosetini

Roses and vodka combined? Well I think that certainly equates to the ultimate feminine cocktail.


Rose Martini

Ingredients:

* Ice
* 3 ounces vodka
* 1 ounce rose syrup
* Dash of Angostura bitters
* Organic rose petals

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the vodka, rose syrup and bitters and shake well. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with rose petals.

Sleep to skinny & lavender honey tea

A solid sleep routine is paramount to skinny habits. Tiredness can promote overeating and poor food choices as your low energy will make you reach for sugar and calories to help get you through the day. Chronic sleep loss triggers hormones that can lower the "appetite control" hormone leptin. When leptin is not controlled in your body's normal manner, you will find yourself reaching for food all day but never feeling satisfied. If you are exhausted, you are also not going to feel like doing vigorous exercise, or moving much at all. How much sleep is enough? There are many different opinions on how much sleep is enough for an adult. Adequate rest is usually in the 7 -8 hour range. If you have had a few sleepless nights that week, you may need to 'catch up' on your sleeping and have 10+ hours if you get the chance.

What is affecting your sleeping routine? If home or work commitments are preventing you from getting essential rest, try to find the support you need to get as much sleep as possible. Remember, you can't function properly or take care of yourself without sleep. With young children, the chances of slipping into a broken sleep routine are likely. However, sleep when you can, even if you can squeeze in a 30 minute nap.

For many others, sleep can be lost through seemingly no reason at all. Lying awake in bed for hours is not only frustrating, but damaging to your mental health, and to your overall wellbeing. Insomnia is usually attributed to incessant worrying, which keeps you from falling into a deep slumber. Transient or short-term insomnia is typically caused by such things as stressful life events, jet lag, changes in sleeping environments, some acute medical illnesses and stimulant medications. Five percent of people will need treatment for more long-term sleeping disorders. See your doctor if your sleeping problem is prolonged and try not to worry about sleeping itself, which cruelly fuels the insomnia. When I can't sleep, I get up and make myself some tea. Try this recipe for a sleep-inducing brew.

Honey Lavender Tea

Ingredients:

* 1 teaspoon fresh lavender flowers (or 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender flowers)

* 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried mint)

* 1 teaspoon of manuka honey

* 1 cup boiling water

Brew tea in a teapot with strainer or a tea infuser for five minutes before serving.