Celebrations!

 

Over the weekend I had a request for some ideas for a birthday or celebration cake (or even a substitute) that a bariatric could enjoy with the rest of the family or friends. I had a similar one some time ago when a patient wanted to take a cake into the office to enjoy with colleagues and she didn’t want to opt out of the workplace tradition. 

 

Well it’s true to say that birthdays and celebrations don’t go away just because you have weight loss surgery and many of us still like to celebrate a special event with something edible. It’s hard, if not impossible to find a ready-made bariatric cake for such events, but you can make one to enjoy. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking ….

 

The first is that cake I developed for the workplace – it’s a moist carrot cake that cuts and keeps well and despite having a long list of ingredients is easy and foolproof to make and bake. The protein powder was added to boost the protein level of the cake but is not essential – replace with flour if you haven’t any to hand.

 

 

 

CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

 

This is a fabulously dense carrot cake that has been made bariatric-friendly so that it has a good quantity of protein but half the fat, sugar and calories of a typical normal one. Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients ….it makes a wonderful celebration cake!

 

Ingredients

Metric/US

 low-fat cooking spray or mist

425g/15 oz can pineapple pieces in fruit juice

250g plain flour/21/2 cups all-purpose flour

25g/1 oz vanilla or pineapple flavoured protein powder

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 large eggs, beaten

50g/2 oz granulated Splenda sweetener

125g/4 oz fat-free Greek yogurt

50ml/4 tbsp water

50ml/4 tbsp olive oil

50g/2 oz canned white beans, pureed (butter or cannellini for

   example)

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g/7 oz grated carrot

25g desiccated coconut/1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

75g/3/4 cup chopped walnuts

 

Frosting:

350g/11/2 cups extra light soft cheese

3 tbsp Splenda granulated sweetener

3 tbsp icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar

11/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp toasted desiccated/shredded coconut

walnut halves to decorate (optional)

 

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4. Lightly spritz a 20-cm/8-inch non-stick, round cake tin/pan with the low-fat spray. Line the base with a disc of greaseproof/waxed paper.

 

2. Drain the pineapple in a sieve over a bowl, pressing down very well to extract as much juice as possible. Chop the pineapple into fine pieces. Reserve the juice.

 

3. Mix the flour with the protein powder, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

 

4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the Splenda, bean puree, vanilla and 4 tbsp of the reserved pineapple juice. Stir in the carrot, coconut and drained pineapple, mixing well.

 

5. Add the flour mixture and fold into the egg mixture until well combined. Finally fold in the chopped walnuts.

 

6. Spoon into the prepared tin/pan and spread evenly. Bake for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed with the fingertips and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack until completely cold before frosting.

 

7. To make the frosting, beat the soft cheese with the Splenda, icing sugar and vanilla essence. Swirl on top of the cake. Sprinkle with the toasted coconut and decorate with walnut halves if liked.

 

SERVES 16

WLS PORTION: ½

 

V  suitable for vegetarians

 

CALORIES PER PORTION:  217

PROTEIN:  9.4g

CARBOHYDRATE:  21.7g

FAT:  10.9g

 

The second recipe I was reminded about by my friend Zaneta who told me she had made one of my cupcake recipes into a large cake and it worked very, very well. It was a recipe developed for the Queen’s Jubilee (and then the Royal Wedding) celebrations hence the images below but the same quantity can be baked in a 20-cm/8-inch round cake tin/pan and baked for longer, about 25-35 minutes then split and filled and topped with the frosting for a versatile cake. The main image above shows how it could look as a double-decker cake (2 made cakes split then sandwiched together again with the frosting, and the whole top and sides coated with the remaining frosting. You’ll need 2-3 times the frosting amount in the recipe for this option). It looks terrific plain but would also look amazing topped with fresh fruit.

 

 

See the recipe here

 

There are, of course, many other teatime options other than cakes that fit the bill celebration wise – consider cupcakes, muffins, scones, a tea loaf/teabread, a cheesecake, trifle or simply chocolate-dipped fruit or skewers. We have many recipes on the website to entice, a few in our free newsletters and of course in our ‘Return to Slender’ bariatric cookery books (see here). Take a look at some of the ones below with their links to the recipes and ENJOY!

 

 

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT:

Carrot Cake Muffins with Greek Yogurt Frosting (recipe here)

Bariatric Cream Scones (recipe here)

Moist Chocolate Tea Loaf (recipe here)

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Cranberry Cheesecake (recipe here)

Gold Rush Cheesecake (recipe here)

Fresh Fruit Skewers

Quark Lemon Drizzle Cake (recipe here)

White Chocolate and Berry Cheesecake (recipe here)

Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes (recipe here)

Fresh Cherry Sponge (recipe here)

Oaty Raspberry Baked Cheesecake (from Return to Slender Cookery Book page 101)

Trifle Two Ways (from Return 2 Slender Helpings Cookery Book page 63)

Strawberry Cheesecake (from Return 2 Slender Second Helpings page 65)