My emotional state is somewhat up and down on top of all this. I don't want to exaggerate but it really feels like there is a hive of bees in my head, an endless buzzing that just don't stop.
I am an introvert in my zero state, but like many people have to excite myself up to varying degrees of extrovert-ness at work to earn my puny salary. It means that less time to recharge turns mamma-bear into a bit of a time bomb. My detonation trigger is a bit sensitive so I have to tread carefully or I blow myself up. The training definitely took a toll over the past month and I feel mildly guilty for feeling so ungrateful at times. Dammit! On top of all my stress I still have guilt to deal with as well.
So Comrades 2015 is merely 9 days away. My heart skips a beat every time I think about it. My chest is tight and I feel totally unprepared for the whole thing, but it's too late now to really verbalize what we've been through over the past 6 months. If you want to know what it feels like, get of the couch and start training for the next one. Down the rabbit hole we go...
So whilst I am happily biting off heads, making enemies of my friends. family and colleagues I decided to share my "cupcake recipe". My newest low-carb friend is definitely "Coconut Flour". In general, coconut products (flour, oil, flesh) features a lot in my pantry. I love the stuff. Coconut flour however, is a miracle in my opinion.
Toe-to-toe comparison with almond flour at first may seem a bit iffy, but in general (as a rule of thumb baking with almond flour requires a more or less 1:1 replacement of the conventional flour requirement, whilst coconut flour absorbs a lot more fluid and the replacement factor is only 1/3 of the volume). This is how I convert my old recipes. A mix of the two flours gives a very nice texture for cakes, same rule applies.
| 1 Cup | 1 Cup | 0.33 Cup | |
| (grams) | Coconut Flour | Almond Flour | Coconut Flour |
| Fat | 16 | 56 | 5 |
| Protein | 16 | 6 | 5 |
| Carbs | 64 | 24 | 21 |
| Fiber | 40 | 12 | 13 |
Thus if you compare the second and third column, you get a better picture of the carbs your are going to have in your cupcake relative to using almond flour. Basically, don't fool yourself into thinking these flours are "free to use", they come with a carb-price tag, but you can make clever choices. To get back to my original intent, namely to share my cupcake success story, here goes:
Makes 6 cupcakes (who bakes 6 cupcakes??) I double up on the recipe and my favourite is the chocolate version, with chips of 90% Lindt mixed in with the batter. Best right from the oven or let it stand overnight. It just ages so well!
Berry cupcake-like muffins
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder (I use Sally Creed's)
1 cup of frozen berries
(raspberries or.blueberries work well)
1/3 cup erythritol
(I find 1/3 cup is slightly too sweet for me so fill the measuring cup only about 85-90%, but this is totally up to you)
3 eggs
1/4 high fat cream (heavy cream or whipping cream works; if you are out of those you can use buttermilk plus a bit butter or even cottage cheese very flexible, but the cream is tops)
Instructions:
Mix everything together in a deep bowl until well mixed.
TaDa!
I use Woolies' foil cupcake casings - nice and strong and releases easily. You can fill the casing to almost the top.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees C (test after 15 minutes if set, do not over bake it dries out)
Options:
The Chocolate Cupcake Version
Instead of berries add 3 heaped tbsp of cocoa (don't be shy), and mix away. Easiest recipe ever.And I make it double.
I also added a few chips of 90% Lindt to each cupcake after I let it stand a while to let the batter thicken, but this is totally optional. Just fun to discover a tiny bit of "crunch" whist eating. The chocolate version is texture wise fantastic. I love it!
If you want to make a child friendly chocolate cupcakes version (not a muffin) - for decoration use the cream cheese icing from the carrot cake (add cocoa if you want chocolate flavour).
