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Discover how to make healthy treats that don’t sacrifice taste…

We love this book – it’s gorgeous to look at, the cupcakes and frosting YUM! The recipes really help reveal how to use healthy alternative ingredients such as Coconut oil (zero cholestrol), gluten free flour (easier to digest), agave nectar (ideal for vegan diets). As the book information says…

Forget everything you’ve heard about health-conscious baking.

Simply, BabyCakes is your key to an enlightened, indulgent, sweets-filled future. This is important news not only for parents whose children have allergies, for vegans, and for others who struggle with food sensitivities, but also for all you sugar-loving traditionalists. The recipes in these pages prove that there is a healthy alternative to recklessly made desserts, one that doesn’t sacrifice taste or texture.

Having experimented endlessly with alternative, health-conscious sweeteners, flours, and thickeners, Erin McKenna, the proprietress of beloved bakery BabyCakes NYC, developed these recipes–most are gluten-free, all are without refined sugar–in hopes of combating her own wheat, dairy, and sugar sensitivities. In BabyCakes, she shares detailed information about the ingredients she uses (coconut flour, xanthan gum, and agave nectar, for example) and how to substitute them properly for common ones–all the while guiding you safely through techniques she’s spent years perfecting.

When BabyCakes NYC opened on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2005, it helped propel the gluten-free and vegan baking movement into a new stratosphere. Suddenly there was a destination for those with wheat allergies and other dietary restrictions–and, soon enough, celebrities and dessert lovers of every kind–to indulge freely in delectable muffins and teacakes, brownies and cookies, pies and cobblers.

Enclosed within these pages are all the “secrets” you’ll need to bring the greatness of BabyCakes NYC into your own home as well as raves and recommendations from devotees such as Natalie Portman, Jason Schwartzman, Mary-Louise Parker, Zooey Deschanel, and Pamela Anderson.

For confectionists of all kinds, delicious alternatives lie within: Red Velvet Cupcakes, Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas, Strawberry Shortcake, and BabyCakes NYC’s celebrated frosting (so delicious it has fans tipping back frosting shots!), to name just a few. Finally, Erin’s blissful desserts are yours for the baking!

About the Author

ERIN MCKENNA is the chef and owner of BabyCakes NYC, a bakery with outposts in New York City and West Hollywood. She received the prestigious Best Cupcake award in 2006 from New York magazine. Erin has been a guest on Martha Stewart Television and Food Network and has been featured in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Modern Bride, VegNews, Harper’s Bazaar, In Style, and O, the Oprah Magazine.

Where to buy book:

I’ve looked around and have not been able to find in my local bookstores. I grabbed a copy from the library and was reluctant to give it back so I’ve ordered a copy for Xmas via Amazon.

BabyCakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-About Bakery

Extra notes about Ingredients…

Coconut Oil

A study into the effects of a “diet rich in..” medium-chain fatty acids (such as in coconut oil and butter) concluded that “MCFAs in the form of MCTs significantly increased plasma triacylglycerol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations and the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and thereby resulted in a less beneficial lipid profile overall.”

Further, research done by nutritionist Mary Enig has found that non-hydrogenated coconut oil (i.e. extra-virgin) consumed in moderate amounts “is at worst neutral with respect to atherogenicity of fats and oils and, in fact, is likely to be a beneficial oil for prevention and treatment of some heart disease.”

Coconut oil is commonly used in cooking, especially when frying. In communities where coconut oil is widely used in cooking, the unrefined oil is the one most commonly used. Coconut oil is commonly used to flavor many South Asian curries. It does not create any harmful byproducts when heated.

Hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated coconut oil is often used in non-dairy creamers, and snack foods.

Source: Wikipedia

Agave Nectar

Agave nectar is often substituted for sugar or honey in recipes. Vegans in particular commonly use agave nectar to replace honey in recipes.[13] It is also used as a sweetener for cold beverages such as iced tea because it can dissolve quickly.

Agave nectars are sold in light, amber, dark, and raw varieties. Light agave nectar has a mild, almost neutral flavor, and is therefore sometimes used in delicate tasting foods and drinks. Amber agave nectar has a medium-intensity caramel flavor, and is therefore used in foods and drinks with stronger flavors. Dark agave nectar has stronger caramel notes, and imparts a distinct flavor to dishes, such as some desserts, poultry, meat, and seafood dishes. Both amber and dark agave nectar are sometimes used “straight out of the bottle” as a topping for pancakes and waffles. Raw agave nectar also has a mild, neutral taste. It is produced at temperatures below 118 degrees F to protect the natural enzymes, so this variety is an appropriate sweetener for raw foodists.

Source Wikipedia

Where…

Ingredients available at Health Food stores. NZ check out Ceres Store

~ Easy Green Living shopping guide