So one year ago today, I was posting my first ever food picture on the Internet.

At the time, I had absolutely no intention of keeping a blog. Only, I had taken these pictures and my daughter convinced me that they were very good and that I should at least post them onto my Tumblr page so that others might get a chance to look at them.

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing back then, (not that I know much more now…) so she had to talk me through the entire process.

All it took was one picture. I was hooked. Completely, totally hooked.

Food Obsessed was born.

At first, all I wanted to do was log my daily meals and some of my recipes, so that I could go back to them when I didn’t know what to eat, and also as a way to help keep me on the right track. I figured if people were going to have a look at what I was eating on a daily basis, then I would have no choice but to keep my meals “clean”.

Well, here I am, a year later.

I eventually moved from Tumblr to WordPress.com, then WordPress.org. Food Obsessed eventually made way to The Healthy Foodie… some of you will remember that. There have been so many changes since that first post that I’m not sure whose birthday it is today… Is it Food Obsessed’s? The Healthy Foodie’s? Or is it mine? Not sure… but one thing I do know is that I have been blogging for a year now, so there definitely is a birthday today!

And surely we can’t have a birthday without a birthday cake, can we? Or presents, for that matter…

But let’s have the cake first, shall we, and we’ll open the presents after! 😉

For the occasion, the pastry chef in me insisted that we made a traditional birthday cake, complete with piped borders and swirls of icing on it.

What an unbelievable challenge this has proven to be, to create a pipeable icing without using ANY butter whatsoever. I think I have succeeded at creating something pretty decent.

Now, of course, what you see on this cake is NOT buttercream, so if you’re going to give this one a try, you can’t be expecting sweet, fluffy and airy icing. You have to approach this one with an open mind. After all, this icing was made with… dare I say it? Chickpeas… and tofu!

NO WAIT! Don’t go! Come back! It ain’t as bad as it sounds, I swear. Now I’m not saying that you’ll be licking your fingers, roll your eyes backwards and beg for more. But it’s interesting enough to make you crave more. It’s different, but it tastes great. Combined with the cake, I think it could even fool a kid. Maybe…

All I know this is what I’ve been having as an afternoon snack for the last couple of days and I’ve been looking forward to the next piece every time.

Of course, I will be working on this challenge some more, I will be trying all sorts of techniques to improve that icing, to make it lighter and fluffier, and perhaps a little tastier, too!

I really hope that some of you do give it a try, as I’d love to hear other people’s opinions (please, don’t be too hard on me…) My daughter didn’t hate it, neither did my son, so it can’t be that bad. Oh, and one more thing, this icing tends to dry if left out in the open air, so you will want to keep it under a dome, and, of course, keep it in the fridge. This is not your typical sugar overloaded cake that will stay good for days and weeks in the cupboard!

Alright, now let’s light up those candles… let me make a wish… and blow them out!

Anyone care for a piece of cake… please? 😉

Now that the cake is ,  I would like to want to take this opportunity to thank each and every single one of you for being here, for reading these very words.

So…

To all of you who read me on a regular basis, who comment and share their thoughts on my posts or choose to remain silent, to all of you who are there for me and support me through it all, to all of you, my faithful readers, who make it all worthwhile and make me want to keep doing this day after day after day, who make me want to give it the best that I have to offer, who make me want to surpass myself and come up with better ideas and better pictures, I want to say a huge THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

None of this would be possible without you. Well, maybe it would be possible… but it would be darn boring! 😉

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, LET’S OPEN THE PRESENTS ALREADY!!!

As a token of my gratitude, I want to offer you guys a present.

Some of you might have notice that I’ve recently joined the Amazon Associates Program. I figured since they are my ultimate favorite online store ever and since I’m already using them all the time to “demonstrate” certain products, it was kind of a no brainer…

And, since I like the store so much, I figured I can’t be the only one!

So, I decided to give away not one, but two $25 Amazon gift cards to you, my lovely readers.

How do you get in on that? Simply leave me a comment, telling me what you think of this cake, or my site, or what you would like to buy at Amazon if you won one of the cards. Also, follow me on any of the aforementioned sites and leave me a comment here for each different site that you follow me on.  Each one of them will get you an additional entry. Of course, if you’re already following me or subscribing, leave me a comment here telling me so.

The winners will be chosen at random amongst the comments received and will be announced this coming Friday, November 4.

Good luck to all, and again, thanks a million!

I love you, you are the best!

EDIT : THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. WINNERS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED HERE

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Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Servings: 12

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Egg mixture

  • 2 whole eggs
  • 6 egg whites
  • ¼ cup liquid honey

FOR THE ICING

  • 2 cups chickpeas, dry
  • 2 tbsp + ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1½ cup raw peanuts, +½ cup to decorate
  • 1 banana, not too ripe
  • 225 g firm tofu
  • 250 g low fat cream cheese
  • ¼ cup liquid honey
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp coconut flour
  • 1 tbsp flaxseed meal
  • ½ tsp Himalayan or unrefined sea salt

Instructions

For the icing

  • The previous day, soak chickpeas in clean water with 2 tablespoons of baking soda for at least 8 hours.
  • Drain, rinse and soak again in tap water for a few more hours. The grains should absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.
  • Place the peanuts in a single layer (don’t forget to roast an extra ½ cup if you want to have some to decorate the side of your cake) onto a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 275F for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionaly to keep them from burning.
  • Meanwhile, rinse the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add ½ tsp baking soda and NO salt. Cook until the grains are very tender, almost mushy, around 30-45 minutes. Regularly skim the surface during cooking process to remove foam and loose peels floating.When cooked, drain the chickpeas and allow to cool for a little while before you continue.
  • When the peanuts are nice and golden (and your entire house smells like peanuts) remove from the oven and cool for about 20-25 minutes.
  • Add peanuts to your food processor and pulse until finely crushed. Reserve ½ cup to decorate the side of the cake later. Process the remaining peanuts until smooth and creamy, about 8-10 minutes.
  • Add chickpeas to peanut butter and process into a thick puree.
  • Remove bowl from the base of the food processor, but leave the blade in place. Cover with plastic film (place film directly on chickpea mixture) and chill completely in the refrigerator, at least 4 hours.
  • Break up the solidified chickpea mixture with a spatula and put the bowl back onto your food processor.
  • Add banana, tofu, cream cheese, honey and maple syrup and process until smooth.
  • Add coconut flour, flaxseed meal and salt and process one last time until nice and smooth.
  • Put back in the refregirator to chill for about 30 minutes.

For the cake

  • Preheat oven to 375F
  • Coat 3 round 8" or 9" cake pans with cooking spray.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, add eggs, egg whites and honey. Whisk on high speed until nice and fluffy, about 8-10 minutes.
  • In a large mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together with a whisk until well combined.
  • In a seperate bowl, add wet ingredients and blend until well incorporated.
  • Delicately fold in egg mixture and mix until well incorporated.
  • Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and fold in very delicately with a spatula until well incorporated.
  • Divide equally between prepared pans and bake in a 375F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  • Allow cake to cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
  • Press reserved chopped peanuts to the side of the cake. The easiest way to do this is to put the nuts in a large mixing bowl and, while holding the cake in one hand, press the nuts against the side of the cake with your other hand, letting the excess fall back into the bowl. Repeat while carefully turning the cake until side is completely coated.
  • Place cake onto cake plate and pipe borders and swirls and decorate with carob chips.
  • Sprinkle a little bit of crushed peanuts on top of your cake.
  • Cover with cake dome and keep refrigerated.
Author: Sonia! The Healthy Foodie

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