5:2 DIET - CHOCOLATE CAKE IN A MUG (Vegan) - UPDATE!

[If you came to this from the 'In A Nutshell' podcast, the story of my ultras and my Viva! fundraiser can be found here.]

This is a simple, quick, cheap, low(ish) calorie cake that can be ready  to eat in as little as 5 minutes (well, 6 minutes and 56 seconds). Mix in one mug - or jug - then pour into a prepared mug to bake. Easy to make with your youngster.

[[Here's the full, 8"/20cm version of the cake - which will set you back all of 70p!]]

Sunday 29th January 2017
Came across this chocolate cake recipe which doesn't use any oil, using apple sauce instead. I thought I'd use this method in this recipe:

4 dessertspoons self raising flour (approx. 40g)
4* dessertspoons sugar (approx. 50g)
1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder (5g)
3 heaped teaspoons apple sauce (30g)

6 dessertspoons water (60g)

And it worked a treat! So, no more oil for me. This, of course, reduces the cal count - by about 150cals. So the cake comes in at around 375 cals.

*I thought it was a little sweet, so next time I'll use 3 dsps of sugar.

Thursday 9th May 2013

I've been tinkering with this recipe a little, to try and make it a little more user-friendly! For instance, I now cook it in a cereal dish lined with baking parchment - it was just too tricky trying to get it out of the mug in one piece. Mind you, if there's no-one else sharing this, then eating it straight out of the mug is the way to go!

I've also started mixing it in a (high-sided) cereal bowl with a rounded bottom - it makes it much easier to ensure you don't leave any caked dry mix in the bottom corners, as can happen when mixing it in a mug.

The third change I've made is to mix the sugar and cocoa powder first, before adding the flour. The sharp edges of the granulated sugar break up the clots of cocoa powder, so a sieve becomes unnecessary.

My record to date is 6 minutes 56 seconds from thinking about cake to hearing the microwave's ping as it finishes the two minute cooking time.

I just laid the baking parchment over the top of the bowl - the weight of the mixture sank the paper into the bowl

And here it is turned out onto a plate.

The time the cake weighed 190g (I used a larger dessertspoon), so, although the calorie count further down doesn't really apply, I guess 50g of this would still come in at around 175 calories.

If you're making the cereal bowl version of this, cut the baking parchment halfway across - then one bit folds under the other as the cake mix is poured in. 

Sunday 17th February 2013 (My first attempt at this)

Place a small disc of baking parchment in the bottom of a mug, then spray the inside of the mug with One-cal Fry-lite, or similar. Assemble the ingredients in a separate mug or a jug.

Not a great pic, I'll be the first to admit. But the cake was quick and tasty.

Ingredients:
4 dessertspoons self raising flour (approx. 40g)
4 dessertspoons sugar (approx. 50g)
1 heaped teaspoon cocoa powder (5g)
4 dessertspoons vegetable oil (approx. 28g)
6 dessertspoons water (60g)

Method:
Mix the dry ingredients together (I'll admit to sieving the cocoa, since it clumps easily, but the flour should be fine).

Add the oil and water and mix together first with a spoon, then a fork. Make sure you scrape up all the dry ingredients.

Pour the mixture into your prepared mug and microwave for 2 to 2 and a half minutes on full power (800W in my case). Check with a skewer to see if it is done.

Calorie count:
This works out at 525 calories - for approximately 150g of cake = 175 calories for each portion of 50g.

Note:
Children should be able to make this from start to finish - since the mug handle should remain cool, the child can place the mug in and out of the microwave quite safely.

BREADMAKING AT WELLINGTON CHILDREN'S CENTRE, Nov 2013

Wednesday 20th November 2013
Another lovely session with 4 families attending. This time we made pain au chocolat, jam and mincemeat doughnuts and jam and mincemeat tarts.

The table before we start - mincemeat, jam and chocolate at the ready. The only equipment needed is a bowl, a beaker and a teaspoon for each family. Beakers in bowls so that any flour spillage is collected in the bowl.

15 minutes later - dough made and rolled out - circles cut out, turned into doughnuts and tarts

The beakers double up as cutters

The two small rolls in the middle are pain au chocolat. The chocolate pieces are halved chocolate squares from Lidl's Fair Trade range. Lovely dark chocolate costing £1.00/100g - bargain!

Noah's bread

Alisha's

Michelle's bread with one pain au chocolat missing already - but it was her birthday!

Kelly's bread. She came to the session a bit late and only had time to make the pain au chocolat. Shame! :)

Michelle and her birthday loaf - which contained, from  left to right, mincemeat, chocolate and jam

Here's a close-up of Michelle's bread - I'll turn it right side up when I get a moment.

[More to come]


Wednesday 13th November 2013
Much better turnout this time - making pizzas and sizzlers. 5 families turned up - with 2 dads and 3 mothers.

Once again, busy tables with lots of activity - this time I remembered to take a few pics, both of the proving dough and of the finished article.

The sizzlers were filled with either mushroom and cheese or tomato and cheese. depending on preference - and they're proving on top of the ovens to take advantage of the heat. 

They don't need to prove for long, since there is about 10g of fresh yeast to 150g of flour they rise pretty fast. But, since we only have an hour and a half for the whole session, there's no time to waste.

Some of the finished bread - could have taken Noah's pizza out a couple of minutes earlier, though! :(

Next week we'll be making pain au chocolat and jam doughnuts - probably I'll bring some mincemeat as well to make 


Wednesday 6th November 2013

The first of three visits this month to this Children's Centre I've visited several times before.

"It's a new group, so we're not sure how many will come" said Kelly, the organiser. And, in the event, two families came, one mum with two children and a dad with one - all of the children under 2 years old.

For the first session, we made bread rolls, which, with only a couple of families participating, didn't take long. So Kelly went downstairs to the playgroup and recruited half a dozen 2 to 3-year-olds!

Not many pics - just lots of activity! Once the half a dozen playgroup children joined us it became a very busy session indeed!

BREADMAKING AND EDUCATION

Maths:

Since 1 mug of flour requires 1/3^rd of a mug of water, the ratio of flour to water is 3:1.

A full mug of flour is easy to judge, but 1/3^rd of a mug of water is a bit more tricky. (The mug should be just under half full.)

(Fortunately, adding a little extra flour or water produces the required result – a soft, slightly sticky dough.)

Salt: Salt is not essential, but, if using it, a quarter of a teaspoon is about right. So the student needs to judge this amount.

Water: The temperature of the water is important – it should be blood heat, between 35-40C. 2 parts of cold water to 1 part of boiling water in a jug will achieve this, roughly. (I like to compare it with bath water! You don’t jump into a bath without checking the temperature first.)

Yeast: A rounded teaspoon of fresh yeast is dissolved into the water.

Fractions:

Dividing the dough into 8 pieces (to make rolls for instance). This means cutting the dough into halves (2), quarters (4) and 8ths (8).

1/3^rd or 2/3^rds  of a mug of water

BREADMAKING at St Mark's Primary School, Basingstoke (4)

31/7/13

Today I received a folio of thank you notes from the children. Too many to include here, so I'll just quote a few:

"Thank you for show me how to make bread. Now my family is inspired to make bread with me! Thank you for getting them inspired. Thank you for the really fun task! It's fun to make shapes. I have been using my imagination and making fantasy animals.

Best wishes, Bianca"

"Thank you so much for teaching us how simple breadmaking actually is. I was so excited when we got to work on our bread. Thank you for teaching us some shapes and designs that could mould out bread into. The bread tasted so lovely. From Abigail"

"Thank you for helping me to make bread. Now me and my freinds can make bread on are own (sic). I like bread. But I love baking. My desire is to be like britains best cooks paul hollywood and mary berry. From Georgina"

"Thank you for spending your morning teaching us how to make bread. When the bread was cooked it tasted divine. From Michael."

5/7/13
Once again, towards the end of the summer term, it's time for my annual visit to my daughter's school where she teaches a year 5 class, for a morning's breadmaking.

This is the fourth year I've done this. The first year we began I taught 45 children - about 2/3rds of the year group - the second we had 77, which was all the year group and last year, the third, we managed 79 children.

(The recipe we followed plus many more pics can be found in the link to last year's breadmaking.)

This year we increased that to 82, which is my new record. It could have been as many as 88, but several children had blotted their copybook and were denied the breadmaking which was seen as something of a privilege.   :(

We pretty well repeated last year's timing spot on, commencing at 8.50 with the first group of 30 children - and the last batch of bread came out of the oven at 12.50. It was hectic, but great fun was had by all.

I could not have done this without the excellent support I received from my daughter Emma and 2 learning assistants, Karen and Amanda, who assisted the students with their mixing, kneading, shaping the rolls; washed up between groups, baked the risen dough - and generally assisted me in every way possible. So a huge thanks to you guys!

I was warned beforehand that not all of the students behaviour would be of the highest and that there may be some disruption at some point - but I saw none of this. IMO the students that I saw behaved impeccably, and we all worked co-operatively towards a common goal. A thoroughly enjoyable morning from my point of view.

And from the students themselves - they were all keenly appreciative, and I heard from one of the other year 5 teachers just how happy all the youngsters were when they turned up for their next lesson.

As is my wont in these sessions, I give the children some homework as the session ends. This is to go home and find someone who doesn't know how to make bread, and teach them what they have learned this morning. When I mention homework, inevitably a few faces fall, but when I tell them what it is, their faces brighten up as they begin to think of who they can teach breadmaking to!

In busy sessions such as these, I often forget to take pictures, and it wasn't until all the children had finished and I took over the oven duty that I remembered - and managed to take 4 pics:

MY BREADMAKING WEEK - 5/7/13

...starts, ironically, with a cake.

Staying over at my daughter's in Basingstoke last Monday night, I fancied a bit of cake. Normally, I'd make a 'cake in a mug' in a microwave, but my daughter doesn't have such a thing. So, I made this vegan chocolate cake. My daughter also doesn't have a whisk, which I think is essential for mixing the ingredients properly - hence the lumps of flour in the pic.

Nevertheless, it went down well with everyone and was tasty enough. Every oven, in my experience, stamps its own character on cakes and bread, and this one gave the cake a firm crust! I wasn't at all keen on this - for a start it made it very difficult to cut - but my son-in-law especially loved the crust. 

I was in Basingstoke specifically to make some bread with my daughter's year group at St Marks PS. So the following morning, Tuesday, that's just what we did, creating a new personal best as we did so. In the space of 4 hours I taught 82 children how to make bread - last year it was 79 in exactly the same time - between 08.50 and 12.50.

No breadmaking on Wednesday, but on the Thursday I paid my usual visit to Longrun Care Home, Taunton, where we made petit pain au chocolat with the residents - and the obligatory curried snake bread, courtesy of Matt.

Matt's 'snakes' are getting shorter and shorter!

Then on Friday morning, we made pane casereccio and jam doughnuts in my Family Learning session at Halcon PS (no pics, I'm afraid). 

Following this session, I stay behind and run a session with 4 or 5 Key Stage 2 youngsters (my FL session is with year one kids). On the Thursday, I'd received an email from my support worker in that session, Sue, telling me that the school garden had produced a load of shallots - and could I use them? I did have a shallot and rosemary focaccia recipe, as it happens, so that's what we did:

Dimpling the dough

Topped with fresh rosemary - also from the school garden - shallots (sauted for a few minutes), then drizzled with olive oil

Washing up never gets a mention on these pages - but, rest assured, the youngsters have to do their bit!

These will be shared out with all the class members at the end of the school day.

Straight after this session, I drove across Taunton to another school, Wellsprings PS, where I was to run yet another Family Learning session. 

10 families turned up for the session - and I have to say the youngsters produced some of the most creative shapes I've seen for a while.

That evening I made 2 spicy fruited naan breads, my breakfasts for the next two weeks.

The lovely weather we've been having recently tempted me to bring the chiminea into action, for the fifth time this year.

3 pizzas resulted - one potato, mushroom and bratwurst pizza and two vegan pizzas with mushroom and pesto toppings:

This for my wife, who doesn't like tomatoes in any form

Pesto, tomato puree and mushroom pate, mixed and spread over the base. This gives me the same flavour hit as I used to get with cheese and tomato

These two for me, since I'm vegan

Finally this week, on the Saturday I began a sourdough loaf by refreshing the starter. I did intend to bake it on the Sunday, but events conspired against me and I ended up baking it on the Monday. All I say for now is that I'm more than happy to share my successes with you - so I should share my failures as well! More in next week's thread.

BREADMAKING WITH THE FAMILIES OF 40 COMMANDO

Began a new project at half term, Autumn 2012, out at Norton Manor Camp, just outside of Taunton, home to 40 Commando Marines who are currently deployed to Afghanistan.

Basically, I've volunteered to spend a couple of sessions a week out there, teaching as many families as I can how to make bread, while their husbands and partners are away.

Wednesday 5th December
Made pane casereccio (PCs, rolled, stuffed pizza) with 3 families - 4 youngsters - this evening. We managed to get all 5 baked - this oven isn't too bad!

4 of the PCs were stuffed with chopped mushroom and a Linda McCartney sausage also chopped, then sprinkled with grated Cheddar. The other was made with vegan ingredients, since one of the children is allergic to dairy. This was spread with Pateole mushroom spread, covered with vegan pesto, with chunks of vegan sausage and mushroom.

Tuesday 4th December
5 youngsters made farthing buns, and their 3 mothers made what was supposed to be focaccia, but wasn't, since I didn't remember to bring any olive oil! I did, however, bring a jar of olives, so the bread was a flattish disc, with olives pressed into the top. The mothers took them home to bake, and I asked them to add olive oil at home. We'll find out next week how this worked out. 

Although I did get a text from Carla, who said, "Wow the focaccia bread was amazing it's almost all finished. Thank you soooo much!"

The farthing buns were baked in the session and the kids were soon tucking in with relish!

(We've decided to use the oven in the centre, despite warnings it was too slow. However, we decided to use it on maximum and it worked fine.)

Wednesday 28th November
Expanding on last week's bread, we made the fruit dough - then turned it into Chelsea buns, which the mothers took home with them to bake.

Wednesday 21st November
But the Family Centre session went ahead, albeit with just two families.

The unbaked rolls that went home with the mothers last week were pronounced a success! We'll be doing more of that in future! 

Today the families went home with a batch of fruit buns each.

Tuesday 20th November
After school session cancelled because of the floods here in Taunton.

Wednesday 14th November
Success! Finally managed to work with some pre-school families - 5 in all, with 8 children all playing with some bread dough and then making some shapes.

A combination of factors  - risk assessment issues - time restraints, etc - unreliable oven - decided us on a different course of action from my usual sessions. Instead we sent the families home with their bread (and recipes) so they could bake it in their own ovens in their own kitchens.

We'll found out on Wednesday how successful this has been.

Tuesday 13th November
Once again, no-one attended the morning session, so my volunteer helper and I just swapped stories over a coffee, just as we did last week. Nikki, my welfare contact has suggested I attend a weekly pre-school family session tomorrow to drum up some support.

The afternoon session was again well-attended, making chocolate and banana bread. No photo's since I forgot my iPhone

Tuesday 6th November 
No-one came to the first session of the pre-school children's session - but the afternoon session with the after-school children was a great success with 7 children attending.

We made cheese and tomato pizza and vegan chocolate cake:

We made  Tuesday 30th October
I began yesterday, first day of half-term, with families with school-age children; today was for the under-fives; and tomorrow is for the school kids again.

Next week we've agreed I'll have the under-5s in the morning and the school kids after school.

We've started slowly, with two families in each session (these things always take time to build up). However, they all had a great time and have promised to go out and spread the word.

I've had brilliant co-operation from the Marines, from Welfare, and from the cooks and chefs in the galley (we're occupying a corner of what most people would call the restaurant) - plus I have plenty of help from volunteers!

The set-up is quite different to any I've experienced before, in that I don't have any access to the ovens - or even the kitchen! So, when I have some bread which needs baking, I present myself at the kitchen door and hope that one of the chefs comes over and takes the bread away. Then I come back later and check if the bread is ready. For someone who is used to instant access to the ovens I'm using, this is a little disconcerting. However, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

We made soda bread on Monday, and my usual method is to stick it straight into the oven as soon as it is shaped. On this occasion I waited until everyone had finished their loaves then took the tray to the kitchen for baking. I'm afraid they didn't rise too well. They were just about OK, and, at least, the students (and volunteers) took the recipes home to have a go in their own ovens.

We also made fancy dinner rolls and shapes - here's a few of the results:

Some of the volunteers also made bread, here's a bull's head by Adam 

On Tuesday, we made more fancy dinner rolls - this time with the younger children - and jam doughnuts. I did my usual trick of forgetting half the ingredients, but the chef, Mark, came to my rescue with jam and sugar.

Here's some pics of the results:

A busy table. We used beakers to cut out the circles

Two circles of dough for each doughnut - 1/2 a teaspoonful of jam in the middle of one of the circles then another circle is placed on top as Katie is doing here. Press with a finger all round, then the two edges are squidged together.

I don't always remember to take pics of the breads my students make, but I had to take this one:

Monkey - by Bazz!

The third session this week saw 6 children making jam doughnuts and petit pain au chocolat: