BUTTER VANILLA ROCK CAKES

Vanilla Rock Muffins are great for Sunday mornings, the aroma wafting throughout the house as excitement starts to bubble. So easy with few ingredients, these vanilla rock muffins will soon be your favorite, I promise!

RED VELVET AMARULA PARFAIT - 7 DAYS OF RED VELVET

Happy Valentines Day! We made it to the last day of 7 days of red velvet! It's been fun creating awesome red velvet recipes for this month of love. And so I thought I would booze you up a little just to end the perfect day. I love Amarula, not only is it aromatic it is delicious and has a chocolaty after taste on your palate. Parfaits can be mini desserts that you whip up fast and your choose your layering option. I had a pretty awesome 14th day of February, and that is all I will say, hope yours was great too however you chose to celebrate it.

RED VELVET MUG CAKE - 7 DAYS OF RED VELVET

Guys, can you believe that tomorrow is Valentines Day? Day where there will be more chocolate, flowers and wine bought than any other time of the year! It's crazy that one day brings with it so much emotion that when the day is gone, you wonder what the fuss is all about. At least we get to celebrate love in all its glory and sweet pain. Day 6 brings us to this red velvet mug cake that takes less than 2 minutes to create. It had been a while since I made a mug cake and since yesterday we had a decadent dessert I thought why not cleanse your palates with this. I'm getting all giggly thinking about tomorrow because I haven't had a valentine day celebration in a while, you can't really ignore tomorrow since red is everywhere! Anyway before I go on a full random blubering, hope you enjoy this simple recipe I have for you.

RED VELVET TRUFFLES - 7 DAYS OF RED VELVET

Only 2 days to Valentines Day and were into decadent romantic desserts. I love desserts that are easy to make, with little ingredients and best of all, no bake! This recipe has literally only two ingredients yet its so delicious you'd think it has a thousand ingredients. Truffles come in various flavors, colors, or even toppings. Since I made some strawberry brigadeiros truffles I knew I had to sneak another one in for my 7 Days Of Red Velvet series. Treats that you can make in more minutes are the best since you don't have to think or worry about how to make them. The best part is that these truffles do not have to be only for special occassions, you even have them for breakfast, how about that?

RED VELVET DOUGHNUTS - 7 DAYS OF RED VELVET

Doughnuts are the next best thing in terms of being a breakfast option. Make it red velvet and you have dessert! Day 3 of my 7 Days of Red Velvet had to tuck in one of my favorite snacks, whether its plain, chocolate or cinnamon, doughnuts pretty much make my world go round. Tis' the season to love so sharing a doughnut is the best way to enjoy this Valentine'sValentine's. I love how simple this recipe is. You can top your red velvet doughnuts with anything you like, from sprinkles, sauce, syrup or even oreos, yeah, oreos.

7 DAYS OF RED VELVET FOR VALENTINES DAY

We all know next week is Valentines Day right? If not, which rock have you been living under? Haha! Anyway the marketing frenzy has already began with offers, sales, gifts, promotions, competitions and what not. I have none of that! Sigh! But, what I have for you is some delicious food ideas for you to celebrate with your loved one/s. If you're single, like yours truly, you can always kick off your shoes after a long day, pour a glass of wine, then decide which dessert you will start with first. Self love is all the rage nowadays. Share love this Valentines and give yourself love, you deserve it! Any who, enough ramblings for a minute. I needed some inspiration on what to cook this month of love and coming up with 7 recipes has given me the excitement to enter the kitchen. It is truly sad that I only have four red velvet recipies on this blog, fret not that is about to change with these seven new recipes coming soon from 7th February to 14th February, and more later on. Let's have fun this Valentines Day and eat chocolate + wine + red velvet...

LEMON POPPY SEEDS CAKE ON STOVE TOP

I was craving cake but I don't have an oven, dilemma dilemma. Then I remembered I don't really need an oven if I want to bake. After the mug cake revolution, it was time to stop being conventional and start thinking outside the box. After all, our ancestors used to bake bread before these modern day ovens came to be. So I decided to make a stove top cake. What we call in Kenya "Mawe tatu cake" literally 3 stones cake. I have every step in the photos so you will be able to follow how I did it. Cake basics remain the same, only the baking part changes. I'm so happy how the cake turned out, not only was it moist and crumbly, it was delicious as heck! Now there really is no excuse when it comes to baking! Hope you enjoy this recipe and try out this "Mawe tatu" technique.

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE ROCK MUFFINS

A simple yet delicious chocolate treat as a desert or snack. Mom used to make them for birthdays or even holidays. She used to make them plain and sometimes add cinnamon. I remember how we used to go sit in the kitchen watching mum bake. For me I loved licking the batter from the bowl, I would tell mum not to clean the bowl as I would do it for her, only to sit on the floor and lick the cake batter! Brings back so many many memories. Today I chose to make them chocolate muffins, after all chocolate should be part of everyone'd diet, don't you think?  I love muffins because they are big fluffy delicious and totally filling. I love how they look like they are pouring over the muffin tin while baking, totally satisfying and therapeutic! The almost shapeless imperfection of the muffin is what gives it that distinct. I have always made these muffins with eggs but I wanted to see how they would taste without eggs. Didn't miss the eggs whatsoever! The chocolate muffins turned out soft, crumbly yet fluffy and delicious!

BLACKBERRY YOGHURT MANGO PARFAIT

Happy Friyay my lovelies! It has been mango season in Nairobi and I always take advantage of these sweet delicious fruit. Mango is used to make ice cream, juices, fruits bars, smoothies, ice cream, fruit bars, raspados, aguas frescas, pies, and sweet chili sauce. In Central America, mango is either eaten green mixed with salt, vinegar, black pepper, and hot sauce, or ripe in various forms. Pieces of mango can be mashed and used as a topping on ice cream or blended with milk and ice as milkshakes.  Sweet glutinous rice is flavored with coconut, then served with sliced mango as a dessert. Green mangoes can be used in mango salad with fish sauce and dried shrimp. Mango with condensed milk may be used as a topping for shaved ice. Sour, unripe mangoes are used in chutneys, athanu, pickles, side dishes, or may be eaten raw with salt, chili, or soy sauce.  Ripe mangoes are also used to make curries.  The fruit is also added to cereal products such as muesli and oat granola or parfait. Mangoes may be used to make juices, mango nectar, and as a flavoring and major ingredient in ice cream and sorbets. As you can see, the mango is not just a humble fruit but can be incorporated in many meals, from the savory to sweet. For my parfait today I chose to use cereal and to layer with the blackberry yoghurt. I love that with parfaits you can use fruit, cereals, granola, cake or even oats to layer the dessert.

CHOCOLATE BURFI

Love chocolate? Love Indian sweets? Well look no further then than these delicious chocolate burfi. There are so many types of burfi/ barfi that include, Kesri pedha: saffron, flattened yellow round. Kaju barfi or kaju katli: cashew, light tan diamond. Pista barfi: pistachio, forest green diamond. Cham cham: pink and white, shaped like sushi rice balls. Doodh peda: kewra oil and pistachio, flattened dark tan round. Badam pak: rose water and almond, brown diamond. Walnut barfi. Barfi fon or barfifon: fig, pink and yellow colored. Gajar barfi: carrot, square and orange colored. Coconut barfi: coconut, sugar, and milk, square and yellow colored. Sing barfi: peanuts, square and brown colored. Besan barfi: gram flour light yellow diamond and Dodha burfi: peanut. So far I have made condensed milk coconut burfi that was too delicious!

CHUNKY CHOCOLATE CHIPS ICE CREAM

Who does not love ice cream? I mean who? I love different flavored ice cream and ever since I discovered homemade cream I have strove to try and come up with different flavored ice cream and trying out new flavor combinations.Most of them I make to just devour at home but will soon add them to my ice cream collection. Chocolate chips in anything is totally delicious so I thought why not add to plain old vanilla ice cream to give it extra crunch? I totally love this combination

STRAWBERRY BRIGADEIROS

I'm always looking for ways to get my sweet tooth satisfied and when I saw these delicious treats I knew I just had to have them. Of course I couldn't go to Brazil where they come from, so I decided to bring Brazil home. These delicious treats are called Brigadeiros (Brazilian Truffles) Brigadeiro is a traditional Brazillian truffles dessert that makes up a big part of their culture created in the 1940s. The colorful and delicious truffle is considered a national icon and is made of sweetened condensed milk, butter, cocoa powder, and chocolate sprinkles covering the outside layer. This is the classic brigadeiro recipe. Brigadeiros are usually served at birthday parties eaten after the birthday cake. I don't think I'd wait for after the cake, they'd be the first thing I devour! These truffles can be made with dry fruits like pistachios, macademia nuts, almonds or the famous Brazilian nuts. Fruits such as coconut, strawberries, lime, passion fruit and oranges can be added as well. You can make it a boozy affair by adding wine, whisky  or Baileys Irish Cream liquer. Today I opted to use strawberries for my first brigadeiro truffles since I love strawberries and they give these desserts that lovely pink color that's exciting! 

CONDENSED MILK COCONUT BURFI

Burfi/Barfi is a dense milk based sweet from the Indian subcontinent. The name barfi was derived from the Persian word "barf" which means snow. The main ingredients are usually sugar and condensed milk which is cooked until the mixture solidifies. Burfi flavour is usually enhanced with fruits like coconut or mango; nuts like pistachios, peanuts or cashew nuts and spices like cardamom or rose water. The sweets are usually cut into round, diamond or square shapes and are mostly served in India all year round but mostly  consumed during religious festivals, wedding ceremonies or holiday season like Diwali. Barfis come in different varieties that include sing barfi made with peanuts, besan barfi made with gram flour, pista barfi made with pistachios and kaaju barfi made from cashews. I must confess I am a sweet tooth so I wanted to give Indian sweets a go. These yummy coconut bars are just the perfect treat for a midday snack or even for the kids back to school treat. Had such a fun time making these I will definitely be giving other barfi flavours a try!

JAM DOUGHNUTS

Making doughnuts at home is double rewarding I can promise you that. Not only do they taste much better than the commercial variety, you are guaranteed of a freshly made batch every time! I have ever bought doughnuts from a large supermarket and I regretted wasting my money. The doughnut was not only dry but it tasted stale! And the way I had been craving a doughnut, and what made me buy was how fluffy it looked yet it was awful to say the least. Anyway, moving on from bad doughnut memories. This is my third recipe as I have done plain eggless doughnuts and peanut glazed ones, amazing! I still look forward to making even more. Homemade doughnuts give you a wonderful aroma that invades the house in such a beautiful way you won't want to have doughnuts in any other way! I love how yeast smells especially when the dough is rising, almost intoxicating! Fresh yeast can be frozen. Wrap small pieces in cling film, then pack in a polythene bag and store up to 6 months. Leave yeast dough to rise in a warm place. If you don't have a warm place or its one of those cold seasons like it still is right now, you can warm the grill compartment of the cooker but make sure that it is not too hot or the dough will dry out on top and begin to cook instead of rise. These jam doughnuts are incredibly delicious, fluffy and have a lovely surprise on the inside! Perfect for comfort food.

NO BAKE AVOCADO CHEESECAKE

Make your favourite all time cheese cake recipe healthy-ish by adding avocado. It's almost coming to an end, this #AvocadoAugust month and I cannot believe a whole month has just swooped by! Sniff! Sniff! What an amazing journey it has been! It's crazy that I have only cracked the tiny top of the gazzilion ways to use avocado in your everyday life. And this is only using the avocado as a meal, don't get me started on the many ways this fruit is used on your whole body. Story for another day really... I'm loving no bake recipes. When you don't have an oven or when it's just too hot to think about baking, you turn to recipes that don't require your oven. This recipe is quite easy and does not require too ma y ingredients so when you are craving cheesecake and you still want to add a healthy element, this is your go to dessert. 

CHOCOLATE AVOCADO TRUFFLES

I love chocolate and I cannot lie! I feel like I should sing that song while biting into these chocolate avocado truffles! Just perfect for the last week of my #AvocadoAugust theme. Avocado is proving to be a very versatile fruit that has found its way into yummy desserts, an excuse to indulge in decadent chocolate. Truffles originated in the region of Savoie in Chambery, France. My dream destination! A chocolate truffle is a confectionary that is traditionally made with a chocolate ganache center coated in chocolate, cocoa powder or chopped toasted nuts which include coconut, hazelnuts and almonds. Swiss truffle is made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter poured into molds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder. French truffle is made with fresh cream and chocolate then rolled in cocoa or nut powder. European truffle is made with syrup and a base of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats and other ingredients to create an oil-in-water type emulsion. American truffle is a half egg shaped chocolate coated mixture of dark or milk chocolate with butter fat and hardened coconut oil. Belgium truffle or praline is made with dark or milk chocolate filled with ganache, butter cream or nut paste. Vegan truffles can have any shape or flavour and are adapted to vegan diets by replacing dairy with nut milk and butters. Now that we know the different kinds of truffles, let's get onto how to make them with a simple basic recipe below

3 INGREDIENT AVOCADO ICE CREAM

It's illegal for dessert to taste this gooooood! It is a sin to enjoy healthy dessert without a care in the world. I never knew healthy, somewhat, could be this indulgent! I have totally had mad respect for this simple Avocado fruit! Only 3 ingredients and you get the richest, smoothest, creamiest, outrageously delicious, out of this world... need I continue... most delicious, oh yeah, already said that, just beautiful. I am not kidding with all those words used to describe this Avocado Ice cream. Where have you been all my life? What have I been doing on this planet? Why hasn't anyone "woked" me yet? I think its the sugar rush talking right now, I gave it full control over my taste buds and all common sense. Ahem, get a hold of yourself girl! So for this recipe I wanted a few Avocado chunks in my ice cream so I mashed with a fork but you can totally puree until smooth. Another day for my #AvocadoAugust and of course ice cream could not miss! Cheers to the next recipe!

DARK CHOCOLATE AVOCADO MOUSSE

If you want to treat yourself to an extra fancy dessert, ready in less than 10 minutes that will satisfy your sweet tooth, a mousse is the perfect dessert. Make it even more healthy by using Avocado as the main best ingredient because this mousse is dairy free, gluten free and refined sugar free. A mousse is a soft prepared food that usually incorporates air bubbles to give it a light airy texture that ranges from light and fluffy to creamy and thick. You can choose to have a sweet mousse made with whipped cream and egg whites or both; or a savoury mousse made from meat, fish, foie gras, shell fish, vegetables and even cheese. Flavourings for mousses range from pureed fruits, coffee, herbs, spices and even caramel. Mousses are normally chilled before serving to give them a dense texture that's rich like truffles. A mousse is usually served as a dessert or used as an airy cake filling. My #AvocadoAugust mousse recipe is perfect and so easy to whip up! And much more delicious to devour! 

AVOCADO OREO PARFAIT

A parfait just had to make it to my #AvocadoAugust month! Yeei! Parfaits are such great dessert ideas that you can even have as a breakfast option. You can whip it up in a few minutes and choose your combinations from fruits, nuts and even oats or cereals. The best part of making parfaits is that there really is no rule about what you can include in your parfait. Combine fruits and nuts, oats and fruits, cake and cookies or even a combination of all three. You don't even need to use yoghurt, you can skip by adding fruits like watermelon that has natural juices. I love parfaits with yoghurt because it makes it creamier, thicker and even more filling. I have made parfaits with apples, mango, cereal and even banana, all so delicious! Avocados just add that much needed oooomph! in any snack, dessert or meal. Yummy Oreos and  rich avocado, who knew it could be such a fantastic burst of flavors? The combination of avocado, oreos, yoghurt and oats gives this parfait a full dessert experience. 

CONDENSED MILK MANGO SORBET

I can officially say I'm in love with mango sorbet. Thus one is especially creamy because I used condensed milk to add that touch of richness that comes with the condensed milk. The best part of this sorbet is that it only requires tow ingredients and no machine to create such a decadent dessert. It is so smooth it just slides down your throat. This reminds me of when we were young and we would get ice cream after attending church. It was always a Lyons Maid ice cream. I remember trying to lick it as slow as possible so tat it does not melt. There was always that satisfaction that came with being the last person to finish your ice cream. You'd gleefully smile as your siblings looked at your ice cream while their hands were empty. Aki, kids are so funnily evil, haha! Of course you'd use that to bribe your way out of some chores. One lick of your melting ice cream and they get to do for you your choice of chore for the day or even week! Aaaaaah, good times. Sorbets are so versatile you can even make a boozy one for that weekend you feel like partying! The only hard part of making thus sorbet is waiting for it to freeze, though you can eat it as is, still deliciously smooth.