Orange and Almond Cake

This recipe is from Antony Worrall Thompson's GI Diet cook book, although I adgusted it a little bit to my liking. The cake is absoludely delicious and one of my and my husband's favorite. Not only it tastes great, it's wheat free, low GI and very easy to make. The texture of this cake is very similar to cheesecake.

For 12-14 slices you will need:

2 thin skinned large oranges
200g of ground almonds
200g of demerara sugar or 150g of friut sugar or xilytol
6 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Juice of one squeezed lemon
Butter for greasing

1. Put the oranges in a pan amd cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Top up with water if necessary to ensure that oranges are always covered. Remove from the water and leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 23cm (9in) cake tin.

3. Cut the oranges into quarters and remove any pips. Put the oranges into food-processor or blender with all the remaining ingridients and blitz until well mixed. Tranfer the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45-60 minutes until risen and firm to touch. Cool slightly before serving.

Variation:
If you are one of those people who can't imagine a dessert without chocolate, melt about 180g of dark chocolate in a small pan and spread over the cake when it's finished.

King Prawns Sticks with Almond Satay Sauce

In this recipe, I use raw almond butter rather than traditional peanut butter to make satay sauce. Almond butter is much healthier then peanut butter and I think it taste better too! You can buy it in bigger health stores.

Serves 2:

For the sticks:
250g large cooked prawns with tails on
Juice of one lemon
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp groundnut oil
150g wild rice
Fresh coriander leaves to garnish

For the spicy almond sauce:
1/4 of large onion or 1/2 medium onion, peeled and very finely chopped.
1 tsp demerara sugar
50g creamed coconut
Pinch of cayenne chilli powder
1 tbsp tamari sause
2 tbsp raw almond butter
120 ml water

1. If you use bamboo skewers, soak them in cold water for at least 30 minutes so they won't catch fire.

2. Meanwhile, place the prawns in a bowl with lemon juice. Mix garlic with all spices and oil to make a paste. Pour the paste into the bowl with prawns and mix well. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinade for at least 30 munites.

3. Boil the rice as per instructions on the pack.

4. While the rice is cooking, make the sauce. Pour water into a small saucepan, add the onion and sugar and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the creamed coconut, chilli powder and tamari. When melted, remove from the heat and stir in the almond butter. Spoon into a serving dish.

5. Preheat the grill. Thread three to four prawns on to each skewer (depending on length). Grill the skewers, turning occasionally for about 5 minutes, or untill slightly golden. Do not burn them.

6. Arrange rice on two plates and place the skewers on top. Serve with the warm sauce.

Yum!