Regular readers will have no doubt heard read me mention my stepdad Phil a number of times. For the newbies, here’s the low-down. I love my Stepdad. A lot. When it comes to health we don’t always see eye to eye (and that’s putting it politely).

The man is a typical Aussie bloke and has never experienced anything too severe health/medical-wise. A broken bone here, an appendectomy there, coughs and colds every so often, but that’s about it. No digestive problems of concern (maybe some reflux if he combines pro-inflammatory foods with alcohol), no autoimmunity, no mental illness and no allergies or intolerances (mind you he does sneeze – A LOT). Therefore my dedication to health is something he sees as ‘extreme’ and ‘restrictive’.

We’ve had many a heated discussion about gut health (he thinks I dramatise things), real food (he’s eaten processed food forever and he’s “fine”) and filtered water (chlorine is good for us apparently).

Then there’s the struggles of sharing a house with someone that doesn’t understand the way you shop, cook, eat and live. He hates my Vitamix; too noisy. He thinks that organic is “a load of crap” and makes a huge deal of me going out for walks or runs when the weather is anything other than unicorns pooping sunshine. Then there’s my chemical sensitivity. He loves to hate fact that we need to be a chemical-free household and thinks I’m a princess for getting nauseas at the mere whiff of deodorant.

We have different priorities. Had my life panned out differently perhaps I’d be exactly the same – just younger and less male. I’ve learned to simply cook nutritious food for him and ‘forget’ to mention that it’s “healthy”.

Enter these DOUBLE chocolate chip cupcakes. It was his birthday on Friday and after making a slightly different variation of this recipe for mum during the week, she suggested I make something similar for Phil’s special day.

Mum stuck candles in the cake, we sang ‘Happy Birthday” and he said that they were very nice and he liked the “sauce” on top – LOL – it was a cashew butter and honey icing.

He loved them and that’s what counts. When mum told him they were flourless he didn’t believe her, he thought she just meant gluten-free. She was like “no, they have NO flour at all in them. Rachel made up the recipe”. He seemed proud rather than pissed (progress!) and when I said I’d be sharing the recipe he was like “NO! You should patent it”. Haha – he’s so business-minded.

So here we are. A grain-free, dairy-free (and refined-sugar free option) cupcake recipe that Phil; Mr I’d-rather-die-10-years-younger-than-worry-about-what-I-eat, reckons is worth patenting …

Happy Sunday and Happy Baking

Double Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

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Makes 4 cupcakes

• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs (you know the drill, ethically sourced where possible, let’s support the farmers that support the chickens)
• 1 heaped Tablespoon of raw cacao
• 2 heaped Tablespoons of cashew butter (I used homemade – recipe below. Feel free to use any type of nut butter or even a seed butter such as tahini if you don’t care for nuts)
• 1/2 teaspoon aluminium-free bicarb soda
• A pinch of vanilla bean powder
• 1/2 cup organic, 70% dark organic chocolate chips (if you want this recipe to be cane sugar free, make your own chocolate (cacao powder, cacao butter, vanilla bean powder and raw honey … try searching my friend Jo’s website for her chocolate recipe) and chop it up into chunks (or cheats version just chop up a bar of loving earth chocolate which is sweetened with coconut sugar)

Method 

Mash bananas with cashew butter and whisk in eggs. Add cacao, vanilla and bicarb soda and combine until smooth (for an uber smooth batter blend in a food processor or high-speed blender). Stir in cochocoate chips or chopped chocolate

Spoon among 4 lined muffin tins (I always use ‘if you care’ toxin-free baking cases available here) and bake in a 170 degree oven for 25 minutes. Mean while prepare icing (recipe below).

When cakes are done, remove from oven and allow to cook on a wire rack. Once room temperature, spread with icing and top with a few extra chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate – whichever you used in the batter.

Cashew Butter (for icing)

• 3 cups raw cashews (may use any other type of nut you like instead, macadamias are a great substitute. I love cashew butter because it’s the sweetest and creamiest nut)
• A pinch of vanilla bean powder
• Coconut oil, melted raw cacao butter or macadamia oil to facilitate blending if you don’t own a high speed blender like a Vitamix that will turn it into a butter even without the oil component

Method

Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until you have a smooth “butter” (like peanut butter but cashews)

Store in a recycled jar in the fridge for up to 3 months.

I love to always have some nut butter on hand to eat with apples or bananas, spoon on top of berries, use in baking or eat by the spoonful (but if you don’t have much will power I discourage the last option … you may just end up eating the whole jar!)

Cashew Butter Icing – enough for the 4 cakes

• 1/4 cup cashew butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Hot filtered water to soften mixture
• Method

Combine cashew butter and honey in a small bowl and add enough water to bring mix together to a spreadable “frosting” consistency. Spread on cooled cupcakes and decorate with chocolate chips or chopped chocolate to be uber fancy schmancy