This weekend, my little girl turned 2. I just love that little peanut and her growing personality. I would say I’m excited to be moving out of the baby stage.. but it’s only a few months before we move back into it.

This was her birthday cake!

I know it’s not the typical two-year-old birthday cake (what, no Dora?!), but my girl loves berries. So berries we had.. and lots of them.

But let’s back up a second.

This recipe is called Yellow LARD Cake. Say what!?!

A few years ago, I would not have been caught dead eating anything with lard in it, let alone a dessert. I grew up on the idea that lard and shortening (which are NOT the same, by the way) would make you super fat and you should avoid them at all costs. Pass the butter spray, please! (Can’t believe that’s still a thing.)

After lots of time spent learning about real food, my mind began to change. Maybe animal fats really were the way to go! I think the idea was really cemented in my brain when I took on the GAPS Diet, since the first stages of Intro included only tallow as the only fat (the beef or lamb equivalent for lard). For more reading about lard and it’s place in a nourishing diet, check out this post at Weed ‘Em and Reap.

The recipe for the cake comes from a book that everyone in the Paleo community has been talking about, Beyond Bacon. The cookbook is the brainchild of Matt and Stacy from Paleo Parents, one of the best Paleo resources out there. The book is all about how to take advantage the whole pig, scary bits and all. Matt and Stacy explain how to find quality pork and walk you through all of their preparations in a way that takes intimidating projects (like rendering your own lard) seem very doable.

The book is stuffed full of quality recipes. I’ve got my eye on the Smoked Pork Belly, Asian Short Ribs, Cucumber Dill Quiche, “Corn” Dogs, Fried Yuca, Savory Bacon Jam, Caramel Praline Lard Fudge, The Best Brownies.. so, like I said. A LOT of quality recipes in here.

Matt and Stacy recommend their chocolate frosting to top the yellow cake, but I opted for whipped cream and fresh fruit in honor of my little berry lover. I used real cream, but you can use whipped coconut cream interchangeably. (You may also notice some powdered sugar on the cake. That is NOT paleo, I just think it looks so lovely for photographs!)

I followed the directions in the book for two layers of cake, but unfortunately, one of my layers broke as I was removing it from the pan. My advice would be to chill the layers in the fridge completely and then flip the pans and tap the cakes free only when you’re ready to assemble the cake. Be sure to line the pans with parchment paper, too- that makes a huge difference with these dense paleo cakes!

As for the taste, we can’t get enough! No complaints there. The cake was a great base for berries and cream, but I’d love to try the chocolate frosting on it, too. Can’t go wrong with any kind of cake, if you ask me.

So, in honor of my little girl and her 2nd birthday, I’m giving away a copy of Beyond Bacon to one of you! I have pretty much dropped the ball on giveaways around here, so I’m very happy to be bringing you one today. Makes the heart full to be able to give things away. Just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below, my darlings, and the winner will be announced at the end of the week!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m in limbo.

We are moving soon (just two months away..). It’s soon enough that I’m starting to get sad/nostalgic/motivated to start fresh/etc; but not soon enough that I can actually do anything about it. It’s too soon to start packing, too soon for goodbyes. I want to soak up the last bit of time here, but I’m having trouble with that. Nick is gone at training and I feel like I’m just doing busy work- filling up the time, not really enjoying the time. I’ve made a summer bucket list, but getting through it seems like more work than fun (even though I know I’ll regret it if we don’t do those things before we go).

I think I might be in a cooking rut, too. I was immersed in the GAPS Intro diet for two months and now that I’m on the other side of it, I need to get inspired all over again. I’ve quit meal planning and I’m just cooking on the fly for me and the kids. I need to break out of this whole thing and start fresh!

I did manage to mix up these faux Larabar-type bars a few days ago. It was hard not to eat them all in one sitting- snacks like this are tough for me to resist! It’s not good for me to be the only adult in the house with no accountability. One of these days you will find me laid out on the floor after a nut butter overdose, I’m telling you!

If you’re not into figs, you can substitute another dried fruit or more dates. But you should try them- they’re pretty good. And this is coming from a girl who was a fig hater for the first 20 years of life. Break free, people! Eat figs. Eat food you think you don’t like. It might surprise you. And you can always spit it out gracefully into your napkin, so there’s that.

Where is this post going? I need some direction. What’s going on with you guys? What inspires you? Share with me!

Hazelnut Fig Bars

 

Print

 

Author: Oven Love

Recipe type: snack

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup hazelnuts (I pre-soak and dehydrate mine)
• 1 cup dried figs, stems removed
• 1 cup pitted dates
• ½ cup coconut flakes or shredded coconut
• 1-2 tablespoons coconut manna/coconut cream concentrate/coconut oil

Instructions

1. Add hazelnuts, figs, dates and coconut to the bowl of a food processor. Process until all ingredients are finely chopped.
2. Scrape down the bowl an add 1 tablespoon of coconut manna. Process until the mixture starts to stick together between your fingers. Add extra coconut manna if necessary.
3. Press the mixture into an 8×8 pan (lined with parchment or plastic wrap). Let cool in the refrigerator until hardened, then cut into 12 bars. Keep stored in the refrigerator.

#version#

In honor of Passionfruit opening their Marketplace today (that’s my page in the Marketplace above), I am offering $5 off ALL Oven Love ad spots!

That means large ads are $20, medium ads are $10 and small ads are just $5 – that’s a steal, seriously.

Use the promo code “iloveovenlovers” to take advantage of this discount before it expires!

This is not an April’s Fool’s joke, either- it’s 100% real.

For more information about sponsoring Oven Love, check out my Passionfruit Ads page or the Advertising page here on Oven Love.