It has become a kind of tradition for our family for the past few years to go strawberry picking during the season.  Especially since my son and nieces have arrived, it is so much fun watching them enjoy themselves, picking and eating the strawberries. When my son was one and a half years old, he went for the first time, he had such a good time, eating the juicy red sweet strawberries, his face was covered and he smelled sweet for the rest of the day. This year we made a family day out as both my brother in-law and husband joined us, as a result we picked so many strawberries and decided to make a few things with them. So the first thing was to make ice cream with the children, combining their love of the fruit and everyone’s favourite – ice cream. All three children had their share of  helping prepare the ingredients and then mixing them in the machine and felt important that they had a part in making it. Doing such an activity is a great way to teach them how things grow and how they are made into the end product which they enjoy so much.

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I have had this recipe since 2004 from one of my husband’s aunt. She makes an eggless cake using yoghurt and it has a lighter texture compare to the other cake recipe posted earlier. My mother-in-law really likes this cake and so I thought I would try it out finally this year for her birthday. I asked my husband to help me, but I was so busy with preparing the other meals that he actually ended up making the cake. So I said to him I will tell everyone that you made it. To this he said lets wait and see how it turns out, if it is good then you can tell everyone otherwise no. Well it was wonderful, however the only thing was that despite following the recipe we both felt you could smell and taste the bicarbonate of soda powder.

I made the cake again a few days later, this time with my son’s help, and reduced the bicarbonate of soda powder and it was perfect, so that is the recipe I am giving you. I find it so amazing when I hear of or see different recipes for eggless cakes, how inventive people can be, and it also shows you can make good cakes without using eggs.

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I still remember when we were young and my older sister had baked a cake for the first time and iced it saying ‘Happy Holidays’. My mother would get us to try out new recipes, just so as we would learn, she knows and cooks so much, yet until last year she had never tried to make a cake. Being vegetarian, it is always essential to learn to make things without eggs and if you don’t have the correct cake recipe then it can be too dry and not at all spongy. Like with everything else in life ‘practice makes perfect’ and my younger sister has perfected the art of baking the perfect cake. Everyone who has had this cake will know that it is the BEST eggless chocolate cake ever. My younger sister has surpassed both me and my older sister in making the best cakes. This recipe has been adapted from the Tarla Dalal’s recipe and the slight changes that have been made make all the difference in making a soft and moist sponge. This is the basic recipe that my sister has used to make various cakes for all our birthdays. At a future date we will show you a collection of different ideas on decorating and presenting cakes that we have done. Give this recipe a go and let me know how you like it.

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This is the perfect, healthy and wow biscuit, it only has a few ingredients and no sugar or butter.  I had learnt to make Arabian Flowers over the spring time when one of my husband’s cousins was getting married. Leading up to the wedding, a variety of food was made at their home for all the different events that took place. I was so glad and grateful for the opportunity when we were asked to help make these show stoppers!!  It is always good to learn and share new recipes. I was just so pleased that the humble puff pastry and dried dates can be made into such beautiful and pretty looking biscuits. The main ingredient is dried dates, and I don’t really enjoy dry dates very much, but love fresh dates, so for people like me and children it is a good way to get us to eat food that is good for us Dates are said to be rich in fibre, calcium, vitamins and minerals, and also said to have good medicinal properties.

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