We've been supporting Oska Inkster-Baynes, a distance runner from Wanaka for around a year. We were thrilled to watch him come in first at the Auckland Half Marathon over the weekend. Oska finished his half in a time of 67:26, topping off an outstanding season.
Oska uses the Matakana SuperFoods SuperShake as a daily pick me up to help him recharge following training - important with the amount of kilometres he covers.
In his spare time Oska loves to cook, he’s a qualified chef and in the process of creating a cook book. We can’t wait to see the finished product. But in the meantime Oska has kindly allowed us a sneak peak; here is one of the recipes from his new book. If you’d like to see more of Oska's creations you can visit his site.
We’ll leave it to Oska to introduce his Date and Cashew Cake.
“I have a pretty big sweet tooth, so I try to bake things that satisfy the sweet craving but are still relatively guilt free.
I love the Matakana coconut sugar and use it often. Combining it with local Wanaka honey makes the balance between texture and sweetness in a cake like this just right. Quick and easy to make the cake is flourless, has no dairy products or refined sugar, uses almond meal to bind and eggs to set.
Served with a mix of honey-roasted cashews, orange segments and some more chopped dates, this cake will be a big crowd pleaser.”
DATE AND CASHEW CAKE
Serves 12
INGREDIENTS
3 oranges
6 large free range eggs
250g cashew nuts
200g dried dates
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
2½ Tablespoons Matakana Superfoods cacao powder
65g Matakana Superfoods coconut sugar
75g Matakana Superfoods coconut flour
4 Tablespoons local honey
220g ground almonds
METHOD
FOR THE CAKE
- In a large heatproof bowl mix 150g dates, 150g cashew nuts and baking soda.
- Pour boiling water over and cover with cling film.
- Leave to soften for at least 2 hours – it should be very soft.
- Preheat oven to fan bake 160°C degrees.
- Strain dates and cashews, reserve the soaking liquid.
- In a kitchen whiz, place dates, cashews, 2 peeled oranges, 65g coconut sugar, 2 tablespoons of honey and 50ml of the soaking liquid. Blitz well until a fine paste forms.
- Sieve all other dry ingredients – baking powder, cacao powder, coconut flour and ground almonds - into a large mixing bowl and combine.
- In a separate bowl beat eggs well.
- Fold paste mixture into eggs, then gently fold into dry ingredients.
- Crush 50g of the left over cashews, and dice 50g of the left overdates, fold these in.
- Line a standard cake tin with baking paper and fill with mixture.
- Bake for 20mins or until a knife comes out clean from the middle of the cake.
- Once cooked allow the cake to cool in the tin.
FOR THE SALAD
- Segment the remaining orange, place in a small bowl with a further tablespoon of coconut sugar.
- In a small non-stick fry pan on a low heat, lightly toast the final 50g of cashew nuts.
- Remove from heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey.
- Add to bowl, mix and serve with the cake.