Lemon and Poppy Seed Loaf (Vegan, Gluten-free)

I have some really exciting news that I was going to save until my weekly roundup but I just couldn’t. On Friday I had an interview with Hayley Winter of Yoga Sports Science and got accepted on to the course so I will be starting that over the next week. It is really exciting because it will take me about a year to complete the course and when I do I will be qualified to apply yoga to athletes. It has been my aim since I first decided to train as a yoga teacher that I wanted to do this course and I just can’t wait to get started and begin working with athletes, hopefully footballers!

On another note completely I wanted to share something quite personal with you and that is a bit about my relationship with my brother. A relationship with a sibling should always be really strong in my opinion and up until my dad committed suicide my relationship with my brother was better than most siblings. However after my dad died my brother gradually began slipping away and has now become someone I do not recognise.

The concept of someone you love and care about slipping away from you might be something that you have experienced in one way or another and coping with it can be hard. I have spent a lot of time in anguish trying to analyse my own behaviour and what I could have done differently. However in the end, the biggest lesson I have had to learn is that there is nothing I could have done, I have no control over how someone else behaves. Despite the deep sadness that I no longer have a relationship with my brother I have had to face that, accept it and move on. I am not saying I have closed the door completely but my brother would need to have a complete reversal of who he now is for there to be any chance of anything developing.

I wanted to share this with you because if you are feeling the same about this it is important to know you are not alone. In any sort of dispute if you just focus on what you do and make sure your intentions only come from a positive place then you know you have done your best. You cannot control where someone else comes from all you can do is hear what they have to say and if they don’t like calmly walk away. The most important thing is to protect yourself and come out of it in tact. That is enough of the intense emotional talk and we should really say something about the recipe.

The idea from this recipe came from one for Lemon Poppy Seed Bread that I saw on Cooking Classy, it looked so yummy but it was not vegan and I thought I could make it a bit more healthy. So I actually made quite a lot of substitutions to make this cake but it is loosely based on the recipes. The differences include the fact that I have made it vegan, gluten-free and also changed the regular old white sugar to coconut palm sugar to reduce the GL and to make just a bit more healthy. I also increased the amount of lemon used as I like things really lemony!

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Lemon & Poppy Seed Loaf

Serves 12

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 45-55 mins

Total Time: 70-80 mins

Ingredients

145g/1 cup Buckwheat Flour
65g/2/3 cup Almond Meal
2 tbs Poppy Seeds
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp So Low Sodium Salt
150g/1 cup Coconut Sugar
2 tbs Lemon Zest
125ml/1/2 cup Coconut Oil
3 tbs Ground Flaxseeds
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
60ml/1/4 cup Coconut Milk Yoghurt (at room temperature)
60ml/1/4 cup Almond Milk (at room temperature)
3 tbs Lemon Juice

Glaze
35g/1/4 cup Coconut Sugar
4 tbs Lemon Juice

Instructions

1. Combine the ground flaxseed with 9 tbs cold water and set aside for 5 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and lightly grease an average loaf tin.

3. In a large bowl combine the flour, almond meal, poppy seeds, baking powder and salt and set aside. 

4. In a mixing bowl combine the lemon zest and coconut sugar and rub with your hands until the mixture is well combines and moist. 

5. Add coconut oil to sugar mixture and whisk until slightly fluffy (scraping down the sides as necessary). Mix in the flaxseeds and third at a time, adding the vanilla with the final third.

6. Working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, add 1/3 of the flour mixture (to the sugar mixture) alternating with 1/2 of the milk mixture and 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice (each time), and mixing just until combined after each addition. 

7. Transfer mixture to loaf tin and bake for 45 – 55 minutes, until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean. 

8. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes in loaf pan, then transfer loaf onto a wire rack and brush top with the lemon glaze (it will take several coats but use it all. Give it a second between coats to absorb as needed). Let loaf cool on wire rack, then cut into slices. Store in an airtight container.

For the lemon glaze:
1. Combine lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring regularly until sugar has dissolve and mixture is hot.

Nutrition

Obviously this is quite a sweet dessert for when you want a treat but using the flours that I have makes it slightly more healthy. There are lots of benefits to buckwheat flour and one I can really recommend trying. I have also used ingredients that are going to keep the GI of this cake low. For example things like almonds and coconut actually lower the GI and coconut sugar is a low GI alternative to regular granulated sugar.

The highlights of this recipe are:

• Approximate GI of 40
• Estimated GL of 11 per slice
• No cholesterol
• Very low in sodium
• High in vitamin B6