Recipe of the Moment: White Bean Cake with Blood Oranges

I've really been into dessert lately. Like, a lot. My boyfriend doesn't really like sweets and he especially doesn't like chocolate, so I've been a little stuck on what to do lately. I experimented with making cakes in a cup and microwaving it, which, somehow, is all the rage of Pinterest, but trust me when I say it's not good. At all. None of the recipes I tried. They're all only to be used if you're desperate. Luckily, I found this recipe over at Tao of Dana, and we both loved it! Also, for those that are interested, it's grain and gluten free.

I LOVE blood oranges, so I was excited to make this. It's a little unconventional for me since I would never think to use beans as a base in a cake, but isn't that what makes cooking fun? 

Ingredients

8-10 blood oranges (optional, to be served with the cake)

3 cups white beans, cooked, unseasoned, and cooled (or rinsed, if using canned beans)

9 tablespoons of coconut oil

1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons of honey

6 eggs

2 tablespoons of vanilla

3/4 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put everything EXCEPT the oranges into a blender. Once blended, add grated blood orange peel to mix and stir.

Pour mixture into cake pan and bake for about one and a half hours, or until the middle is not longer jiggly. This is important to note because it browns rather quickly, and I thought for sure it was going to burn. Not so.

Serve each slice with a blood orange. Yum!

Recipe of the Moment: Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb is in season, and all the sites and books promoting local foods are chatting about it. I had no idea what it was or what to do with it, but I figured I might as well try it. Looking through all the rhubarb recipes on Epicurious, only one really jumped out at me, and since I just bought a bunch of strawberries at the farmer's market that morning, I figured it would be fairly simple to make.

Recipe of the Moment: Plum Tart Without Dough

This recipe came from French Women Don't Get Fat, and is another excellent example of fruit for dessert. I decided to try plums because that's what the original recipe called for, but you can also substitute apples, pears, or cherries

Recipe of the Moment: Best Brownies... Ever?

So this is something that I've tried to avoid. I think I may have mentioned before about my tendency to stuff my face with chocolate. After originally cutting out all desserts, I did a really good job of sticking to fruits. If I'm getting something made from chocolate, I try to get it at a restaurant or bakery because it's much easier to control portions and I don't have to worry about leftovers, but sometimes there isn't a bakery open within walking distance. I was craving brownies, so I decided to make them from scratch.

My New Idea of Dessert: Fruit

I've always been very suspicious of eating foods that I'm not already familiar with. I couldn't be sure if I would like it... What if I hated it? I certainly didn't want to spend any money on something that I knew I would hate. And I probably would hate it. Especially the texture.

I believe they refer to people like me as picky eaters.

Recipe of the Moment: Grilled Pineapple

This is from French Women Don't Get Fat, and it is absolutely delicious. If you're feeling lazy, you can just grill the pineapple on the stove and drizzle the honey and goat cheese over the end result.