Podcast: Chef Christina Acevedo, Seeing Light in Darkness, and How to Make a Great Recipe

Long-time friends and culinary co-instructors Barb and Christina sit down at Barb's kitchen table to talk about the power of food and connection, the enlightenment that caring for a mom with Alzheimer's has brought to Christina's life, her love of a good burger, and why she wrote her cookbook, Two Little F Words. Christina's Website is honeyandvanilla.com.

Cranberry Orange Cake

By Chef Christina Acevedo, RHN

Cranberries and oranges go together like rosemary and potatoes!!! When I created this recipe it was my full intent to make scones but as the results kept turning out more like cake than a scone I had to concede that this beautiful baby was a cake by nature. The best part is that it has only 2-3 tablespoons of raw honey in it. When I added up the natural sugar from the fresh orange juice and the natural sugar from the honey it still only came out to 5-7 grams of sugar per slice depending on how many slices you choose to have. Dammmn that’s good!!!! Find me a cake that tastes this good and has a texture like a soft baby bum with this amount of sugar per slice and I’ll think about trying harder.

Wet ingredients

2 eggs (room temperature)

¼ plain yogurt (full fat) or Coconut Mylk yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Zest of two oranges

½ cup fresh orange juice

2-3 tablespoons raw honey

Dry ingredients

2 cups almond flour

½ cup arrowroot flour or tapioca flour

¼ cup +1 tablespoon coconut flour (sifted)

1 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

½ cup butter (cold, shredded with a cheese grater)

¾ cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)

3 tablespoons shaved coconut

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Grate the cold butter with a cheese grater and place the butter  into the freezer

In a medium bowl add all of the wet ingredients and whisk together

In another bowl add all of the dry ingredients except for the frozen butter, shaved coconut and cranberries. 

Mix the dry ingredients well with a fork.

Add the frozen butter to the dry ingredients and crumble the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together.

Grease a deep dish glass 9 1/2” pie plate and place the batter into the pie plate. 

Spread the batter out with your spatula or your hands. 

Sprinkle the cranberries on top and push them down slightly with your hand. 

Sprinkle the shaved coconut and bake for 35-40 minutes

Note

You can substitute the arrowroot for cassava flour but eliminate the extra 1 tablespoon of coconut flour. It will be a little more dense but I switch back and forth depending on what I have.

The opinions of the Food Stories Podcast guests are theirs and theirs alone. The information on this podcast is NOT intended as medical advice, nor is it intended to replace the care of a qualified healthcare professional. This content is not intended to diagnose or treat any diseases. Always consult with your primary care physician or licensed healthcare provider for all diagnoses and treatment of any diseases or conditions, for medications or medical advice as well as before changing your healthcare regimen.