Coffee and cake – the perfect pick me up.
I love coffee and I love cake. This might sound strange especially as I keep on blabbing on about our low carb lifestyle and how much we love it. Good news is I can still have my cake, and eat it even now. Yes, crazy I know.
One of our favourite outings must be our coffee dates. Its hard to believe that I didn’t drink coffee before I met hubby. Our unofficial first date was coffee, so needless to say, we still enjoy our weekly coffee dates.
Hubby loves anything baked and sweet. I am not such a big fan of sweet stuff, but when the craving hits I want cheesecake! I love cheesecake! I need cheesecake! Cheesecake also seemed like the most logical and best option when I started my gluten free diet. I use to order cheesecake and only eat the filling, the crust would go to hubby. When we started our low carb lifestyle, it seemed a bit impossible to enjoy our occasional slice of cake with our coffee. It was not easy to go to our favourite coffee spot and not order the caramel cheesecake. Hubby would still order a slice of cake (mostly carrot) and enjoy it which made it really hard for me.
I like starting my own traditions, and cheesecake on Christmas seemed like one great idea. We started about 4 years ago, and each year, I end up getting only one slice and the rest of the family devouring everything. This year was the first time I tried a true low carb cheesecake, and ones again it was a hit. So mental note to self – PLEASE MAKE 2 !
To me, cheese cake is such a versatile treat. You can enjoy it with chocolate for a sweet treat, or add some savoury notes to it. It can be baked and serve warm or chilled and enjoyed on a hot summers day with fresh berries and cream. It is also so easy to make, you don’t need a lot of cooking skills to make the perfect cheesecake. The only downside to cheesecake is the cost. It is not something we can afford to make too often.
Another “cake” we enjoy regularly (maybe twice a month or so), must be mug cakes. Truly a life saver when its 9 pm and you need a quick fix (takes less than 5 min). Some days you just need something that feels more normal. Those are the days when a hot and steaming cinnamon and chocolate mug cake will lift your mood and sooth your emotions. You can really play around with different versions of mug cake. Little M enjoys them (egg, dairy free) with some strawberries. Hubby likes extra chocolate (Lindt – 85 %), so you can really play around with the combinations. I normally serve them with fresh pouring cream, but you can eat them even with coconut cream or berry sauce.
Low carb can truly be “lekker” (LCislekker) (another truly South African saying – meaning nice). We enjoy the lifestyle, so we treat ourselves with an occasional low carb mug cake, cheese cake or even waffles. With Little M, we try and ensure we find the perfect alternative (egg, nut and dairy free) so that she can still enjoy the same treats.
This weekend Little M said she also wanted coffee (yes, we had our weekly coffee date). I told her she wont like it and went ahead and gave her a small sip (with my teaspoon). I will never forget the look on her face (ok, it was black coffee with no “sugar”). After about 30 seconds she told me to hold out my hand and she continued to spit out her very first sip of coffee right into my hand. Needless to say, both of us were unimpressed with each other.
I guess you develop your love for coffee over years. My first cup of coffee contained 3 sugars and milk. I started off with instant coffee, very weak with at least 2 sugars and milk. Two weeks before we got married, my parents came to stay with us (they live about 1500 km from us) and my dad only drinks “good coffee”. So for 2 weeks we had really nice coffee (with only 1 sugar) and I really couldn’t see why they would pay for much for the coffee. After the honeymoon we were so glad to be back home and couldn’t wait to enjoy our first cup of coffee as husband and wife – sadly it was not a coffee I ever want to remember! Instant coffee is not coffee!!
At work people say I am a coffee snob, and I think it might be true! I enjoy coffee, good quality coffee, with no “sugar” and a dash of cream! I am such a snob I even take my own coffee to meetings or where ever I travel. I would rather stay without coffee than drink a cup of instant coffee. Coffee is the one drink I really enjoy and I am lucky that I can drink 4 cups one day and the next day drink no coffee without any “side effects”.
So go ahead, find that perfect coffee shop that caters for your low carb lifestyle and enjoy your coffee and cake. I know you will thank me later. I sure do enjoy it.
For the love of...... 