Single Serve Lemon & Pumpkin Seed Protein Cake

Everyone who knows me knows that I have a huge sweet tooth! However when dieting and preparing for photoshoots or competitions, cake is usually off the cards and you're sometimes forced to look for healthier alternatives to satisfy that sweet tooth! This one fit perfectly into my nutrition plan since it was grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, low carb, and of course, guilt-free! Given all of this, it makes as a great healthier alternative to regular cake for diabetics, as the healthy fats and protein help to provide a slow and sustained energy release whilst keeping blood sugar levels nice and stable.

Today I decided to combine a bit of sweetness with a little bit of tartness - and this cake was the perfect example of just that. With the smooth and subtle sweet notes of vanilla, the tartness and zing of lemon, and pumpkin seeds for that added textural bite, this mini cake was the perfect little tea-time treat!

Considering it was a very simple, quick bake, I was pretty surprised at how well it turned out - moist, fluffy, and full of flavour!

Ingredients:

2 large egg whites

20 g almond flour

1 scoop Reflex natural vanilla whey* (see below for protein-powderless substitution)

10 g pumpkin seeds

5g (1/2 tsp) virgin organic coconut oil

1 tsp stevia or sweetner of choice

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Whisk egg wihites with the lemon juice until light and fluffy

3. In a separate bowl, mix together almond flour, whey, stevia, and cinnamon

4. Sift the dry ingredients into the egg whites, then stir and combine

5. Melt the coconut oil, and grate and stir in the zest of 1 lemon and half of the pumpkin seeds to the mixture

6. Grease a small oven proof dish or cake tin with virgin organic coconut oil or grass fed butter and pour in the cake batter

7. Top with the rest of your seeds & a little more lemon zest and bake for 5-7 minutes or until the top has just started to turn golden - be careful not to over bake or else it will turn out very dry! If this happens, just squeeze some more lemon juice on top and allow the cake to soak up the moisture before digging in... Alternatively, just top with some walden farms syrup, runny honey, or maple syrup!

 *Sub for 13g more almond flour