Lard Cake with Dairy Free Coconut Icing

Lately I have been reading about fats and oils. There is so much information on nutrition on the Internet and often contradictory.
Some people praise the use of vegetable oils and condemn saturated fats and high cholesterol foods as the main cause of heart disease.
Others say that both have their uses: saturated fats are the most stable fats for high heat cooking and unsaturated oils/fats are easily damaged when heat is applied to them. Basically they tell you to avoid highly processed vegetables oils (like sunflower oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, corn oil...), margarines, hydrogenated oils and man made trans-fats found in spreads. So, what are the alternatives? For cooking: coconut oil, butter, ghee, lard, tallow, lamb fat, duck fat (the animal fats should be from pasture-raised/grass-fed animals).  For cold uses: olive oil, sesame oil, nut oils, avocado oil.

Also, I have read somewhere that you should never reheat oils even if they look clean.

If you want more information on this subject check these websites:
www.marksdailyapple.com
www.balancedbites.com
www.westonaprice.org
www.realfoodkosher.com/complete-guide-to-fats-and-oils

To me it makes sense. I already avoid anything with hydrogenated oils but I do cook a lot with vegetable oils. I'm trying to vary a bit more my fats and oils and I have started using lard for frying. I cannot find any "organic" lard but the one I use doesn't have anything artificial in it and I'm not ready to render the fat myself to make my own lard. Baking is a bit of a problem though. Butter would be the most natural option but I tried to reintroduce it to my diet and dairy is just a big no no for me. I searched on the Internet a few recipes with lard, there aren't many to be honest.

I have adapted this recipe from www.cooks.com and to my surprise it really works!

Lard cake Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2/3 cup of rice milk
• 1/3 cup of lard, diced
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients in a food processor and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 30-35 minutes.

Coconut Icing:

• 1x50g creamed coconut sachet, melted (I used Patak's)
•  4 tblsp coconut cream 
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1 cup shredded coconut

Mix all the ingredients and spread them on the cake while it's still warm. Place under a preheated grill until it bubbles.

 Give it a try, it's really good!

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