Jacican cooking classes are open for guests!!!
It's been a little rough for everyone the last little while (Ok, I'm calling it - the previous two years).
But things are picking up here at Jacican.
BM feels better, I've been working on new things, and cooking classes are returning!
I am taking bookings for groups of up to 6 guests for a cooking class or up to 12 guests for a Walk Amongst the Weeds meal.
There are Macaron, lolly-making and preserving classes on offer, with pastry classes starting in 2023.
If there's something you would like to learn, reach out. I love using my initiative to learn and share new recipes!
Contact me (Jaci) directly at Jacican to book a date and time that suits you.
See you in the kitchen soon!
The cost per guest is $125.00, including eating or taking home what you make (Walk Amongst the weeds, we eat it, other cooking classes, you take your creations home), refreshments, food and drinks, as well a recipe booklet so you can re-create your recipes at home.
Cooking classes | Gippsland | Private Function | Harvest Lunch | Food studio | Mirboo North
How to cook Yacon and Date cake
Always after different things to grow in the garden, a couple of years ago, Leonie from Brushtail Foods gave me a couple of yacon rhizomes.
A tuber root vegetable that tastes like an apple crossed with a water chestnut crossed with a potato. You can bake, roast, stir fry and bake into a cake.
What’s a Yacon?
Like all good bloggers, I went to the source of all correct information – Wikipedia and asked. A species of perennial daisy, related to sunflowers and hence Jerusalem artichokes.
They contain an indigestible polysaccharide (geez, that’s a big word) made of fructose.
This makes the tuber sweet tasting but allows the vegetable to pass through a human unmetabolized, with a very low-calorie intake. That’s enough scientific talk.
Let’s make a cake …
Let’s make a processed sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, basically vegan cake
I promise it will taste great
Yacon and Date Cake
Ingredients
200 grams Dates
300 grams Yacon
200 grams Vegan Spread - I use Nutlex
50 grams of olive oil
300 grams of almond meal
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 pinch of salt
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line and grease a 23-cm cake tin.
2. Place dates in heat resistant bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, then drain off the water.
3. Place the dates, yacon, vegan spread, and olive oil in the bowl of the food processor. Puree until smooth. Add the almond meal, baking powder, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Pulse to combine.
4. Pour into your prepared 23 cm cake tin. Bake for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
Enjoy!!
PS: If you ask, Walk Amongst the Weeds can be a private vegan meal, where I make this cake as one of five plant only based courses.
PSS: If you want your yacon to plant, I have rhizomes to plant as I dig up and use the tubers. Drop by sometime during opening hours, and I will have a piece ready for you.
Acknowledgment of country
Hello, I’m Jaci Hicken, from the lands of the Brataualung clan, which is where I’ve spent most of my life.
I would like to acknowledge all of us here today to cook together and share a meal.
I love sharing my dream of growing the food this country has to offer and share it with you.
The traditional place that we come together today is on the lands Gunaikurnai people
And I’d like to pay my respects to our elders past, present, emerging leaders, along with all the young people in our community.