One of my other loves in life is food and cooking, and wherever possible using wholefood ingredients rather than that processed nonsense, so you can imagine my delight when I was given the opportunity to share a new cake and patisserie book with you (and give a copy away – more details on that below).

Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman is full of delicious sounding recipes using whole, natural and nourishing ingredients, and is totally free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar for those who are avoiding those foods. Not only is this a great recipe book for home baking, but it is also full of recipes that I think would be great for weddings – which is why I felt I wanted to share it with you.

Having a lovely flip through the book, I ear-marked a number of recipes that I thought would be idea for a wedding, so if you are planning to DIY some of your wedding, here are my thoughts on some edible homemade projects.

DIY sweet treats for your wedding

I thought the Strawberry verbena granita would be delightful for a summer wedding and a delicious alternative to ice cream.

There are two pages of recipes for truffles, including the scrummy sounding Blackcurrant truffles and Camomile and honey ‘white chocolate’ truffles – all of which I thought would make thoughtful homemade wedding favours.

What about making your own Fresh mint thins (think fresh mint leaves covered in dark chocolate) to decorate your wedding cake? 

The idea of edible sweet buffets has been popular for a few years now, but what about a popcorn buffet? Henrietta has two recipe variations for her ‘Puff-me-up-clusters’ – Peanut butter caramel popcorn clusters, and the unusual sounding Dark chocolate chip, salted almond and puffed quinoa clusters. For inspiration for a popcorn buffet check out our previous posts here.

My final favourite for weddings from Henrietta’s Clean Cakes was a recipe for Dark chocolate dipped peanut butter and jelly dreams, which with their freeze-dried raspberry dusted tops are just so pretty. I think one of these beautifully wrapped for each of your guests would make a most scrumptious wedding favour. If you’d like to have a go at making these, whether for your wedding or just a weekend indulgence, you’ll find the recipe below.

Win a copy of Clean Cakes

Finally, would you like to win a copy of Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman? If so, we are running a giveaway over on our Instagram, so head on over to enter –> The Natural Wedding Company on Instagram.

A recipe for Dark chocolate dipped peanut butter and raspberry jam dreams

These take the humble peanut butter and jelly sandwich to a whole new level. The dark chocolate shell cracks to reveal a crumbly and slightly salty peanut butter cookie topped with a layer of sweet yet sharp raspberry jam – they are just too good! Dipping the biscuits in your homemade chocolate at the end is great fun, and the leftover chocolate… well, I’ll leave that up to you!

Makes 12 biscuits

Biscuits
100 g (3 1/2 oz / 2/3 cup) peanuts, preferably activated dried (details on page 25 of Clean Cakes)
100 g (3 1/2 oz / 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp) oat
flour, plus extra for dusting
4 tsp arrowroot
1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
40 g (1 1/2 oz / 3 tbsp) coconut oil,
softened but not melted
60 g (2 oz / 1/2 cup) coconut sugar
90 g (3 oz / generous 1/3 cup) smooth
peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
300 g (10 1/2 oz) homemade chocolate (details on page 156 of Clean Cakes) or dark chocolate 85% cocoa solids
140 g (5 oz / generous 1/2 cup) quick-cook raspberry jam (details on page 32 of Clean Cakes) or no added sugar high fruit content jam
To top
Maldon or other flaky sea salt
6 freeze-dried raspberries or a small
handful of freeze-dried raspberry

Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Blitz the peanuts, oat flour and arrowroot in a food processor until as fine as possible, rocking the food processor gently if necessary. Add the salt and baking powder and blitz once more.

In a large bowl, beat the coconut oil, coconut sugar, peanut butter and vanilla extract using the back of a wooden spoon to get rid of any lumps of coconut oil. Combine the dry ingredients with the coconut and peanut butter mixture. Finish by bringing the mix together with your hands.

Turn the mix out onto a lightly floured surface and roll to just under 1 cm (1/3 inch) thick. Cut out circles using a 6 cm (2 1/2 inch) round cutter. Re-roll and cut again. Transfer onto the lined baking tray, using a knife to scoop them up, and bake for 8 minutes. Rotate the baking tray and bake for a further 8 minutes. The biscuits should be light brown. Leave to cool completely on the baking tray. Do not pick them up until they are cold as they are very crumbly and will break easily.

Put a piece of marble or a baking tray lined with baking parchment in the freezer. Melt the chocolate using a bain-marie (details on page 156 of Clean Cakes), heating to 28–30°C (82–86°F) for dipping.

With a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of chocolate over the top surface of each cold biscuit. Leave to dry then spread a layer of jam over the chocolate, about 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick.

Remove the cooled marble or baking tray from the freezer. One by one, slide a fork under each biscuit, and dip it into the chocolate, keeping the fork almost horizontal. Once completely covered, gently tap the fork on the edge of the bowl. Wipe the bottom of the biscuit on the side of the bowl, then slide it off the fork onto the marble, using a knife if necessary to push it off.

While the chocolate is still wet, finish each biscuit with a sprinkling of sea salt and freeze-dried raspberries, crushed between your fingers. Once set, devour immediately! Or, if you can resist, these will keep in an airtight container for about four days.

Recipe and images extracted from Clean Cakes by Henrietta Inman, photography by Lisa Linder. Published by Jacqui Small (£20).

This is not a sponsored post, however we were sent a free copy of a the book to review and a copy to giveaway. All opinions expressed are our own.