Cake! Cake makes life better – always!

Well, I have been away from the blog for a while so have got a bit of catching up to do!

First up – for the festive season (now a dim and distant memory) I made some frangipane mince pies which went down a storm and I will definitely be making these a regular Christmas occurrence. You don’t need me to tell you how to make mince pies but the frangipane topping is worth knowing a sit can be used for many other pies – pear and frangipane tart as one example.

Frangipane topping

150g vegan spread – I use Pure Sunflower Spread
150g golden caster sugar
200g ground almonds
100g ground rice
2 heaped tsp cornflour whisked with 4 tbsp water (egg replacer)
A few drops of almond extract

Place the spread and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat together until smooth. Add the cornflour mixture, bit by bit, stirring as you go until fully combined – don’t worry if the mixture splits, the ground rice and almonds will pull it back together again. Fold in the ground rice, ground almonds and almond extract until combined.

For mince pies – bake at 190C/Gas 5 for 25 – 30 minutes until golden.

Last week I made some chocolate fairy cakes for Poppy’s birthday party. I adapted this recipe https://veganindulgence.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/cranberry-hazelnut-and-orange-muffins/ which is proving to be a good all round muffin recipe.

Make 30 cupcakes/ 20 muffins

560g SR flour (I used half wholemeal and half white) Remove 2 tbsps and replace with cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
130g demerara sugar
120g dark chocolate chips
350ml plant milk (I used half soy and half almond)
220ml flavourless veg oil (I used sunflower)
100ml agave syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180C
Line muffin tray with cases

Mix dry ingredients and chocolate chips
Add plant milk, oil, agave syrup and vanilla
Mix quickly for about 10 seconds until everything is just combined and still a bit lumpy – don’t over work it as if you take too long the raising agents will run out of oompph!

Spoon into muffin cases
Bake for 20 -25 minutes
Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack

I made a “butter icing” for these using 100g vegan spread and 200g icing sugar with 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder added.

As it had been a long week at work, I felt a carrot cake would help see us through Friday and I adapted an awesome recipe that I loved in my pre vegan days…and you wouldn’t have known it was vegan! It was demolished by my work colleagues.

260g light muscavado sugar
225ml sunflower oil oil
3/4 cup soy yogurt mixed with 3 tbsps cornflour (egg replacer)
300g grated carrot
150g plain white flour
150g wholemeal flour
1 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp mixed spice
170g sultanas
120g chopped nuts
75g desiccated coconut

beat oil and yogurt/cornflour
beat in carrots
fold in dry ingredients & fruit
pour into greased/lined 9” square cake tin
bake in preheated oven at 180C/ Gas 4 about 50 minutes

This recipe doesn’t really need a frosting but for extra decadence I made a cinnamon “cream cheese” frosting

1/2 tube Tofutti plain “cream cheese”
1 tbsp vegan spread
Icing sugar to taste – probably about 3 tbsps
2 tsp cinnamon

Beat vegan spread and cream cheese until smooth
Mix in the sugar and cinnamon

Only after I had spread the frosting on did I notice it wasn’t as smooth as it should be – more beating of the spread/cream cheese needed!

A long entry – burgers, banana bread, flapjacks and a restaurant!

Ok – get yourself a cup of something, put up your feet and relax…and then read this loooooong blog entry!

I find frozen veggie burgers handy to have in but I have been looking for a good, trustworthy bean burger recipe to have also…and I think this is it. It is adapted from the chickpea cutlet recipe in The Veganomicon.

Bean burgers

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 cup mixed beans
3 tbsps olive oil
1 cup wheat gluten
1 cup wholemeal bread crumbs
1/2 cup veg stock
3 tbsps tamari soy sauce
3 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 tsp miso
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp smoked pimenton
1/2 tsp yeast extract
Salt and pepper

Mash the chickpeas, beans and oils with a fork until all the peas/beans are mashed but a few remain as lumps.
Add everything else and mix well.
Knead for 3 minutes.
Using a spoon or your hands form into about 14 burgers
Fry in some olive oil – about 8 minutes each side.

Sorry – no pictures!! They were delicious and my son has DEMANDED I make them again.

Now, we don’t often have over ripe bananas in the house but when we do, we used to make a banana bread (recipe from Nigella Lawson) and I have wanted to try to veganise it for a while – this is the result and it worked awesomely well….you wouldn’t know it was any different from the original.

Banana bread

100 grams sultanas
75 ml dark rum (or Bourbon)
175 grams plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
125 grams vegan marg (melted)
150 grams caster sugar
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt mixed with 2 tbsps cornflour (this replaces the eggs)
4 small very ripe bananas (mashed)
60 grams chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the sultanas and rum in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour or longer.
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3 and get started on the rest.
Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium-sized bowl and combine well.
In a large bowl, mix the melted marg and sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the yogurt/cornflour mix, then the mashed bananas.
Then, with your wooden spoon, stir in the walnuts, sultanas and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture, and stir well.
Scrape into a loaf tin (2lb) and bake in the middle of the oven for 1-1¼ hours.
When it’s ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish.
Leave in the tin on a rack to cool.

And if you still have some bananas needing used up – this recipe is adapted from River Cottage.

Banana fridge flapjacks

100g pitted dates
100g dried prunes
2 ripe or slightly over-ripe medium bananas, peeled
150g syrup – golden and maple worked well, or you could use agave
2 tablespoons coconut oil
325g medium porridge oats
100g raisins
100g unsulphured ready-to-eat dried apricots, finely chopped
100g mixed seeds – sunflower, sesame, pumpkin, hemp

Line a shallow baking tray, about 20 x 30cm, with baking parchment.
Put the dates, prunes, bananas, syrup and coconut oil in a food processor and blitz to a thick, fruit-flecked purée.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, raisins, chopped apricots and seeds.
Stir in the puréed fruit and mix well
Tip the fruity oat mixture into the prepared tin and gently press it out, getting it as even and level as you can.
Put the tray in the fridge for 2–3 hours to allow the flapjack to set, then turn out on to a board and slice into bars.
Keep in a plastic container in the fridge and eat within a week.

These bars are gorgeous and feel oh so virtuous too! My wife says they are good for the colon!

And finally – a restaurant. We got a babysitter last night and headed into Edinburgh to Yeni, http://www.yenirestaurant.com/ a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Meze restaurant. I had heard good things about it and the selection available for vegans and it did not disappoint.

The deal is you choose 3 – 4 items each and they come as and when they are ready. There was a good selection of items marked as suitable for vegans and I was spoilt for choice. The updated wine list will also highlight wines that are suitable for vegan also.

I had spinach filo rolls, baked aubergine (which was amazing!) spicy potatoes with a tomato sauce and baba ganoush; we had olives and flatbreads to share also.

AND they had some vegan dessert options – I went for the Turkish delight which went well with a coffee.

All in all, a really good meal and I heartily recommend a visit. We will be going back with the kids very soon.

Rhubarb, coconut and lemon bundt cake

This recipe is from a wonderful book “Veganomicon” (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Veganomicon-Ultimate-Isa-Chandra-Moskowitz/dp/156924264X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370717608&sr=1-1&keywords=veganomicon”) and I adapted it slightly by adding in the rhubarb as we have a load of it kicking around. Utterly delicious!

INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Cup granulated sugar
2/3 C vegetable oil
1 (14-oz) can coconut milk
1/4 C soy milk
1/4 C lemon juice
3 Tbs lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut
3 large rhubarb stalks

Chop the rhubarb and sprinkle with sugar – leave for half an hour

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180C. Lightly grease an 8 or 10″ Bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, oil, coconut milk, soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients in batches, mixing well after each addition.
Add the rhubarb/sugar
Stir to combine. Pour batter into the Bundt pan.

Bake 1 hour or until a knife inserted through the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes, then place a cutting board over the cake pan, gently flip over and release the cake from the pan. Let cool completely.