We have a winner...

My son wants the orange cake with blueberry frosting for his birthday party.  It was very tasty and I will probably try using cranberry juice, cherry juice, pomegranate juice, pineapple juice, etc. in future cakes.  It should be just as tasty.

Latest attempt at a new cake recipe

VegBoy wanted me to make an orange cake with Blueberry Frosting.
I adapted the frosting by using Earth Balance instead of butter and organic vegan powdered sugar instead of regular powdered sugar. 

The cake I made as follows.

Orange Cake
1 & 3/4 cups  Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 & 1/4 cup Spelt Flour
1/2 cup Coconut Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
2 cup Orange Juice
2 cup Demerara Sugar
2/3 cup Canola Oil
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Lemon Juice

Grease and flour 9x13 pan.  Preheat oven to 350 F.  Whisk together flours, baking soda, and salt.  In separate bowl stir together demerara sugar, orange juice, oil, vinegar, and lemon juice.  Add wet ingredients to dry and whisk to combine.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes.

First attempt on the cake recipe..

It didn't have enough coffee flavor in my opinion.  I do plan to test steaming coffee beans in the coconut milk then straining out the beans leaving the coffee infused coconut milk to add with the coffee to give it more flavor and if you want to try it that way, let me know if that solves the problem. :)  I will be posting a Chai Oatmeal cake recipe tomorrow or the next day. 

Coffee Flavored Cupcakes
 1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 cup Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Spelt Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
1 cup Demerara Sugar
1/2 cup Coffee
1/2 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 cup Canola Oil

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease muffin or canoe tins; or Grease and Flour 8 inch square pan.  Sift together dry ingredients.  Stir sugar in to wet ingredients.  Add wet to dry and stir until combined.  Spoon into muffin tin or pour into cake pan.  Bake cupcakes 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Bake canoe tin 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Bake cake pan 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Countdown to VegBoy's 9th Birthday!!

He is wanting a new and different cake.  I will be posting at least two possibly three cake recipes in the next week.  Anyone feeling the need to try them with us and give feedback will be appreciated.  I will have to make enough on party day to feed about 20-30 adults and kids.  Most of these guests will be non-vegans forced or encouraged to eat vegan at the party.  I am disallowing them from bringing non-vegan food as I feel it would be cruel to make him watch them eat things that he can't have on his birthday.  For those who are thinking I should give him a break and let him have whatever he wants on his special day, he has seizures that are much more severe and frequent when he is exposed to even tiny amounts of animal proteins.  For whatever reason, his body can't process them at all. 

VegBoy has requested my vegan nacho casserole for his birthday meal, I will use homemade seitan instead of the TVP since my younger sister is allergic to soy.  I will have guacamole and salad, to go with the casserole.

So if my non-vegan friends and family want to try these recipes and let me know which ones are most successful I will appreciate your feedback. :)  For those who are interested, I have found this blend of flours give a depth of flavor to the vegan recipe and are more effective in satisfying the taste buds of non-vegans or those transitioning to vegan diets.  If you are in the mood try your own flour blend, you could substitute wheat for the spelt if you like.

My usual cake recipe for reference is modified from a Depression Era cake

1 1/2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 cup Spelt Flour
1/2 cup Coconut Flour
5/8 cup Cocoa Powder (Fair Trade, USDA Organic)
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 cups Demerara Sugar
1 cup Warm Coffee
1 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2/3 cup Canola or Extra Light Olive Oil

Grease and flour a 9x13 cake pan.  Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour blend, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda into a bowl; set aside.  In a separate bowl combine warm coffee with sugar, coconut milk, vinegar, vanilla, and oil.  Stir until sugar begins to dissolve then add liquid ingredients into dry.  Stir with a spoon until all ingredients are combined.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely and frost with favorite frosting or dust with vegan powdered sugar.

I needed a good bread, fast..

Vegan Garlic Biscuits

to go with my salad for lunch.  So I decided to get a little creative with my biscuit recipe.  We all like the biscuits so I decided to post the recipe before I forget the precise measurements of the ingredients I used.  Yes, I measured instead of randomly sprinkling ingredients until it looks and smells right.

Biscuits     Makes 12 biscuits
1 cup Spelt Flour
1 cup Unbleached All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/8 tsp Chili Powder
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1/3 cup Vegan Shortening
3/4 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Prepare cookie sheet with a thin coating of oil.  Stir together dry ingredients add shortening.  Use pastry blender or fork to cut shortening into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in coconut milk until dough forms.  Knead for a minute to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.  Flatten dough on counter fold into thirds.  Repeat.  Roll out dough and cut with biscuit cutter.  Place biscuits on cookie sheet.  Bake 13 minutes.

Vegan Pizza, anyone?

Vegan Pizza with Tofurky Italian Sausage, Mushrooms, Onions, and Black Olives

I am sorry I haven't posted before this, but I have have created what may well be the Holy Grail of Vegan food.  Yes, a creamy, cheesy sauce equally delicious over pasta or pizza.  I was originally trying to veganize the Bow-Tie Festival sauce from Carrino's and I have to admit this sauce comes close enough that you might feel guilty eating it if you didn't know it was vegan.  I tried it with pasta and mushrooms and loved it.  I was intrigued.  Would this sauce work over pizza?  Could it possibly maintain it's flavor in the oven at 425 degrees? The answer? Yes, yes it can. So I ask you to trust me and try it.  Just once with pasta, mushrooms, and veggies or over your favorite pizza crust for vegan pizza.  You may just find the taste you have been missing.  I know I have.

Sauce

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
2 Slices Lightlife Smart Bacon, chopped into small pieces
1 Tbsp Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 & 1/2 Tbsp Red Star Nutritional Yeast
3/4 Cup Vegan Mushroom Broth
1 Cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1/8 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Heat olive oil in large skillet over low medium heat.  Add garlic and bacon, sauté until bacon begins to crisp.  Transfer bacon and garlic to a bowl.  Add flour and nutritional yeast into skillet stir until smooth, then slowly add mushroom broth.  Stir until smooth and mushroom broth has reduced by half, add coconut milk and seasonings.  Continue to stir over medium heat, add bacon and garlic back into the skillet.   Let sauce reduce by half if using for pizza.

Or add pasta, mushrooms, and your favorite veggies and let the pasta absorb the excess liquid if using for pasta sauce.

For our pizzas I added Tofurky Italian Sausage sliced thin, black olives, onions, and mushrooms on top of my homemade marinara sauce.  I put cheese sauce on the crust, spread marinara over that, added toppings then finished by drizzling more cheese sauce over the top.  Bake according to directions for your crust or adapt this crust to your liking.

Valentine's Day came early..

Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts

For my kids this year. They have really been missing doughnuts. I hate frying anything. Last time I deep fried something was ten years ago. I wanted to try an onion blossom. I was wearing shorts and sandals as I carefully dropped the onion into the bubbling oil. Yes, I can hear you laughing now. I can even laugh a little now myself. At the time however, I was less than amused. I was quite certain I would never fry again.

Two kids and ten years later, I finally decided to give frying one more try.  I think it turned out pretty well.  No one was burned in the making of these doughnuts and the taste was excellent.  This might not be the healthiest snack, but as a rare treat they aren't too bad.

Modified again by VegMama, Modified by Pastrybrush, Original Source: Cuisine at Home, October 2008 Issue, page 31
Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts
1/4 cup Applesauce
1 tbsp Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream
1 cup Canned Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup Demerara Sugar
1/2 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Coconut Sugar
3 tbsp Earth Balance Margarine, melted
4 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (1 & 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp Nutmeg, 1/4 tsp All Spice)
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 & 1/2 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour
1 & 1/2 cups sifted Spelt Flour
1/2 cup sifted Coconut Flour
Vegetable oil, enough to fry in

Whisk apple sauce and tofutti sour cream together in a large bowl until frothy.  Add pumpkin, sugar, coconut milk, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, and margarine; whisk until combined.  Stir in baking powder, pie spice, salt, and baking soda.  Fold flour in gradually until a stick dough forms, you might need to add a little more to get the right consistency; cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, heat 2″ oil to 370°F in an electric skillet, deep fryer, or straight-sided pan over medium heat.
Pat out dough on a well floured surface to 1/2 inch thick, then cut with a 3″ and 1″ biscuit cutters dipped in flour.  Transfer doughnuts and holes to a floured baking sheet using a spatula that has been dusted in flour.  Fry doughnuts and holes in batches in the oil until browned, about 2 minutes, turning once (holes cook faster).  Drain on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.  Finish with sugar or glaze

Apple Cider Glaze

1/4 cup Spiced Apple Cider
Pinch of Salt
1 cup Powdered Sugar
heat cider and salt in small saucepan over low until hot.  Off heat, whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.  Dip cooled doughnuts in glaze and let stand about 5 minutes.

Ice Cream in the cold..

Yes, I know that it is below zero outside.  My kids wanted ice cream to go with the banana chocolate chip cake I was making yesterday.  I couldn't find a vegan recipe for Caramel Pecan Ice cream, and you know that is the only kind that would go perfectly with the banana cake, right?  So, here is the recipe for the best ice cream ever, according to us anyway. :)

The cake recipe is here.  I made the following modifications 3/4 cup all purpose flour 3/4 cup spelt flour and 1/4 cup coconut flour to make it healthier.  I also used So Delicious Coconut Milk instead of soy milk because that is what we usually have.

Caramel Pecan Ice Cream
         Makes enough to fill a 32oz container.
2 cups So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance Buttery Spread

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 14 oz can Coconut Milk (classic not light)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3/4 cup chopped pecans

In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together buttery spread, brown sugar and So Delicious Coconut Milk.  Continue to stir until all the sugar and margarine are melted and the mixture starts to develop small foamy bubbles.  Remove from heat and let cool while you retrieve a heat safe bowl scrape canned coconut milk into bowl. Add vanilla, then pour in heated mixture.  Whisk until everything is thoroughly incorporated. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.  Follow your ice cream makers directions for freezing and adding pecans.  Enjoy!