Viewing entries tagged
cake

Chocolate Cake - Valentine's Day 2016

February 14, 2016

Woah! It's been a while! I missed blogging so much. I'm still insanely busy, but I'm going to post something at least once a month.

What better way to make an awesome Valentine's Day than to make chocolate cake!? I'm using a modified recipe from Joy of Cooking This is the Devils Food recipe.

I substitute butter for coconut oil and Earth Balance; blended flax seed for eggs; and soy milk for butter milk.

Mix the cocoa powder and the wet ingredients (except the milk and vanilla). Stir to ensure the cocoa has no lumps - then mix in the milk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and gently stir until incorporated. Don't over mix or it'll be tough. ... Well, I added more cocoa than the recipe called for and the mix was a little dry. So, I tried to blend in a little apple sauce to compensate. It worked.

Then spread the batter into a parchment lined baking pan (9"x13"). Bake at 175˚C (350˚F) for about 25 - 30 minutes; until a toothpick comes out clean.

While it's baking, prepare some shimmering ganache and crack open a pomegranate.

Ganache is easy: chocolate (or cocoa powder), fat (coconut oil and margarine), glucose (or light corn syrup) and vanilla.

Allow the cake to cool and cut into squares. Why little squares? Because it increases the surface area, which means more hot ganache!

Place the squares on a wire rack and pour over that liquid chocolate. Then top with pomegranate arils and flecks of edible gold. Bam, it looks like like a million bucks!

Serve this sexy dessert to your loved one. Or just eat a pile of this chocolate cake to drown your sorrows. I mean cocoa is technically a fruit and it's topped with pomegranate AND it's vegan. It's totally health food ;-)

Glazed Chocolate Cake [Vegan]

December 14, 2014

I love cake! I've never really tried to make a vegan cake - I always thought it'd be kinda gross. But, since I'm determined to make delicious vegan food, I decided to give it a try. I used a recipe from the book: The Joy of Cooking Cocoa Devil's Food Cake.

I made the following alterations: Coconut oil instead of butter, flax seed instead of eggs, soy youghurt instead of dairy; half the sugar and extra cocoa powder. I also added a bit of baking powder to make sure it raised well.

While it's baking, I made the glaze. It's composed of dark chocolate, Earth Balance, corn syrup and Silk creamer.

Pour the glaze over the cake and garnish with mint and pomegranate.

Cake with Raspberry and Orange

January 25, 2014

It looks like an underbaked cannelé. That's because I tried making cannelés in a silicone "pan" and it was a disaster. So, I whipped up a plain vanilla-orange sponge cake and baked it in the same mould.

Other than cake baking, it's fairly simple to prepare:

zest a bit of lemon
segment the oranges
strain raspberries with melted apricot (or apple) jam

All that's left to do is pile that deliciousness on a plate.

Gateau de figues fraîches

November 20, 2013

Egg white genoise with youghurt and figs.

A light cake with fresh fruit is always a delight. This sponge is made with egg whites and coconut oil instead of the traditional whole eggs and butter. It bakes nicely and plates attractively with an apricot glaze.

The sky's the limit, but fresh figs are irresistible. A light youghurt, instead of heavy cream, brightens the flavour.

Although it was a tasty composition, it lacked the desired sweetness. Next time it should be prepared with extra honey and vanilla in the youghurt and, perhaps a sprinkle of sugar on the figs.

Génoise Framboise

October 16, 2013

Light layers of wholewheat lemon génoise cake, raspberry jam and vanilla whipped cream! Génoise is made without any baking powder or soda - it's leavened entirely by whipped eggs.