jLAmode

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 ;-)

Here are two types of macaron, both stylish for Valentine's Day: Chocolate with Mint and Pomegranate - Pink Grapefruit. Byron Talbott and Beth Le Manach both have excellent tutorials for making macarons. Their work continually inspires me. Find links to their youtube channels at the end of this post - just search the channel for "macaron"

I made them both at the same time so the photos both overlap and omit elements. Sorry!

First, the building blocks: egg white, almond meal and icing sugar. Each batch is slightly different so, adjustments are needed from time depending on the behavior of the batter.

Begin by adding the almond meal and icing sugar to a food processor and chop until fine. Then, sift the ingredients. Sift it a lot!

Then, make a meringue. I know it's not the standard way, but I always dump in all the ingredients: egg white, sugar, vanilla and sprinkle of salt. Whip it until soft peaks form.

Add about 1/3 of the meringue to the dry ingredients and fold together. Add the remainder of the meringue and continue folding until the batter is "lava-like" That is, it should be thick and smooth.

Pipe the batter out in even circles on parchment or silicone baking mat. "Slam" the pan down on the counter a few times to allow the batter to settle, removing any bubbles. Then, (one of the most important steps!!!) allow the batter to dry for about 20 minutes. It should be completely non-sticky to the touch.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350˚F. Allow to cool and fill with delightful things.

I think the pomegranate-pink grapefruit is one of my favourites. The tartness of the fruit balances the sweetness and enhances the macaron experience.

I made a simple butter cream using Earth Balance spread, pomegranate juice and grapefruit zest.