Chocolate Balsamic Cake with Red Wine

For those of you who don't know me, I'll let you in on a little secret - I don't really love chocolate. But put a glass of red wine in front of me and suddenly I'm prepared to take the most hard-core chocoholic to the mat over the last piece of whatever's in the house that even hints of chocolate.

So when I came across this recipe for vegan chocolate cake from Amy over at Fragrant Vanilla Cake, I just about flipped. For all you dedicated vegans out there, your karmic reward is this incredible recipe that non-vegans would likely never bother to seek out: chocolate cake held together not by eggs, but by red wine. Yes. Seriously. Oh, and with a cherry on top: a couple of tablespoons of balsamico that pull double duty for adding flavor as well as working with the baking soda to make this puppy rise.

I have to admit, having been raised on deliciously buttery eggy cakes, I was totally skeptical about how this was going to turn out. But I was determined to try a vegan cake and this one sounded way too interesting to pass up. Still, I braced myself for it to be totally dry or exhibit some other kind of weirdness and just kept my fingers crossed that it would at least be "passable"- lest I endure a resounding chorus of "I-told-you-so's" from my family. So imagine my joyous surprise when I took the first bite of this gobsmacking goodness...go ahead, imagine it. If you're picturing a cartoon character with eyes bugging out in tune with a fire alarm and passing out with little pink hearts and stars circling my head...well, you're obviously as weird as I am, but you'd be spot on.

Incidentally, as much as I'd love to, I cannot take credit for the awesomely awesome term "gobsmacking" - I shamelessly stole it from PeaSoupEats, a cheeky vegan blogger in Cornwall who if you don't already know, you absolutely must. In fact, I highly recommend pecking around her delightful little blog whilst stuffing yourself with this delectable cake!


Chocolate Balsamic Cake with Red Wine 
Recipe adapted from Fragrant Vanilla Cake
Makes one 9-inch single layer cake*

*if you want a double-decker - which, now that I've tried it, I highly recommend - double the quantities below to make two cakes and sandwich some yumm-o frosting in between

1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour (pastry flour works best, but naturally I didn't have any so I used regular wheat flour)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup sugar (original recipe calls for maple sugar - use it if you have it!)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position rack in center of oven. Amy recommends lining the cake pan with parchment paper and coating the parchment paper (and pan sides) with nonstick spray. I didn't have any paper on hand (found out the hard way a few months ago that wax paper is NOT a viable substitute) so I just used non-stick spray on a standard 9" non-stick cake pan and it worked fine.

Anyhoo. Onwards...

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl to blend well. Next, whisk oil, wine, and vanilla extract together in small bowl to blend well, then whisk into the flour mixture until well blended. And while the bottle is open, feel free to pour yourself a glass and toast yourself for endeavoring to bake something.

Whisk in the balsamic vinegar and stir quickly until fully combined. Transfer cake batter to prepared pan and bake cakes until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

Cool cake completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour. Cut around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cake out onto platter and peel off parchment paper (if you used it). Let your masterpiece cool completely before frosting.

Use your favorite frosting (there's a great one on the original recipe page that uses Tofutti cream cheese and tons more on Amy's site). You'll want to be generous with the frosting, not only because it's delicious but also because eggless cakes, whilst they can be surprisingly moist, do tend to be a little more delicate than their eggy cousins and will crumble more readily under pressure.

If you want to make it insanely decadent - go ahead, you deserve it - top it with some vegan caramel sauce to bliss yourself out completely.

Days later, I'm still seeing hearts and stars...

Vegan Cherry Zucchini Bread

If anyone has been wondering why the posts have been so sparse lately, here's the scoop: I've run into an unusual string of utterly average recipes that, whilst I managed to make them edible, I've not found to be post-worthy. [insert long string of crude expletives here]

Admittedly, many have been based on recipes that attempt to "veganize" something familiar and I'm sorry to say, some things just don't work in vegan form. And before anyone gets all up in my grill about my lack of kitchen skills, let me assure you that I always follow recipes with unfamiliar ingredients with obsessive precision to make sure I don't do them any undue injustice...and because there are few things I find more mortifying than watching someone politely choke down a bad meal that I prepared.

Having said that, this little string of failures has only increased my resolve to find some seriously kick-ass vegan recipes that will knock the smug socks off my family, who is always quick to say, "We told you so!" whenever a vegan recipe fails to transport them to culinary nirvana.

So trust me when I tell you that this next one is a real winner.

In fact, I was feeling so competitive that I also made Anna Getty's non-vegan version from Easy Green Organic and did a side-by-side taste test. Can you guess which one is vegan?

Buon appetito!


Heavenly Cherry Zucchini Bread
Adapted from this recipe at Hell yeah It's Vegan
Makes 1 loaf

3 tbsp ground flax seeds whisked into 1/4 c + 1 tbsp warm water
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup grated zucchini, packed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup dried cherries (or raisins, or apricots or whatever you may fancy)

Preheat the oven to 350. (No, I still don't have an oven of my own. I've been visiting Mom this month!)

Grate your zucchini. Make sure to pack it before measuring.

Mix together flax seed mixture, oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla.

Add zucchini and stir till just combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together remaining dry ingredients. Add them to the wet ingredients and stir just until moistened and everything is incorporated evenly; some lumps are fine. Add the dried cherries (or any other fun extras) now.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of loaf comes out clean. I recommend checking it after 40 minutes.

Let it cool a few minutes before removing and slicing.

Crumble Topping (optional)

If you want to make this a really decadent treat, top it off with this sweet crumble. I don't have a snap of this as I'm really trying to cut out blatantly unnecessary calories these days but I just know it would be heavenly. If you make it, send me a pic and make me insanely jealous!

1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons unsalted [vegan] butter

Combine the dry ingredients and cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Set aside and sprinkle evenly over the batter just before baking.

Note: I was totally out of sorts yesterday and my process was totally out of order. I actually forgot the zucchini so that didn't get added until I was about to pour it into the pan. Oh, and the egg substitute - the flax seed mixture - yeah, totally didn't see it sitting in the corner until I had already poured the batter in the pan. Despite having made a huge mess remixing and re-pouring, it still turned out great. Curious to see what following the directions yields next time...

Raw Vegan Salted Chocolate Truffles

I'm a total sucker for salted chocolate and these little gobs of goodness are my new favorite obsession. They're a super-healthy sweet treat and so easy to make it's almost silly. The basic recipe is pretty versatile and just begging to be experimented with. I promise to get back to real food soon but I just had to share these with you guys.

They're the best weekend inspiration I can think of today.
Happy Friday everyone!!


RAW VEGAN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
makes 16 1-inch balls of deliciousness

1 cup pecans or cashews or walnuts
1/3 cup cacao powder
1-2 teaspoons raw cacao butter (you can substitute any nut butter for a hint of extra flavor)
1-2 tablespoons coconut butter
1 cup pitted dates
1 pinch Sea Salt, plus extra for topping
splash of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons maple syrup

Firstly, process nuts into crumbs. Add cacao powder, cacao butter, coconut butter and dates, followed by salt and maple syrup, into food processor. Process the mixture until it's smooth and forms itself into a ball.

Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. One tablespoon should yield a 1-inch ball.

Enjoy them as is or press them in a sprinkling of the topping of your choice. This time I used saffron sea salt, pink sea salt and organic orange peel with a couple of pumpkin seeds.

Pop 'em in the freezer for about 20 minutes to set, and keep them refrigerated for as long as they last in your house.

No-bake Brownies with Lemon-Date Frosting

I'm obsessed.

Admittedly I'm more of an avocadoholic than a chocoholic, but these brownies have totally won me over. I'm mostly amazed at the ingredient list because it is completely devoid of anything I would have thought a brownie properly consists of (dairy-free, butter-less, eggless) and a whole bunch of other stuff that I'd never expect. I mean, I've had brownies with fruit and nuts, but never one that was actually made from them.

Oh happy day.

The lemon-date frosting is the kicker. The lemon juice cuts the sweetness of the dates just enough to give it the perfect tang. The lightness is a bonus as well and since it's completely natural, you can pile on as much as you want without feeling like a psychotic sugar monkey. I usually have to make it when I'm alone or the Bear will slurp it all up before it gets anywhere near the brownies.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

No-bake Brownies with Lemon-Date Frosting
Recipe courtesy of Katrine Volynsky via La Vita Saporita

1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup plump raisins (make sure they're pretty fresh - if they're dry they won't stick)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon alcohol free vanilla extract
1/3 cup raw chocolate powder or finally ground cacao beans
1/2 teaspoon coconut butter*
1 teaspoon grated raw cacao butter*
* if you don't have these handy, any nut butter (peanut, almond, etc) will work fabulously

Guilt-Free Lemon Date Frosting
1/2 cup lemon juice (I use 2-3 fresh lemons but the bottled stuff works in a pinch)
1/2 cup soaked dates

*FYI - these quantities will not yield Starbucks-super-sized squares so if that's what you're looking for, you might want to double the batch. In a glass baking pan of 18x26cm (7x10in) they end up being about 2cm (1in) thick, which is actually fine because they're really dense.

For those of you who like step-by-step snaps, you can find them here.

Soak the dates for at least 30 minutes. You can remove the pits before or after - up to you.

Meanwhile, process the walnuts, raisins, chocolate powder, and raw cacao butter in a food processor.

Next, add the add vanilla, maple syrup, and coconut butter and blend until batter forms into a ball.

Spread the batter into a glass pan about 1 inch high and place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes.

By now the dates should be gorgeously mushy. Remove the pits (if you haven't already) and blend them with the lemon juice until it's all smooth and creamy.

Spread it on top of the brownies and enjoy these little slices of citrusy-chocolate heaven!

Tangy Rhubarb Whips

Photo by Elinor Carucci, Recipe courtesy of Bon Appetit

So I decided it was time to include some kind of pink dessert in my repertoire.

Don't really know why - but dessert sections just never seem quite complete without something pink.

Here's a little something I stumbled across just in time to enjoy the last rhubarb of the season. Similar to my Mascarpone Clouds but fruitier and...well, pink.

I'm partial to yogurt for the extra tang, but you can also use your favorite vegan substitute for heavy cream - here's a link to a cool soy-free recipe.

8 oz fresh rhubarb stalks, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices (or 8oz frozen rhubarb, thawed)
1/4 cup of sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1/2 cup heavy cream (1 cup of vanilla soy yogurt)
1 teaspoon sugar

Bring rhubarb, sugar and orange juice to simmer in medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Partially cover pan and cook until rhubarb is very soft, about 6 minutes. Mix in Grand Marnier. Refrigerate until cold, about 15 minutes.

Use an electric mixer to beat the cream and 1 teaspoon sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Cover and chill up to 6 hours. If you opt for yogurt, just fold in the sugar.

To assemble, alternate layers of rhubarb mixture and whipped cream (or yogurt) in 2 large wine goblets or dessert dishes. Using small knife, swirl mixtures together. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 1 hour.

Happy Summer!

Strawberry-Lime Fried Bananas

After a disastrous attempt at making a flan for our last dinner party, I needed to come up with an emergency substitute. Luckily I've been on a smoothie kick lately and had some bananas and berries on hand. This was not only a life-saver, but super quick and easy to make while the Bear cleared the dinner plates.

Strawberry-Lime Fried Bananas
Serves 4

4 fresh, firm bananas
2 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan butter
5 tablespoons cane sugar
2 cups strawberries, quartered and then halved
Juice of 1 lime
5-6 large basil leaves, sliced in ribbons (optional)

Hull the strawberries and quarter them lengthwise. If you want them smaller, cross-cut the quarters.

To prepare the basil chiffonade, stack the leaves and roll them lengthwise into a tight bundle. Then cut the roll cross-wise into thin ribbons.

Combine the strawberries and basil in a bowl with the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Refrigerate while you prepare the bananas. If, unlike me, you happen to have the foresight to plan ahead, you can prepare this up to 2-3 hours earlier.

Peel bananas. Slice lengthwise, then cross-cut in half.

Heat the butter in a wok or frying pan until the butter bubbles. Add the banana slices and fry them on both sides over medium heat until they are golden and soft. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the bananas. You can stir everything together until the sugar dissolves (making a thick-ish syrup) or just let it caramelize on the bananas. They're done whenever they look like you want to eat them.

Transfer to serving plates, spoon the strawberries (which should be deliciously gooey by now) over the bananas and garnish with fresh basil leaves.

So delicious the Bear literally lapped up every last drop of berry juice.
Sneaky Vegan dessert - 1, Flan - 0.
Hoo-rah.

Lavender Fudge with Vegan Vanilla Marshmallows

I'm not sure which I'm more excited about: the lavender fudge or the vegan vanilla marshmallows that make it possible!

This recipe calls for evaporated milk but I prefer condensed milk instead - both of which can be made dairy-free. Using condensed milk makes it impossible to strain the lavender but so far everyone loves it so I'm sticking with it. They turn out pretty sweet this way but you can cut the sweetness by using half light and half dark chocolate or use all semi-sweet.

I make these as a reward for getting through 30-day cycles of sneaky veganism. Definitely not the healthiest thing you'll find on this site so enjoy it in moderation. The last batch lasted us a month and that was after giving half of it away!

1 cup evaporated or condensed milk (here's a vegan recipe)
1 tablespoon dried lavender (be sure it's food grade - better yet, grow your own!)
1-1/2 cups sugar (regular or raw cane work equally well)
2 tablespoons "butter" (Earth Balance makes a good, non-hydrogenated spread)
a pinch of salt
2 cups vegan chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups marshmallows (Sweet & Sara makes yummy gelatin-free vegan marshmallows)

Heat milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add dried lavender and heat to simmering. Keep stirring and don't mind any caramelized bits that you scrape off the bottom. Remove from heat, cover and let sit five minutes.

Strain out lavender (unless you used condensed milk). Return to heat.

Add sugar, butter and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and boil 5 minutes to completely decrystalize the sugar. Remove from heat.

Add marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir until thoroughly mixed. The marshmallows and chocolate chips will melt in the heated evaporated milk even though you've removed the mixture from the heat source. Mine don't when I use the condensed milk so just keep them on the fire with constant stirring.

Pour mixture into small greased baking pan. Do not bake! Instead, refrigerate the mixture overnight.

Cut into two dozen fudge pieces and enjoy!

Update: I just made these with evaporated vanilla soy milk (so I could strain the lavender) and semi-sweet chocolate chips. They turned out a little stickier than the condensed milk version with a more intense "cocoa" flavor but there is definitely still a hint of lavender. Try it both ways and let me know what you think - would be interested to know which version is more popular!

Mascarpone Clouds

Made these last night as an emergency substitute for my usual tiramisu.

The most heavenly 10-minute dessert ever!

Mascarpone Clouds

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
(lots of vegan options - I used Soya)

1 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
(can substitute soy cream cheese like Tofutti)

2 tablespoons ground espresso coffee

3-4 tablespoons sugar
(or to taste)

4-5 teaspoons brandy



Suggested Toppings:

Toasted slivered almonds

Chocolate-covered espresso beans

Vegan chocolate shavings

Blackberries or strawberries

Crushed peppermint candy


Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese to soften. Add the ground coffee, sugar and brandy. Mix until well combined.

Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture (be careful not to overmix), cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

Serve in dessert glasses and top with something to make them look festive.

Avocadoholics and Chocoholics Unite!

OMG. This is so good I want to bathe in it!

If you have kids, it's a great alternative to the sweet snacks that send them bouncing around like superballs.

This yummalicious treat comes courtesy of Katrine Volynsky from my girl Jennifer at Sweet on Veg.

RAW CHOCOLATE AVOCADO PUDDING

Time: 10 minutes
Makes: 2 – 4 servings
Equipment: blender or food processor

Ingredients
2 medium avocados
1/3 cup maple syrup or agave
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cacao powder
2 Tbsp Mesquite Powder
1/3 cup water or coconut water

Blend all ingredients, add water for desired consistency.

Serve immediately before you lick the entire batch off the spoon and have to start all over!