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...

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!

Vanilla Pecan Bourbon Balls

Vanilla. Pecan. Bourbon. These are a few of my favorite things...

I can't wait to feed these to the Bear!!!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Amy at Fragrant Vanilla Cake


Vanilla Pecan Bourbon Balls
Makes about 2 dozen

1 1/2 cups vegan pecan sandies or sugar cookie crumbs
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp maple syrup or more if needed
2 Tbsp bourbon
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp maple extract

8 oz vegan white chocolate
8 oz vegan dark bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans




In a food processor, combine cookie crumbs, pecans, vanilla and maple extracts, bourbon, and 1 Tbsp maple syrup, and process until well blended, and starting to come together like a dough (if not sticky enough add a little more maple syrup). Roll mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer until chilled and firm, about 1/2 hour. Melt white chocolate and dark chocolate in 2 separate bowls in the microwave using 30 second intervals, stirring in between. When chocolate is melted, dip half bourbon balls into the white chocolate, coating entire outer surface, and placing on a foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Repeat with dark chocolate. Place sheet in the fridge for a little while to set chocolate.