Vegan MoFo VI, Day 29 - Sunday Baking (on Monday)

Obviously today is Monday, but Mike hurt his hand and didn't feel like cooking tonight, so we just had leftover tofu scramble for dinner.  And I did bake yesterday, but I didn't write about it.  So I'll do that now!

Last night I made the Snickerdoodle cake from Have Your Cake and Vegan Too!  It was pretty easy to make and put together.  The only not-easy (but still not particularly difficult) part was putting the topping on.  My frosting had already set a bit and wasn't as sticky as it maybe should've been, so the sugar crystals kept bouncing off (all over the worktop and floor that I'd just cleaned).

We didn't have any last night, but I took it into work.  One person said it was lush; another said she was glad she didn't live with me because she'd be really fat.  And I believe 2 people had cake for lunch.  So, I'd say it was pretty successful.  I did get a piece in the end, and it was pretty good, though (I can't believe I'm saying this) it maybe had a bit too much cinnamon.  But it really did taste like a snickerdoodle, which is one of my favourite cookies, so overall I'm happy with the outcome.

The whole point of my Sunday baking theme was to make a few different cakes from Have Your Cake and Vegan Too! to determine if I want to buy the book.  Of the things I've made, I'd say the majority have been good to outstanding.  I could definitely see myself baking my way through the rest of this book (or at least the rest of the recipes that I liked the look of).  So, if anyone in my family is reading this - I want this book for Xmas!

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 14 - Sunday Baking - Cake Balls!

It's Sunday, so I'm baking from Have Your Cake and Vegan Too!

As I mentioned yesterday, my best good friend Eva was visiting from Newcastle, and since we love Tex-Mex, I decided to make the Gluten-Free Mexican Chocolate Torte.  But it turned out she didn't plan for cake, so she didn't have any.  It kinda worked out, because it took almost twice as long to bake as the directions said, and then only about half of it came out of the pan.  Oops.

Mike and I both had a piece, and it was really, really tasty.  But I had planned on taking the leftovers to work as a treat to the two gluten-intolerant people in my office (especially as one of them occasionally gives me a lift home).  Considering that it fell apart just by slicing it, I didn't think it would go over well at the office.  But what better excuse to make cake balls than a cake that could only be held together by copious amounts of frosting?

I made a quick cinnamon frosting by creaming together 2 tbsp each of margarine (Vitalite) and shortening (Trex), then adding a couple of drops of vanilla and almond extracts and about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, and alternating icing sugar and soy milk (I didn't measure either of these - just dumped them in until I had the right consistency).

I kinda chopped up the rest of the cake, then mixed it into the frosting.  It quickly disintegrated, so it was clearly a good plan.  I also melted a good cup or so of chocolate chips in the double boiler.  I balled up the cake/frosting mixture and put it on a plate covered with parchment paper, then let the balls set in the fridge while the chocolate cooled (because hot chocolate + frosting = cake soup).  Once the chocolate was cool enough, I rolled the balls in it and put them back on the plate, then back in the fridge to set the chocolate.

The result?  Well, it's a ball of cake and frosting covered in chocolate - how could it possibly be bad?

I haven't actually put this week's MoFo plan together yet, but I already have most of it planned out in my head.  I just need to decide what to make from the cookbook challenge book, which I'll talk about probably on Tuesday!

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 10 - Talkin' Pumpkin

I finally got around to doing one of the things I was thinking about - using my bookmarks!  Tonight I made Manifest Vegan's Pumpkin Alfredo for dinner.

Lemme back up a second so I can talk about pumpkin.  I may have talked about pumpkin before, but that's because it's awesome!  I have my bookmarks sorted into a few different categories, and I actually have a category for pumpkin (and it has more stuff in it than most of the other categories).  I love pumpkin sweet or savoury (though I usually end up eating it sweet).  I could eat pumpkin any time of year.  I do feel more inclined to eat it during the colder months, but I'll make The Best Pumpkin Muffins at the height of summer.

Anyway, back to the recipe.  I really liked this.  But how could you not like a recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of nooch?  I had to add some of the pasta cooking water to make it blend (I find that my food processor doesn't really get things smooth, so I usually use a blender), but I otherwise didn't change a thing.  I just wish I'd remembered my chocolate pasta - I have a feeling it would've been perfect with this, and I've been meaning to use it.  But I have leftovers, so I'll just make the pasta another night!

I also made The Great Pumpkin Bundt Cake from Have Your Cake and Vegan Too! on Monday.  I was iffy on this initially because it took at least twice as long to bake as the recipe said, and it came out a little underdone.  I actually had a few pieces and thought, it's not a complete failure, but I don't know if I'd make it again.  But when I had some tonight, I microwaved it and ate it warm, with the glaze melting in to it.  It was delicious.  I wish I could have more.  The only thing I might change about it is to add chocolate chips, but that's because I feel chocolate and pumpkin is one of the best combinations ever devised.

My best good friend Eva has a pumpkin bread recipe that is good enough to sell, and she sent me the recipe to veganise.  It turns out it would be super easy to do, so I might make that soon (I even bought another can of pumpkin - I might need to stock up again soon since I actually ran out).

I still need to figure out what I'm doing for British Food Friday!  I'll come up with something...

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 5 - British Food Friday

Yay, I stuck to my theme today!

For the first British Food Friday, I made the classic Bakewell tart.  According to Professor Wikipedia, the Bakewell tart hails from Derbyshire and consists of a shortcrust pastry, jam filling, and almond sponge layer.

I've only ever eaten Bakewell tart once - I think it was during the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale this year.  I actually got the train to Glasgow and built a day out around going to a bake sale.  That's what not having a working oven does to a person.  I really, really liked it, but it wasn't quite jammy enough for me.  I swore I would make one myself one day when I had a working oven, but I'd have a massive jam layer.  So, naturally, this was the first thing I thought of for this theme (in fact, I think I decided I wanted to make this and treacle tart and built the theme around that).

Last night, before I met Mike for dinner, I bought a block of frozen Jus Rol shortcrust pastry.  I figured it would be thawed by the time we got home.  Not so much, but I just defrosted it in the microwave.  But because I'm a genius, I decided that it would be awesome if I made 2 tarts after 10pm and take them in to work when only 13 people were in the office that day.  I mostly made this decision based on the fact that you're meant to use the crusts within 24 hours of defrosting and can't refreeze them.

I decided to make what I always thought was the standard - cherry Bakewell.  I thought cherry Bakewell meant that the jam layer was cherry, but apparently it's just cherry because it has almond icing and a glace cherry on top (what?).  But, whatever, whatever, I still used cherry jam.  That was my first one.  I decided to get a little experimental with my second one, so I made a PBJ Bakewell - raspberry/cherry jam layer (because I had extra cherry jam but not quite enough raspberry) with a Freenut butter cake topping.

For the sponge on the classic, I made a half recipe of the almond cake in Have Your Cake and Vegan Too (which I think I talked about in my first post).  For the jam layer, I used some reduced sugar cherry jam from Sainsbury's that, because it had whole cherries, I blended until smooth (I don't like bits).  I topped it with a simple water glaze (icing sugar mixed with water - I didn't even measure it).  For the PBJ, I made the PB cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and I used the last of my seedless raspberry jam mixed with a bit of leftover cherry jam.  I melted some chocolate chips in the microwave with a couple of splashes of soymilk to drizzle over the top of this one.

These weren't quite the hit that the almond mocha cake was, but I think that's partially down to the office being half empty (there were 3 people working away from the office, 5 PT people who don't work Fridays, and 4 who were on holiday).  The people who ate them loved them, though the classic was the clear favourite.  I think people here really just don't do PBJ.  I ended up coming home with a full pan (half of each).  But I think it was a success for the first attempt!

I think I'm gonna try to make something savoury for the next BFF because I think my co-workers are gonna be a bit caked out after too long (especially since I'm taking something in on Monday and another person said he'd bring something on Tuesday).  Also, I think I'm PMSing, because even though these weren't as good as the almond mocha cake, I wanted to cram both of them in my face all day, so I need to personally lay off the cakes too.

So, any ideas for what I can make next week?