Vegan MoFo 2014 - Sunday baking: Golden Syrup Cake

Today's Sunday baking is a recipe from the Ms Cupcake cookbook.  I actually got this book before it was available in stores - I got a signed copy at Brighton VegFest last year (? - whatever year it came out).  But I've been really crap about making stuff from it.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I've only made 4 recipes ... after today.

I kept looking at the Golden Syrup Cupcakes and thinking I really wanted to make them.  But given my penchant for laziness and the fact that I have fewer than 12 cupcake papers, I decided instead to make these into a cake.  I made it in an 8" square pan and sliced it in half to layer it with the vanilla buttercream from the book, then drizzled with syrup as suggested.

Behold!  As you can see, I like my cake to frosting ratio at approximately 1:1.  I usually frost the sides as well, but for some reason I decided I liked the look of it more like this.  And frankly, it didn't need any more frosting.

This was good, but not really much different from a regular vanilla cake.  I would've preferred a more syrupy flavour, maybe less sugar and more syrup.  But it's lovely and moist.  And Zebby liked it!

Also, I had half a recipe of frosting left over, so, oh darn, I'm gonna have to make something else.

And just because, here's a picture of Zebby looking at something.

Newsday Tuesday – Waitrose soffritto passata

It’s Newsday Tuesday, where I make/have food that’s new to me!  For a minute I thought I’d failed at it – I forgot that I actually have made the recipe I was gonna talk about.  But then I realised that one of the components is new to me, so it worked out!

I was at Waitrose the other day stocking up on frozen stuff (I got garlic and ice cream, but they didn’t have shallots) and happened upon a new item – jarred soffritto.  I quickly scanned the ingredients for anything non-vegan, not bothering to note the bizarre stuff some British person decided was supposed to go into sofrito, and, seeing that it was safe, bought a jar.

It wasn’t until I got home and had a good look at it in comparison to a recipe in Viva Vegan! that I realised that this is some kind of Euro-sofrito.  Sorry, soffritto.  It contains carrots and celery instead of peppers*.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  Regardless, I used it in a couple of recipes, and it was actually pretty good.

I made the Viva Vegan! Latin Baked Tofu with it, but due to the lack of Latinness, I added a bit of cumin to it before I poured it over the tofu.  I also made the Cuban black bean soup, which saved me a ton of time standing at the stove (but not much in the actual cooking process, which took FOREVAH).

Mike and I really liked it over the tofu, and we really liked the soup, so I can’t really say it’s a terrible product.  It just wasn’t what I expected.  But I guess I should’ve known, since I got it at Waitrose and not Lupe Pinto’s.  Still, I would give it the seal of approval – even though it was different, it was still tasty!

And since I don't have a picture of any food, here's a kitty tongue:

*A quick search tells me that this is Tuscan-style soffritto.  So I guess my Latin baked tofu was actually Italian baked tofu.

Review - Considerit Chocolates

Apparently there's a Saturday market on Grassmarket!  I had no idea.  On one hand, I love that there are so many markets springing up all over Edinburgh - there also seems to be one just off Princes Street nearly every Saturday (I can't remember the name of the street, but it's next to the HSBC branch), and every once in a while one pops up at New Kirk Gate Centre (down at the bottom of Leith Walk).  On the other hand, they almost never have anything vegan, apart from things like marinated olives.

I'm in a local vegan Facebook group, and, Claire, the proprietor of Considerit Chocolates, posted that she'd be selling there this weekend, so I went along after buying nearly all of the tofu from The Engine Shed at the farmers market.  Pro tip - If you go right to the back of the farmers market, there's a stair that leads onto the bottom of the Grassmarket.

Claire had two tables loaded with a huge variety of truffles, truffle bars, and Halloween chocolates, all of which was vegan and gluten free.  I went with the deal she was doing for 5 truffles and a truffle bar for £7 - quite a bargain as it would cost about £8.50 for a similar purchase from The Chocolate Tree, and they don't have nearly the same selection of vegan options.

The truffles, from left to right, are salted caramel (x2), amaretto, cinnamon, and vanilla.  The skull is a plain chocolate truffle, and the bar is a mint truffle bar.  Plus bonus Zebby nose - he was more curious about what I had on that plate than when I brought out my lunch of VBites fish-style steaks.

The truffles were amazing - I really wish I'd bought more, because I ate them all (except the skull) in about 5 minutes.  The salted caramel was a liquid centre, but the rest were ganache.  The flavours worked really well and weren't too subtle as to be overwhelmed by the bitterness of the chocolate.  Claire does a great job of balancing the flavours (they're obvious without being a punch in the face or feeling like the flavour comes just from extracts), and she clearly knows from chocolate.  I honestly couldn't even tell you which was my favourite as they were all delicious in their own way.

I think I'm gonna have to make at least a monthly if not bi-weekly trip to the Grassmarket to get a box of truffles.  If you can't make it to the Grassmarket, or want truffles sooner than next Saturday, you can order from the website (linked above).  I'm so pleased that this wee business exists and wish Claire all the best of luck so that she keeps making these delicious chocolates.

Cheesy burger mac

It's the last day of MoFo 2013!  I feel like this MoFo has gone by faster than others, because there are so many things I didn't get around to.  I think I also got so caught up on making stuff from Cookin' Crunk that I ignored my other theme, which was to cook from my pantry.  I think I actually have more stuff now than when I started!

Today's post is a bit of a cop-out because I actually made this yesterday.  I had a long, exhausting day today, so I don't feel like cooking.  But yesterday, along with all the ice cream shenanigans, I also made Cheesy Burger Mac from Cookin' Crunk!

This recipe has three components - the cheese sauce, the burger, and the macaroni.  I made the Basic Cheese Sauce and boiled the macaroni while the Ground TSP Beef was cooking, so it all came together pretty quickly.  I'd say I was in the kitchen for about 30 minutes, which is good for me.

I threw some frozen peas in with the macaroni towards the end of cooking, so I just ate this as a one-bowl meal.  It was really tasty, though I kinda wish I'd put more cheese sauce in mine.  Oh well.  It works well as leftovers, though the pasta does soak up the sauce.  I could definitely see myself making this again (probably later this week since I have enough of everything for another batch).

And since I didn't take a picture of the food, here's a picture of Zebby.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 27 - Still sneezing

I've been sneezing since about 3pm yesterday, and I slept really badly.  I kept waking up with my tongue feeling like sandpaper because I couldn't breathe through my nose.  At least Zebby let me sleep in a bit.  Anyway, all this is to say that today I'm just gonna review some products that I've had recently.

First up are Redwood's beef-style and turkey-style roasts, which I really like, but they're usually a bit more costly than I like to spend on what is essentially a big seitan sausage that I could make myself.  But when they're on sale (like during one of Holland & Barrett's sales or marked down at Real Foods), I kinda can't help myself.  They're not meant to be cooked in anything other than an oven, so I bought some months before I could actually cook them because they were on sale.

It turns out you can cook these in a slow cooker (there are ways of doing so that I found at the time, but I'm too lazy to google them now), which is what I did with these when I didn't have an oven.  In the oven or the slow cooker, they come out moist and tender and taste remarkably similar to what they're mocking (though the texture isn't the same, but that's probably a good thing, especially for the beef).  The only issue I have is that the turkey-style roast really stinks when it's cooking.  I made one a couple nights ago and I thought I was smelling the cat's room (which is at the other end of the flat).

Both varieties work well as an actual roast, i.e. with potatoes, carrots and onions, or with mash and veg on the side, or with vegetable rice (which is how I ate the turkey-style the other night).  However, my favourite way to eat either of them is to slice into strips and put in a wrap with boiled potatoes and carrots and a bit of gravy.  So good!

Next up is Prewett's chocolate creams - gluten free chocolate biscuits with a chocolate cream filling.

From Amazon - which doesn't actually sell them.

I bought these at Real Foods today when shopping for nice things to take to people in the States who are letting me stay with them (and trying to figure out what happened to my tea, which they seem to have discontinued).  The photo is a little misleading (they don't have nearly that much cream filling), but they were really good - a bit crumbly, but good flavour and nicely crisp without being hard.  I also like that they don't have a gluten-free feel to them - they just have a regular old biscuit texture (and taste).

Finally, Tesco has a range of juices called Juice Bar.  They look to be mostly vegan - they're juices, but I've found fish oil in juice before, so I'm not gonna issue a blanket all-clear on them.  Mike used to get them often from the Tesco near his office, but he thinks they may have stopped carrying them (or that they moved to another part of the store and he can't be bothered looking for them).  I had my first try of them tonight with the Virgin Sangria - grape, apple, and orange juices.  I really liked it - it obviously didn't taste like real sangria, but the flavours worked surprisingly well together (I was wary of the combo initially).  Mike had the Rootin' Fruitin', which was a combo of pineapple, mango and carrot.  I wasn't impressed with this one, and he didn't love it either.

They usually have them on offer - 3 for £3 or 5 for £4 (I think) for 250ml bottles.  They're not massively great value for drinking from home (I usually have oj and get it on offer for 2/£3 for 750ml of Copella, the best oj I've ever had), but they'd do in a pinch if you didn't want to buy an entire 750ml bottle of juice for drinking on the go.

Here's a bonus picture of my cat being super adorable:

FYI - That is not an invitation.  He will cut you.

Vegan MoFo VI, Day 22 - Mike Makes Monday Meals - Tofu Noodles

First of all, sorry for slacking yesterday.  I didn't have as much alone time as I'd hoped, and the kitchen wasn't clean (and I couldn't bear to clean it again), so I had cereal for dinner and didn't bake anything.  But I posted something, so there's that.

I went to an event tonight - a book launch for Voicing Scotland:  Folk, Culture, Nation by Gary West, who was one of my lecturers at uni (and the piper at my wedding!) - so I didn't get home until nearly 9pm.  I picked the perfect dinner for Mike to cook tonight - soba noodles with smoked tofu and spinach.  I based the technique on a recipe from Get It Ripe - I think that one is noodles and kale, no tofu - but did my own thing with not measuring and using different stuff.

It's super easy - cube a block of smoked tofu and fry it while waiting for your water to boil, then add soba noodles to the water.  Add spinach to the tofu pan and wilt the spinach while the noodles cook for 5 minutes.  While the noodles and spinach cook, make a sauce with soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sriracha, and garlic (I used 2 cloves, but could've used more).  Once the noodles are done, drain and add to the pan with the tofu and spinach, then pour over the sauce.  It takes about 10 minutes to come together, which is brilliant when you want a filling and (relatively) healthy meal but can't be arsed/don't have time to wait for something more complicated.  It's even faster than cooking up chips and a Fry's chicken burger!

I also finally, finally found Rekorderlig Winter Cider - it's now being sold in Sainsbury's! 

From their Facebook page

Rekorderlig is my favourite cider, possibly because it's one of the few vegan-friendly brands that are available both in stores and in pubs.  Also, their flavours are amazing.  I imagine most people wouldn't be super keen if they were dry cider fans because they tend to be quite sweet, but they're exactly the way I like them.  I've never had a flavour I didn't like, but then again I've never tried the orange ginger (which I've been told tastes like duck's ass).

We tried the winter cider warm.  It's alright, but I think I prefer my alcoholic cider cold and my non-alcoholic cider warm.  But I have another bottle in the fridge to drink cold another night!

Bonus Zebby picture - it'll get me hits!

 D'aww.  BTW, the cat bed is from Luna's Apawthecary.

Vegan MoFo VI, Bonus! - Cookbook Challenge - Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! (and breakfast)

As I mentioned last night, I was gonna make the Oreo Wafflewiches from Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! for dessert, but it was far too late once we got to the dessert stage of the night.  So I made them for breakfast!  And since it's daylight, I actually took a picture!

Sorry about the spill - I didn't notice it when I took the picture.

 

 These were pretty quick for waffles - or as quick as waffles can be given my hateful kitchen and my slow-ass waffle maker.  I subbed a bit of black cocoa powder for some of the regular cocoa powder for a bit more Oreo realness, but I don't know how much it helped.  Maybe I should use half and half next time.

 

These were fairly similar in taste to Oreos, though obviously the cream tasted fresher and less of chemicals.  It was kinda like eating half a packet of Oreos in one go - delicious, but now I feel a bit ill, though I don't feel particularly full.

 

I'm definitely gonna have to go to the gym soon.

 

Since I finally got around to taking a MoFo pic, I discovered that I had loads of photos of my cat, Zebedee, on my phone.  So, bonus Zebby and Mike photo!

 

Sunnin'

 I don't always sit here, but when I do, I step all over his junk.