Vegan Chocolate Cake

The Pick of Wines for World Vegan Month

Vegan blueberry and lemon cake

Vegan Lemon Victoria Sponge

Slow cooker leek and potato soup – vegan and gluten free

Cereal crumb cake

Basil and almond pesto pasta

Slow cooker carrot and coriander soup - vegan and gluten-free

Carrot and coriander soup

The last time I made soup in my slow cooker was in the second year at university. On Saturdays I worked in a well-known high street retailer of magazines, books, stationery and music. After I had finished selling Daniel O'Donnell CDs and saucy lady magazines (always sandwiched between a gardening and classic music magazine) to the good people of Southampton I would stroll back to my flat and pick a can of soup for my Saturday dinner. Every other day I would cook myself something from scratch but Saturday night was tinned soup night. One Saturday however I decided to make myself a potato and garlic soup before I went to work and leave in the slow cooker to be enjoyed by myself upon my return. Oh the joy of not even having to get the get the tin opener out and putting my bowl in the microwave for a couple of minutes! All day I looked forward to this soup feeling smug in the knowledge that a warming, tasty and filling dinner would be ready for me on my return. When I did get home I was confronted by three angry flatmates and an overwhelming garlic stench. It seemed that while I was ensuring I left university debt-free they were awoken from their slumber by the smell of my dinner cooking and as the day went on it got stronger and stronger. I did taste the soup and with my best food critic's hat on I condemned it as 'foul'. Perhaps it was one too many a garlic clove in it...I have searched through my student recipe folder for it but sadly it seems lost to history.

With such a sorry tale to tell about my soup making it's probably no surprise I have shunned my slow cooker when I have made it since. However, this changed when I was flicking through the copy of Mrs Beeton's Household Management I was given for Christmas. Whilst I was amusing myself with the thought of making turtle or calf's head soup (both out of stock at my local supermarket it seems) I came across two recipes for carrot soup. Both of them needed to be cooked for ages which made me think this would be perfect for making in the slow cooker. The first recipe required 4 quarts of liquor for just 6 carrots, 2 onions and a turnip. I found this equated to about 8 pints of stock which could only make some very watery broth with a bit of veg floating in it. So I raided my fridge, of which the contents is listed in the ingredients before, added some stock and of course coriander. The main ingredient is obviously carrots but a variety of veg can be used depending on what you have available.

I've billed this soup as being vegan and gluten-free. Obviously if you are following a vegan or gluten-free diet you will be aware of what ingredients you can use. However for other people some ingredients such as vegetable stock if you make it up from a cube can be a bit of a minefield. There are vegan and gluten-free stock cubes available in supermarkets but you may need to search through the ingredients list.

Serves 6 – Can be frozen

Equipment: Slow cooker/crockpot, hand blender

Ingredients

2lb (900g) Carrots, chopped

2 Large onions, chopped

2 Stalks celery, chopped

13oz (375g) Potatoes, peeled and diced

2½ pints (1.5 litres) Vegetable stock

1tsp (5ml) Dried coriander leaf

Black pepper to taste

Optional: to garnish fresh coriander leaf or chives chopped

Method

1. Pre-heat the slow cooker on HIGH while you prepare all the vegetables.

2. Put all the vegetables, stock and dried coriander leaf into the slow cooker. Season with black pepper.

3. Cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

4. Remove the pot from the slow cooker base and put on a firm surface. The vegetables should just look as it they have been cooked.

5. Using a hand blender on pulse blend the vegetables until you get the consistency you require.

6. Check the taste and see if it requires any more seasoning.

7. Either serve immediately or chill and reheat when required.

Feel Good Food - December 2013 Cranberries Round Up

At the beginning of the month (which seems an age away now!) I asked you to come up with something that was made with cranberries which would fit in with the Feel Good Food philosophy. Thank you to all of you who contributed and commented. Whilst dried cranberries are available all year round remember fresh cranberries can be frozen for some treats later in the year or you may want to bookmark some recipes for making next year.

We kicked off with self-confessed fresh cranberries addict Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes. Taking advantage of a night to herself she whipped up a gorgeous winter salad of Roast Beetroot, Squash, Feta, Lentil and Cranberries. Proving that salads can be for all year round she even had enough for a tasty lunch the next day.

Roast Beetroot, Squash, Feta, Lentil and Cranberry Salad

There was a touch of far away lands in Deena Kakaya's fabulous Christmas gift creation of Plantain chips, cashews & dried cranberries in coconut, chilli and cinnamon. Deena was inspired by some plantain given to her from neighbours and memories of India and St. Lucia.

Plantain chips, cashews & dried cranberries in coconut, chilli and cinnamon

There is a wonderful range of flours and ingredients now for people who are gluten intolerant but as Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary has found not all recipes work. However she has created a winner with her Gluten-free Chewy Oatmeal Cran-Raisin Cookies. Very thoughtfully she made these especially for dance instructor to save him from his shop bought 'cardboardy' snacks.

Gluten-free Chewy Oatmeal Cran-Raisin Cookies

A fruit bowl raid by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families resulted in her Festive Fruit Pies. A great way of using up some fresh fruit and a terrific alternative to traditional mince pies.

Festive Fruit Pies

I asked you at the beginning of the month for a great Cranberry Sauce and Jean from Delightful Repast presented me with her Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner table favourite. She has infused it with mace and orange.

Cranberry Sauce

Christmas is an expensive time of year for just about everybody and Vanesther of Bangers & Mash gave us a reminder of the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent message about Christmas with her White Chocolate, Cardamon and Cranberry Cookies. Giving presents is still OK but think about what you could make for someone and the love that goes into that effort rather than buying the most expensive item in the shops.

White Chocolate, Cardamon and Cranberry Cookies

If you are looking for an indulgent festive treat but without the fat then look no further than this Cranberry and Cinnamon Swiss Roll. Another wonderful offering from the Cranberry Queen that is Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes, it is a fatless spiced sponge filled with juicy, fresh cranberries.

Cranberry and Cinnamon Swiss Roll

If I told you the recipe title was Pecan and Cranberry Cheese Log you probably wouldn't expect a vegan recipe but Janet from The Taste Space did achieve this. Her adapted recipe takes a couple of days to make but well worth it at this time of year.

Pecan and Cranberry Cheese Log

I love Christmas food and yes I love a Brussels sprout or two as well on my Christmas dinner plate. To sway non-believers of their goodness Louisa from Eat Your Veg has added a few tasty but healthy extras in her Orange & Cranberry Roasted Sprouts.

Orange & Cranberry Roasted Sprouts

There was also another recipe from Janet from The Taste Space with her Holiday Salad with Cranberry-Orange Vinaigrette. She was challenged to come up with something for her work colleagues that was nut-free, no eggs, gluten-free and vegetarian but managed to please everyone with her refreshing multi-use dressing.

Holiday Salad with Cranberry-Orange Vinaigrette

If you've not planned your New Year's Eve nibbles menu yet then take a look at Caroline's Festive Cheese Ball with Nuts and Cranberries on Caroline Makes.... Full of flavour they also contain red onion, mango chutney, garlic and Worcestershire sauce.

Festive Cheese Ball with Nuts and Cranberries

As your hostess this month I thought it was only right I should give you recipes with both fresh and dried cranberries. My first creation was inspired by an apple and cranberry crumble recipe in the Leon Friends & Family Cookbook but I changed the topping to my own oats and ground almonds for a Spiced Cranberry and Apple Oaty Crumble.

Spiced Cranberry and Apple Oaty Crumble

My second offering was a Christmas Cranberry and Orange Stollen made with dried cranberries but given an extra festive flavour with the zest and juice of an orange. To give it a bit of a feel good factor I reduced the butter and sugar in it and made it alcohol free. It took a time to make but didn't seem to last very long in our house!

Cranberry and Orange Stollen

Thank you to everyone who contributed this month with their wonderful selection of Feel Good Food cranberry recipes and to Victoria for letting me guest host. That's it for December and indeed for 2013 so head over to Victoria at A Kick At The Pantry Door in 2014 for the start of another year of Feel Good Food.

Vegan Christmas Cake - C is for...Cake

Vegan Christmas Cake

I can't believe it has taken me three days of my countdown to Christmas to give you a recipe but it's been worth the wait as it's for a cake! It seems that the traditional Christmas cake as we know it today made with lots of dried fruit and spices has its origins in the 16^th Century. Back then a fruit cake was made for Twelfth Night but since Victorian times it has been made especially for Christmas Day. Of course nowadays you can start buying Christmas cakes in the supermarkets at the end of August. I usually make my Christmas cake at the end of October and then feed it regularly until a couple of days before Christmas so I can marzipan and ice it.

A traditional Christmas Cake is very rich and takes over four hours to cook. The size of it can also put people off and not everyone now like a fruit cake. This is my solution to this problem. As the title suggests it is vegan plus has no extra fat or sugar added and also no alcohol. To add to this cake's halo I've also made it with wholemeal flour. I originally made for my Clandestine Cake Club's 'Noel Novelty' meeting where it went down so well I got asked for the recipe. The multi-coloured glacé cherries can be tricky to get hold of as the supermarkets don't seem to sell them anymore. I found mine at the fruit & nut stall in Sheffield Market (along with the dates) and later the same week spotted them at a fruit and nut concession in Boundary Mills. Of course just the standard red ones would still work a treat. 

Click here for a printable recipe. 

Equipment: 1 large bowl, 2lb (900g) loaf tin

Ingredients

1lb (450g) Mixed dried fruit, including candied peel

4oz (110g) Dried dates, chopped

2½oz (75g) Dried apricots, chopped

1½ (45g) Glacé cherries, washed, dried and quartered

¼ pint (150ml) Strong tea

Juice and zest of 1 Orange

6oz (170g) Self-raising wholemeal flour

1tsp (5ml) Baking powder

2oz (55g) Ground almonds

1tsp (5ml) Mixed spice

¼ pint (150ml) Cold water

Decoration

1tbsp (15ml) Apricot jam

Glacé cherries in mixed colours, alternatively you could stick to red glacé cherries and mix them with some pecans, whole almonds and walnuts. You could also make up some runny icing sugar and drizzle it over the top.

Method

1. Put all the dried fruit in a large bowl. Add the tea and the orange juice and zest. Mix well, cover and leave for at least 8 hours to soak.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.

3. Grease and line the loaf tin (I use loaf tin liners)

4. Add the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and mixed spice to the fruit mixture and stir until well combined. It will be quite dry.

5. Add the water and mix in until it becomes moist.

6. Put it into the prepared tin and level the top.

7. Bake for 1 hour and then cover and cook for another 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

8. Leave the cake to cool for a few minutes in the tin before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

9. When cool heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan until warm and then brush along the top.

10. Decorate with your choice of cherries, dried fruits or nuts.

Vegan Chocolate Orange Sponge Cake

Vegan Chocolate Orange Sponge Cake

Another Clandestine Cake Club meeting and another cake inspiration. Our secret location was Thyme to Eat, a vegetarian café located in the Shambles area of Chesterfield. Since Thyme to Eat specialise in vegetarian food it was our chance to bake some cakes for various dietary requirements. As this was a Clandestine Cake Club meeting I immediately reached for my Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook as I had previously made the Vegan Lemon Cake in it and it was very nice.

I've obviously changed the lemon to orange and added cocoa to get the chocolate hit. The original recipe uses Limoncello which is something that has never entered his house and probably never will. I substituted lemon extract for it then and used this same trick by using orange extract this time. I use Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Valencian Orange Extract but if you can't get hold it then old-fashioned zest and juice of a real orange could be used. For the soya spread I use Pure Dairy Free which is easily available in supermarkets.

Although this recipe doesn't have the same light and airy texture of a Victoria sponge made using eggs it is a pretty good alternative. It's also excellent even if you are not vegan and find you need to make a sponge cake in a hurry and you don't have enough eggs. As they say the proof of the pudding is in the tasting and I came home with just one slice left and compliments from the owner of Thyme to Eat.

Equipment: 2 x 8in/20cm sandwich tins.

Ingredients

9oz (250g) Self-raising flour

1oz (25g) Cocoa

1tsp (5ml) Baking powder

7oz (200g) Caster sugar

3½ fl oz (100ml) Corn oil

7 fl oz (200ml) Cold water

1tsp (5ml) Orange extract

Filling

4oz (100g) Soya margarine/spread

10½ oz (300g) Icing sugar, sifted

1tsp (5ml) Orange extract

Method

1. Line and grease 2 8in/20cm round sandwich tins

2. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.

3. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together and stir in the sugar.

4. Add he oil, water and orange extract and fold in until the mixture is well combined. It should look more like a muffin mix.

5. Spoon the mixture evenly between the two tins and cook for 15-20 minutes until the sponges are cooked and springy to the touch

6. Leave in the tins for a few minutes before removing and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. For the filling put the margarine/spread in a bowl and then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Add the orange extract and beat well until the ingredients is mixed together.

8. Spread the top of one of the sponges with the filling and carefully place the other sponge on top. 

9. To finish off dust the top with either icing sugar or cocoa powder.

Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffin

Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffins

I like a blogging challenge – you may have noticed this if you have read some of the posts on here. So when the lovely Victoria from A Kick at the Pantry Door announced her new monthly blogging challenge of Feel Good Food I was in. To start the challenge the chosen ingredient is the superfood blueberries.

As always I knew I could bake the blueberries into a cake but I was undecided until I saw the theme of this month's Breakfast Club run by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours. This month's host, Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen, has set High Fibre as the challenge and with some wheat bran to use up my mind was made up – muffins it was!

 

I thought I'd make these muffins vegan not just for dietary reasons but on a practical note. Quite often I run out of eggs but still want to bake so having some recipes that can be made out of store cupboard ingredients is very handy. This recipe contains no strange or hard to get ingredients. The bag of wheat bran came from my local branch of Morrisons.

As these muffins don't contain any eggs they don't rise like a muffin normally does. However, if you don't want to hoof down a bowl of cereal whilst trying to put your shoes on and dry your hair at the same time, this is the breakfast for you. Pop a couple in your bag and eat them at a more digestible moment.

Equipment: 12 cup muffin tin lined with cases.

Ingredients

7oz (200g) Wholemeal plain flour

5oz (150g) Demerara sugar

2½ oz (75g) Wheat bran

2 tsp (10ml) Baking powder

4½ oz (125g) Blueberries, washed and dried

8 tbsp (120ml) Sunflower oil

8fl oz (230ml) Water

1 tsp (5ml) Vanilla extract

1½ tsp (7.5ml) Lemon juice

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.

2. In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, wheat bran, baking powder and blueberries together. Make sure the blueberries are coated or they may sink.

3. In a separate bowl mix together the oil, water, vanilla extract and lemon juice.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Unlike other muffin mixes this isn't so wet.

5. Spoon the mixture equally between the 12 muffin cases.

6. Bake for 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Potato Salad with Chives

Potato salad with chives