52 Weeks of Baking: Week 15 - Lemon Cream Pie

Don't get bored of lemon things. It's my outlet for baking 'spring' things on a day (MAY TWELFTH) when it's freezing and snowing / hailing. HAILING AND SNOWING I ask you. Unacceptable.

Anyway, it's Mother's Day (hope you called your mother) and we went to my aunt's for dinner as is family tradition. She usually orders Chinese. Nom nom. My mom made a chocolate cake in celebration of my uncle's birthday - chocolate is his favourite - but I offered to make something and my aunt said that would probably be appreciated. Why have one dessert when you can have two?!

I struggled for a bit with what to make. Cupcakes + chocolate cake seemed too redundant, even though cupcakes are always yummy, so I finally decided on a tart. My tart pan hasn't had enough use by far.

I was too lazy to make a regular crust so I went with a spice cookie crumb crust. Easiest crust ever. And Dare Simple Pleasures Spice Snaps are vegan. Perfect. I had already chosen to do lemon, based on the success of last week's lemon curd, but I wanted something a bit bulked up and decided to follow last week's theme even more closely and added some coconut. I came across this recipe which looks like a take on lemon meringue. The topping, however, is coconut with some agar cooked with the water from the coconut, and then the coconut cream is beaten in. I never got it to the solid state that it looks like it was in to top the lemon cream pie in the photo, because then I beat in a full recipe of lemon curd.

HOWEVER... it turns out that whatever happened the thing did not solidify properly and was kind of a creamy mess. I don't know if I should have added more agar or let the curd set better or maybe just cooked the agar more, but whatever happened it was like lemon custard. I mean, it was still delicious, but just don't go and do this unless you want lemon soup stuff.

Looks pretty at least!

Up close

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 14 - Some Cake

My grandma used to make a Springtime Chiffon cake and it was one of my favourite cakes ever. As far as I'm concerned, though, you can absolutely never go wrong with lemon and coconut together. Two of my favourite flavours.

I have never done a white cake before so for my first venture I thought I'd try this recipe. It was fine but the edges cooked up a bit gummy / crunchy for my liking. Also, I don't have a square pan so I used a 9" round instead, which could have been a problem? I also don't use clear vanilla so the cake is more yellow.

In the past I've used VegNews' lemon curd, which is made using coconut milk, so while it's definitely lemony it also has a lovely coconut flavour too. I probably should have used it for the cake, seeing as how I wanted to go with the lemon-coconut thing, but I branched out instead and used this one. It is faaaantastic so it's all good. Eat the rest with a spoon.

Finally I did the coconut milk whipped cream you see everywhere. You know, can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge and then you pour out the water and whip up the cream.

Assembly

Bake the cake. Derp.
Spread half a cup of curd on top.
Whip 1/3 c of the curd and a tablespoon of sugar into the coconut cream. Pile it on the cake and spread it around.
Take a cup of shredded coconut (I used unsweetened but you could use sweetened if you want) and put it in a container. Add 4 drops of yellow food colouring. Obviously this isn't necessary but it's pretty. Shake it the heck up until the coconut is all nicely yellow and then sprinkle it on top.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 11 - Orange "Carrot" Cake

I pinned this recipe ages ago. I love oranges and I love carrot cake and I love chocolate (duh). I haven't made a full CAKE in a long time so I decided to give veganizing this recipe a go, but not wanting a full 3 layer crazy cake, I cut it in half.

It's not pretty. Like... not pretty.

You're bound to have some failure once in a while. What wasn't a failure? The flavour. It's not at all carroty because the orange takes over, so while there's carrot in there it's not at all what I would consider carrot cake; it still tastes pretty fab because, as I mentioned, I love oranges.

I could eat a bowl of them as is.

Next time I would also re-do this at 2/3 the recipe instead of half, or maybe baking it in 2 8" cake plates or something, instead of 1 angel food cake pan and then slicing it in half. The halves were super delicate because the thing was really moist and may have split apart a bit when I was moving them onto a plate. Ah well. Such is life. Lesson learned. All that stuff.

Orange Carrot Cake

1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp cider vinegar
4 tbsp applesauce
finely grated rind of half an orange
2/3 c oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c flour
1 c + 2 tbsp sugar (although honestly, you can probably omit the 2 tbsp. The cake is pretty sweet.)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c shredded coconut
1 c shredded carrot
2/3 c finely chopped mandarin orange sections

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a pan or 2 . I used an angel food cake pan (?). Mix the milk and vinegar and set aside.

In a largeish bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, powder, soda, salt and coconut. Pour in the milk, applesauce, orange rind, oil and vanilla. Stir until relatively well mixed, though the occasional lump isn't the end of the world. Fold in the carrot and oranges.

Pour into your pan. If you are using one pan, it took my cake 50 minutes to bake; I tested at 35 and it was still straight up batter in the middle. If you are using 2 pans definitely start at 30 minutes instead.

Remove from oven, let cool on a rack in the pan(s) for a minute or two before turning the cake out onto the rack and cooling the rest of the way.

Cream Cheese Filling

3/4 of a container of tofutti 'cream cheese' at room temperature
1/4 c marmalade
1/2 c icing sugar

Beat the tofutti until fluffy; add in the marmalade and sugar and beat until well combined. It'll be pretty soft.

Slice your cake into 2 layers if you used one pan, and put the icing on one side and then top with the other.

Chocolate Ganache

2/3 c silk creamer
8 oz chocolate, chopped

Bring the silk up to a near simmer in a small pot; add the chocolate, turn the heat off and stir until the chocolate is melted and it's all smooth and lovely. Once it's cool and thick, pour it over the cake and spread it around all pretty-like.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 10 - Lemon Lavender Scones with Candied Lemon Peel

Missed a few weeks. Not for lack of baking, mind you. Just a lack of time. The older kid's day care provider went on mat leave 2 weeks ago. Trying to keep a 2.5 year old busy while tending to the needs of a 4 month old is a lot.

This flavour combo is something I've been meaning to get on with for a long time. In the midst of the National Cupcake Day baking (2 of which I still need to get done!) I just didn't get to it. However, here it is, and boy is it good.

Candied Lemon Peel

I didn't know how to candy lemon peel., since I've never done it before, I just knew I wanted it.

The recipe I used required more time than I thought because you have to boil the lemon peels 3 times in plain water and then a fourth time in the sugar water.

Then you end up with a jar of lemony simple syrup, too. I'm thinking of using it for cocktails, maybe to soak a lemon loaf in, to drink straight from the jar, who knows. I'm sure there are many applications.

Oh. The 'recipe.' It's really just a method; switch up lemons for oranges or whatever citrus floats your boat and you'd have something equally tasty.

Lemon Lavender Scones

Adapted only slightly from my go-to scone recipe, which is the Glazed Orange Scones from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's delightful VWAV. 

1 1/4 c milk (almond as always here)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
 zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
3 c flour
1/3 c sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
 1 tsp lavender, finely chopped
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/8 tsp lavender oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.

Mix the milk and vinegar; add the lemon peel and set aside. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lavender. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and add the oils. Stir together; dough shouldn't be sticky.

Flour a surface and split the dough into two balls. Put one on the floured surface and pat out into a 6" disk. Cut it into 6 triangles (I used a pizza cutter) and repeat with the other half of the dough. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. They won't really get browned, so don't worry too much about colour. Take them out and let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes before putting them on a rack. Save your parchment paper and put it under the rack to catch icing drips!

Lemon Glaze

I didn't add any lavender to the glaze or the decorating, but you probably can if you want.

1 tbsp melted Earth Balance
2/3 c icing sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
a spoon or two of the simple syrup if you want

Mix it all together. I like mine a little thick so it doesn't make a giant mess everywhere, plus if the scones are a bit warm when you glaze them it falls off if it's too thin to begin with. Annoying. Spread a tablespoon or so of glaze on each scone and top with a few pieces of the lemon peel.

If that doesn't look / taste like Spring, nothing does.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 6 - Cherry Almond Donuts

Saw a recipe for cherry almond cake on pinterest. I won't link it because it was a modification on a box cake mix, and I have strong anti box cake mix feelings. That didn't stop me from wanting the cake, of course. But I don't like making whole cakes because they're harder to share unless you're having a party. I wasn't having a party.

Donuts! The perfect answer to everything.

Let's dispense with the crip crap.

Cherry Almond Donuts

2 tbsp maraschino cherry juice
1/2 c minus 2 tbsp 'milk' (roughly 100ml if you've got a measuring cup with imperial measurement)
1 flax egg
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp Earth Balance Coconut Spread
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
scant 1/2 c maraschino cherries, chopped

Preheat to 350; I made 24 mini donuts and 3 large ones, so spray the appropriate number of pans.

Melt all the wet ingredients together in a small pot over low heat.

Mix together all the dry ingredients; add the wet and stir together, then fold in the cherries. Pipe the batter into the pan and bake for 10 minutes for minis and 13 minutes for full size donuts. Let cool a few minutes in the pans and then remove to racks.

Icing

1/2 c icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp 'milk'
sprinkles if you feel like it

Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl with a fork; if you need to add more liquid or more sugar to make it a good 'dipping' consistency, use your discretion. Put parchment under your racks so that you can dip and then let them rest without fear of big mess making.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 5 - Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes

One of my lovely friends who donated to my National Cupcake Day campaign is British and said he would like British cupcakes. After turning down my offer to do mushy pea cupcakes (I mean, really, what the heck is wrong with him?!), he suggested sticky toffee pudding and I happily agreed. Sticky toffee pudding is in my top 5 all time favourite desserts. I've never had or made a vegan version before, though.

After one mishap (no one likes burnt cupcakes) I managed to make, what I hope is, a very passable if not altogether authentic sticky toffee pudding cupcake.

The damn things are SUPER messy, by the way. Like, toffee sauce every. where. Not that that's a big problem, obviously; this is just the kind of problem fingers were created to solve.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes (adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice)

2 c chopped dates
2 c boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 c Earth Balance, softened
2 c sugar
1/4 c almond milk
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 flax egg
3 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder

Toffee Sauce

2 3/4 c brown sugar
2 c soy creamer
1/2 c Earth Balance

Put the dates and baking soda in a bowl; pour the boiling water in. Let sit for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 cupcake pans (yes this makes 24 cupcakes) or halve the recipe. Your call.

Mix the milk and vinegar; set aside. Beat the earth balance and sugar until fluffy; add the milk mixture and flax egg and beat them in; stir in the flour and powder, then fold in the dates & their liquid. Use an ice cream scoop to put batter in the cups; bake for 21 minutes.

While the 'cakes are baking, put all the ingredients for the toffee sauce in a pan on medium heat. Let it come up to a boil, the turn it down to a simmer and let it thicken for 10ish minutes.

When the 'cakes are done, pull them out and let them cool in the pan on a rack for a few minutes. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and put the sheet on a rack. Put the cupcakes on the sheet and using a fork, pierce them 6  or 8 times. Pour hot toffee sauce over the cakes, doing it 3 or 4 times to make sure it's really getting into them. You'll have lots of leftover sauce.

Frosting

1/3 c cooled toffee sauce
1/2 c room temp EB
3 c icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Beat the EB and toffee sauce together; yes it will look curdled, but that's okay. Add half the sugar and beat well; add the vanilla and rest of the sugar and beat until smooth and beautiful. Frost fully cooled cupcakes.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 4 - Banana Whoopie Pies

Old bananas? I know I've said to make banana bread or banana pancakes or banana muffins. Not this week. This week I wanted whoopie pies.

Warning: these are sickeningly sweet. Maybe use a regular buttercream or maybe a cream cheese frosting if you don't want to go into diabetic shock when you eat one.

Banana Whoopie Pies

1/4 c softened Earth Balance
1 1/4 c sugar
2 mashed bananas
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 flax egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preaheat the oven to 350 and line a large baking sheet with parchment.

Cream together the Earth Balance and sugar; add the banana, flax egg, oil and vanilla and beat until well combined.

Sift in the dry ingredients and stir until combined; don't over mix. I have an 1/8th c measuring cup that I used to drop the dough onto the cookie sheet; whatever you have, just make them about 2 tbsp. You'll make 24 cookies.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. The tops won't get brown but you can use the toothpick test to test for doneness. Let them cool on a rack.

Filling

1/4 c Earth Balance
1/4 c shortening
1 c icing sugar
1/2 c corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Cream the EB and shortening together; mix in the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and then drizzle in the corn syrup with the mixer on. Beat until it's fluffy and marshmallow-y. If it's too runny, add some icing sugar a tbsp or so at a time until it mostly holds it's shape. It'll still be pretty soft.

Put about a tbsp of filling on the flat side of one cookie and then sandwich together with another.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 3 - Chocolate Coconut Donuts

I love coconut donuts. They were my favourite indulgence at Tim Hortons. They don't sell 'em at every location so it's hard to get a hold of them, plus, you know, not vegan and really not good for you.

But I waaaaaaant them! So I made my own chocolate coconut donuts.

I pretty much just took the Vegan Yum Yum recipe and made it chocolate. And then dipped them in glaze and coated them in unsweetened organic coconut.

Coconut Covered Chocolate Donuts

4 tbsp Earth Balance Coconut Spread
1 tbsp ground flax
3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c "milk"
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat over to 350. Spray a large donut pan with whatever cooking spray you like. I got 6 large and 4 mini donuts (could have been 6 mini donuts, mine were too big) out of this.

Put the coconut spread through apple cider in a small pot over low heat until it's all melted together - it doesn't need to be hot or boil, just warm and mixed together.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the wet and stir together until a fairly soft dough forms. I like to use a piping bag to fill the donut pans. Makes life mush easier. Pop them in the oven for 12 minutes (large donuts) or 10 minutes (minis). Take them out, let them cook for a minute before moving them to a rack and letting them cool the rest of the way.

You can eat them as is or...

Glaze

Mix about 1/2 c of icing sugar with a tbsp or so of "milk," dip in the donuts, then dip them in a bowl of coconut. Leave them to set or, you know, EAT THEM IMMEDIATELY. Just a suggestion.

52 Weeks of Baking: Week 2 - LUSH Cupcakes

As you know (or maybe you didn't but now you will) I am participating in the OSPCA National Cupcake Day, fundraising for Guelph Humane Society by selling delicious cupcakes to people. Lush ordered 48 mini cupcakes inspired by the Valentine's Day products for their Rockabilly party on the weekend, and I was only too happy to oblige!

 I did Magic Mushroom last year so that was already in the bag; this year, however, they have a lovely new sweet citrussy massage bar called From Dusk Til Dawn.




















It smells more sweet than, say, Each Peach massage bar, so I decided that maybe adding a bit of almond extract would be a good way to get that in there. The massage bar is lemon and orange, so I used lemon and orange extracts too, and then grated a good chunk of orange peel into the frosting. And then dipped them in gold sanding sugar to complete the look.

From Dusk Til Dawn Cupcakes
 *adapted from the VCTOTW recipe

1 c almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
 1 c sugar
1/3 c oil
1 1/4 c flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp orange extract
1 tsp lemon extract

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 12 full size or 24 mini plus 3 full size wells.

Mix the milk and vinegar and set aside for a moment. Mix the oil and sugar; beat in the milk and extracts until frothy. Sift in the dry ingredients and stir well, until mostly mixed; a few lumps are okay.

I find an ice cream scoop best for filling big cupcake tins and a tablespoon best for minis. Bake minis for 13 minutes and full sizers for 20. Let 'em cool and then frost.

Orange Frosting

1/2 c 'butter'
1/4 c shortening
3 c icing sugar
grated zest of an orange
1/2 tsp orange extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp silk creamer or plain almond milk

Beat the butter and shortening together until fluffy. Add half the sugar and beat until incorporated; add half the liquid and beat that in, then add the rest of the sugar, then the liquid and extracts, and beat until smooth and pipe-able. If you like the 'nipple' look that my cupcakes had, pipe using a large open round tip and then dip in gold sanding sugar.

*note: the frosting recipe will do 48 mini cupcakes, not just 24, unless you like to pipe huuuuuge mountains on them thar cupcakes. It will do 12 large cupcakes pretty generously with a little left over.

52 Weeks of Baking

I need to bake more. It seems like I do a lot, but there are so many things that I have going on in my head that need to come to fruition. Thusly, I am endeavoring to bake something (new) every week for a year. And then blog about it, because as everyone knows, why even bother doing anything if you're not going to blog about it? Perhaps I'll pin my own food too (masturpin isn't as good a term as masturtweet, but I'm coining it anyway) because pinning is the new black.

Let's pretend our week started Monday, January 25th. Banana Chocolate Chip Donuts. NO GREEK YOGURT.

Let me tangent for a second. Greek yogurt does not need to be in everything. I'm so annoyed by it popping up *everywhere.* GO AWAY. I think part of my irritation is because yogurt is gross, and part of it is because I hate the concept of 'good for you' baked goods, which is what most of these baked goods recipes containing Greek Yogurt call themselves. Dude, you do not EVER need to eat baked goods. I'd rather eat one delicious, full fat, totally bad for me baked good than pretend that I'm doing myself a favour and eat a 'healthy' baked good. Eat a head of broccoli. Admittedly, however, I *did* actually work out how many calories are in one of my donuts and it was a mere 150. Not really too bad, all things considered. You're not blowing your whole diet if you indulge. And there's no effing Green Yogurt.

Anyway.


















Banana Chocolate Chip Donuts
makes 14ish big ones, I imagine. I made 12 big ones and 6 little ones. 

1 tbsp ground flax
1/3 c almond milk
3 tbsp soy creamer (you can probably use more almond milk instead.)
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
2 med - lg very ripe bananas, well mashed
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c melted Earth Balance (you might try with canola oil?)
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. You might want to spray or somehow grease your donut pan(s); I didn't and then had to scrub off banana donut bits. Annoying.

Mix the flax, milk, creamer, and vinegar together.

Mash the bananas up good n proper, add the vanilla, sugar and Earth Balance and beat kind of well. Add your curdled milk mixture and beat until everything is really well incorporated.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt right on top of the banana mixture and stir until everything is mostly mixed together; it's okay if there are some streaks or lumps, because now you're going to fold in your chocolate chips and that'll make sure everything is mixed well without overmixing.

Use a piping bag to pipe the donut business into the pans. Bake for 8 minutes if you're making wee donuts, and 12 if you're making bigguns. Let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes and then remove to a rack to cool the rest of the way. They keep pretty well covered for a day or two. If you're looking to add a little something extra, I would suggest a chocolate glaze.

I am the ruler of all that I see.