Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

I always remember having strawberry shortcake with that yellow sponge cake you got at the store. It was the go to dessert when my mom didn't have time to bake - yellow sponge, a pint of strawberries and some whipped cream.

When I went looking for recipes I saw a bunch that were made with biscuits instead. I thought I would give it a go. I found the recipe on vegalicious.com. They tasted great but my biscuits didn't really rise very much. (Probably my fault). Also I didn't have any soy whipped cream so I took some soy sour cream and mixed it with a bit of maple syrup as a yummy substitute.

P and I ate the left over biscuits for breakfast with jam and Earth Balance.

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Coconut Filling

We said goodbye to our last two winter interns at work last week so made this cake to say thanks. This cake recipe comes from Get it Ripe (One of my all time favourite vegan cookbooks). It always turns out lovely. For the icing I used my standard chocolate icing. The filling was just kind of made up but turned out really lovely. I am guessing on the amounts though as I wasn't measuring when I made it. (Sorry!)

Strawberry Coconut Filling
1/3 cup of soy cream cheese softened
1/3 - 1/2 cup of strawberry jam
1/2 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
1 container of strawberries sliced into rounds

Mix cream cheese, jam and coconut together. You may need to add more of one or two ingredients. Just taste it to make sure it is delicious! Keep strawberries for assembly.

To assemble

Bake cakes and let cool completely. In the meantime make icing and filling.
Once cakes are cool remove them from the pan. Put one cake on your serving plate and spread filling on top evenly. Add a layer of fresh strawberries and the top with second cake. Now ice this bad boy and top with some edible flowers. Voila!

Vanilla Chocolate Vegan Cupcakes

A friend made these vanilla cupcakes for a work party last week. They were so tasty that I had to whip up a batch this week. I frosted them with my favourite chocolate frosting. Oh so good.

Chocolate Icing

3/4 cup soften Earth Balance

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 - 3/4 cups of maple syrup

Using a hand mixer, mix all ingredients together. Start with 1/2 cup of maple syrup and keep adding until the correct constancy and flavour is reached.

Pickled Beet and Grapefruit Salad

I know another stacked salad but look at how pretty! Actually the inspiration came from a picnic in the park - P and I picked up some snacky stuff to eat in the park including grapefruit slices and a beet salad. Then I thought these would go really nice together so here's what I created.

I will give you the recipe layer by layer starting at the bottom

Layer 1 - Fried Potato

Take one large potato and slice lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Steam until soften but not mushy then fry in pan with olive oil until crispy.

Layer 2 - Avocado slices

Layer 3 - Pickled beets
I tried this recipe and it turned out very nice. I cut my beets into small cubes rather than rounds as the recipe indicates. Drain before adding to salad.

Layer 4 - Fried spinach & Garlic
Take a few cups of spinach and cook over medium heat with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic. Cook until soft and wilted.

Layer 5 - Grapefruit
Peel 1 large grapefruit, segment then cut into cubes. In a small bowl add grapefruit a pinch of salt and pepper and some olive oil.

Layer 6 - Watercress (or use another type of green)

Layer 7 - Grapefruit Zest

Dressing 
2 Tbsp grapefruit juice
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp maple syrup

To assemble salad
Place potato slices on plate and top with avocado. (This part I made wider than the rind mold rather than trying to get it to all fit). Place ring mold on top of avocado and place a layer of pickled beets at the bottom and pack with the back of a spoon. Follow with a layer of spinach and top with a layer of grapefruit. Pour 1 Tbsp of dressing over the salad, gently remove ring mold and top with greens and grapefruit zest.