Secret Recipe Club - Vegan Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

Another month and and another Secret Recipe Club post. (Each month members are assigned another person's blog which they must look through, choose and make a recipe and then blog about it).

This month I was lucky enough to be assigned the awesome Wifes with Knifes blog written by Cathy. Cathy actual sells homemade granola, trail mix and roasted nuts at a local farmer's market (What an awesome job!) and she has a ton of really great recipes on her blog. The photo's are lovely and the recipes look just scrumptious. I had a hard time choosing the recipe I would use this month - These granola cookies really stood out along with this banana cake and snickerdoodle bread (See a lot to choose from). In the end though I had a pint of blueberries in the fridge and thought that this blueberry buttermilk cake would be tasty.

I made a few subsitiutions to make the cake vegan and it seriously turned out so good. I think this might be one of the best cakes I have made when starting with a non vegan recipe. The texture was perfect very much like a coffee cake - so all you vegans out there take note - use this as a base recipe and add whatever fruit or flavour you like to change it up. Thanks Cathy for the great addition to my kitchen.

Oh and I don't think I have mentioned it yet but P and I are pregnant! The baby is due in mid August and here is a photo of my belly.

Vegan Blueberry Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from Wifes with Knifes

1 cup non-dairy milk
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 3 Tbsp water
1/2 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
2 teaspoons lemon zest
7/8 cup sugar (or 3/4 plus 2 Tbsp)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 Tbsp sugar for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9 inch square cake pan.

Make "buttermilk" by mixing non-dairy milk with the apple cider vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes.

Cream margarine with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flaxseed mixture and vanilla and beat until combined.

Meanwhile toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Then fold in the blueberries.

Spread batter into pan (the batter will be very thick). Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. Let cool at least 15 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

Vegan Grapefruit & Olive Oil Cake

I really love olive oil cakes. I find they are always moist and have a really lovely flavour. Usually I see them paired with lemon or orange but I have been on a huge grapefruit kick this winter so I thought I would give the combination a try. I used pink grapefruits but once they cooked up they looked just like oranges! The idea for this recipe came from The Gluttonous Vegan blog.

Vegan Grapefruit & Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from The Gluttonous Vegan


3 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup soy milk
1 tsp grated pink grapefruit zest
1/2 cup fresh pink grapefruit juice
1 thin skinned pink grapefruit, sliced very thin for the top (Optional)

Prepare a 9 inch cake pan with some oil and flour.

In a large bowl mix dry ingredients, including the sugar, together. Add the olive oil and soy milk to the dry ingredients and mix. Then add the grapefruit juice and zest. Mix thoroughly and pour batter into prepare cake pan.

Top the cake with the thinly cut grapefruit slices and bake in a 350 degree oven for a least 30 minutes. (Mine was closer to 40). Let cool then slice and enjoy.

Vegan Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake

Firstly just a note to say sorry for having been an absent blogger. P and I were back in our home town over the holidays for a very special event...Our Wedding! Anyway I thought I would have more time to blog but it was so busy so here is a belated post. At some point I will post pictures of the day but I will say it was so AWESOME.

Anyway back to regularly scheduled programming:

Our office holiday party is always a pot-luck (actually most celebrations at work are pot-luck style - which I love). I had been feeling like gingerbread so I thought I would try making some gingerbread cupcakes. But they failed miserably and it was to late in the afternoon to go shopping for new ingredients. I did have a few fresh lemons and some shredded coconut in the freezer though so I whipped up this bundt cake from Epicurean Vegan. It was really yummy (Although mine did not come out of the bundt pan). I served with a simple lemon glaze. Not very wintry I'll admit but tasty indeed.

Vegan Coconut Lemon Bundt Cake
From Epicurean Vegan

1-1/2 C granulated sugar
2/3 C canola oil
1 (14-oz) can coconut milk
1/4 C soy milk
1/4 C lemon juice
3 Tbs lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 C shredded unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease an 8 or 10″ Bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine the granulated sugar, oil, coconut milk, soy milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Stir to combine.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients in batches, mixing well after each addition. Stir to combine, then stir in the coconut.

Pour batter into the Bundt pan, Bake 1 hour or until a knife inserted through the cake comes out clean.

Lemon Glaze

2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp lemon juice
Lemon zest from one lemon

Mix all ingredients and pour over cooled cake.

Vegan Peach, Black Pepper and Basil Cake

 
It sounds like a weird combo but I love desserts with herbs in them. I think peach and basil go together really well. Plus the addition of black pepper gives it just a hint of spice. Super moist cake that doesn't need icing (although a vegan cream cheese icing would go really well here.)

Peach, Black Pepper and Basil Cake

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup of ripe peaches, chopped (about 3 small peaches)
1/2 cup of fresh basil, julienned  

Measure the apple cider vinegar into a 2 cup measuring cup. Fill with almond milk to make 1 1/2 cups. Let stand until curdled, about 5 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk mixture, coconut oil and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended. Fold in the peaches and basil. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch cake pan and bake for 40 minutes in 350 degree oven.

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I was staying at a friends place and she pulled out the cutest mini loaf pan. I said something along the lines of "I have to have this pan" and she replied "it's yours - as long as you promise to use it". Best day ever!!! So to keep my promise I adapted this recipe from the Half Assed Kitchen to make these absolutely delicious zucchini cakes.

 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2-1/2 cups fresh zucchini, grated, peeled
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup canola oil
2 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of dark chocolate cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, combine zucchini, bananas, oil and vanilla. Stir well. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients except chocolate chips. Add wet ingredients to dry, stir thoroughly and fold in chocolate chips.

I was worried that the loafs would stick so I cut rectangles of parchment paper and placed them into the mini loaf tin with enough overhang to wrap the loafs afterwards.

Bake mini loafs for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes our clean.

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!

Chocolate Vegan Bundt Cake

 

I have been thinking more and more about making bundt cakes lately after my beet bundt cake turned out so well. I decided to make this low fat chocolate bundt cake from Veganomicon. It was very tasty and was gone much to quickly!

Birthday Treats

We had a party to celebrate mine and P's birthdays. We bought these two lovely cakes at our favourite bakery De farine et d'eau fraiche to go along with the mocha cake and sugar cookies I made for the party. The yellow one is passionfruit and the pink one is tea and rose.

Mocha Birthday Cake

P and I just celebrated our birthdays (which are one week apart). His mom (who is possibly the greatest baker I have ever met) always makes him a mocha cake to celebrate. Since we no longer live in the same city it was me who had to take on the challenge.

 

Cake
2 1⁄4 cups flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
1/3 cups instant coffee
1 1/3 cups water
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mayonnaise
3 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled.                 

Sift flour with baking soda. Dissolve coffee in water.
Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Blend in mayonnaise and
chocolate. Add flour mixture alternately with coffee, one third at a time on low
speed of electric mixer. Pour into two greased and floured  9-inch pans. Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes.

Frosting
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
1⁄2 cup milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 cup butter
3 cups icing sugar
1 egg

Melt chocolate with milk and coffee over hot water. Blend until smooth. Cool.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat at high speed of
electric mixer for about 1 minute. Add chocolate mixture to butter mixture.
Blend well.

To Assemble Cake
Cut each layer horizontally to make 4 layers. (I didn't split them and ended up with just two layers) Spread each layer with 3⁄4 cup of frosting and cover top and sides of cake.

Beautiful Beet Bundt Cake

Look at what a pretty colour this beet cake is. I used the organic beets we got in this weeks CSA share. The recipe came from The Vegan Table and turned out very yummy but a bit on the sweet side. Also I realize that I need one of those really ornate and beautiful bundt pans to really do this cake justice (See here, here, here and here)