Flour-free Lemon & Blueberry Polenta Cake

I have had polenta sitting in my cupboard for quite a while. I actually kind of like eating it as a meal but it's such a hassle to cook.

I recently made some savoury muffins with polenta and the result was really quite yummy. So, when I saw a recipe at a friend's house for a flour-free cake using polenta (and lemon and blueberries!) I couldn't help veganising it and trying it for myself.

I've recently come to realise that what I know as a 'cup' is quite different to that in the UK and US. As a result, I'm going to start including the weights in my recipes as well as the measurements. However, as long as you are consistent with the types of measures you use, it really shouldn't matter.

 

Flour-free Lemon & Blueberry Polenta Cake

3/4 cup (100g) sugar

1/4 cup (100g) vegan butter

2 tsp ground flaxseed*

4 tbsp (80ml) water

1 1/3 cup (100g) ground almond meal

3/4 cup (90g) polenta

1 tsp baking powder

1 lemon, grated rind + juice

 100ml soya yoghurt

1 cup (100g) blueberries

Preheat oven to 180C.

Cream/beat together sugar and butter in a large bowl.

In a small cup or bowl whisk together the flaxseed and water until thick and creamy. Add 2 tbsp of the ground almond meal and whisk again until it thickens a bit more. Add this to butter/sugar. Stir in rest of almond meal, polenta, baking powder and lemon rind and juice until combine. Stir in yoghurt until combined. Finally, stir in half of the blueberries. 

Press mixture into a pre-greased loaf tin. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries on top and press lightly into mixture. Bake for 45 minutes.

*Or other egg substitute.

Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

So as part of my new year resolution to eat healthy on week days I've been basically making every meal from Susan V's fantastic blog Fat Free Vegan Kitchen. I've mentioned this blog a few times before but some of the recipes I've tried making recently were so fantastic that I thought I'd share my pictures and some comments. I'll link to each of the recipes but make sure you check out her whole recipe collection. She has this fantastic feature where you can pick out your favourite recipes or recipes you really want to try and put them into your "Recipe Box". At first I was a little surprised that a fat free blog won the VegNews Favourite Blog award for three years running but once I started cooking from her blog frequently I found out why!

Brussels Sprouts and Shiitake Mushroom Soup: This is by far my favourite recipe. So yummy on cold nights and such wonderful flavours. The brown rice takes a while to cook but it's a very easy recipe to make.

Spinach and Artichoke Pie: So Geoff couldn't get filo pastry and so bought shortcrust pastry instead. Not exactly fat free so I just ate the filling but it so so delicious that I scooped out inside of the left-over pie and hid it in the fridge so I could have it for lunch the next day too.

Chocolate-Orange Cake: I baked this cake for a friend in the lab for his birthday. I actually found it to be a little too dense for my liking but for a fat free cake it's brilliant and everyone in the office loved it. My supervisor liked it so much his wife asked me for the link.

Pasta with Asparagus, Cannellini Beans, and Porcini Cream: I was so excited about the flavour of the porcini cream for this recipe but when I put everything together it tasted a little floury. I also think I undercooked the asparagus.

Chickpea and Turnip Stew with Ethiopian Spices: I don't have a photo of my dish but this is me making up the spice mix. I didn't really like the flavour of this dish. I think I put too many cloves or something in it.

Orange Couscous Curry: This was tasty and very easy to make. We bought the mandarin pieces in a jar but I'm sure you could use fresh ones if you are lucky enough to be currently living in a country where fresh fruit doesn't taste like potato.

Brownies

So I've posted the recipe to these delicious goodies on this blog before (see Chocolate Brownies post) but I wanted to talk about it again because a) it's Vegan MoFo and the other thing I cooked last night is being saved up for an extra special post sometime in the future and b) I think these ones look better than the last I made. These were delicious and gooey and oh so yummy.

I have heard a lot of people talk about if they are in the cakey or the fudgey brownie camp. I like this recipe because you can use the same recipe to please people in both camps depending on how long you leave it in the oven. I have also found that the less chocolate chips I use the less gooey it is.

  

BTW Happy Bonfire Night to those in the UK. I did not partake of the activities because I decided to go to a maths lecture instead. However, except for the fact that I lost my phone in the rain somewhere between home and the CMS, it was well worth it. If you know any maths and ever get the opportunity to see Bela Bollobas speak you should definitely go if only to boggle at the things that he finds "trivial" (such as, oh let's say, this trivial little thing).

Chocolate Brownies

Chocolate Brownies

from The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets 

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tbsp water

2 tsp ground flaxseed

1/2 cup water

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips (or just chop a block)

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease 20cm square baking tin with canola oil.

Stir together sugar, applesauce and 2 tbsp water in a bowl.

In a smaller bowl combine flaxseed and 1/2 cup water and add to applesauce mixture with vanilla.

In yet another bowl combine flour, cocoa, bp, salt, choc chips and nuts. Then add to applesauce mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour into pan and bake for 40 minutes. You want the brownies to be moist so the edges should start to come away from the pan as it's ready but it shouldn't be overcooked so that you get a cake-like brownie (unless you want it like that!) so the old clean knife in and out trick won't work. The knife should look like it's gone through moist cake but not doughy batter. Let it cool before cutting and cut with a sharp knife.

German Apple Cake

German Apple Cake
from The Joy of Vegan Baking: The Compassionate Cooks' Traditional Treats and Sinful Sweets

Cake
3 apples, peeled and cut into slices
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce unsweetened
2 tbsp soy milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

Topping
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease 23cm spring form round pan.
Cook apples in a bit of water on the stove or in microwave until they are a little soft but not mushy. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar together. Add applesauce and milk. Add flour and baking powder and stir until just combined.
Add batter to cake pan and arrange apple slices in a circle on top of the cake.
Mix together topping ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle over the apples covering the top of the cake. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let it cool for 15 minutes before unfolding cake from pan so that the apples don't fall off!

Best Chocolate Cake ever.

This chocolate cake recipe is moist and delicious and never ceases to please. I made it for my cousin's 21st last week and no one could tell it was vegan.

Best Chocolate Cake Ever
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180C.
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then add the wet to the dry. Stir until you get rid of lumps but try to do it quickly so you can start baking while the vinegar does its thing. Bake until it springs back. 20-45 minutes.


Best Chocolate Icing Ever
adapted from Easy Vegan Cooking
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup cocoa powder
4 tbsp soy milk
1 cup raw sugar (raw does work best)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Combine first 4 ingredients over medium heat and bring to the boil stirring constantly. Boil for 1 min then take off the heat. Let it cool, beating occassionally. The colder it gets the more frequently you need to beat. When cold, add vanilla essence.

To speed up the cooling process I sometimes stick the saucepan in the fridge or freezer. You need to remember to stir it, though.

Spread over a cold cake and put the cake in the fridge. This icing tastes great but will melt if it's put on a warm cake or left out in the heat.

Suzi's Birthday

Suzi!

Suzi's birthday is close to mine. That makes us both in the same star sign. Which means absolutely nothing. Although, we do both like Atlas Shrugged. Coincidence? I think not!

Suzi and Mezz came over (Geoff is now a permanent fixture around here since I can't do much for myself) and I made dinner. Mezz requested a paella I had previously cooked on another of my dinner nights and I also wanted to use the mushrooms in the fridge that were looking a little on the dead side so I found a very simple and quick recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms that was delicious.

Stuffed Mushrooms

from Vegan
2 large flat field mushrooms

2 tbs olive oil + extra for oiling

2 spring onions, chopped

1/2 red capsicum, deseeded & chopped

1 small zucchini, chopped

4 olives, pitted and chopped

2 tbs rolled oats

1 tbs chopped basil

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs lime juice

s&p

Preheat oven to 180C. Wipe mushrooms clean with damp paper towel. Don't wash them! Remove stalks and chop them up and put with other chopped vegies. Put the mushrooms aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry together the stalks, spring onions, zucchini, olives, capsicum and oats until the oats are golden. Then stir in basil, soy sauce and lime juice.

Oil the mushroom caps with a brush and the extra oil and place them on a baking sheet. Spoon oat mixture into caps and season with s&p. Bake for 15-20 minutes until caps start to soften.

Great with salad for lunch or another side for dinner. Would be great for a special Sunday brunch.

As much as I like the paella it's an awfully complicated recipe for such a simple dish and is also a little on the expensive side to make so I'm not going to share the recipe but you can find it in this great book. What I am going to share is the recipe for the delicious Chocolate Orange Cake that I made for dessert.

Chocolate Orange Cake

from Lynda Stoner's Now Vegan!

11/2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup soy milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbs vinegar

zest 1 orange

Preheat oven to 190C. Combine dry ingredients. In another bowl mix together all liquids excl. vinegar. Add this to dry ingredients. Mix until smooth then add vinegar. Instantly put into 20x20cm square cake tin (stops gas from vinegar and soda escaping). Bake for 25-30 minutes.

I'm sure you could serve this with a glazing or icing but the cake itself has such a delicate flavour that it's delicious by itself. I served it with a scoop of soy icecream while the cake was still warm and it was very yummy!

Maree & Spiced Apple Cake

I didn't keep many friends from high school on account of being unforgiving and having attended school with a bunch of tarty little cows. Maree was one friend I did keep and I'm not too sure where I'd be without her for a few reasons. The first reason is that she always tells me the truth regardless of my feelings (that I don't have so it works out well). The second reason is that she listens to my outrageous love life stories with patience and good humour (and a lot of giggling). The third reason is that she bakes me vegan food that is delicious and I go to her house for yummy things like Spiced Apple Cake with Turkish Apple Tea (as I did tonight).

This recipe is for a Spiced Apple Cake that Maree baked for me tonight. It has a crumbling texture on the outside but is deliciously moist inside. It would be delightful served hot with ice cream or it was yummy by itself with some tea.

Spiced Apple Cake
450g cooking apples, peeled and sliced
115g vegan margarine
115 raw cane sugar
170g sultanas
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp boiling water
225g wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Preheat to 180. Cook apples in some water and mash to puree when soft. Drain well. Cream margarine and sugar and then add apple puree. Stir in dried fruit. Mix, separately, the baking soda and water and add to creamed mixture. In separate bowl sift together the flour and spices and blend with the apple mixture. Pour into well-greased cake tin, smooth the top and bake bake bake. 45min-1hour. Maybe. Who knows? Who is John Galt?

Maree and I also discussed my blog and the movie that inspired it and she has given me a book to read called I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti. It's a memoir of love and cooking all mixed in. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Banana cake tells me I need new oven.

We ate dinner at Geoff's house last night. I know cooking for your vegan girlfriend is a bit trying but Geoff made a really yummy Thai green curry. I'm not sure if his recipe was vegan before he met me but it sure is now!

He asked me to bake a banana cake for dessert. Geoff likes his banana cake. So I started to prepare to cook. I like to get all the ingredients out first with the right utensils. So I asked for two mixing bowls, which I was given, and a cake tin. Geoff presented me with a flan dish. Ah, no, Geoff. Not what I wanted. Cake tin. Loaf tin. No cake tin? Not even a little loaf tin? Oh dear.

I ended up breaking into my friend's house who lives nearby. She was at a Hen's night but gave me permission to sneak in and steal a loaf tin. I couldn't find the light switches so it really could have been accompanied by the Mission Impossible theme song. But the loaf tin was found and the cake was baked.

The cake was great. Very yummy. I found the recipe here.

I told work I'd bake them something for my return tomorrow. So I thought I'd bake the same banana cake and some lemon and ginger muffins which I've always had great success with.

Well, the banana cake didn't turn out as great. My oven sucks. Seriously sucks. It doesn't cook evenly and can't maintain a constant temperature to save its life. Which is about to end. I also over preheated my oven and so it was too hot for the muffins, which I stuck in first, so they ended up hard on the outside and tasted like bread. I wasn't happy. That recipe has never failed me. I did, however, change it a bit by using that ginger you squeeze out of a tube instead of real ginger (I wasn't being lazy, Bi Lo Middle Park sucks donkey balls and didn't have ginger) and used less sugar. I also used less sugar in the banana cake recipe. Maybe I should just leave the sugar alone.

Anyway, now I'm depressed so am going to watch Pride and Prejudice and drink my new love: orange and cinnamon tea from the Spice Market in Pike Place Market in Seattle. I miss Seattle. I want a new oven. :(