Vegan chocolate birthday cake

Baking a cake hasn't given me this many smiles in a long, long time. I usually find the whole process pretty traumatic and steer well clear of things you can't properly taste as you make, adjust the seasoning for or make it up as you go along. But this cake was FUN.

From making a gazillion batches of this vegan brownie recipe for my boyfriend and my birthday earlier in the year, I figured the texture would work quite well in a cake: it's spongey and gets stickier and richer the longer you keep it. So I doubled the recipe I'd been using for brownies and the result was this supersize cake that I then had to recruit best friends and neighbours (also bezzie ms!) to help me eat. We only managed half before I had to stick it in the freezer, this cake really is GINORMOUS. Perfect for a birthday or summer party, not so much a solo mission.

Serves 10
Ingredients
3 cups of plain flour
1 cup cocoa
3 cups organic brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup fresh brewed coffee
1 1/2 cup soy milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup plain dark chocolate chips (about two small packets' worth)/ broken chunks of plain dark chocolate


For the icing and fruit topping

1 tbsp cocoa powder
Around 200g icing sugar
Around 3 tbsp vegan margarine such as Vitalite
200g strawberries
100g raspberries
1/2 peach or nectarine

Grease and line your baking tins. I used one large springform baking tin, and two smaller tins to go on top. You could make this cake with four layers, there's enough mixture- but I fancied making it look a little OTT with one bigger layer at the bottom.

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Then in a separate bowl, pour and mix in the coffee, soy milk and oil. Add the liquid to the dry mix, stirring in the chocolate drops. 

Pour the cake mix into the tins. It will be quite runny at this point, but they do stodge up.

Leave in the oven for at least 25 minutes, checking back after that point to see if a tooth pick will come clean when inserted in the middle of the cake. 

Once the mixture springs back from light pressure when you touch it gently, it's ready. Take out and leave, in the tins, to cool for about five minutes initially. Then tip over and gently remove the baking paper, before leaving on cooling racks to cool down completely.

When the cakes have just about cooled, begin making the icing so they will be totally cool by the time it's all ready to assemble. I've kept the measurements between icing sugar and margarine vague as it often changes for me depending on heat or how stiff the icing goes, but I would stick to the rule that the less margarine you use the better, so the icing remains stiff and not too gloopy. Sift in the icing sugar to get rid of any lumps, and then use a fork to mix it into the sugar, using bit by bit, adding the cocoa as you go too.

Once you're happy with the consistency, begin assembling your cake. I chose to do one thin layer of chocolate icing with slices of strawberries for the base layer, then a layer of icing between bases 2 and 3, before topping off with a thicker layer for the top and chopped fruits. 

Remember once you've added the chopped fruit, it won't handle the heat very well, so clear some room in the fridge for this! I found myself laughing away once it was all ready, I couldn't quite believe what I'd managed to make with vegan ingredients. That's some magic right there!

In defence of sweetcorn fritters

Say what you like about sweetcorn fritters and ketchup, but if you haven't sat down on your birthday to a plate full with a load of cava then I'm afraid your argument can stop right there. Sweetcorn fritters are the BOMB. It doesn't need to be pancake day to bust these out, and they go down a treat as a change to a fry-up on a hungover Saturday morning.

My boyfriend made me a stack yesterday to celebrate me becoming a little bit older- he played it safe with golden syrup, bananas, strawberries and blueberries, where as I went in for sweetcorn, ketchup and tea. If you want to make half the mix without sweetcorn, just add the sweetcorn to every other pancake when you first pour in the batter. And obviously scorn at the plain mix and its lack of ability to become a match made in heaven like sweetcorn and pancake batter is. Thank you again to Jenny for this recipe! And Becca and Joe for the amazing plates and pans, you can check out Becca's blog too!

Makes a lot of two or enough for three

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
2 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup soy milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Plus a tin of sweetcorn or fresh corn if you can get it.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the soy milk and oil and mix until smooth. I've found the batter will always improve if you chill it for as long as you can. So if you have time, pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes while you get your fruit/coffee/tea ready.

When you're ready, heat up a frying pan with a little oil, until you can see smoke coming out of it when you look closely. Add a large tablespoon of mixture, so it's about as big as your palm. If you're adding sweetcorn, put a teaspoon in now as this mixture cooks very quickly. After a few second they will be ready to flip, then a few more seconds on the other side and they will be ready! Stack up in a pile and add whatever toppings you fancy.

Beetroot, fennel and blood orange salad with quinoa and bulgar wheat

Oranges aint my bag. Bananas and apples you can grab and go, no napkins, plates or tissues needed. But for someone that spends half their lunchtime spilling couscous over their office desk, oranges are never an obvious choice.

That is, except for blood oranges, which have got to be some of the most beautiful fruit in season right now. I love that supermarkets are afraid to call them blood oranges, I love that surprise when they get mixed up in the fruit bowl with regular oranges and I love how their colour seeps on to everything.

This recipe is inspired by Bon Appetit, although I decided to do away with the red onion- preferring to just focus on the delicious aniseed taste of the fennel against the earthy beetroot and tang of citrus. I added quinoa and bulgar wheat to make this into a huge lunch, which was easily enough for two.

Ingredients
1 orange orange, peeled and cut into segments
3 blood oranges, 2 peeled and cut into segments, 1 for juicing
1/2 fennel bulb, thinly sliced lengthways
Couple beetroots, washed and peeled
Salad leaves
Olive oil
Seasoning
Quinoa, bulgar wheat or couscous

Preheat the oven to 200 degress celsius. Slice the beetroot into discs and place in an oiled tray. Cover in foil, and roast in the oven for around 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to see how they are getting on.

Meanwhile, prepare the oranges and raw fennel, remembering to keep everything separate until ready to plate up as the oranges and the beetroot will dye everything they touch.

Mix the juice of one blood orange with a few tablespoons of oil, and some seasoning to make a dressing. When the beetroot is almost done, prepare the quinoa or bulgar wheat, drain and set aside to plate up.

Once the beetroot is ready, begin to assemble the salad. I started with a base of quinoa to soak up all the juices- then layered on the fennel, beetroot and oranges, along with the salad leaves and salad dressing. You can use the green fennel tops to add extra flavour to the salad, along with some final seasoning. Messy yes, but bloody tasty too!

Back to school crumble

Perfect for back to school, college, uni, or even work after a late summer holiday.  Now that apples are finally in season our Growing Communities vegetable and fruit bags are full of Worcester Pearmain apples from Essex- they're small but they are delicious! Even roasted with carrots and rosemary, they just steal the show.

Pick a crumble filling that's in season and your favourite- mine at the moment is apple and blackberry, although I also found some rhubarb stashed in my freezer from summer which worked so well with this recipe. I think flavours like cinnamon and a little vanilla work really well with blackberries, while rhubarb with apple and ginger. I've left the topping mix plain for this recipe, so add whatever else you fancy.

Ingredients

For the topping:
200g plain flour
200g rolled oats
Glug sunflower/vegetable oil
A few dots of Vitalite or Pure spread

For the filling:
As much seasonal fruit that fills your chosen crumble dish when washed and chopped up.
2 tbsp sugar (you could use golden caster sugar, brown sugar, anything you think will work with the flavour of the fruit).

Preheat the oven to around 160 degrees. Place the fruit in a pan, adding water to about half way up the level of the fruit. Add the sugar- you might not need any if the fruit is really ripe. While this is happening, mix the flour, oats, oil and any spices or flavourings together in a bowl.

Once the fruit has softened down, pour into the crumble dish. Add the topping and then dot little amounts of Vitalite on top- this makes the topping extra chewy and tasty once it's been cooked. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Don't worry if the liquid runs to the surface- this isn't the most elegant of puddings! But if you want it extra brown on top, just switch the grill on and leave the oven door open for the last five minutes or so.

Brunch at Naomi's: Gluten-free, vegan crepes

A few Sundays ago Naomi made brunch and we talked about the missing local cat and the weirdness of strangers. These crepes are vegan and gluten free, less oily and greasy than standard pancakes and really really tasty. We had them with berries from Deptford Market, soy vanilla yoghurt and too much tea.

Naomi told me she used Dove's Farm bread flour (I think you could use either brown or white but she used brown in this instance) as it comes with Xanthan Gum in it already, which helps with any gluten-free cooking.

Naomi's (Not at all) Crepe Brunch

Ingredients

1/2 cup Soymilk

2/3 cup Water

1/4 cup Pure soy margarine

1 cup  Dove’s Farm gluten free brown bread flour

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Sugar (sweet crepes only, optional)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract (sweet crepes only, optional)

2 tbsp Water, to thin if needed

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Transfer to a pourable jug and refrigerate for 30 minutes. While the batter is refrigerating, wash the fruit or other fillings.

Heat a small frying pan and add a little oil, and once the oil is smoking in the pan, add enough crepe batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Allow the mixture to cook and once the edges begin to dry and come away from the side of the pan, use a spatula to loosen the edges and eventually the middle, so you can flip it over. The first crepe is never the best so be patient and use that one for a taste test (yum). Carry on doing the same method for each crepe, adding a little more oil between every few crepes. 

P.S. As well as brunches, Naomi is also amazing at making illustrations- you can see them here.

Cherries are the bomb

Cherries are in season! They are the bombbb. Have a mug-full for elevenses, stick a hand-full in with museli or go the whole hog with a bowl-full.

Growing Communities Veg Boxes

One week's fruit and veg bag from Growing Communities in Hackney

Within two days of becoming vegan, I realised that I was going to have to make some major changes to how I shopped for food. It wasn't just that I was suddenly spending much more money on fresh food in the supermarket, but without the added flavour of things like grated cheese, roux sauces or mayonnaise, I realised the produce I was buying tasted bland, watered down and sort of a lost in translation version of how I expected them to taste. 


I'm ashamed to admit it was only after switching to a vegetable box scheme that I realised potatoes have distinct different flavours depending on variety, or that salad leaves actually HAVE a flavour, that changes from leaf to leaf, taking command over a sandwich when before I just used them as filler.

If I am totally honest, my vegetable box order has completly changed how I eat in every way. There's the obvious things: it's all seasonal, it's as local as possible, and it means a lot fewer trips to the supermarket. But the changes I didn't expect have been the best. 


Washing the mud off all your carrots until you can see the first signs of orange, or red for beetroot, or pink for potatoes, and you're reminded that everything you're dealing with came from the ground, not stackable plastic supermarket palettes. I know I sound mad here but when you take away the distractions, vegetables are bloody brilliant. 


Using supermarkets less means you waste a whole lot less food. There's no BOGOFs or weird impulse buys when most of what you're getting through arrives once a week. This also means we've had to become much more careful with how much food we cook each night. I used to stick in a whole bag of potatoes for mash and think nothing of it. Now I know the six potatoes we get have to last three meals- and any leftovers go for lunch. And there's always leftovers. 

Most of the fruit and vegetables featured on Guac and Roll will be from the Growing Communities vegetable and fruit bags. The variety and warts-and-all produce is down to them, and I can't thank them enough for completely changing how I think about the food I eat each day.