Vegan marble cake with non dairy cream frosting

This is the best vegan cake I have made so far. Its very moist and soft with the perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate flavours and above all it looks good too. :-) Preparation wise too its very simple, its just a plain vanilla and chocolate cake, but mixing them both gives it a rich, unique taste. I made this cake last weekend and did a non dairy cream frosting. Special thanks to Suma who posted in her blog about the availability of non dairy whipping cream in Fatima Bakery. I got the recipe for Marble cake from here and did not make any changes to it other than decreasing the quantity to half. Also I used 1 3/4 cups of milk for the whole batter and added around 2 to 3 tbsp of extra milk to the chocolate batter. Also to get the marble effect, I followed a slightly different technique that I saw somewhere.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients to make the marble cake
Soy milk: 1 3/4 cups + 3 tbsp for chocolate batter(I used plain unsweetened. The original called for 2 cups)
Apple cider vinegar: 1 tbsp
Granulated sugar: 1 1/3 cups(I felt it was a bit less, but with the cream frosting it was perfect)
Vegatable Oil: 1/2 cup(I used sunflower refined oil)
Vanilla essence: 1/2 tbsp 
All-purpose flour: 2 cups
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp 
Salt: 1/2 tsp 
Chocolate extract: 1/2 tbsp(optional) 
Almond extract: 1/2 tsp 
Cocoa powder: 1/4 cup 
Black cocoa powder: 1/6 cup(I did not add this)

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C.
2. Grease and flour the cake pan. I lined the bottom of the pan with butter paper.
3. Mix milk and vinegar together and allow to curdle for a couple of minutes. 
4. Whisk the milk mixture, oil, sugar, and vanilla together until well blended.(I did this with an electric blender) 
5. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
6. Add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time to the wet mixture.
7. Stir until everything is just incorporated. Do not overmix. 
8. Split the mixture in half – one for the vanilla part and the other for chocolate.
9. In one half of the mixture mix in the chocolate and almond extracts, followed by sifting in the cocoa powder. 
10. Mix until everything is just blended. 
11. Pour a ladle full of vanilla batter and chocolate batter alternately in a criss cross fashion across the pan. Repeat the same for the rest of the batter.
12. Using a knife, swirl the batter a bit to give a nice marble effect.
13. Bake for around 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy the cake with or without frosting

For the frosting, I whipped a cup of non dairy cream along with some icing sugar, till soft peaks formed. I then kept it in the freezer for some time(around 15 to minutes) till reached the right consistency. Applied it on the cake and topped with some sliced strawberries. After doing all this too, I faced some problem with the consistencey of the cream. I should have removed the cream from the freezer a bit late.  I also cut the cake into two layers and frosted. One cup of cream was too much for this cake. The rest of the cream, I used for the delicious strawberry fruit fool which I would post later.
This is my entry to Priya's Hearts For St.Valentine's Day event.

Vegan strawberry cupcakes

When I made the Bread Pudding with Strawberry Compote, the strawberries were too expensive. Few days back, I was pleasantly surprised to see vendors selling strawberries for half the price I paid before. It was not only cheap, but also of good quality. Later I realised, it was good looking but a bit more tart than the strawberries are supposed to be. Anyway, I adjusted it by adding more sugar.

So here is a recipe for strawberry cupcakes, which not only tastes good but also has a lovely color that makes it a perfect dessert for Valentine's day. The recipe is almost same as this Pineapple cupcake that I adapted from Vaishali's mango cupcake.

Ingredients to make around 12 medium sized cupcakes
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder: 2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Strawberry puree: 1 1/2 cups(I washed around 12 to 15 strawberries, cut into two pieces and pureed in a mixer.)
Canola oil: 1/3 cup(I used sunflower refined oil)
Granulated sugar: 2/3 cup(I added around 1/2 cup more as the strawberries were a bit tart)
Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to 170 degree C and place paper liners in the muffin tin or grease the tin with oil. 
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat together the puree, oil, sugar and vainlla until well mixed.(I did this with electric mixer)
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.(Do not over mix)
5. Pour a ladleful of batter into the muffin tin.
6. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Enjoy with strawberry sauce or chocolate sauce or as it is.

Vegan brownies

I made these brownies for my colleagues at work. They liked them very much and one of them who is a chocoholic just loved it....I adapted this recipe from allrecipes and made some changes to the original recipe based on one of the review comments.
Everince I started baking vegan foods, I stopped buying/using dairy products like butter, ghee and cheese. But there are still some non vegan items like dark chocolate, choco chips etc in my pantry which I bought before going vegan. I don't feel like throwing them away, so I use them whenever I get a chance. So in this recipe, I used some choco chips.
Here is the recipe as adapted from allrecipes and one of the review comments

Ingredients to make around 20 pieces
All Purpose flour: 1 cup
Granulated white sugar: 3/4 cup
Cocoa Powder: 6 tbsp
Baking powder: ½ tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Water: ½ cup
Vegetable oil: 2 tbsp(I used sunflower refined oil) 
Unsweetened applesauce: ½ cup 
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
chocolate chips: a handful(Optional)

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. 
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a large bowl.
3. Mix in sugar.
4. Pour in water, oil, applesauce and vanilla and mix until well blended.(I did the mixing with hand)
5. If using choco chip, pour half the batter in the greased or parchment lined pan, put in a layer of chocolate chips, and then pour in the rest of the batter, spreading to cover the chips. If not using choco chips, then pour in the batter to the pan.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
7. Allow it to cool for sometime before cutting into squares.

Moroccan holiday bread

By each passing week, I am getting more and more confident in baking bread. I baked this moroccan holiday bread last weekend and it came out really good. I actually made it for Monday morning breakfast, but it got over within 1/2 an hour of coming out of oven. I adapted this recipe from Deeba's blog. The original recipe called for 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour and 1/4 cup maize/corn meal. I instead added 1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup maize flour. When I was kneading the flour, it was very sticky, so I added more all purpose flour till the dough came to a kneadable consistency .(around 1/4 to 1/3 cup)I also substituted milk with soy milk. Procedure wise, I changed a bit here and there.

Ingredients to make a loaf of Moroccan Holiday Bread

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All Purpose flour: 1 1/4 cups
Maize/Corn meal: 1/2 cup(I used maize flour)
Active dry yeast: 1 tbsp
Lukewarm water: 100 ml      
Soy milk: 100 ml
Sugar: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Sesame seeds: 2 tbsp(White or both black and white)
Olive oil/Refined oil for oiling the bowl and brushing the bread(optional)

Procedure
1. In a pan, heat soy milk to scalding and allow it to cool.
2. In a separate large bowl, mix together the flours, salt and the seeds.(keep few seeds for topping)
3. In a bowl combine the water, yeast and sugar and allow it to sit for 5 to 10 minutes. The yeast will become frothy.(If it doesn't, the yeast isn't active and its not worth proceeding any further.)
4. Once soy milk has cooled, add yeast mixture and soy milk to flour mixture and mix well.(Initially I added 1 cup APP flour, but the dough was very sticky and unmaneagable. So I added around 1/4 
to 1/3 cup APP flour which brought the dough to the right consistency)
5. Transfer the dough to a kneading surface and knead for 5 to 7 minutes and put into a well-oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour or till it doubles in size.
6. After 1 hour, punch down and form a loaf and flatten slightly.
7. Place it on an oiled baking sheet(I lined the baking sheet with with butter paper instead of oiling) and allow to rise for 1/2 hour.
8. Preheat oven to 170 degree C(the original recipe called for 200 degree C)
9. Brush the top of the loaf with water, sprinkle seeds on top, & bake for 25 to 30 minutes until it's golden or a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.( I added water in the baking tray that came with the oven and place the baking sheet with the loaf on it)
10. Remove from oven, brush the top with olive oil and have it warm or once it is cooled down.

We had it with jam and it tasted too good. It was soft and at the same time a bit crunchy, I think because of the maize flour.
This is my entry to Priya's Cooking with seeds-Sesame Seeds event.

Vegan chocolate fudge cake with vegan icing

I have been baking something or the other every weekend, but could not post them, for no specific reason. Looks like sheer laziness. Finally got to post a vegan chocolate fudge cake recipe which I adapted from chefinyou. I made this cake for my husband's B'day. I doubled the quantity of the ingredients as there were 11 of us. It was kind of a family get together and we all had a nice time. And yes, everybody loved the cake. I felt the cake was a bit bitter, but it was good to eat with the icing.

I made vegan icing using cornstarch, icing sugar, water and cocoa powder. As the consistency was a bit thin, I added more icing sugar and freezed it for around 5 minutes. Then I could frost the cake without much trouble. I am not sure where I got the icing recipe.
Its better to keep ready the required amount of cold water before proceeding with the cake. Otherwise, there are chances of overlooking "cold" water in the recipe and mixing everything, only to see that cold water is needed to make the batter.(which has happened with me before for another recipe)

Ingredients
All purpose flour/Maida: 3 cups
Powdered sugar: 2 cups
Baking soda: 2 tsp 
Salt: 1tsp 
Cocoa powder: 6 tbsp 
Vegetable oil: 2/3 cup (I used sunflower refined oil)
Vinegar: 2 tbsp (I used apple cider vinegar)
Vanilla essence: 2 tsp 
Cold water: 2 cups

Procedure
1. Pre heat oven to 160 degree C.
2. Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. In another large bowl mix the wet ingredients and stir well.( I did this with a hand mixer)
4. Add the flour mixture 4 to 5 tbsp at a time to the wet mixture and combine slowly to form a lump free batter.
5. Pour the mixture into the greased(and dusted) cake pan and bake for around 30 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Cool the cake by leaving it aside for 1 minute or so. Then invert the pan over a rack and tap it gently to unmould the cake.
7. Apply the frosting and enjoy.

Bread pudding with almond milk topped with strawberry compote

I had a secret mission to make as many strawberry based desserts as possible in December when we get the fruit here. Strawberry cupcakes, muffins, cake, fruit fool, ice creams and what not was there in my mind. I was totally fascinated(read jealous) by the strawberry recipes posted by Western world bloggers during summer. It was not very surprsing that I could not find the fruit even in super markets. I somehow mangaged to get a small box of strawberries paying a fortune. I just got 15 berries for the huge amount I paid of which 5 were stale. I realised that I can't even use it as a topping for dessert.

Disappointed, I was searching for strawberry recipes in Vaishali's blog and came across this bread pudding topped with strawberry compote. That suited me the best. I prepared the almond milk at home for the pudding. The pudding was awesome with the tart, sugary strawberry compote topping and pista seasoning. We liked it cold than warm. This makes for a perfect, cozy dessert.

Here is the recipe as adapted from Vaishali's..

Ingredients for the bread pudding to server 6 adults for dessert
Bread: 8-10 slices.( I used homemade sandwich bread . I cut each slice into 6 medium sized cubes and I did not trim off the edges.)Raisins: 1/2 cup 
Almond milk or soy milk: 2 1/4 cups(The original recipe calls for 3 cups. I used homemade almond milk)
Cinnamon powder: 1 tsp
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Sugar: 3/4 cup 
EnerG egg replacer: 6 tsp (I used corn starch)Water: 8 tbsp
Pista: broken into pieces for seasoning(optional)

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to 170 degree C.
2. In a smal bowl, mix together corn starch and water until smooth.
3. Whisk together the cinnamon, vanilla, sugar and corn starch. 
4. Then whisk in the almond milk until everything's incorporated.
5. In a greased square baking dish, spread out the bread evenly. Scatter the raisins on top. Now pour the almond milk mixture on top. Soak for about 30 minutes, pressing on the bread with a ladle periodically to ensure the bread gets evenly soaked.(Next time I will soak for only 15 minutes. The bread pieces at the bottom somehow got mashed completely, but that does not change the wonderful taste.)
6. Place the pudding in a water bath (a larger dish filled with about 1 inch of water).I used the tray that came with the oven as water bath.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until puffy and golden on top.
8. Serve warm or cold with strawberry compote.

Ingredients for strawberry compote(I am giving the exact recipe posted by Vaishali. As I had very few berries, I just did eye measurement.)
Strawberries: 1 pound (hulled and then cut into slices)
Sugar: 1/4 -1/2 cup(use more or less depending on the tartness of your strawberries)
Cinnamon: 1 stick

Procedure
1. Place the strawberries, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan and cook on medium heat until the strawberries break down and express their juices. 
2. Continue cooking on low heat about 10 minutes.

Putting it together
1. Place small portions of bread pudding in single serving bowls.
2. Spread the strawberry compote over the pudding and season with pista.(chocolate sauce could be a nice variation for the topping.)

Enjoy the delicious pudding warm or cold.

Vegan sandwich bread

This is the healthiest, easiset and the best sandwich recipe I have come across so far. This bread recipe is a keeper for beginners like me. There are 2 things that I learnt from baking this bread. a)Reduce the oven temperature by atleast 30 to 40 degree C if the recipe is from US.(their oven is entirely different from my OTG) b)Do NOT get tempted to slice the bread as soon as it comes out of oven. Leave the bread alone overnight and then take pictures of it gloriously.(though I knew this before, I implemented it this time. :-))
The bread looked hard from outside, but it was very soft from inside.(almost like the store bought wheat bread) I did not shape the bread properly, so the loaf was not uniform. I made this bread specially to make "bread pudding topped with strawberry compote" the recipe for which I will share in the next post. If you want to try out the pudding right away, do checkout Vaishali's blog..thats where I got the recipe.
Here is the recipe for sandwich bread as adapted from here..

Ingredients to make 1 medium sized loaf as adapted from here
Soy milk: 1 cup(I used the plain one)
Margarine or Oil: 1/8 cup(I used sunflower refined oil) 
Sugar: 1/4 cup + 1/8th tsp
Salt: 3/4 tsp
Lukewarm water: 1/8 cup
Active dry yeast: 1 tsp
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/4 cup
Wheat flour/aata: 1 1/2 cup

Procedure
1. In a bowl combine the water, yeast and 1/8th tsp sugar and allow it to sit for 5 to 10 minutes. The yeast will become frothy. (If it doesn't, the yeast isn't active and its not worth proceeding any further.)
2. Take oil, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in another bowl and keep aside.
3. In a separate pan, heat soy milk to scalding. 
4. Pour the milk into oil-sugar mixture.
5. After the soy milk mixture has cooled, add the yeast mixture to it. 
6. Then add 1/4 cup APP flour and beat about 200 times. I did this with a big spoon.Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. 
7. Add 1 cup each of APP flour and wheat flour and beat well(I did this too with the sppon), then begin to mix with your hands.
8. If the dough is very sticky add the rest of the measured flour or enough to produce a consistency of dough that can be turned out onto a floured board.( I used the granite slab in the kitchen to knead the flour)
9. Knead for 5 to 7 minutes, and put into a well-oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour. 
10. After 1 hour, punch down and form a loaf. 
11. Place it on an oiled loaf pan and allow to rise for 1/2 hour. 
12. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C(the original recipe called for 190 degree C)
13. Brush the top of the dough with some oil and place the loaf pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is beginning to brown. (I also inserted a skewer in the centre and checked that it came out clean.)
14. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely.

Enjoy the fresh homemade bread with jam, as a sandwich or as bread pudding which I did.

Vegan pineapple cupcake

This is one of the tastiest cupcakes I have ever had. Its so soft and flavourful that this is the first time I had a homemade cupcake without any icing or frosting. I adapted this recipe from Vaishali's mango cupcake.

Ingredients to make around 11 medium sized cupcakes
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder: 2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Pineapple puree: 1 1/2 cups(I used homemade one. Peeled, cut the pineapple and microwaved for 7 minutes. Allowed it to cool down and then pureed it in a mixer.)
Canola oil: 1/3 cup(I used sunflower refined oil)
Granulated sugar: 2/3 cup
Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to and 170 degree C and place paper liners in the mmuffin tin or grease the tin with oil. 
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cardomom powder together and keep aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat together the puree, oil, sugar and vainlla until well mixed.
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.(Do not over mix)
5. Pour a ladleful of batter into the muffin tin.
6. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

The cup cake was so good that it got over within 10 minutes it came out of the oven. I will be trying this recipe with different pureed fruits.

Vegan fruit and nut cake/Christmas cake

This is kind of a practice cake for me to make few batches of it during Dec last week.My relatives are visitng us during that time and after that I would be visiting my native place. So I would be making atleast 4 loaves then. I planned to make a vegan cake and did not want to mess it up at the last moment. So made this cake to be sure that nothing goes wrong.

I adapted this recipe from three different sources...Jugalbandhi's fruit and nut war cake, Kitchen Mishmash's Fruit cake and JoyOfBaking's Boiled fruit cake. The cake turned out very good and I am going to use this recipe anytime I make fruit and nut cake.

I would also like to thank Vaishali whose writings inspired me to inculcate vegan habits into my diet.

I soaked the fruits and nuts for a week in orange juice. Raisins soaked in orange juice was a bit tart which I did not like, but others in the family just loved the cake as it was.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients to make a small sized loaf(around 12 slices)
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/2 cups
Brown Sugar/Demerra Sugar: 1 1/4 cup(I did not have that much brown sugar, I substiuted it with date syrup.)
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Water: 1/2 cup(if soaking the nuts in orange juice as you would get around 1/2 cup juice after removing the fruits and nuts. Otherwise use 1 cup water.)
Vegetable Oil or Applesauce: 3 tbsp(I used sunflower refined oil)

Fruits and Nuts (overal it should be 2 1/2 cups, any combination of it can be used)
Cashew: 1/2 cup(broken into pieces)
Badam/Almond: 1/2 cup(broken into pieces)
Raisins: 1/2 cup
Cherry: 1/2 cup(cut into small pieces)
Tutti fruiti: 1/2 cup
Orange juice: around 1 cup(I used freshly squeezed)

Soak the fruits and nuts in orange juice in a jar and refrigerate it for atleast a week. Its better to stir the fruits once daily. Next time I will not be soaking raisins.

Spice mixture
Powdered Caraway seeds/Shahjeera: 1 tsp
Powdered nutmeg: 1/4 tp
Powdered cinnamon: 1/4 tsp 
Powdered cloves: 1/4 tsp
Powdered cardamom: 1/4 tsp

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to 170 degree C and grease a cake pan or loaf pan with oil and dust with flour.
2. Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt together.
3. In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil the sugar, water, oil, spices, and raisins.( I did not boil raisins as I soaked them in orange juice. Next time I will not do this)
4. Boil for five minutes, remove from heat, and let cool till lukewarm.
5. Transfer the soaked fruits and nuts to a bowl and add vanilla extract and mix well. Keep the left over orange juice aside.
6. Transfer the lukewarm mixture to a large bowl and add the flour mixture 4 to 5 tbsp at a time and mix.
7. If the batter is too thick add the orange juice. Stir in the soaked fruits and nuts.
8. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and bake for around 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

The cake tastes best when eaten the next day.(if you have the patience. :-)) Its moist, dense and hard to resist.

Advanced wishes to all you for a fun filled holiday season.

Vegan cashew and walnuts Quick bread

I actually started out making vegan sandwich bread. Unfortunately yeast wasn't active, so could not proceed any further. I then decided to bake a quick bread and searched in google. I liked Madhuram's vegan cranberry quick bread recipe the best. I made some modifications to the original recipe and the final result was good. I also doubled the quantity.

Ingredients to make 2 small loaves
All Purpose Flour/Maida: 4 cups(I used 2 1/2 cups maida and 1 /2 cups wheat flour)
Granulated Sugar: 3/4 cup
Lion Dates Syrup: 3/4 cup(Instead adding another 3/4 cup sugar, I added this)
Walnuts and Cashew: 1/2 cup (coarsely chopped)
Baking Powder: 4 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Flax Seed Meal: 2 tsp
Warm Water: 1/2 cup
Orange Juice: 1 cup(freshly squeezed is better)
Vegetable Oil: 1/2 cup(I used Sunflower refined oil)
Applesauce: 1/2 cup

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C and grease the loaf pan.
2. In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. 
3. Add sugar and nuts to the dry mixture and combine. 
3. Whisk/blend together the flax seed meal and water until white and foamy.I(I whisked for almost 5 minutes, but it did not turn foamy, anyway I used it.)
4. In another large bowl, mix together the flax seed mixture, orange juice, oil, dates syrup and applesauce.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. 
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
7. Cool it before serving.

Note: Its better to check if the bread is baked after around 45 minutes. I did not do that and the bread got burnt at the bottom which can be seen in the photos.

Vegan chocolate cupcake

I made these vegan chocolate cupcakes sometime back. I saw it in Vaishali's blog and chocolate being my favourite flavour, I just had to try it. The cupcakes came out so well that people at home who are not big fans of chocolate cakes too loved them. The only addition I did was to add some walnuts to the cake.
Here is the recipe as adapted from Vaishali's.

Ingredients to make around 15 medium sized cupcakes
Almond milk: 1 cup (I used soy milk)
Vinegar: 1 tsp(I used apple cider vinegar)
Turbinado sugar: 3/4 cup(I used regular granulated sugar)
Canola or other flavorless vegetable oil: 1/3 cup(I used sunflower oil)
Vanilla extract: 2 tsp 
All-purpose flour/Maida: 1 cup
Cocoa powder: 1/3 cup
Baking soda: 3/4 tsp
Baking powder: 1/2 tsp 
A pinch of salt

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degree C.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt and keep aside.
3. In a bowl, mix the soy milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes until it curdles.
4. Once the milk curdles, add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and beat togeter until it turns frothy.(Around 2 to3 minutes. I used a hand mixer for this)
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing well until the mixture is fairly smooth. Don't overbeat.
6. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Pour the batter into each liner, about 3/4 full. 
7. Bake for around 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
8. Frost the cupcake(optional) and enjoy.

Vegan vanilla cake with icing

Visit to native place, viral fever after the visit, followed by food allergy and workload at office kept me away from cooking, blogging and checking out other blogger's recipes. Made this vegan cake for my husband's niece's b'day this weekend. I came across lots of low fat vegan recipes. As it was for b'day, I did not want to take a chance. So I adapted the recipe from joyofbaking's vanilla cup cake recipe. I substituted 3 large eggs with 3/4 cup apple sauce, butter with nutralite and dairy milk with soymilk. For the icing too, I used nutralite. The cake was perfectly baked, soft, tasty and loved by all.

Here is the recipe as adapted from joyofbaking

Ingredients for the cake
Vegan butter at room temperature: 1/2 cup(113 gms) (I used nutralite)
Granulated white sugar: 2/3 cup (130 grams) 
Apple sauce: 3/4 cup(I used 1 apple to get 3/4 cup apple sauce)
Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp
All purpose flour: 1 1/2 cups(195 grams) 
Baking powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Soy milk: 1/4 cup (60 ml) 

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and grease the cake pan with vegan butter and dust with flour.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I used a hand mixer(around 2 minutes) 
3. Add the applesauce and beat well.(around 2 minutes)
4. Beat in the vanilla extract. 
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Alternately add the flour mixture and soy milk to the butter-sugar mixture, in three additions.(I did this mixing with hand) 
7. Pour the batter in the cake pan and shake so that the batter is evenly distributed.(As this recipe is originally for cup cake, the batter was quite thick)
8. Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes or until the a fork inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

Ingredients to make the icing 
Icing sugar: 2 cups (230 grams) 
Vegan butter at room temperature: 1/2 cup (113 grams) Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp 
Soy milk: 2 tbsp

Procedure
1. In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. 
2. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
3. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. 

Once the cake is completely cooled, frost with icing.

Note: To make applesauce, peel the apple, cut into small pieces, put in a microwave safe bowl, add water until the apple is immersed and microwave for around 8 minutes. Allow it to cool. Remove the apple pieces and grind into a smooth mixture. I made the cake the previous day night and refrigerated it. After making the icing mixture, I kept it in the freezer for around 10 minutes for it to thicken. This way, it was easy to apply the icing on the cake.

Vegan wheat flour and oat bran muffin

The other day when I had been to Nilgiri's super market I saw oat bran. I remembered joyofbaking's oat bran recipe. So I bought it and made the muffins. I made a vegan version of the muffin and it came out very well. I replaced the egg with 1/4 cup applesauce and milk with soy milk. I did not have molasses, so after some thought process I decided to substitute with lion date syrup. The muffins came out surprisingly well and it tasted too good. As mentioned in the original recipe the oat bran gives a nutty flavour to the muffin which I enhanced by adding some walnuts.

Ingredients to make around 12 medium sized muffins
Whole wheat flour: 1 cup
Oat bran: 1 cup
Light brown sugar: 1/3 cup(I used demerra sugar)
Baking powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Ground cinnamon: 1/4 tsp
Apple sauce: 1/4 tsp
Unsulphured molasses: 1/4 cup(I used Lion brand date syrup)
Pure vanilla extract: 1 tsp 
Canola oil: 2 tbsp(I used refined oil)
Soy milk: 1 1/4 cup
Walnut: 1/4 cup

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 205 degrees C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or grease the tin with vegetable oil. 
2. Mix flour, oat bran, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Whisk together the apple sauce, molasses, vanilla extract, oil and soy milk in another large bowl.
4. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until moistened. Gently stir in the walnuts. (The batter will be thin.) 
5. Fill the muffin cups with a ladle of batter and bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center of the muffin comes out clean. 

These muffins make for a hearty and healthy breakfast.

Cream and brownie in a glass

This dish was made as part of “No Fuss American” menu. Please see here for the other dishes as part of this menu.

This is one of the easiest yet tastiest brownie recipes. Too good.

Ingredients for the brownie

Maida/All purpose flour: 1 cup
Cocoa powder: 1/4 cup(I used Cadbury's brand)
Powdered sugar: 3/4 cup
Baking Soda: 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp
Fresh thick yogurt/curd: 6 tbsp
Milk: 5 tbsp
Melted butter: 5 tbsp
Walnut: 1/4 cup(chopped)
Vanilla Essence: 1/2 tsp

Ingredients for the cream

Fresh Cream: 2 cups(chilled. I used Amul Fresh Cream)
Powdered Sugar: 4 tbsp
Vanilla Essence: 1/4 tsp
Canned Peach halves: 8(I did not use this)
Cherry for garnish

Procedure to make the brownie

1.Preheat the oven to 180 degree C
2.Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and keep aside
3.Mix all the wet ingredients.
4.Fold in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients without over mixing.
5. Pour the batter in a greased baking tray and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out almost clean.
6.Cut small pieces once cooled and keep aside.

Procedure for the cream

1.Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks and doubles in volume.(Mine was thick enough and that shows in the photo too.)
2.Fold in the sugar and vanilla essence.
3.Fill the cream in a piping bag and keep aside.

Putting it together

1.Pipe out some cream in a tall glass(I did not use a piping bag. I used a spoon to put the cream in the glass)
2.Place a few brownie square and top with a peach half.
3.Repeat step 1 an 2 again and garnish with a cherry.
Serve chilled or as it is.

Eggless Apple Raisin muffins

Why do some women put on weight after marriage? Put on some more after child birth? Why did I fall into that category of women???

Why can't I exercise regularly? Why can't I stop indulging on fatty food?

The first 3 "why"s are beyond my control, but the last 2... definitely I can do something about it..

As a first step, I have decided to bake cake/muffin or any such bakery product only after I reduce a kg of weight in next 2 weeks. I have my own method of working out and dieting(not starving) which I charted out by doing some research in the internet a few years back..It has always worked for me..Let me see how I fair this time..

Till my next baking adventure, here is a muffin recipe which I adapted from Madhuram's. As with any other fruit based muffin, I had this one too with chocolate cream. The rest of them liked it as it was. It tasted better the next day.

Igredients to make 12 medium sized muffins

All Purpose Flour/Maida: 2 cups
Baking soda:1 tsp
Walnuts: 1/4 cup(Chopped)
Water : 1/4 cup(or a bit more if the batter is too thick)
Brown Sugar : 1/2 cup
Granulated Sugar: 1/4 cup
Raisins : 1/2 cup
Apple : 1 cup(peeled and grated)
Butter : 1/4 cup(at room temperature)
Cinnamon: 1/8th tsp
Nutmeg a pinch

Procedure

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degree C.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and walnuts in a bowl.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a pan and bring to boil.
4. Remove from heat and cool completely.
5. Add the flour mixture to the cooled mixture and mix until combined. (Do not over mix. It would result in hard muffins)
6. Place the muffin liners in a muffin tin and fill with the batter. If liners are not available, directly fill the muffin tins to almost full.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Cool and serve.

It makes for a healthy and easy breakfast.

Fruit bun

Its been a long time since I baked bread. I bought a food processor recently which has a dough attachement. So thought of inagurating it to make these fruit buns. The buns were soft and delicious. I adapted this recipe from joyofbaking substituting egg with, well.. nothing.. :-)

Ingredients to make around 12 buns

All purpose flour: 3 1/2 cup(455 gms)
Milk: 3/4 cup (180 ml)
Active dry yeast: 2 tsp
Granulated white sugar: 1 tsp
Light brown sugar: 1/4 cup (55 gms)
Cinnamon(powdered): 1 tsp
Cloves(powdered): 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg(powdered): 1/4 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter at room temperature: 1/4 cup(56 gms)
Candied fruit/tutty fruit: 1/2 cup (85 gms)
Raisins: 1/4 cup (25 gms)

Procedure

1. Heat milk until lukewarm. Add yeast and 1 tsp sugar and stir to combine. Set aside for about 10 minutes or until the yeast is activated and is foamy.
2. Meanwhile, combine flour, brown sugar, spices, and salt in a bowl.
3. Once the yeast is foamy, add to the flour mixture and mix to combine.
4. Gradually add the butter, mixing until the butter is incorporated and the dough comes together.
5. With the dough attachment of the food processor, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes) or knead with hands for about 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and, by hand, gradually knead in the candied and dried fruit. 
7. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning the dough once, so the top is lightly greased. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and place in a warm spot to rise until it has doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours).
8. When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, and divide into 12 equal pieces.
9. Form each piece into a small round ball and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and place in a warm spot until almost doubled in size (about 30 - 60 minutes).
10. Preheat oven to 205 degrees C. Brush the tops of the buns with butter.
11. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the buns are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Have it as it is or by applying butter.

Eggless whole wheat banana muffins

I have been postponing to make banana based muffins for a long time for the simple reason that I don't like bananas. I thought its high time that I overcome this feeling. So I baked these healthy muffins following Stephanie's recipe and replacing eggs with apple sauce along with a couple of changes to the original recipe.. I actually need not have used apple sauce as banana itself is supposed to be an egg substitute.. I could have just increased the quantity of banana. As there was one apple lying in the fridge for so many days unattended, I used it in the recipe by converting it into an apple sauce.The muffins tasted better than I expected. In fact, it tasted very nice and the texture was very soft too with walnuts here and there while chewing....There was no raw wheat smell this time. The taste was a bit cinnamony as I added it a bit more in an attempt to remove raw wheat flour smell. Overall the muffins came out very good and it made for a healthy, filling breakfast..The breaking news is, my son too ate one whole muffin..Its kind of a record.. :-)

Ingredients to make 15 medium sized muffins

Whole Wheat flour: 2 cups(I used ashirvad aata)
Mashed Ripe Banana: 1 cup(Original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups.)
Baking Powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda: 1/4 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Ground Cinnamon: 1/4 tsp(I added a bit more than 1/4th tsp)
Apple sauce: 1/2 cup(peel, deseed and chop the apples, microwave it for 8 minutes by adding some water, cool it and mash it in a mixer.)
Golden Syrup: 1/2 cup(Original recipe calls for maple syrup and I didn't have it.)
Brown Sugar/Demerra Powder: 1/2 cup(I powdered it in a mixer)
Milk: 1/3 cup(I used Nandini brand)
Refined Oil: 1/4 cup(I used Sunflower brand, original recipe calls for canola oil)
Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp
Almond Essence: 1 tsp(optional)
Chopped Walnuts: 1/4 cup(Original recipe calls for 3/4th cup)

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degree C.
2. In a big bowl, mix all the dry ingredients except for sugar and sieve once.
3. In another bowl, combine the mashed bananas, apple sauce, golden syrup, brown sugar, milk, oil, and vanilla extract.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and fold lightly until the mixture is thick. I did this with the plastic spoon that comes with mixer. After folding, some wheat flour was lying without getting mixed, so I added 2 tbsp of milk and combined.(Do not over mix, otherwise it will result in a hard muffin)
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. I filled the batter in muffin liners almost till the top.
6. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Allow it to cool and serve either as it is or by frosting with whipped cream. I had mine with dark chocolate frosting that was left after using it in the eggless whole wheat cake.

Verdict: Everything about this muffin was good. I think, it would have enhanced the flavour if I had added maple syrup instead of golden syrup. Overall a must try recipe.

Note: I pureed one big apple which gave more than 1/2 cup of apple sauce. I guess, just 1/2 an apple is enough to get 1/2 cup apple sauce. It would be better to add 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana(as per the original recipe) instead of just 1 cup. Also, I think any variety of banana is OK as long as it is fully ripened. For the apple sauce, if microwave is not there, the chopped apple can be cooked in gas stove, until the apple becomes soft.

This is my second entry to Madhuram's Whole grain(Eggless) baking event.

Vegan Scones

When I asked Vaishali of Holy Cow if Scottish dishes are allowed for IAVW-British event, I really did not have any particular dish in mind. But coincidently I made vegan scones which are Scottish in origin. I had been planning to bake the scones since I saw them in so many blogs. This weekend I could and we liked them very much. Especially I loved it with the jam topping. We had them for breakfast before leaving for Innovative Film City for a weekend getaway.

Ingredients to make around 20 scones

All purpose flour: 2 cups
Castor Sugar/Granulated white sugar: 2 tbsp
Baking powder: 2 tsp
Vegan butter: 5 tbsp cold (I used Nutralite)
Soy milk: 1/2 cup
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Jam for topping(I used mixed fruit jam)
Vegan buttercream for topping(optional)

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degree C.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. Add butter and rub so that the mixture resembles bread crumbs.(I did this with hand)
4. Make a well in the centre and add the milk and mix to form a soft dough.(Mix lightly without giving much pressure,otherwise the scones will be very hard)
5. Make lemon sized balls of the dough and flatten.
6. Place in a baking tray covered with parchment paper and bake for around 15 minutes or until the top of the scone turns slightly brown.
7. Top the scones with jam and vegan buttercream(I just mixed a tbsp of nutralite with 2 tbsp of icing sugar).

Have it as a breakfast accompanied with some fruit juice or as an evening snack with a hot cup of tea.

This is my entry to IAVW-British hosted by Vaishali.

Eggless whole wheat flour vanilla cake with dark chocolate frosting

Here is a small poem (if I may say so) as an introduction to this post that has the recipe for eggless whole wheat cake which is also my entry to Whole grain(Eggless)baking event hosted by the very talented Madhuram of egglesscooking.

Wheat flour I use only in dosa and roti,
So whole grain baking event made me jittery.

Whole grain I know is healthy,
Hence switched on the PC
And hunted for some recipe.
Saw a cake that looked spongy.

Baked the cake with some panic,
But the result made me euphoric.

Thanks to the event hostess Madhuram,
I got to bake a cake that was so yum.

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Without any further harassment to the readers, here is the recipe as adapted from Recipes4US though I decided to bake the cake after seeing the picture in Sunita's blog.

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Flour: 1 1/2 cup(I used ashirvad aata)
Castor Sugar: 1 1/4 cup
Baking Powder: 2 tsp
Sunflower oil: 6 tbsp
Warm Water: 1 cup
Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp

Procedure

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degree C.
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the castor sugar.
3. Add oil, water and vanilla extract and mix well until the mixture is smooth.(I did this with hand for a few seconds)
4. Bake in a greased and parchment paper lined cake pan for 20 to 25 minutes or till the edges begin to brown slightly, and the centre of the cake is springy to the touch.
5. Remove from the oven and take out the parchement paper carefully.

I got 2 cakes. I cut each cake into 2 halves and applied chocolate frosting and layered the cake and applied the frosting all over the cake.

Dark chocolate and whipped cream frosting(adapted from joyofbaking)

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate: around 150 gms(chopped)
Heavy cream: 3/4 cup
Unsalted Butter: 1 tbsp(at room temperature)

Procedure

1. Place the dark chocolate in a bowl and keep aside.
2. Heat cream and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring just to boil.
3. Pour the boiling cream immediately over the chocolate and a;;ow it to stand for few minutes.
4. Stir the mixture until smooth.
5. Let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
6. Beat the mixture until creamy and smooth.
7. If the mixture is a bit loose, freeze it for few minutes so that it comes to applying consistency.
8. Apply on the cake.

Eggless wheat flour cake with dark chocolate frosting is ready.

Verdict: This is the first time I tried wheat flour baking. I should say the cake tasted good. But definitely not as good as its maida counterpart. Also since it does not use butter, the rich taste was missing. But the chocolate frosting helped the cake to taste better. I might not like to eat the cake without the frosting mainly because I got the raw smell of whole wheat in the baked cake. I really appreciate if somebody could suggest a way so that the baked cake does not have the raw wheat flour smell. Surprisingly, the raw smell had reduced a bit the next day when I tasted.(after refrigerating overnight) I would definitely bake whole wheat cake again as it is healthy and taste wise its not that bad..I think I would start liking it once I get used to the wheat flour taste.

Note: The cake was not spongy like Sunita's. I think I baked for a little longer time. If castor sugar is not there, ordinary granulated sugar can be used by reducing the quantity to 3/4 cup.

This is my entry to Whole Grain(Eggless) Baking event hosted by Madhuram.