Tag Archives: Vegan icing/ frosting

Almond Cake with Lemon Icing- Vegan & Gluten free!!

01 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by in Cake, Cupcakes, Gluten Free, Uncategorized, Vegan

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Sorry for the gap in posts! Life has been very life-y. I changed jobs, visited family and one of my wisdom teeth has turned out to be the source of all evil- currently quite uneven faced. So…. though I am seriously sugar free at the moment in order to give my immune system some chance of winning the battle against invading forces, here is the as promised the almond cake! Gluten free of course. The base recipe is similar to my last few cake ones, I guess I am really liking the texture the coconut oil gives to the cake. Springy and moist with good structure.

Almond cake!

Almond cake- wish I had vegan vanilla ice-cream with it

Almond Cake- gluten free & vegan of course!

  • A full cup or 200g of apple blueberry puree (or apple puree and add a some mashed blueberries)
  • 4 scant dessertspoons of org cold pressed coconut oil
  • Just under half a cup of rapadura / sucucant/ turbinado sugar
  • Half a teaspoon of apple cyder vinegar
  • Half a teaspoon of almond extract – 1tsp if you like it intense
  • A third of a cup of buckwheat flour
  • Two thirds of a cup of ground almonds
  • Half a cup of fine maize meal
  • A pinch/ eighth of a teaspoon of Himalayan pink salt/ fine sea salt
  • A generous tsp of vanilla powder/ a pod/ extract
  • 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon of aluminium free baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of aluminium free bread / baking soda

Method:

Preheat your oven to 170C. Prepare a 20cm/ 7.5 inch cake tin

Put your fruit puree and coconut oil in a perspex / heat proof bowl and put it in the preheating oven for a few minutes to melt.

Meanwhile prepare all your dry ingredients. Sieve your baking powder and soda incase of lumps.

Take the oil and fruit puree out of the oven and mix in the sugar, stir until it dissolves. Next add in the apple cyder vinegar and almond extract.

wet and dry

wet and dry

Put your dry ingredients into the wet. Mix gently, just until there are no lumps.

Pour into you tin, make sure it is evenly spread. Place in the centre of the oven- or slightly to the right for me as the left is hotter.

Bake for 25mins (fan) or 30 min. Done when it is coming away from the sides and if you put a skewer in it and it comes out dry.

If you want to make cupcakes take 5mins off the baking time! O and put a dab of oil in your cupcake liners to stop them sticking to the paper.

Lemon Icing

  • 2 big teaspoons of org cold pressed coconut oil
  • The zest of an organic unwaxed lemon
  • Half a cup of vegan icing sugar
  • Five teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

Method:

Mash the coconut oil until soft. Add the lemon zest.

Press out any lumps in the icing sugar and add to the coconut oil. Mash press and mush them together. The sugar and oil take a bit of work, gradually begin adding the lemon juice and it will turn into icing.

Lemon icing

Lemon icing

I put it on the cake when it was still a little tepid- so it melted a bit. Normally I would advise leaving it cool completely- but actually the fact it melted a little into the cake was nice!!

I will also be putting up a fermented cauliflower recipe next- which I will be partaking in -lots – for the good bacteria, enzymes and yeasts! I will defeat you yet tooth!

Xs Aissa

 

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Its Classic Chocolate Cake – gluten free & vegan & yummy!

22 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Cake, Chocolate, Cupcakes, Gluten Free, Traditional, Vegan

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Classic Chocolate Cake, it also a classic vegan cake. Lots of vegan cakes use non dairy yoghurt instead of eggs or and apple puree, which I do in this. I have discovered the ingredients are somewhat flexible. If you find you have no yogurt you can use banana. Not enough apple puree, add more yoghurt and banana! The gluten free flour is easy to change about, though I recommend not going over a third of a cup of buckwheat as it can become sour.

I have been making various versions with various flavours for a while. The element which helped this chocolate cake to another level of yummy was the discovery of a method on theppk.com for Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf . In the past I would to add hot water at the end, not the middle. It also inspired me to add some cinnamon! 🙂

Classic Chocolate Cake

Classic Chocolate Cake- gluten free and gooey

  • A quarter cup of soya yoghurt ( I used cherry flavour)
  • A quarter cup of cold pressed light sunflower oil
  • A third of a cup of cocoa
  • A big dessertspoon cacao powder
  • A cup of apple puree (unsweetened)
  • A scant two thirds of a cup of rapadura / sucucant / coconut sugar*
  • * and take out 3 dessertspoons as it will be a tad to sweet otherwise!
  • A third of a cup of boiling water plus a a dessertspoon.
  • One cup gluten free flour. I used the brand “Doves” (which is a blend tapioca,rice,maize & buckwheat)
  • Half a cup of ground almonds
  • One teaspoon of vanilla powder/ two pods/ a dessertspoon of extract
  • A third of a teaspoon of cinnamon (you barely notice it so you can add more!)
  • A quarter teaspoon of himalayan pink salt/ sea salt
  • One teaspoon of g/f aluminium free baking powder
  • Half a teaspoon of g/f aluminium free bread soda/ baking soda
  • One teaspoon of cornstarch
  • Half a cup/ 50g of chopped 72% vegan chocolate- I used one sweetened with xylitol
  • Seven crumbled/ chopped walnuts or a few spoons of chopped cashews

Chocolate Icing/ Frosting

  • Two dessertspoons of organic raw coconut oil
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ extract/ one pod
  • Half a cup of vegan icing sugar
  • One big or two scant dessertspoons cocoa powder
  • A dessertspoon and a half of warm water

The Cake Method

Pre-heat your oven to 180C/ 355F. Grease a 20cm/ 7.5inch cake tin.

You will need two bowls. In the first bowl put in your apple puree, yoghurt, oil and sieve in the cocoa and cacao powders. Give a good stir. If you are using vanilla extract not powder add it to the wet not the dry.

with the glorious cocoa & cacao

with the glorious cocoa & cacao

In your second bowl add the flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, vanilla, baking powder,soda, cornflour and salt.

Now the clever bit. Add your third of a cup of hot water to your apple-y cocoa bowl. Stir it through. Add in your sugar and mix it again, making sure there are no lumpy bits.

Gently fold in half your dry ingredients. Add a dessertspoon of hot water and carefully give a stir. Add the rest of your dry stuff. Really be nice folding it in, fold in your chopped chocolate and walnuts. Do not over mix. You do not want to knock the air out.

Pour into your prepared cake tin. Put it in the middle of your oven. I put mine slightly to the right as the left is a bit hotter!

It usually takes 25mins. I peeped a couple of times and it took 30mins this time. It should be coming away from the sides of the pan, a little domed and cracking a bit. If you poke it with a skewer it should come out clean.

cake surface!

cake surface!

Leave it to cool for ten minutes before turning it out to cool on a rack. I left mine to cool on the windowsill – one of the first signs of winter!

When completely cooled you can ice it.

The Icing Method

Mash your coconut oil to soften. Sieve your icing sugar and cocoa in add your vanilla. Mash and press the mixture until a crumbly texture. Add one spoon of warm water first and mix again. Use warm water as cold water would make the coconut oil go solid again. You may or may not need the other half spoon of water. You want it to be soft and spreadable but not runny.

I plop all mine in the middle of the cake and sweep it to the edges with the back of a spoon or knife. This is enough icing for me, as you can see by the picture it is not smothered in it. You can always increase it by a third if you want a thicker layer.

iced!

iced!

Hope you try it out.

Xs Aissa

Last big slice! I then poured vegan cream over the top!

Last big slice! All it needs now is vegan ice-cream!

Brmufka- bread muffin cake Recipe

17 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Bread, Cake, Cupcakes, Vegan

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The world is chaos and the lack of order has impeded my ability to blog. That there is the excuse to preempt my apologies.

My Brmufka- bread muffin cake, is the tale of a cake that went wrong and still tasted good. It tastes like a sweet bread- which I compensated for by covering it in a coconut yoghurt icing/frosting. I normally bake gluten free or at least wheat free, but not this time. There was a bag of whole wheat self-raising flour at work, it had had a hole poked in it. So rather than throw it out I thought I’d make cake!

brmufka with pink coconut yogurt icing

Brmufka with pink coconut yogurt icing

To make your own Brmufka- bread muffin cake you will need the following-

A 20cm/7.5inch cake tin. Greased with a little square of parchment paper on the base to prevent sticking! Measures and bowls…and an oven. More specifically one preheated to 170C/340F

  • 2 generous cups of whole wheat self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • Half a teaspoon of bread soda/baking soda
  • Half a teaspoon of ground cardamom
  • Quarter teaspoon of sea salt/himalayan pink salt
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ or 1tsp of extract in the wet stuff!
  • Three quarters a cup of rapadura/turbinado/sucucant sugar
  • Note I used half a cup- hence Brmufka so it’s up to you what you want to do!!
  • Two dessertspoons of coconut oil worked to soft or melted
  • Three dessertspoons sunflower/rapeseed/canola oil (ones suitable for frying)
  • Seven drops of food grade orange oil or the zest of one orange
  • Half a cup of apple puree
  • Half a cup of non-diary milk
  • Half a teaspoon of apple cyder vinegar
  • A quarter cup of water or orange juice

Get your bowl and put in flour,baking powder, soda, cardamom, salt and vanilla. You can just add your sugar, but I sieve mine first as it gets out the lumps and makes for a lighter cake.

Put you apple puree, milk, quarter cup of water or juice and the vinegar.

Get another bowl and work your oils together, add the orange oil and or orange zest. Pour the apple puree milk etc mix on top and mix them together.

Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Gently fold together. Just so there are no lumps. You want a light touch so you do not knock the air out or end up kneading it !!

Here is where the BR part of the Brmufka happened. Having been out of the habit of wheat, I over mixed- this developed the gluten- hence making it more bready. But there is more, I was going to make a low flat cake- like fingers and spread it on a baking sheet. I started doing this, realised I didn’t have enough batter changed my mind and then put in the cake tin. Over worked even further !!!

Pop it into the middle of your pre-heated oven. My oven is hotter on the left so I place things slightly to the right.

The Muf part is due in partially to the whole wheat-ness, also to the fact when I tried to gently transfer it to my cake pan it had thickened and the surface was uneven. When it baked it came out with a domed spiky top like muffins!

It took 24mins in my fan oven. It may take up to 30mins in a non-fan. You could make it into real muffins / cupcakes and they would take 18-20mins.

It will be done when it is coming away from the sides, is golden brown and has a little cracking on the surface. If it looks good take it out and stick a skewer in it. If that comes out dry you have a Brmufka or a cake if added more sugar and didn’t overwork it 😉

Brmufka pacman- pre icing

Brmufka pac-man- pre icing

 

Pink Coconut Icing

This is so easy. In a medium sized bowl

  • One dessertspoon of coconut oil- mashed to soft
  • Four giant dessertspoons of berry coconut yogurt*
  • A mug/ generous cup of organic icing sugar
  • Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ insides of a pod
  • If needed a teaspoon of warm water

*if you use plain just squash a strawberry into it or add a teaspoon of beetroot powder to make it pink. If you use the beetroot powder you need a few drops of water for the colour to release.

Mash your oil and yogurt (if needed the berry) together. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl (and beetroot powder if using). Add the vanilla and mix it all together. Really get your back into it so that you get a nice smooth consistency. if too stiff or powdery add a bit of water. If too runny add a bit more icing sugar.

If you have made cake as opposed to Brmufka you may not need as much icing 🙂

Xs Aissa