Vegan Christmas Cake

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• Its become a bit of a tradition for us to make the christmas cake and take it to what ever family christmas event we happen to be attending, it's great cause it means it can be eaten by everyone and also we've gotten pretty damn good at it, if you don't tell people it's vegan no one will know the difference.
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What you'll need;

We made a LOT of fruit as we're using it for 2 cakes and fruit mince tarts but for one cake you'll need approximately 1.5 kg of mixed fruit I used sultanas, dates, glace cherries, apricots, mixed peel and candied ginger, just use whatever you like. We soaked ours in 3/4 of a bottle of rum for a week but if you don't have time do it for as long as you can.

• 1.5 cups plain flour
• 0.5 cup self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 250g butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 eggs worth of no egg replacer
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade

Preheat your oven to 150°C and grease and line your cake tin.

Place sifted flour and spices in a bowl.

In a separate bowl cream your sugar and softened butter until pale, prepare your egg replacer and beat it into the creamed butter and sugar. Add the marmalade and 1 tablespoon flour mixture and beat until well combined.

Add your two mixtures together and beat until well combined.

Add fruit and mix well.

Pour into your cake tin and press flat (should be thick).

Cover your cake in foil/kitchen paper and cook for 2 - 3 hours depending on your oven, remove the foil for the last 30 minutes.  I made two and the larger one took 3 hours. After the first 1.5 hours check the cake every 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

I then poured another 1/8 cup of rum over the hot cake and allowed to cool.

Now the fun part, these cakes look just fine sprinkled with icing sugar but i wanted them to look a bit special.

I just used some nuts, orange slices and left over cherries, you place them on the cake. take a jar of apricot jam, place it in a bowl and melt it in the microwave then glaze the top and you'll end up with something like this.

Merry Christmas Xx

Vegan Rum Balls

Christmas is fast approaching! Which makes me incredibly excited, over the next week I am going to eat more food than I normally would in about 2 months. Yay Christmas!
It wouldn't be christmas without a multitude of alcoholic sugary sweets, I have made these for the last few years and they are always a hit.


Ingredients;
9 Weetbix
4 tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup sultanas
1.5 cups soy milk
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 - 1/3 cup of rum (this is what i use, it's probably too much for some people, just add it slowly tasting as you go)
More desiccated coconut for rolling


Decoration
1 block vegan white chocolate (we use sweet william)
1 pack mixed red/yellow/green glace cherries


Add icing sugar to soy milk and mix well (should thicken slightly)


Crush up your weetbix and mix with all the other dry ingredients, slowly pour in the rum and the soy milk mixture, mixing as you go until the mixture is moist but will hold shape when rolled into a ball, (should be sticky but firm).


Roll the mixture into small balls and then roll in desiccated coconut until covered, refrigerate until hard (mine took about half an hour).


They are delicious just like this, but as gifts I like to make them look a bit special


Once your rum balls have set, break up your white chocolate and place it in a bowl, microwave in 30 second increments until melted.


Cut up the yellow and red glace cherries into little squares and the green ones into longer shapes. Using a teaspoon place a dollop of the melted chocolate on top of your rumball (you don't want it to be too runny or the decorations won't stick) 
Place your red and yellow cherry 'berries' on the top of the white chocolate and then position the green cherry 'leaves' as you like. Refrigerate until set. Makes approximately 24 depending on how big or small you make them Xx

Deep fried silken tofu is the bomb!

So it's friday night and I'm home alone, what else to do but cook up one of my favourite meals of all time! I modelled this dish off of one I had in a restaurant, with a few minor adjustments, and I have to say it's a crowd pleaser.


This recipe is for one (I'm a big eater) but it could probably feed two.


What you'll need;
Oil for deep frying
300 grams Silken Tofu - drained
Cornflour
150 grams of Oyster Mushrooms
100 grams fresh green beans - tips removed
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
1 tsp of Sambal Oelek (or any chilli paste of your choice)
2 tbsp of Hoisin sauce
A good slosh of chinese master stock sauce (approx 1/4 cup)
A handful of coriander


You can get Sambal Oelek from the condiments/sauces aisle in your supermarket (both coles and woolies in brisbane sell it), Master stock sauce is a recent discovery of mine and I have become obsessed with it, any oriental stock will do....but if you don't have any on hand just add more Hoisin sauce and add a few tbsp of water.


Firstly, fill your wok or a deep saucepan with your oil, I just use cheap vege oil and let it get nice and hot!


Drain the tofu on some paper towel and pat it dry (gently!) and then cut it into 6 even pieces.

Once oil is hot enough for frying roll tofu in cornflour until coated and lower gently into oil, I cook the pieces two at a time, it's important to only put the cornflour on each piece just before you put it in the oil or it will dissolve.


Fry tofu for 1-2 mins or until it's a nice golden brown, drain on paper towel and place somewhere to keep warm.

Ok part two,
Heat a small amount of oil in the bottom of a wok or fry pan, once hot add beans and stir fry for 1 minute.


Add crushed garlic and fry for a further 30 seconds or until fragrant.


Throw in your oyster mushrooms, (I just leave them whole unless they're really large, in which case I just slice them in half lengthways)


Add sambal, hoisin and master stock and stirfry for 2-3 minutes until mushrooms begin to wilt.

Place beans and mushrooms on a plate, reserving some of the sauce, place tofu on top and sprinkle with coriander then  then drizzle remaining sauce over the top. Serve immediately!

 Such a good way to spend a friday night! It's actually surprisingly quick to prepare as well, can easily be done one your own but also works well with two cooks, one to fry while the other one makes the beans and mushrooms. Enjoy Xx

Vegan Profiteroles

Hear that? It was the sound of my blogging cherry being popped. Yes I am entirely new to the world of blogging so you may have to bare with me for the first few! I have been cooking vegan for the past two years now there have been some triumphs and unfortunately some disasters. I thought I'd start with something big. 

I have successfully made vegan choux pastry, yes, you heard correctly, It is possible to veganise a recipe that calls for 16 eggs, you just need a hell of a lot of 'no egg' replacer, and I mean A LOT.

For my partners 31st birthday this year I made him a croquembouche (aka profiterole cake), and it actually turned out well, I just found a basic choux pastry recipe and tweaked it slightly. I am one of those people who never measures anything, I just add stuff till it looks right and this was most definitely one of those times. I made this back in June and unfortunately I don't have have any pictures of the cooking process, but I will definitely remake this and post it with steps when I get a chance  (with measurements I promise!)  

                                                                                                                                               
  This is the finished product, they're filled with a mixture of vegan cream and custard and are topped with both white and dark chocolate, I also dipped some strawberries in the chocolate for presentation. You are also lucky enough to witness my appalling attempt at writing in chocolate, but hey we can't all be perfect. 
It's not well represented in the photo's but this thing was tall! It's  made up of about 30 individual profiteroles sandwiched together with chocolate, and oh yes, it tasted good! When I do the next batch I will do some chocolate eclairs as well! Xx