Banana and Fig Cake with Passionfruit Icing

Hey hey!
The Rocklea markets have reopened for the first time since the  Queensland floods and I am able to purchase lovely fruits and vegetables once again. The price of fruits and vegetables in the supermarkets has been exorbitant, eg $10 a kg for tomatoes, where as when I went to the markets yesterday they were selling better looking tomatoes for 99c a kg, makes me wonder how the supermarkets can justify that kind of price.
They were selling huge bags of banana's for $1 and fresh figs for only $5 a kilo so I ended up with a surplus.
This cake is really moist and fudgey. I like to eat it warm but it also keeps well in the fridge. 


You'll need;


3 Ripe bananas - mashed
3 ripe Figs - mashed (you can leave these out)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup of plain flour
2 eggs worth of no egg replacer
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
2/3 cup soy milk


I also added a handful each of chopped dates and walnuts that I had left over from making my christmas cake.


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius
Cream sugar, bananas and figs until creamy then add egg substitute and mix until just combined.
Stir in half of the flour and the cinnamon until combined, add soy milk hen stir in the remaining flour and vanilla essence.
Place into a greased loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely before icing.




For icing you'll need
1 passionfruit
1/2 a tub of vegan cream cheese
1/3 cup of icing sugar


Combine ingredients until smooth and creamy then pour over cake, if the icing seems too runny add more icing sugar or chill for one hour before icing your cake.

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Sticky Berry Scrolls (aka ugly buns)

I felt like baking today, it's still raining and I am really beginning to run out of things to do. I made these up on a whim, but they sure are delicious, you've got flaky doughy parts, gooey fruity parts, and yummy sticky parts, all of which get the thumbs up in my book.
These are kind of like a cross between a sticky bun (they're really very sticky) and a fruit scone. Try them, seriously.


For the buns;


Self Raising Flour - 1.5 cups
Dairy free margarine - 2 tbsp softened(I use nuttelex)
Cinnamon - 1 tbsp
Soy Milk - 1/2 cup


Place you flour in a bowl and rub through your margarine pinching with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs.
Add cinnamon and then milk and combine to form a soft dough.
Dough should be soft but not overly sticky, if too sticky add more flour.
Knead for a minute or two and leave somewhere cool until ready to use.


For the filling;


Mixed Berries - 1.5 cups (I used a frozen mix of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries
Caster Sugar - 1/2 cup
Dairy free margarine - 1 tbsp
Golden Syrup - 1 tbsp


I used golden syrup because I didn't have any brown sugar, if you do use it instead of caster and leave out the syrup.


Melt butter in a small saucepan, add sugar, berries and syrup and mix until sugar begins to melt and the mixture becomes thick and sticky (should only take 1-2 minutes) remove from heat and set aside.


Bring it all together;


Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a muffin tin (I used a large texas tin and made 6, if you only have a smaller tin cut your portions smaller to make more)
Flour a clean surface and roll out your dough into a rough rectangle shape at least 30cm long and 15 cm wide.
Spread your berry mix over the dough leaving a good gap near the edges.
Roll up the dough so you get a long roll, don't worry if some mix spills out.
Slice the roll into portions to fit your muffin tray. Scoop up any berries that fall out and put them on the top of your scrolls.
Cook in middle of oven for 15-18 minutes until scrolls are golden and sauce is bubbling. I recommend putting a lipped tray underneath you muffin tray as the sauce is prone to bubbling over.
Let the scrolls rest in the tin for 5 minutes then remove. Flip them when you remove them from the tray so that the flat berry soaked side is on the top. Scoop out any remaining sauce and berries from the tin and drizzle over your scrolls.
They're not that pretty but they sure do taste good! Also they are this fantastic rich purple colour, not enough foods are purple in my opinion. Enjoy Xx

Serve warm and sticky!

Ok so they're not that ugly...

Vegan Lasagne

So it's been raining for days...it's cold and windy and miserable, nothing to cheer you up like a gigantic portion of saucy, yummy, cheesy, tomatoey lasagne-ey goodness!

Make up a big portion of your favourite tomato based pasta sauce...or use the one below

You'll need

Brown Onion - 1 large diced

Garlic - 4 cloves crushed

Sliced mushrooms - 1 cup 

TVP - 800 g, I use the tinned casserole mince

Tomato Paste - 4 tbsp

Baby Spinach - 2 handfuls

Pasta Sauce - 1 jar

Mixed Herbs

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Fry onion for 2 minutes then add sliced mushrooms cook for a minute more then add garlic and stir well.

Add all other ingredients and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add what ever herbs you like, I used fresh parsley and thyme and dried oregano and basil.

While it's simmering make your Cheese Sauce 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and prepare your lasagne by using alternating layers of lasagne sheets, pasta sauce and cheese sauce (Buy instant lasagne sheets they are so easy to use). Cover the top in cheese sauce and sprinkle with fresh parsley. Cook for 40 minutes so top is nice and brown.

Easy Tea Cake

Ok this recipe is kind of a cross between a cake and a bread...perhaps easy tea loaf is a more appropriate name....either way it is delicious! It is awesome by itself, warm with jam or even toasted in a sandwich press. Seriously it's the bomb and probably the easiest thing you'll ever make.


What you'll need


Earl grey tea - 1 cup brewed and cooled (any black tea will do)
Self raising flour - 2 cups sifted
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Sultanas - 1 cup
Cinnamon - 1 tbsp
Nutmeg - 1/2 tbsp


Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius
Place sugar, sultanas and spices in a bowl and combine.
Add tea and stir.
Add flour and combine well.
Place mixture in a greased loaf tin and cook for 20 - 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.


Thats it and it really is that simple. It's also a great recipe to play around with, add some nuts, or choc chips, what ever you like. I recommend lathering the top of the cake with vegan butter and sprinkling it with cinnamon sugar whilst still hot.


I love this toasted the next day with lots of butter for breakfast! Yum!

Peanut butter white choc chip cookies!

Yes they really are as awesome as they sound! They're also as awesome as they are quick and easy to prepare!


You'll need...


White sugar - 3/4 cup
Golden Syrup - 2 tbsp
Non-dairy spread - 1/2 cup melted
No egg replacer - 1 eggs worth
Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup
Self Raising Flour - 1.5 cups sifted
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Vegan white chocolate - half a block chopped up into small pieces


Preheat your oven to 160 degrees.
Mix together white sugar and golden syrup in a bowl.
Add melted margarine and egg substitute and stir till combined.
Add peanut butter and vanilla essence, mix through peanut butter well so mixture is fairly smooth with few lumps.
Add flour and white choc pieces and mix until you form a smooth dough.
Place teaspoon sized drops on a greased baking tray and flatten slightly with a fork.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

My sister gave me some awesome 'ninjabread men' cookie cutters for xmas so I though I would try them out. I melted the other half of the block of white chocolate to decorate the cookies. The ninja bread men come out soooooo cute! Plus they are awesome to play with cause they keep breaking which means you have to keep eating them!  Xx

Vegan cheese sauce + cauliflower and broccoli gratin

Yes it's vegan! Yes it's cheesy and delicious!

I grew up having cauliflower cheese at my grandmothers every Christmas, it's just not christmas without it. The creamy cheesy sauce is just so delicious. I first made this cheese sauce for a potato bake, it works fabulously and browns on the top in the oven, it's creamy, it's cheesy, it's everything I desire!
I know people probably hear this a lot, but honestly, you feed this to someone and they will have no idea that there is no dairy in it and they will flat out refuse to believe you that it's vegan, it's just that good!
To make the cheese sauce...


First you need to make a roux, melt a tablespoon of non-dairy margarine (I use nuttelex) in a small heavy bottomed sauce pan, to this add 2 - 3 table spoons of plain flour and mix to form a soft paste. 


Cook for 1-2 minutes over a low heat stirring constantly. 


Then pour in a small amount of soy milk (about a 1/4 of a cup) and whisk the butter and flour into the milk until it's smooth and there is no lumps. 

Over a medium heat continue stirring, as the sauce beings to thicken add more milk gradually stirring it in, I generally end up using about two cups, but you'll need more or less depending on how much you want and what your using it for.


Then take 2/3 of a tub of vegan cream cheese and mix it into the sauce whisking until it has dissolved continue adding milk until the sauce has reached a desired thickness ( like mine about the consistency of custard, it should be thick but easily pourable) add salt and pepper to taste (you may need more or less depending on how sweet the cream cheese you use is).


The result is a creamy cheesy sauce that you can pour over virtually anything. Bake it or place it under a grill and it will brown and bubble on top.

Over christmas I used it to make a cauliflower and broccoli gratin, it was awesome!

because it was xmas and I had limited time I sliced up a head of broccoli and half a head of a large cauliflower into florets and then microwaved them until soft (steaming would be ideal) I then placed them in a baking dish and covered them in the cheesy sauce. I crack extra pepper over the top and then bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbly and voila! A delicious cheesy bake! This sauce is also ideal for lasagnes. There is only a picture of half of it because it was pounced on the minute it was removed from the oven and there were large spoon holes in the other end. once you try the sauce you will realise why Xx

Vegan French Fruit Toast

We've just gotten back from camping for new years and there is only sad looking food left in the house. What better time to try a recipe from one of my xmas gifts 'Vegan Brunch' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. We had a very stale loaf of fruit bread and some squidgey bananas so 'Banana rabanada' (brazilian french toast) was the answer!
Because I am unable to follow a recipe without changing it I added an extra banana and some golden syrup to my 'banana custard' mix and we used large thick slices of fruit bread. This was delicious! Thank you Isa!
I also fried some banana slices till they were just caramelised and served them on top with some cinnamon and drinking chocolate and lots of golden syrup. My non stick pan is no longer entirely non stick so I found the key to this recipe was using a heap of oil, but if you have an actual non stick pan I'm sure it'll be fine.


Heres Isa's fabulous recipe, unchanged!


2 very ripe bananas
1.5 cups non dairy milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stale baguette sliced diagonally (1 inch pieces)


Blend bananas, milk, cornstarch and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth.
Spread baguette slices in a single layer on a backing pan. pour banana mixture onto bread and flip slices to coat. let sit for 10 minutes then flip over and let soak for 10 minutes more.
Preheat a large non stick skillet over medium heat. spray with cooking spray and cook soaked bread for 5-7 minutes on one side and about three minutes on the other.When ready the toast should be golden to medium brown and flecked with darker spots...when ready to serve mix together some cocoa powder and cinnamon ad use a small sifter to sprinkle generously over each serving.

I would definitely recommend doing this recipe with fruit loaf, it was absolutely delicious and sooooooo rich. It would also be great with ice cream. Enjoy Xx