Daring Bakers Interesting Loaf

Late again!

So I've missed the release date by 4 days and they'll have probably kicked me out by now. But here is my effort at this month's Daring Bakers Challenge.

This month's challenge was set by Jamie of Life’s a Feast and Ria of Ria’s Collection and it was to bake a Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. Tricky for a vegan baker!

I would have normally just used a basic sweet bread dough recipe, but I found in the Daring Kitchen forums a post from a fellow vegan baker with their recipe for this month's challenge. The dough used tofu in it's recipe and as I'd never tried this before I thought I'd give it a go. You'll have to wait until the end to see the results...but I wasn't too keen!

This is the recipe and instructions for the tofu dough…

1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 TBS 110-115˚ water
2 c. + 3 TBS unbleached flour
1/4 c. almond meal
2 TBS cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c. non-dairy milk
1/4 c. vegan butter, melted
1/4 c. + 2 TBS silken tofu (Mori-Nu brand only)

Lightly oil a medium-sized bowl; set aside. Combine yeast and water; let sit for 15 minutes (or until foamy). In a large bowl, combine flour, almond meal, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Create a well in the center and pour in milk, butter, tofu and yeast; mix thoroughly. Once combined, knead for 2-3 minutes. Place dough in prepared bowl and cover with a damp towel; keep in a warm place for 60 minutes to rise.

*

What struck me first about this recipe was the very small amount of water that was called for to activate the yeast in. But I thought "Hey, if it worked for her I'll give it a go!"

It didn't work for me.

Mix that dough, tofu dough.

Yummy vegan ingredients ;)

For this challenge I also attempted to make a marshmallow fluff to use inside the cake. For this I got out my giant tube of VersaWhip and put to use a recipe I had found here. Yummy!

The hand whisk was out, the marshmallow was fluffing and everything was as it should be.

But my dough didn't rise.

Fluff!

My (unrisen) dough is rolled out into a rectangle ready to receive upon it yummy

vegan delights.

Marshmallow Fluff…

…chocolate chips, chopped pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla sugar!

It's then all rolled up into a delicious vegan log...

…made into a ring and snip snip snipped.

The ring was then left for an hour in the hope that it would rise again. But all the waiting was in vain, nothing rose!

So in the oven it went at 175℃ for 25 minutes, and there was no rising to be had.

A squashed snipped tyre that I found.

So in conclusion…

• the dough did not rise, not one little bit
• the marshmallow fluff was tasty pre-cooking but seemed to melt away in the oven
• the cake was compact and had a texture similar to that of a cake that had been flattened and then cooked again

(I made a jammy fruity version too which tasted a lot nicer but still had the squashed texture!)

Do try the marshmallow fluff, don't try the dough ☠

Bisous bisous xxx

Mixed Up Tart

A while back The Daring Bakers challenge was to bake a crostata. At the time I made two with different fillings but only posted one with an apple filling on my blog.

I also made a crostata with couscous cream, bananas and chocolate, this is it's story…

The pastafrolla recipe and directions are exactly the same as those for the apple crostata, but the fillings were an experiment.

I had read somewhere that if you cook couscous and make it into a creamy custard paste then the texture is very similar to the set custard that you would find in a sweet tart. And with couscous being one of my favourite foods I thought I'd give it a go.

So I set my couscous to boil. I sweetened the water slightly and dropped in some lemon rind in the hope of infusing the couscous with a sweeter, dessert appropriate taste.

The best way to get a sticky soft couscous is simply to overcook it, this will

help to make a smooth and silky 'custard'.

Next I pushed and poked and pressed the cooked couscous through a fine sieve. I did

this a couple of times to make sure that the mixture was smooth and lump free.

This sticky mess then went into a saucepan with half a carton of Oatly cream, vanilla seeds and sugar

and then slowly heated until the 'custard' reduced down and became a nice thick creamy texture.

And then into the pastfrolla cases…

Slices of fresh banana on top…

Then lots of melted chocolate and a pecan, just for the look of it!

Conclusion:

A rather strange mix of flavours since I didn't think it through and just made it up as I went along, a dangerous past time. The dark chocolate and lemon flavour in the pastafrolla and couscous didn't really blend together very well, I had hoped that the freshness of the lemon would nicely cut through the rich chocolate. This was not so, it resulted in a strange strange taste.

The couscous cream had a very good set custard texture, squishy and thick. I think that coconut cream would probably be a better substitute for the Oatly, it has a richer and fattier texture, and next time I'll leave out the lemon!

I wouldn't make a tart with the same flavour combinations again (who would?!), but I will definitely take the couscous cream idea and run with it, I think it would probably work well sandwiched between two perfect macaron shells, *sigh*.

Something I just found out, dolphins sleep by resting half of their brain at a time. This allows them to keep one eye open and surface for air! Well I never!

Bisous bisous xxx

Pug Love

I recently returned from a month in Thailand (hence the lack of posts) and firstly, I'm amazed that I haven't been kicked out of The Daring Kitchen for missing the challenges while I was away, and secondly, looking forward to me and my boyfriend getting own own place this year and filling it with rescue doggies.

I'm a fan of the smaller, baby size, can fit in a pram, cuddle in bed breeds, while my boyfriend's ideal dog would be a giant bear pretending to be a dog.

Being both vegetarian/vegan and very concerned about animal rights we decided long ago that we would never pay a breeder for a pup. Pure bred dogs are rented out (like little male escorts) for studding and both the bitch and dog are selected for certain traits that HUMANS like, but the genes that produce aesthetically pleasing little pure breed puppies, more often than not, carry mutilating, disabling conditions too. For example, the gene that creates the perfect spotting on a Dalmatian also causes deafness.

And those gorgeous snuffling little pugs that frolic in my dreams suffer from dislocating knees, collapsed nostrils, breathing problems and blindness.

So since I will never buy a dog from a breeder I am looking to rescue one and am just hoping that a little Pug called Gary will come my way.

And in the meantime, I entertain myself with Pug paraphernalia…

Vegan Pug Cupcakes

Design idea taken from Hello Cupcake and 'veganised' accordingly :)

To decorate my cupcakes I used American Betty Crocker vanilla icing which I coloured,

red Starburst for the tongues,

Sainsbury's own brand chocolate decorating beans for the eyes,

and because I didn't have anything black for the nose I used a Tic Tac and coloured it in!

The ears are made out of grease proof paper, maybe next time I can colour a Starburst brown!

'Pugs not Drugs' Hummingbird cake

I adapted a recipe from The Hummingbird cook book for this homage to Pugs.

The recipe is for a Hummingbird cake, which is now officially my favourite cake (just above carrot and banana).

The Hummingbird cake is banana and pineapple, very moist and crumbly (like a carrot cake) with a light tropical fruity flavour.

The design is based on an illustration by Gemma Correll, an amazing illustrator and fellow Pug lover :)

Pug bisous bisous xxx

Whip it

Having read so much about VersaWhip on vegan blogs and forums I decided to order some to experiment with.

It had to be shipped over from America, as they do not yet sell it outside of the USA, as is the case with so many American vegan products.

http://willpowder.net/versawhip.html

VersaWhip is not vegan by design, it is used in molecular gastronomy as a more stable replacement for egg whites, you just whip it up (with water) and it can then be added to any recipe.

There are a few vegan cooks out there at the moment who are experimenting with it, mostly trying to produce macarons, meringue, marshmallows etc. And because the VersaWhip comes without instruction or recipes of any kind, it's a case of trial and error, and sometimes complete invention!

I managed to find a basic vegan meringue recipe using the VersaWhip and decided to have a go, before I tackle my vegan daemon…macarons!

The recipe I followed was from a site recommended by a user on a Post Punk Kitchen forum, http://chocochichi.com/

Vegan Meringue Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

2 tsp Versawhip 600

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 – 2 Tbsp flavor extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 100 degrees C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof baking paper.

Pour water and VersaWhip into a large metal or glass mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until frothy, then increase speed to high. Whip until soft peaks form.

Combine xanthan gum and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Gradually beat into Versawhip until stiff peaks form. Add flavor extract and beat briefly to incorporate.

Drop meringue mix by tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheet, or pipe it on using a pastry bag with a large tip.

Bake at 100 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until completely dry and firm to the touch.

Let cool, then remove carefully from baking paper. Meringue cookies should be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature. If they begin to soften, they can be crisped again by baking at 100 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes.

Water and VersaWhip

All ingredients whipped and ready to be piped

Standing your piping bag inside a glass or cup makes it a lot easier to fill and leaves you with both hands free!

I used a sandwich bag with one of the corners cut out as a disposable piping bag.

Ready for the oven.

Out of the oven, crisp shells with a chewy centre.

I baked my meringues for around 2 hours as they did not seem to be hardening. When they were out of the oven and had cooled down they were very melt in the mouth with a chewy centre. For me the outside was not really crumbly enough, they melted too fast and were a little dusty, so maybe I had baked them for too long!

After a day or so the insides were even chewier, which I liked, but the outsides had gone soggy. I put them back in the oven for 15 minutes, the outsides crisped up leaving the insides soft, this texture was a lot closer to a non-vegan meringue.

In regards to taste they were flavoured a little too much. I think you probably only need the smallest amount of vanilla or they start to taste like marshmallow rather than meringue, though I guess this depends on your preferences!

I found the VersaWhip really easy to work with. It whips up into stiff peaks so easily and rather quickly, and even though I left them to sit for a good 20 minutes (because of a phone call) they had not collapsed back in on themselves or broken up, which is usually the case with egg whites. I'm already looking forward to tackling macarons!

I think I will keep experimenting with this basic recipe, have a go with different flavours and see how a big dessert size meringue works! Come over if you want a taste :)

Bisous bisous xxx

Not sticky enough!

Cinnamon Rolls

Today I had a go at cinnamon rolls after a craving for something sweet and sticky. I searched for the 'best cinnamon roll recipe' and after a scouring over blogs and websites found this… http://baking.about.com/od/sweetrolls/r/ultimtecinnroll.htm.

Since it proclaimed itself to be The Ultimate Cinnamon Roll I thought I'd have a go veganising it!

Altogether there is 2 1/2 hours waiting around for dough to rise but the resulting roll is worth it. It was not quite as sticky or cinnamon flavoured as I had hoped but I think the lesson there is to be very generous with the sugar and cinnamon when spreading the filling. I probably used about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoon of golden caster sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon for each half of the dough. I would suggest using more cinnamon (if you like it) and possibly making a syrup to pour over the rolls before they go in the oven or when they come out to make them good and sticky!

I preferred the rolls without the icing as I don't really like the taste of vegan 'butter', and they are delicious heated up with custard or with a scoop of Swedish Glace (vegan) ice cream.

So here they are, some iced, some not...

And here is the veganised recipe, the measurements are in cups (which are easy enough to get hold of from any good kitchen shop)…

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast

• 1/4 cup warm water

• 1/2 cup Trex vegetable fat (or similar)

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup oat milk (or preferred vegan milk)

• egg replacer for 1 egg

• 4 cups sifted flour

• 2-3 tablespoons melted butter

• brown sugar

• cinnamon

• raisins (optional)

Vanilla Frosting

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• oat milk or cream (2 to 4 tablespoons)

Method:

Add the warm water to the yeast, stir well and leave for 10 minutes.

Heat the milk and pour over the Trex. Add the sugar and salt, mix well until all dissolved and allow to cool until tepid. Add the dissolved yeast and egg replacer (depending on replacer’s instructions. I use Allergycare Egg Replacer, which has to be combined with the flour, so at this point I just add the amount of water called for on the egg replacer instructions).

Add the flour (mixed with egg replacer, depending on brand) one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. This should form a soft, but not sticky dough. Knead well for 5 minutes on a floured surface until elastic and smooth. Avoid adding too much flour, as this will make the dough too dry. Place the dough into a well-oiled bowl, cover loosely with cling film or a tea towel and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Turn out the risen dough onto a floured surface and flatten the dough using your knuckles or fingertips. Split the dough into two and roll one half of the dough out into a rectangle, around 1cm thick.

Cover with half the melted butter and layer with a generous thick layer of brown sugar. Sprinkle on cinnamon to desired taste. If you like raisins layer some on.

Roll up the dough so you have a long Swiss Roll type sausage shape. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Cut off slices about 1 to 1-1/2 inches thick. Place slices in an 8 or 9 inch round greased cake pan. You will probably need a couple of pans. Place one slice in the middle and other slices around it. Press the rolls down to even out and fill the pan.

Cover and let rise again until rolls fill the pan generously, about 1 hour.

Bake in a 175 °c preheated oven for about 15 - 20 minutes. (I needed to bake mine for 30 minutes and they were just right, so I’d suggest to check them after 15 minutes and then adjust the time accordingly).

Remove immediately from pan by inverting onto a plate and then tip over onto another plate to right the rolls.

For the Frosting:

In a medium bowl, place the sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Then stir in enough oat milk or cream to reach a thick, hardly-able to stir consistency.

Spread over warm rolls as soon as they are placed on a plate to let the frosting melt and run into the rolls.

I separated my rolls before icing them, but I would suggest leaving them stuck together and then just breaking one off when wanted, this should help to keep the insides fresh.

Have a go :)

Bisous Bisous xxx