Phew! Ok, I *might* squeeze this post in within the deadline for one of my fave events Vegan Ventures - guess it depends on how fast I can type! Yes, apparently, I love this event, but I haven't submitted a post for it yet. What can I say, I'm a lazy bum? :)
After the last almost-vegan posting, I did my homework well before attempting a truly vegan dessert - I actually found it harder than I'd imagined! As I poked around several dessert recipes, I found a vegan orange-almond cake recipe from an all-time favourite book - Didi Emmons' Vegetarian Planet. But surprise of surprises! Didi wasn't vegan all the way! Her recipe used a couple of kinds of honey! Wow, guess she doesn't quite meet Suganya's standards here :)
BTW, molasses rock! I'm in love with them. Truly, madly, deeply. When I was a kid, I used to have this gooey multivitamin concoction called Vidalin M - I absolutely loved the syrupy flavor of this medicine. And molasses totally reminds me of this :) So, I liberally swallowed a few spoonfuls of molasses as I baked this cake. Yum!
So, I reworked this recipe to skip the honey. I also went with whole wheat flour - this ended up in a slightly denser and more chewy cake, but it actually absorbed the citrus drizzle really well - so no complaints there. I'm glad I skipped the chocolate icing in the original recipe and went for the citrus glaze instead.
No creatures required :)
Servings - makes a whole bundt cake
1 cup almonds - lightly toasted
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup margarine spread (Earth Balance)
2/3 cup of molasses
1.5 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup (+ 1/3 cup) chocolate soy milk
2 T grated orange rind
1 t vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 350 F.
Grind the toasted almonds in a food processor to a fine powder.
In a large bowl, mix the flour along with the almond powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In a smaller bowl, mix the softened margarine along with the soy milk, molasses, vanilla extract and orange rind.
Add half of the liquid mixture to the flour and mix well.
Now add the other half and continue mixing till well blended.
If more liquid is needed, use the extra 1/3 cup of soy milk to get the mixture to blend completely.
The batter is not of a dropping consistency like most cake batters, instead it is really thick and gooey.
Pour (or rather scoop?) the batter into a greased bundt pan and bake for 40 minutes.
Cool for 15 minutes before tipping over onto a plate or cooling rack.
Citrus Drizzle
1 T margarine
1/2 cup orange juice
2 T crushed orange bits
1 T molasses
a few drops of amaretto extract
Heat all of the above in a saucepan with constant stirring until thecontents starts bubbling.
Take off the stove and pour onto the cake.
Ok, this turned out waaaaaayyy better than I expected. The cake was a little chewy courtesy of the whole wheat flour, but that was to be expected. The drizzle turned out really tasty - the orange explosion was *so* good! :) The one thing I'd definitely do differently next time around is probably use regular soy milk instead of the soy chocolate milk - it seemed like the chocolate milk overpowered the almond flavor.
Damn! Past midnight! Oh well, Suganya, you get this anyway :)
24 comments:
wow...that looks really so yummy!..
Suganya is one lucky girl to receive this cake...looks and sounds delicious :-)
Wow VERY delicious...
WOw really delicious looking cake.
Love o have a fat slice
That looks great.I love the combination of orange and chocolate.
Choco orange combo! Lovely!
What?! You liked vidalin??!! And to think I spent my childhood trying to avoid that stuff :D
The cake looks so good.
how lovely..i love the way the edges have darkened a wee bit more..and love the orange and choc combo...
Wow.. Chocolate soymilk...K, you rock. I am glad you were able to make it in time :)
The name totally had me floored, what an awesome combo..all three...looks delicious Kay:)
what a stunning cake!
Oh I just went to type and the funniest thing - a couple of my fingers had gone to sleep. Can you imagine trying to type like this? lol.
I think I might try the cake - it does look so good. I don't cook many cakes or even desserts. I really just like fresh fruit a lot. But wow, look at your photos.
Ooops, should have done a preview first. Could you edit it? Blogger has stopped allowing us to put our web site in. It is a pity. Thank you so much...
VegeYum
i've always meant to make this. when we donated that book, we photocopied tis recipe. your version is yum. have you tried maple syrup in cakes? i love it.
The cake looks awesome and I like the bit about it being chewy, not to mention healthy too! Orange and chocolate is something I've been wanting to try.
Bee,
I haven't tried maple syrup as yet - was a toss up between that and molasses last night, and molasses won. Guess the next cake will have maple syrup in it :)
Hey Vegeyum,
I wasn't able to modify the post to remove the hyperlink, sorry :( Guess I should really think about start to host my content.
very delicious...the ingreds intrigued me
Worth trying and eating. Very nice Kaykat. Viji
Cake looks delicious. *Drool* over it now.. :D
Looks sinfully good.
Hey hi there... i loved this blog of urs its amaxing.... iam gonna try this recipe of urs.. can u temme if i can use sugar instead of molasses....??
And also i have a square 8 x 8 inch baking pan....can i use that??...instead of the bundt cake pan?? plz advice...
Hey Shubha,
Sugar should totally work, try brown sugar instead of refined cane sugar, it often gives a better flavor. And yes, a rectangular baking pan should work too - you might need to reduce the baking time by a few minutes if the rectangular pan is shallower than a bundt pan. Good luck!
Thanx a lot kay.... for the help...:)
will surely get back to u with my baked cake pictures...:)
I loved vidalin, too. I looked forward to having it every day. I never connected the flavor with molasses, though. Brings back memories of the 1950's.
I also loved Vidalin as a child. I looked forward to my Mom giving it to me each day to keep me healthy. I never associated the flavor to molasses. Something to remember from the 1950's.
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