Vegan MoFo Day 24 - Christmas Birthday Cake

No your eyes do not deceive you, this was a birthday cake request. It somewhat resembles a South Park character but that wasn't intentional. This was a sponge cake minus the cherries, sliced in half and filled with strawberry jam and buttercream then covered in more buttercream and decorated with fondant icing.

The Christmas and Birthday hating friend was delighted with it.

GO VEGAN!

Go MoFo!

Christmas Cake Revisited + holiday baking

So the cake has been fed copious amounts of brandy since being made. It got fed every 4 days by pouring 1 to 2 Tablespoons of brandy all over the base. It was stored wrapped in tin foil and kept in an airtight container.

This is what it looked like on Monday.

I then heated up some apricot jam and brushed the entire top and sides of the cake with the jam, rolled out some store bought marzipan and covered the top and sides and left it to sit for 24 hours.

With it's Marzipan layer

I then brushed the marzipan with cold water and covered it in rolled out store bought icing and let loose on the decorating which is by far the BEST BIT! 

All dolled up and ready to go!

Mincepies!

 Mushroom paté

So that concludes my holiday baking. I've made a seitan encroute for my Christmas dinner but I'll post a photo of that when it's all baked and in it's finery.

I wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.

Vegan MoFo IV Day 11: Having your cake but not eating it

I've made three different Crimbo cakes since going vegan and this one is the best by far.

Christmas Cake

Ingredients

350 gr wholegrain spelt flour

1 tsp mixed spice

175 gr vegan marg

50 gr flaked almonds

1 Tblsp treacle

175 gr light muscovado sugar

150 gr sultanas

100 gr dried cranberries

100 grs dried prunes

150 gr dried dates

100 gr glacé cherries, halved

grated zest of an orange

2 Tblsps ground almonds

120 ml soya milk

2 Tblsps red wine vinegar

¾ tsp of bicarbonate of soda

6 Tblsps (90ml) brandy plus more for later

Method

Preheat oven to 150˚C

Grease an 8 inch cake tin and line with a double layer of greased greaseproof

Sieve the flour and spice together and rub in the marg until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the flaked almonds and treacle then add the sugar, dried fruit, cherries, orange zest and ground almonds and mix well.

Warm half the soya milk in a small saucepan and add the vinegar.

Dissolve the bicarb in the rest of the soya milk, then add this to the milk and vinegar mix. It will all froth up and be very very exciting but instead of oohing and ahhing you want to stir it into the flour and fruit mix until well combined.

Get the family (or whoever is around) to stir the mix and make a wish. This is a very very important step and should not be missed.You can make wishes for absent friends and family too, that is not a problem.

Spoon the mix into the greased tin, smooth the top down and bake for 2 1/2 hours, until a skewer/knife comes out clean

Leave the cake in tin to cool then turn out and peel off greaseproof paper.

Prick the bottom of the cake with a cocktail stick and feed with the brandy.

Wrap cake in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight container.

Feed with more brandy 2 or 3 times a week.

I will be decorating this on the 23rd of December so be sure to check back to see it in all it's finished Christmassy glory.

Vegan MoFO Day 25: I wasn't a happy bunny but I am now

I baked my Christmas Cake yesterday and it all went horribly wrong. You're probably thinking why the hell am I baking my Christmas Cake in October and I'm all horribly wrong. Right?

Well...let me tell you - I like my Christmas Cakes like I like a cheap date - moist, fruity and pissed in no time! I ply my Christmas Cake with so much alcohol between now and the big day that you really don't want a naked flame to go anywhere near it come Yuletide!! This is my first vegan Christmas and as I will be taking this Cake all the way to England with me to show off to all the rellies, I want this Cake to ROCK!! I want it to be even more special than my old faithful Christmas Cake recipe that was passed down to me by my mother who was, in turn, given it by her mother who was given it by her mother etc etc. You get my point. This Cake has to be the freaking business! I trawled the interwebs looking for a suitable recipe when this one caught my eye. I liked it because, apart from the Fruit, it doesn't contain any sugar, it uses no Marg or Oil and it's by The Vegan Society!! So it's got to be good right??!! I also like the fact it uses Marzipan as an optional addition. Seeing as there was no sugar in the actual Cake mixture - I really really liked the thought of the Marzipan, won't it be a really nice treat when tucking into a slice - a Marzipan surprise!! So - this was my Cake of choice. Went out, bought all the ingredients (boy aren't dried Fruits and Marzipan expensive!!) and set to. I thought, when I had mixed all the ingredients together, that it seemed a little dry - but I had measured out everything and followed the recipe to a T (about the ONLY time I actually do follow a recipe) so I figured it would all be alright. Have faith in the recipe Jeni! Ha blinking Ha! I took the Cake out of the oven, went to flip it over on a plate and half of it came out whilst the other half was welded to the bottom of the tin through the medium of melted Marzipan. Man that stuff is like superglue!! So, after my initial panic and bout of swearing (I really do swear like a docker), I quickly flipped it all back into the pan and cooked it for another ten mins thinking to myself it's better to leave the Cake to go cold before trying to take it out of the tin - give the Marzipan time to harden up and solidify, ya know. So when I took it out the second time I gently scraped a knife around the edges and left the Cake to cool. I went to look at it today and guess what?

TA DAA!!!

It looks alright, it smells HEAVENLY so fingers crossed it's gonna taste just as good. It seems the Sprites were Spritely elsewhere 'cos Zoey had mischief afoot in her household too!

The Planets must have been all out of sync - though I did check my Chrondala to see if the time boded well. The Chrondala is an ancient, secret manuscript of ancient lore passed down through generations to those who are worthy of it's gift, and is highly sought after by Sages and Parsley's the world over (and can be found here for free). FREE!! I paid 2 quid for mine years ago and this little beauty has made me so happy ever since - 2 quid well spent. I swear every time I look at it I discover something I've never seen before.

If you're stuck for a gift for someone - print out the Chrondala - I can't think of anyone who wouldn't like this. I bought a cheap glass frame to keep it safe and snug and I LOVE mine.

Today's song is If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out by the FANTASTIC Cat Stevens - don't ask me what he calls himself now 'cos I will embarrass myself - he will always be Cat to me. This song is from the totally FAB film Harold and Maude - if you've never seen this film then you HAVE to!! It is in my top 5 favourite movies of all time, I love it even more than The Wizard of Oz!!

:)