Summer fruits chocolate frosted cake

I might sound strange making your own birthday cake. Maybe a little sad even!

But I just had so many ideas that didn’t bother me in the slightest. My friends and family had said they’d have given me a cake but were too nervous to know what to get! Oops sorry- I don’t tend to make things easy for them ;-)

I had so many ideas of my own, that just like last year, I made a birthday cake for myself...I even blew out my own candles (well I had to light them for the photo shoot!)  This year the cake came a day late. If you read this post you’ll understand why!  But hey, it was still part of my birthday weekend so it still counts!

It was the perfect cake to make for a day when I was off to eat lots of Thai food with friends.  I knew
I’d be stuffed full of lunch so this little treat was just right for a super light morning snack, and then also served again as dinner! Yep this beauty is super light and healthy. 

It’s not just a birthday cake....it would be perfect for any summer gathering or BBQ. Vary the fruits as you wish or according to the season.  My super speedy healthy frosting  also made for the perfect companion, and I added some cocoa to it for a chocolatey hit.

Remember to throw on some sprinkles. The world is always a better place with sprinkles!!

This time I've even given you a few step-by-step process shots! Hope it helps....

Summer fruit frosted cake

Makes 1 cake (size depends on size of melon)

Ingredients:

1 medium water melon (mine was approx 20cm round)

½ cup strawberries (or other fruits)

½ cup banana (or other fruits)

Approx 1 cup chocolate frosting*

Approx ½ cup vanilla frosting*

Handful of chocolate sprinkles*

Method:

Prepare the melon by slicing of the top and bottom (I sliced a larger chunk off the top so that I could have a small top layer), slice the skin off the sides to form a fairly neat round ‘cake’

Prepare the frosting. (see linked post and notes below) I prepared both together and then divided them and added cocoa to the larger portion.

Place the watermelon on it's final serving plate, and begin spreading the frosting over the surface with a palette knife or spoon. Dollop some of the vanilla round the edge of the top surface (or all over the top if you are not having a smaller top piece) place the strawberries and banana or other fruit around the edge and then position the top piece. Cover the top piece with the remaining vanilla frosting and decorate with the top with the remaining fruit.

Add sprinkles, such as these, or any types of sprinkles, seeds, nuts, cocoa.... as desired over the surface.

Serve immediately.  It will keep for a couple of days but always nicest eaten on the same day...so make sure you have a crowd (or like a lot watermelon!)

Frosting:
For frosting refer to this post (for more details) adding 2-3 tbs cocoa powder to one cup’s worth of mix. To make a thick frosting for spreading mix 4:1 yoghurt to coconut flour ratio plus vanilla extract and a few drops of stevia and drizzle of maple syrup (or other sweetener), you may need to increase the yoghurt quantity slightly for the chocolate version.

Sprinkles:
For sprinkles, I used a cocoa version of these sprinkles, also referred to here for the choclatey version.  Feel free to use whatever you like to add a touch of sweetness.

chocolate sprinkles!!

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Hot pear with gingerbread sauce

This was the 'accidental breakfast' I declared on my facebook page last Saturday...most worthy of its declaration, it was amazing, maybe even better than the original breakfast it was a spin off from (although that is pretty good too and will feature tomorrow!)  or maybe it was so good as it was unexpected...those moments are always the best!

So, I actually ended up having two breakfasts on Saturday...but it was around 11:30am when I ate this second one so that's pretty much lunch right?

The gingerbread sauce is the star..so good. yet so simple! Just three ingredients and depending on whether you freeze the yoghurt/banana beforehand determines whether you get a thicker frosting or cream consistency. Once blended you could also re-freeze for a short while if necessary. One sauce...two ways!  Yes the sauce does have a taste of banana, more so if your banana is very ripe (mine was quite green and still perfectly sweet enough) but the strength of the ginger does dominate and create a lovely flavour compliment.

You could use it on pretty much anything dessert like (or breakfast like) in nature. Or warm a brownie or muffins and drizzle the sauce over. I whipped up a simple 5 minute breakfast, hot pear chunks, gingerbread granola and gingerbread sauce. Don't skimp on the molasses if you can help it as this creates a lovely sweet caramelised puddle of juice at the bottom of the dish from the hot pear juice.  This really is more like dessert,  I would eat this as dessert any day of the week and still feel like i'm treating myself... i'm already planning more gingerbread sauce creations to get my fix!

Check out these recipes for inspiration to add the gingerbread sauce to. In particular this sticky jamaican ginger cake...mmmmm with at hot gingerbread custard version.




Recipe: Hot pear with gingerbread sauce

Serves 1
1 pear cut into chunks
1/2 tsp molasses
gingerbread granola as per this recipe (or any granola topping)
gingerbread sauce- see recipe below (for a single serving I used approx 1/3 the amount the recipe below makes)

sauce: serves 1-3
1 small frozen banana (approx 80g)
equal quantity of frozen yoghurt chunks
1/2 tsp ground ginger to taste(for a thicker frosting use frozen ingredients or freeze briefly before serving)

Method:

Chop the pear into fairly small chunks and add alongside a blob of molasses to a small bowl. Cook pear chunks in the microwave for 90 seconds.

Meanwhile blend the sauce ingredients together in a mini blender until well blended. 

Serve the hot pear and molasses mix topped with granola and drizzled with gingerbread sauce.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Christmas spiced butter

I originally got the idea for this recipe from a magazine I happened to be browsing through a few weeks ago, although I now have no idea where I was when I was browsing and I have no idea which magazine...sorry about that! But I can tell you this, it was such a super simple idea that basically consisted of softening some (non-vegan) butter and whipping into it some Christmas spices. 

I took this one level further by using melted coconut oil and folding in Christmas spices along with some blitzed up dried cranberries for a pretty sparkly berry effect. You could add more or less sweetener to taste depending on how sweet and indulgent you want to make it. I actually used about 1/4 coconut butter as I had a tiny bit of homemade stuff needing to be used but all coconut oil will be fine, I wouldn't recommend all coconut butter as the 'meat' content would not give such a smooth overall blend.

This would make the perfect last minute Christmas gift too, all wrapped up in a little canister with some ideas for use on a little label....imagine it melted and drizzled over pancakes, dolloped on top of a single serve sponge watching it melt over the top or even added too some oats and nuts to make a quick baked granola!

It's barely even a recipe, but of course I've added it below. Feel free to swap in your own favourite spices or add different dried fruits. I'd advise that any dried fruit is blitzed up into very small pieces or chopped very finely so that the resulting 'butter' is not too chunky to use.

Recipe: Christmas spiced butter

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 tsp each cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger

pinch allspice

1tbs coconut sugar or rapadura (agave etc may also be fine but I opted for a granulated sweetener to mix through)

1 tbs very finely chopped dried cranberries (or other dried fruit)

Method: 

Melt the coconut oil and mix through all the ingredients. Spoon/pour into a small jar and allow to set. Store at room temperature.

Note: the top photos were taken when the butter had set and these photos were taken when the coconut oil was still liquidy, hence the darker colour.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

DAY SIX: 'Suprise me Saturday' Muffins with banana frosting

‘Surprise me Saturday’ is freestyle day…breaking away from the oaty recipes for one day each week (Sunday and Monday aside) to jazz things up a bit and make sure I don’t go totally oat crazy. Plus it’s not as if I haven’t been up to anything else in the kitchen, there is a stock pile of recipes mounting up now…I just can’t help myself. Even when I tell myself ‘no baking today’ (like for example the day before I went on holiday and was in a mad rush to pack) I still can’t help myself and on said day in question snuck down to the kitchen to make a quick carrot cake baked granola…once an idea has planted I can be very impatient!

Anyway, I digress…

Banana bread muffins! Everyone loves a good banana bread. Everyone loves muffins. Everyone loves frosting.  Win Win Win…bonus it’s all super healthy! This frosting takes super luxurious and creamy but without tonnes of sugar. Wohoo! (I apologise for over use of exclamation marks- not sure why I am so excitable today)

It was recently a colleagues birthday at the architects practice where I work and when I mentioned to the guys that I’d bring in a cake for everyone (mainly so I could eat it too!) the immediate request was for my banana cake that I’d shared with them once before. So this time, using the same recipe I turned it in to muffins with a generous swirl of frosting.

Even my colleague Kasia, who claimed she never usually liked any frostings gave this one the thumbs up. Can’t do much better than that!

You’ll find my original banana bread recipe here, just reduce the baking time to account for the smaller size of the muffins. This frosting has a lovely thick consistency and would also be great as a topping or filling for any type of cake.

Recipe: healthy banana frosting

Makes approx 8-12 muffins depending on size

Ingredients

2 large or 3 small ripe bananas

1/3 cup dates

1/3 cup mild nut butter (e.g cashew)

2 tbs coconut oil- melted (not needed if frosting is not required to be extra thick)

3 tbs agave syrup

Approx. ¼ tsp stevia to taste

3 tbs fine coconut flour

½ tsp cinnamon (optional)

Method

Blend dates and bananas until very smooth, add all remaining ingredients and blend until you have a thick smooth paste.

Chill the frosting to thicken up a little for piping, or use un-chilled for a cake filling or a spreadable ganache type frosting.

What Vegan MOFO means to me.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Battenberg…with a difference

So this month’s Daring Bakers challenge is….Battenberg cake.

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

Battenburg- the classic chequered sponge cake, sandwiched together with jam and all wrapped up in a marzipan jacket!

Marzipan is a tricky one, the traditional version is full of powdered sugar and although it's generally vegan I still have difficulty in endorsing such a sugary treat here on my blog! I have been trying to suss out a sugar free marzipan for quite some time now, with some degree of success here in my Christmas Stollen and my the toppings for the super-cute Christmas puds. But when it comes to a rollable marzipan I have not yet had a breakthrough!

However this challenge allowed us to push the boundaries beyond a traditional Battenberg as long as we held true to the chequered sponge concept with a sweet covering whether it be marzipan, fondant or chocolate. So, one idea came to my mind straight away….

….the ‘world’s healthiest chocolate fudge’!

I had tried rolling the fudge dough previously to make these hearts and it worked really well, so I figured it could also work really well as the Battenberg covering.  That then just left the sponge and the flavours to choose. I opted for a plain vanilla sponge alongside a raspberry sponge (although it has taken on more of a brown tinge in the photos), that allowed me to use sugar-free raspberry jam as the sole sweetener in the raspberry sponge.  I opted to try my ‘easiest ever gluten free sponge’ recipe as the basis for this cake as i really wanted to go gluten free for this recipe.

In hindsight I wish I’d gone for a different sponge recipe, as whilst that simple sponge works well as a small super-simple mug cake, it just didn’t really do it for me as larger oven baked sponge. There was nothing drastically wrong with it, I just felt it could have been a lot more delicate with a lighter crumb. I also wish now that I’d rolled the fudge wrap a little thinner before wrapping the sponge slices.

The overall concept was a great success and the chocolate fudge coating worked a treat (particularly if I’d rolled it more finely), however after eating a slice with the sponge, I got the feeling that the sponge was not doing the cake justice. So what did I decide to do?  Peel the fudge off and reform it into fudge balls of course. Mmmm…much better!

Try this frosting…go on give it a go! It is so easy to form and model that you can cut it into rounds, bars, roll it out as an icing layer or even turn it into a soft piped healthy frosting as I did here with these cupcakes.

I will give the Battenberg another go with an alternative sponge recipe at some point soon. This fudge frosting is so versatile that I want to give it a proper chance to do my Battenberg proud!

This link takes you to the original Daring Bakers Challenge notes with  plenty of alternate recipes for battenberg to try.

Recipe: Battenberg

Makes 1 approx. 7” long cake

Ingredients: chocolate fudge frosting

½  can black beans- rinsed and drained

1 mashed banana

½ cup cocoa powder (or raw cacoa powder)

1/3 cup dates

¼ cup cranberries

2 tsp vanilla extract

½  tsp cinnamon

½ tsp stevia

½ cup ground oats

2 tbs ground flax

2 tbs chia seeds

Method

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth pliable dough is formed. The dough should be fairly tacky but not sticky and should easy to handle.

Roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment or similar for easily handling. Roll to achieve desired thickness and then, using thr parchment to assist, carefully drape across the jam coated sponge to create the finish Battenberg.

Ingredients: simple vanilla sponge

½ cup buckwheat flour (or other GF grain)

3 tbs ground almonds

½ tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup plain soy yoghurt (or regular)

2 tbs agave (for vanilla version)

2 tbs sugar free raspberry jam (for raspberry version)

Method

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl and then add wet ingredients (other than agave and jam) and mix together well.  

Divide the mixture between two bowls and then add the agave and jam to a bowl each.  Note: to achieve a deeper red/pink colour you may need to add a few drops of food colouring.

You will now have two different coloured/flavoured mixtures. Spoon each into a 7” square  baking tin divided down the centre with parchment paper and foil to prevent the batters mixing (foil helps make a more ridged central partition).

Bake in  pre-heated oven  at 180C for approx. 15 mins until very lightly golden.

Assembling the Battenerg

Cut the slices of sponge into neat squares and arrange in a larger square with each flavour on the diagonal. Paint each edge with slightly runny sugar-free raspberry jam and then firmly wrap the chocolate fudge frosting around the entire cake, ensuring an overlap to seal.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Easter Bunny’s

My Easter Bunny’s were supposed to look cute….but instead they look more like scary robo-bunny’s with crazy gnashy teeth…Oops!  Oh well, I think they still look kinda goofy cute in their own little way.

I’m getting in my Easter themed recipes in good time, organisation-love it! I have a couple more up my sleeve in coming days so keep your eyes peeled. Easter is typically a time for chocolate I know….don’t worry I have that sussed too!

It’s the principle that is the main thing here, little Easter themed cupcakes that are simple to dress up however you like with your favourite cupcake and frosting combo, or feel free to use  recipes below. I bet yours will look better than mine!  These cupcakes are made using spelt flour, but you could use a GF cupcake recipe instead. In this recipe I trialed both spelt and GF to good effect, but I cant testify this for a larger batch of cupcakes.

So back to the robo-bunny’s.

It’s all pretty simply really. Bake your cupcake in the usual way and then using a very sharp knife (to get as clean edges as possible) cut an oval out of the top of the cupcake- I say oval instead of circle so that the ears are a little longer than they are wide. Fill the ‘hole’ with frosting of your choice (mine was lemony although now I wish I’d added a drop of food colouring too), you could go crazy and go for the chocolate frosting. Once filled, press the ears in and add a couple of dried blueberries or currants for the eyes…and, er maybe avoid coconut flakes for the teeth unless you can do a better job than me!

Simple…and cute (ish)

My cupcakes were basic vanilla cupcakes with a lemony frosting. The frosting will be firmer if it is fresh from the fridge, mine was a slightly runnier than I would have liked but I think that was due to the cupcakes still being ever so slightly warm- note to self: allow cupcakes to cool fully.

I’d love to see your Easter themed successes (or disasters!) whether they be bunny’s or not, feel free to link in the comments below.

Recipe: Lemon frosting

Makes approx. ¾ cup

Ingredients:

½ cup silken tofu

1/3 cup cashew butter

5 tbs agave syrup (or part stevia)

Zest of one lemon plus ½ tsp lemon extract

(note: if you use stevia to sweeten you could use a little real lemon juice to help flavour as this will replace the liquid that the agave would have provided and still not make it too runny)

Method:

Blend everything together well and chill before use.

Recipe: vanilla cupcake

Makes approx. 12 cupcakes.

Based on this recipe

Ingredients 

200g white spelt flour

75g potato starch

1tsp flax seed mixed with 1tbs hot water

3tsp baking powder 

1tbs bicarbonate of soda

50g agave

70g granulated sugar

¼ tsp stevia

100ml melted coconut butter

50ml apple puree

50ml soy yoghurt

150ml orange juice

150ml soy milk

2tsp vanilla extract

Method

Blend all liquids in food processor and melt coconut oil separately then mix in. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl then pour into the wet ingredients and beat well to get a smooth mixture. Pour into cupcake cased and bake at 180C  for 10-15 mins. I found these needed turning round every 5 minutes to ensure an even rise.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Valentines choc-orange cupcakes

I love all the blood orange ideas that are making their way into a few recipes at the moment, the perfectly healthy and natural way of bringing a little bit of pink into your life… what a coincidence that Valentines Day is just around the corner!

So, I wanted to create a little bit of pink and chocolatey indulgence of my own. I couldn’t track down any fresh blood oranges in my part of the world so I had to make do with some fresh blood orange juice instead. All the liquid in this recipe comes from the juice, and being such a vibrant pink colour I had hoped the batter would also be a gorgeous pink shade….hmmm not so much! So at this point I have to admit that I had to supplement this with about 5 drops of red food dye.  The batter was a real rich fuchsia colour at this point, although once cooked the colour was much more subtle.

The cupcake sponge is lovely and light, based on this original recipe but substituting the liquids. I love the combination of chocolate and orange in any form. To emphasise the pink theme without having to resort to playful sugary toppings etc, I sprinkled the tops of the cupcakes and the serving plate with pomegranate seeds. Beautiful…and so much better for you than sugar!

This recipe also showcases my newest healthy chocolate frosting!

Can you guess what it contains…

…yep, more beans!

I love this recipe as it simply another step on from my black bean fudge. You can make both the fudge and the frosting in a matter of minutes without having to wash anything up in between. My perfect kind of recipe! The key is to really blend it well.

If you’re a little bit beaned out, you could use this frosting as an alternative, its also quick and simple to make!

Recipe: Valentines choc-orange cupcakes

Frosting ingredients:

200g prepared fudge mixture

80g soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)

2 tsp agave (or more to taste)

This makes enough to frost approx. 12 cupcakes.

Method:

Simple add all the ingredients to a food processor and blend until really smooth. Adjust the ‘milk’ to achieve the desired consistency.

Cupcakes ingredients:

200g white spelt flour (or GF flour mix)

75g potato starch

1tsp flax seed mixed with 1tbs hot water

3tsp baking powder 

1tbs bicarbonate of soda

50g agave syrup

70g rapadura

¼ tsp stevia

100ml melted coconut oil

50ml soy yoghurt

300ml blood orange juice (the pinker the better)

2tsp vanilla extract

5 drops natural red food colour

Method

Blend all liquids in food processor and melt coconut oil separately then mix in. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl then pour into the wet ingredients and beat well to get a smooth mixture. Pour into lined cupcake pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180C. Turn half way through to ensure an even rise. A toothpick will come away clean when cooked.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Christmas Day…done!

So how long did you spend in your jammies Christmas day morning?

This year I was actually pretty good and got dressed well before lunch…but not until I’d opened my stocking (which usually includes some underwear and socks!)

Christmas day was spent at home with my family- mum, dad, brother and sister. All the presents were piled under the tree and every year that still seems so magical to me! We spent quite a few hours in the run up to lunch giving out the gifts, interspersed with trips back and forth to the kitchen to manage proceedings.

This year I packaged my gifts in brown paper with a minimal amount of sticky tape to help the recycling process! …but I do love lots of ribbon- it’s not Christmas without lots if ribbon! Part of the gifts to my family were bottles of my homemade vanilla extract. I also decided it would be a novelty to give homemade ‘vouchers’ so they could choose they own personalised cakes from my growing list of recipes. It will be interesting to see what they choose!

We all pitched in to help with Christmas lunch.  My main task was the brussel sprouts …so…many….sprouts…to…peel! I blanched them and then pan fried them with shallots and chestnuts. 

My other self-appointed roll was as ‘dessert creator’. I wanted to provide a lighter healthy vegan alternative to go alongside the traditional Christmas pud. It needed to be something pretty fool proof and easy to put together (no dramas on Christmas day thank you!).

I decided upon a combination of many of the recipes I have posted in recent days. The ingredients list may look long but the method is actually so simple.

                                          

…light fat-free chocolate sponge (based on this recipe)

...chocolate chestnut frosting (previously mentioned here) or you could use your own favourite

…cranberry compote (based on this recipe) or any berries could be used

…all layered up to create one fruity luxurious Christmas chocolate cream sponge! 

I really love the tart berries combined with the sweetly smooth and creamy frosting, topping the light and springy sponge base.  The perfect end to a sumptuous satisfying dinner…even those who claim they ‘couldn’t eat another thing’ could squeeze in a pieces of this!

Recipe: Chocolate cream cranberry sponge

Makes one 10x15 inch pan (or a thicker sponge for a slightly smaller pan)

Ingredients

Sponge base: (this can be made a day in advance)

10 1/2 oz. firm silken tofu

1/3 cup rapadura

1/3 cup agave syrup

1 tbs vinegar

1 tbs water

1 tbs vanilla extract 

1 tbs ground flax mixed with 2tbs hot water (see egg replacer note below )

1 cup whole wheat spelt flour

¼ cup ground almonds

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½  tsp salt

1 tbs ground flax mixed with 2tbs hot water

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

Chestnut cream frosting: (Can be made in advance)

I used a two-layered approach with my  chocolate frosting smoothed directly over the sponge (I had some reserved in the freezer) and then this chestnut frosting over that.

100g silken tofu

20g agave or brown rice syrup plus ¼ tsp stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g chestnut puree (I used canned puree)

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs cocoa powder

Cranberry compote:

Approx. 4 cups fresh cranberries

3 tbs rapadura (extra if you don’t like your cranberries too tart)

1/3 cup water

1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 10x15 inch pan with baking parchment. In food processor, mix the tofu, rapadura, agave, vinegar, water, vanilla and flax mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ground almonds, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pour the blended tofu mixture into flour mixture; stir together thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth batter evenly into pan and bake  for 10-12 minutes.

Allow to cool before lifting from the pan. The sponge can be made up to a day in advance.

To prepare the frostings, blend all ingredients listed together in a food processor until a smooth consistency forms. Layer the frostings up on top of the sponge.

To make the cranberry compote, add the fresh cranberries to a small sauce pan along with the rapadura, cinnamon and water. Simmer and stir every minute or so for 10- 15 minutes until the berries have softened and formed a thick compote.

Spoon the compote on top of the frosting and serve immediately.

The dessert can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days.

P.S. I know I also promised a boxing day pasty recipe!  We made the pasties for lunch today and now I just need to get it all written up…I promise this is on its way! It maybe too late for your Christmas day leftovers but it is also the perfect recipe idea for any ‘roast’.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

‘Twelve Days’ day 11: mini choco-nog sponges

I had really enjoyed my chocolate yule log, it was so indulgent yet not at all heavy and sickly sweet (meaning I could eat a lot in one go). It was the combination of the light and airy fat-free swiss roll sponge combined with the luxurious (but healthy) chocolate frosting that made such an amazing pairing and so it got me thinking….how else could I achieve that same effect?

Frosting is the obvious answer, so this time instead of going for the obvious cupcake and frosting scenario, I decided to make another tray of swiss roll sponge but this time instead of rolling it up, I cut out circles with a cookie cutter and frosted those instead. So then you have mini chocolate sponges.  But the chocolate sponge needed something a little bit special and a little bit (ok, a lot bit) seasonal to top it. 

I’ve already given you a number of cranberry and mincemeat inspired creations (and I haven’t quite finished with the cranberries yet!) so I didn’t really want to go down the fruit route again.  This left the Christmas spiced combo up for grabs. Not that I mind…I love ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla- all warm and creamy dreamy. Mmmmm.

So egg nog anyone? Or maybe more accurately in this case, simply ‘nog’. Or even more appropriately… choco-nog mini sponges!

Ok, so now you’ll think I’m crazy…but…I have never actually tried egg nog. I’m not sure I’ve ever even come across it on the shelves (although often if you’re not looking for something you don’t realise it actually exists when its right in front of you face!)  So, here I am making what I call a ‘nog’ frosting having never actually tried egg nog before!  This may be nothing like real ‘nog’ but it’s a warm and creamy nutmeggy-vanillary frosting and to me that sounds like a noggy creation…or what I imagine one to be!

I’ve used banana in this recipe which does give a little bananary taste. If you would prefer a more neutral base to let the spices shout more loudly then feel free to reduce or omit the banana and substitute for more cashew (or other neutral) nut butter instead.

I know…I really must find some egg nog to try this Christmas, I’ve heard the vegan versions are pretty good so I just need to track some down! In the meantime whipping up a bit of this frosting with some almond milk and a dusting of nutmeg on the top may well just do the trick- I’d certainly recommend it and it's definitely the best way to clean up the remnants in your blender!

Recipe: mini choco-nog sponges

Ingredients
 

Frosting

¾  cup cashew nut butter

4 dates

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp rum extract

¼- ½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ a frozen banana (or another ¼ cup nut butter)

½ cup firm tofu (water pressed out)

3 tbs maple syrup/brown rice syrup/agave nectar

Pinch of stevia powder (approx. 1/6 tsp or to taste)

3 tbs coconut butter melted- if you want a thicker frosting (omit for a soft whippy frosting)

Makes approx. 1 ½ - 2 cups

Sponge

10 1/2 oz. firm silken tofu

1/3 cup rapadura

1/3 cup agave syrup

1 tbs vinegar

1 tbs water

1 tbs vanilla extract 

1 tbs ground flax mixed with 2tbs hot water

1 cup whole wheat spelt flour

¼ cup ground almonds

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½  tsp salt

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

 

Makes approx. 20 mini sponges (depending on their size and shape)

Method

Prepare frosting by adding all the ingredients to the food processor and blending together until smooth. If your blender is less powerful you may want to chop up the dates and soak them in a little hot water first. Once fully blended, the mixture will be thick but fairly runny. Set aside to use as a soft frosting or if you added the coconut butter for a thicker frosting, spoon into a bowl and allow to firm up in the fridge for an hour or two.

To make the mini sponges. Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Line a 10x15 inch pan with baking parchment.

In food processor, mix tofu, rapadura, agave, vinegar, water, vanilla and flax mix (see note below). In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ground almonds, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pour the blended tofu mixture into flour mixture; stir together thoroughly.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top of the batter evenly  and bake  for 10-12 minutes. 

Once the sponge is cool, lift out of the pan, place on a cutting board and using a circle (or any simple shape) cutter, cut rounds of sponge out of the slab. There will be a little wastage (or nibbles), so to avoid this you could cut the slab into squares.

Once the frosting is prepared, drizzle, spoon or pipe the nog frosting onto the individual sponges and serve immediately. The frosting and sponges can be prepared up to a day in advance and stored separately for last minute frosting.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.