Vegan Recipes for the Bake Sale for Chile!

Just a reminder that the (Vegan) Bake Sale for Chile takes place tonight! 6:30pm to 10pm, at the Radha Yoga & Eatery on 728 Main Street. Here are my two contenders for the event. It is not my first time baking vegan (previous work experience allowed me the expense of learning to substitute certain ingredients for healthier or more ethical options!).

What is vegan? Vegan is a lifestyle that, for health, religious, or ethical reasons, does not utilize or consume any animal-based, or animal-derived products. That is, no meat or use of products like eggs, dairy milk, honey, nor gelatin. The vegan lifestyle also shuns products like leather, silk, or wool, or even other textiles and products that may be be animal derived.

When I was younger, I used to order home-delivered produce through an organization called Urban Organics. It was a company based in Vancouver who would "surprise" you with a weekly delivery of fresh local produce - sadly, I cannot find them on the web. I believe they were bought out by SPUD?

Along with the weekly delivery came a newsletter with recipes and other tidbits of information, and (once) a book by Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer titled, "How It All Vegan!". It is a *really* great vegan resource, and as I worked on different projects and looked for healthy recipes, I turned to it time and time again! My favourite recipe is one that includes rice, beans, and zucchini (SO perfect for a winter night!) It is a wonderful stepping stone if you are looking to transition to veganism, as there tips for vegan substitutions for milk and eggs, and a whole section on other consumables such as beauty and pet products.

While I am not vegan, and not even vegetarian, I can appreciate vegans who make the lifestyle choices to avoid consuming any animal products. And vegans who join together to contribute to a charitable cause like relieving Chilean earthquake victims? Even better!

Here are my two contributions to the night: mini babingka cakes, and brownies.

If you've been following my twitter, you'd have seen that I'm erring on the side of using rice milk exclusively, with only skim milk for a "backup". The beauty of having rice / almond / soy / potato milk in the pantry is that it (aside from tasting yummy!) has a long shelf life. The only dairy milk substitute that I *cannot* stomache is hemp milk. Yes, I know we live in BC and I know it is probably one of the healthiest, "whole" food alternatives, but had too much of it at one time and can not drink it anymore. *shudder*

I used a combination of rice milk, coconut milk, and tofu in this babingka recipe to substitute out the butter, egg, and milk that is sometimes used in this Filipino dessert. I also utilized rice flour to make this product gluten-free; while this affects the texture of the finished product (short texture feeling), it pairs nicely with the coconut. I am pretty pleased with the results as the cakes were moist and had a nice coconut flavour.

Ingredients (makes about 24 mini cakes
1 c white rice flour
1/2 c organic cane juice solids
2 t baking powder
1 c coconut milk
1/4 c tofu (I've used original dessert tofu, although a coconut dessert tofu and a mango-peach flavoured dessert tofu were wonderful substitutions as well!)
1/4 c rice milk

Method
Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a medium bowl, sift together the white rice flour, cane juice solids, and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, mash tofu, or blend until no large chunks remain. Mix or blend in the coconut and rice milks.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and mix in the wet ingredients until just mixed. Pour into paper-lined mini muffin tin and bake 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.

You may cool and serve as is, or you may sprinkle with additional cane juice solids and broil or brulee with a blow torch until the cane sugar caramelizes.

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The brownies came out a little drier than I had hoped. Next time I'd bake it in a smaller pan for shorter amount of time, and also add some extra chocolate chips for flavour.

Ingredients
2 c all purpose flour
3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 ripe banana
2/3 c organic cane sugar
1 c rice milk
2/3 c vegetable oil
1 t vanilla

Method
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium bowl, mash banana together with the cane sugar. Beat in vanilla, rice milk, and vegetable oil.

Spread into a greased (I greased with vegetable oil) 9x3" pan (I would use an 8x8" or 9x9" pan next time!). Bake at 350ºF for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Cool and cut with a serrated knife.

This was a well-organized event with many volunteers in a great venue. Radha Yoga and Eatery serves vegan (many raw options) fare four nights a week. All baked goods were vegan and were paid for in donations. About $1500 was raised, and will be matched by a corporate sponsor!

Bella Cakes (Sapperton, New Westminster, BC)

Bella Cakes recently hit my radar as I was going to my little aunts (sai yee yee!) house for dinner and wanted to bring something. Dessert, maybe?

It ends up that there are two great bakeries in the Sapperton area of New Westminster, separated by just half a block or so. Since I was driving towards Coquitlam, I wound up picking up a cheesecake from Farm Cottage Bakery just up the street, which was great, albeit a little sweet (little yee yee asked me for the location and wanted to pick something up that weekend. :)

This time I got out of work a little early and took the long way home through New Westminster.

Surprisingly, it was actually faster than I thought! Next time there's an accident or traffic jam on the Knight Street, I'm cutting through New West and picking up some baked goods to console myself!

While I picked up a small box to sample Bella Cakes creations, I'm told that their real mastery lies in their specialty cakes. Browsing their website, it deems true. Unfortunately, it may be out of the way oftentimes, so I will have to see if I can work Bella Cakes into a special occasion or something. (Or I could be like my mother and buy birthday cakes [with bogus birthday names!] just because she wanted to have some cake! haha! Oh boy. Thunder gods are going to have my neck.)

Anyways, I ordered up a pistachio cream tart, a hazelnut cream tart, a peanut butter nanaimo bar, a pair of cookies, a cheesecake, as well as a nameless chocolate slab which I *really* wished I had taken note of.

Note well: I had high hopes for the pistachio and hazelnut cream tarts. But they were devoid of little (if any!) fragrant nut flavour. The pre-made tart shells were filled with a light buttercream, coated with a shell of chocolate, and sprinkled with some crushed respective nuts. They were, as far as I could tell, exactly the same except for the hazelnut or pistachio garnish. The cookies, while cheap, were quite average and forgettable.

On the other hand, the peanut butter nanaimo bar was delicious. Even M, who does not crave sweets, wished I had brought home another one! The peanut butter flavour was pronounced, and the smooth flavour was echoed in the texture of the PB layer. The "nanaimo" layer / crust of the bar was a nice complement, and was not too sweet - there was ample coconut and chocolate, but it did not overpower the peanut butter.




The "nameless" chocolate bar (all I can remember now is that was definitely *not* either of the brownies) pictured above was rich, decadant, and exactly what a chocolate treat should be. Should only be consumed with a tall glass of milk. :)

The cheesecake, although small in stature, was slightly denser that what I had experienced nearby at Farm Cottage Bakery. However, it was not overly sweet, so it was an appropriately portioned treat with some dark coffee.

Glad that I found the two "hidden gem" bakeries in Sapperton! I will be back for more sweet treats, and to discover more in the coming months.




Bella Cakes
459 East Columbia Street
New Westminster BC
P: 604-777-2524

Recipe: Mango Pudding!

Would you believe that we recently had not one, but TWO huge family / friend gatherings at our apartment this last while with HORDES of food and all I have for you in terms of recipes and photos is this mango pudding???!

I tell you - eating with Ms or my own family is like eating with a pack of hungry wolves. If you get to taste every dish, you could be said to be a) an extremely fast eater with asbestos lips (there have been occasions where my father has finished a bowl of soup and there is still STEAM coming off of the residual coating of soup in the bowl, or the server is still ladling soup for everyone) b) a stamina eater with lightning reflexes (perhaps a pavlovian-trained reflex), or c) you're sitting next to my dad or J (in either family. haha!)



So...the reason why these photos even exist is because this is, in fact, a "leftover" pudding from the Y familys' feast. Surprisingly, Ms family eats less than my family - even J disappointed me when he had to doggy bag the rest of his plate. Who would have thought that a seasoned athlete arriving for dinner after a long evening of volleyball would have a moderate sized appetite (vs the monstrous one I was expecting?) *shrug*.



Ingredients
2 envelopes Knox granulated gelatin
1/3 c granulated sugar
1 c boiling water
1 c cool water
~400g sweetened mango puree (about 15 oz) - I used Rellure brand of sweetened Kesar Mango Pulp, although you could experiment and find a brand or product that you prefer
1 c whipping cream
1/2 c diced fresh mango
Evaporated milk for serving

Method
In a large metal or ceramic bowl, stir gelatin and sugar together. Add boiling water and stir until dissolved.

Stir in cool water, mango puree, and cream until combined. Stir in diced mango.

Pour into small molds or a large jelly mold and refrigerate until firm.

Serve with a thin layer of evaporated milk.



I poured mine into individual molds and used teacups when I ran out - I thought it looked cute with the layer of bright yellow pudding and the thin layer of milk on top. This recipe made about 18 portions. Thank you to L for the beautiful roses and vase!