Helix, why do I envision you blissfully squishing cake crumbs and icing through your fingers like a toddler at their birthday party? Maybe we need an SOF cake smash!
Today for lunch I made beef stroganoff. I limit beef so I made it with turkey, did not have any mushrooms so left those out. used chicken, not beef broth, did not have sour cream so used Greek Yogurt. Other than that it was beef stroganoff.
Last night we hosted my best friend, with her long list of food restrictions. (AIUI her body has given up producing the enzymes you need to digest certain foodstuffs, and the list of things she can't eat as a consequence is quite extensive.)
Mains are simple enough: steak frites, which only involves three ingredients (meat, potatoes, oil) all of which are ok. Finding dessert recipes on the other hand is complicated, once you exclude gluten, cow's milk, eggs, and certain kinds of nuts. I made this using rice flour and oat milk and was very pleased with how it turned out. It has a nice texture and I don't think I would have guessed it was GF and vegan if I hadn't known. It also doesn't involve strange ingredients that are going to clutter up my cupboard for the next three years. I also made banana icecream (chop up ripe bananas, stick them in the freezer, then blend) which as a substitute for dairy icecream is not bad.
The only downside to searching for GF vegan recipes is that Google now thinks that I'm one of those clean-eating wellness luvvies
Sounds good, I often make polenta cake for gluten-free friends but usually recipes with egg. I think if I was cooking for multiple allergies I’d probably go for chilled coconut rice pudding with grilled mango or pineapple.
You can make a decent dairy-free chocolate ice cream with vegetable oil, non-dairy milk (I used almond but I assume others would work), sugar, cocoa and a little bit of guar gum and xanthan gum.
Coconut milk and creamed coconut can be used to make good ice cream and the like, and agar powder instead of gelatine - vegan pannacotta is easy but feels special. I have found that for some reason, soya cream is much nicer than soya milk - I wouldn't use soya milk in a cup of tea but the Alpro soya cream is good pouring cream alternative that tastes reasonably close to the real thing. Also, silken tofu is genuinely great in creamy sauces, soups, creamy desserts etc - I promise it won't taste like tofu! It just provides a creamy texture and will just taste of whatever you add to it.
Serious Eats has some excellent vegan and GF recipes - their gluten free pie crust is very highly rated. I bet somewhere like the King Arthur Flour site would also have good suggestions. You can get good vegan butter alternatives nowadays - Naturli is a palm oil free one that comes as a block as well as in a tub - but deodorised/refined solid coconut oil frozen and grated works well in pastry. Food-grade cocoa butter is also a good vegan fat to use in pastry and the like for when a chocolate flavour is welcome. Solid fats like coconut oil and cocoa butter also have the bonus of being shelf-stable and last for a long time, so won't take up fridge space.
I was doing some research on cooking on wartime rations, and came across a recipe for raisin spice cake that had no eggs, butter, or milk. I was a wee bit sceptical, but it turned out to be quite delicious. Removing the dairy and eggs really didn't feel like a deprivation. I now use it as my basic, undecorated cake, while changing up the flavourings.* As I've cut back on my alcohol intake, I find that I crave sweets occasionally, so having this somewhat less caloric, vegan cake recipe in my back pocket avoids too much weight gain. I also eschew glazing or frosting the cake. All that virtue displayed, there's no getting around the fact that a small (8" diameter) cake has a cup of sugar.
*So far, I've tried the original raisin spice cake; apple spice cake; orange, fennel seed, and saffron; lemon and cardamon; pear and ginger. I await another visit from my kitchen muse, to come up with something new. I've been keeping my eye out for decent plums, but they're rock hard and expensive.
I'm assuming it uses the boiling method? That's quite common for fruity tea loaves and works really well - date and walnut is another good option, or dried figs with walnuts or almonds. Cakes using vinegar as a raising agent are also good, I think red velvet cake uses that method.
Personally I really like a fruity tea loaf or sticky/dark fruit cake with cheese, eg wensleydale or lancashire cheese.
@Cathscat@Pomona And, behold! This is my version of the recipe, as the original had 2(!) cups of raisins, and less flour. Also, it had vegetable shortening (I use oil), and no nutmeg, ginger, or allspice. I've had occasion to be out of one spice or other, and have boldly forged ahead. The result is different, but still quite good. I once misplaced my measuring spoons and estimated everything, and again, it's a forgiving recipe. Most of my measuring for these cakes is by sight, smell, and taste.
250 mL (1 cups) raisins
250 mL (1 cup) sugar
30 mL (2 Tbsp) oil
generous pinch of salt
5 mL (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
2 mL (½ tsp) ground cloves
2 mL (½ tsp) ground ginger
2mL (1/2 tsp) ground allspice
1 mL (1/4 tsp) ground nutmeg
250 mL (1 cup) water
5 mL (1 tsp) generous, baking soda
5 mL (1 tsp) vinegar
434 mL (1 3/4 cups) all purpose flour
Method:
Place raisins, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and water in a small pot and bring to a boil.
Boil for 5 minutes and then remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
Mix baking soda and flour into the raisin mixture until fully combined.
Pour into a greased and floured 8” baking pan. I use a round pan, but square is fine.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. With my oven, I check at 30 minutes. A square 8"x8" pan will cook more quickly (greater surface area + shallower batter = more rapid evaporation), probably about 30 minutes.
Variations using the basic batter...
Spice cake:
Sift flour, salt, spices, baking soda, sugar into a bowl. (I use a whisk to stir slowly to integrate the dry ingredients.)
*Optional - add 5mL (1/2 tsp) or so finely ground black pepper
In a measuring cup, add5-10mL vinegar and top up with room temperature water to 250mL.
Mix, fill prepared pan, bake. A glass of wine goes well with this. Red, white, madeira, or marsala.
Orange cake:
Zest an orange.
Juice the orange and reserve.
1 Tablespoon fennel seed, ground medium with a mortar and pestle, or in a spice grinder.
In a measuring cup, with the orange juice, top up with very warm water and 5mL vinegar to equal 250 mL. Add 1 loose teaspoon of saffron to the water and orange and let steep, about 10-15 minutes.
Sift flour, baking soda, fennel seed; then zest of one orange, stir; then sugar.
Add the liquids, stir, bake.
Apple Spice Cake:
Sift flour, salt, spices, baking soda, sugar into a bowl. (I use a whisk to stir slowly to integrate the dry ingredients.)
Coarsely grate one large, firm, tart apple. Squeeze the juice from the flesh into a measuring cup.
Top up apple juice with 5-10mL vinegar, water, to 250mL.
Toss the grated apple with a Tablespoon or 2 of flour. This helps to prevents the apple from settling through the batter to the bottom of the pan.
Toss the grated apple into the sifted mix, breaking the apple up slightly if necessary to prevent clumping.
Add liquids, stir, bake.
Pear and Ginger Cake
Sift flour, salt, spices*, baking soda, sugar into a bowl. (I use a whisk to stir slowly to integrate the dry ingredients.)
*10 mL (2 tsp) ground ginger
2.5-5 mL (1/2-1 tsp) cinnamon
2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) nutmeg
2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) allspice
2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) ground clove
pinch salt
Peel two pears. Cut into chunks (uniformity is quite unnecessary) approximate 1cm. Toss with 1-2 Tbsp flour.
Add water and 5-10mL vinegar to dry ingredients, stir until batter is smooth. Gently fold in cubed pears.
Carry on...
Lemon Cardamon Cake
Grind 20 mL (4 tsp)* cardamon seeds.
Zest two unwaxed lemons.
Juice the lemons, reserving in measuring cup.
Sift flour, salt, cardamon, sugar, baking soda, lemon zest.
Top up lemon juice with 5mL vinegar and water to 250 mL.
Add liquids, stir, etc....
*Cardamon is very much a highly personal matter. Use as little or as much as you wish. I always have the seeds and pods on hand. If you can get only the finely ground cardamon, that works just fine.
Random Notes
All of my spice amounts are approximate. Feel to drop a spice if you don't like it. Feel free to adjust amounts to your preferences. I tend to like a slightly more aggressive flavour profile, so govern yourself accordingly.
When zesting for these cakes, I tend to do half the zest finely, half coarsely, using the same grater. You get the coarser grating using longer strokes, and turning the fruit as you do the longer stroke.
I no longer buy ground cinnamon, but only cinnamon sticks. I grind normally four or five sticks at a time using an electrical spice grinder, and keeping the powder in an airtight jar. NOTE: You will get a very fine grind, but a fine sieve is a very good idea, as there will be bits of bark that adamantly refuse to be ground.
Honestly, I estimate the oil, probably 45mL. I think that I found 30 mL to dry. I've got to the point that the only things that I measure closely are the flour and water. I go by hand feel and taste.
An interesting variation on the traditional "Irish" or "Granny's" boiled fruit cake.
My go-to recipe is the eggs, butter/vegetable fat and dried fruit version and, although I do use different combinations of dried fruit, depending on what is in the cupboard, I have never tried it with fresh fruit.
I will definitely experiment with your recipe and the variations you have made.
Having, over many years baking, grown bored with the taste of cinnamon and the standard 'mixed spice', I do try all sorts of spicing. Recently I have used Chinese five spice (look for a brand without garlic), allspice, and Lebanese seven spice, and have also mixed random proportions of the various sweet spices, usually with high proportions of cardamom or nutmeg, those being my favourite flavours. And, of course, the occasional hit of chilli, just to wake up the taste buds (;
I have made vinegar cake in the past, but using the 'rubbing-in' method, not as a boiled fruit cake.
Add some alcohol to said boiled fruit cake; suggest marinate 500 g dried fruit with 250 ml whatever ( rum my personal favourite; being in Oz Bundaberg or else Aldi’s cheapest) and eschew vile shortening in favour of Aldi unsalted butter.
@Pangolin Guerre blueberries are nice combined with citrus. Blueberry and lemon polenta cake is good though I'm not sure if boiled polenta cake is a thing! The classic British tea loaf I'm familiar with soaks the fruit in tea overnight rather than boiling them - same principle but I assume done to save on fuel (unless it's very hot I wouldn't bother refrigerating the soaking fruit as long as it's covered). Before the advent of central heating British kitchens would be pretty cold at night (hence the popularity of Teasmades in winter).
Top tip for using citrus zest in cakes - rub the zest into the sugar first before any creaming or mixing step. A lot of the flavour is in the little pockets of oil in the zest and getting the flavour into the sugar makes things much more flavoursome.
A request - really in the mood for a Belgian bun, but I can only find recipes which use lemon curd. I don't remember the ones I had growing up having this, just some lemon flavouring maybe or some candied peel but no kind of creamy/jammy filling. Imo that's a new and/or Southern UK thing. Does anyone know of a good recipe without the lemon curd?
Only the first cake, Raisin Spice Cake, is the fruit exposed to heat before baking. Note that in my instructions for the apple and the pear cakes, the fruit is incorporated into the batter raw. None of the variations is in any way a 'boiled cake'.
Only the first cake, Raisin Spice Cake, is the fruit exposed to heat before baking. Note that in my instructions for the apple and the pear cakes, the fruit is incorporated into the batter raw. None of the variations is in any way a 'boiled cake'.
The method for the first fruit cake is called the boiling method, so such cakes are often referred to as boiled fruit cakes. It's a common way of making moist fruit cakes without any eggs and/or fat, especially if dates are involved.
Only the first cake, Raisin Spice Cake, is the fruit exposed to heat before baking. Note that in my instructions for the apple and the pear cakes, the fruit is incorporated into the batter raw. None of the variations is in any way a 'boiled cake'.
Soaking, with or without boiling for a few minutes first, is done to add moisture and plump-up the dried fruit. That would not be necessary for fresh or frozen fruit.
I made shrimp and grits for supper tonight, and as I stood at the stove, I could “hear” Rossweisse telling us that they’d call it hominy and shrimp in Charleston, and how it really was a breakfast dish that too many chefs from “away” had gussied up almost beyond recognition. (She was right about that.) It brought quite a smile to my face remembering our conversations on the Ship about shrimp and grits and other Southern things, and I thought again of how much our lives can be touched, even over food, by people we’ve gotten to know without ever actually meeting them in person. It is a gift.
Must give a plug for the, "Milk Street Vegetable Cook Book," by Christopher Campell.
Loving this cookbook. Worth every penny. Today we had slaw made with picked raisins, red and green cabbage, carrots, red peppers, and toasted chopped walnuts. A winner. Yesterday it was fresh mushrooms, lemon peel, lemon juice, red pepper flakes. So far I am loving everything I have cooked from this book. It truly makes the vegetables the star of the meal.
Pickling the raisins was easy. 1/2 cup of raisins covered with 2 Tab. vinegar in a small bowl. Place in microwave for about 1 minute on high. Let set until they plump up. ( I used 3 Tab as 2 did not seem enough to me. I used red wine vinegar, but type is up to you.
Okay, pickled raisins! I had been wondering because I've seen "picked raisins" referenced in various books in the past. Now I am wondering if those too were typos missing an L.
I *think* 'picked' in old recipes means 'picked over' for loose stalks, over-dried hard raisins etc from the days when raisins weren't seedless and often came with the stalk attached. Like how you pick over lentils.
I *think* 'picked' in old recipes means 'picked over' for loose stalks, over-dried hard raisins etc from the days when raisins weren't seedless and often came with the stalk attached. Like how you pick over lentils.
Wait... I'm meant to do something with lentils others than chuck them in a pan with some hot water?
I *think* 'picked' in old recipes means 'picked over' for loose stalks, over-dried hard raisins etc from the days when raisins weren't seedless and often came with the stalk attached. Like how you pick over lentils.
Wait... I'm meant to do something with lentils others than chuck them in a pan with some hot water?
It's possibly not an issue with modern supermarket lentils, but certainly all the Indian recipe sites (as in, written by Indian people) I use tell their readers to pick over the lentils to check for bits of gravel and the odd bad/weird lentil that might not soften properly. They also usually recommend soaking split lentils for dal for extra creaminess.
I once chomped down on a small pebble while sampling rice and peas at a church potluck. Unfortunately, the proud cook (our priest, sharing his best Bajan home cooking) was watching for my reaction. Fortunately, my molar stayed intact and I managed to make appreciative noises while frantically searching for a place to spit out my gravelly prize
MrsLB did Veganuary this year - well sort of, not 100% - with the intention of investigating, with the result that meals now have a non-meat and a meat option. This has had the effect of virtually halving our meat bill, and it's surprising how much money that frees up, for, example, the artichoke hearts in the paella yesterday - which is a roundabout way of saying I made paella for the first time last night.
The eldest two, who have a long-standing love affair with prawns, have cottoned on that it can be made to include these particular crustaceans so I suspect next time I make it the non-veggie version will have them.
Comments
More accurately, you live to be served carrot cake.
Would that I could.
My mother used to be an amazing cake-maker. I must get her recipe for a cake that she used to make.
And share it with us.
And hurry Lent is almost upon us.
If all goes well, I plan to be making bouillabaisse tomorrow. I still have to get some of the ingredients (including the fish, scallops and shrimp).
Mains are simple enough: steak frites, which only involves three ingredients (meat, potatoes, oil) all of which are ok. Finding dessert recipes on the other hand is complicated, once you exclude gluten, cow's milk, eggs, and certain kinds of nuts. I made this using rice flour and oat milk and was very pleased with how it turned out. It has a nice texture and I don't think I would have guessed it was GF and vegan if I hadn't known. It also doesn't involve strange ingredients that are going to clutter up my cupboard for the next three years. I also made banana icecream (chop up ripe bananas, stick them in the freezer, then blend) which as a substitute for dairy icecream is not bad.
The only downside to searching for GF vegan recipes is that Google now thinks that I'm one of those clean-eating wellness luvvies
Serious Eats has some excellent vegan and GF recipes - their gluten free pie crust is very highly rated. I bet somewhere like the King Arthur Flour site would also have good suggestions. You can get good vegan butter alternatives nowadays - Naturli is a palm oil free one that comes as a block as well as in a tub - but deodorised/refined solid coconut oil frozen and grated works well in pastry. Food-grade cocoa butter is also a good vegan fat to use in pastry and the like for when a chocolate flavour is welcome. Solid fats like coconut oil and cocoa butter also have the bonus of being shelf-stable and last for a long time, so won't take up fridge space.
*So far, I've tried the original raisin spice cake; apple spice cake; orange, fennel seed, and saffron; lemon and cardamon; pear and ginger. I await another visit from my kitchen muse, to come up with something new. I've been keeping my eye out for decent plums, but they're rock hard and expensive.
Personally I really like a fruity tea loaf or sticky/dark fruit cake with cheese, eg wensleydale or lancashire cheese.
250 mL (1 cups) raisins
250 mL (1 cup) sugar
30 mL (2 Tbsp) oil
generous pinch of salt
5 mL (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
2 mL (½ tsp) ground cloves
2 mL (½ tsp) ground ginger
2mL (1/2 tsp) ground allspice
1 mL (1/4 tsp) ground nutmeg
250 mL (1 cup) water
5 mL (1 tsp) generous, baking soda
5 mL (1 tsp) vinegar
434 mL (1 3/4 cups) all purpose flour
Method:
Place raisins, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and water in a small pot and bring to a boil.
Boil for 5 minutes and then remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
Mix baking soda and flour into the raisin mixture until fully combined.
Pour into a greased and floured 8” baking pan. I use a round pan, but square is fine.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. With my oven, I check at 30 minutes. A square 8"x8" pan will cook more quickly (greater surface area + shallower batter = more rapid evaporation), probably about 30 minutes.
Variations using the basic batter...
Spice cake:
Sift flour, salt, spices, baking soda, sugar into a bowl. (I use a whisk to stir slowly to integrate the dry ingredients.)
*Optional - add 5mL (1/2 tsp) or so finely ground black pepper
In a measuring cup, add5-10mL vinegar and top up with room temperature water to 250mL.
Mix, fill prepared pan, bake. A glass of wine goes well with this. Red, white, madeira, or marsala.
Orange cake:
Zest an orange.
Juice the orange and reserve.
1 Tablespoon fennel seed, ground medium with a mortar and pestle, or in a spice grinder.
In a measuring cup, with the orange juice, top up with very warm water and 5mL vinegar to equal 250 mL. Add 1 loose teaspoon of saffron to the water and orange and let steep, about 10-15 minutes.
Sift flour, baking soda, fennel seed; then zest of one orange, stir; then sugar.
Add the liquids, stir, bake.
Apple Spice Cake:
Sift flour, salt, spices, baking soda, sugar into a bowl. (I use a whisk to stir slowly to integrate the dry ingredients.)
Coarsely grate one large, firm, tart apple. Squeeze the juice from the flesh into a measuring cup.
Top up apple juice with 5-10mL vinegar, water, to 250mL.
Toss the grated apple with a Tablespoon or 2 of flour. This helps to prevents the apple from settling through the batter to the bottom of the pan.
Toss the grated apple into the sifted mix, breaking the apple up slightly if necessary to prevent clumping.
Add liquids, stir, bake.
Pear and Ginger Cake
Sift flour, salt, spices*, baking soda, sugar into a bowl. (I use a whisk to stir slowly to integrate the dry ingredients.)
*10 mL (2 tsp) ground ginger
2.5-5 mL (1/2-1 tsp) cinnamon
2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) nutmeg
2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) allspice
2.5 mL (1/2 tsp) ground clove
pinch salt
Peel two pears. Cut into chunks (uniformity is quite unnecessary) approximate 1cm. Toss with 1-2 Tbsp flour.
Add water and 5-10mL vinegar to dry ingredients, stir until batter is smooth. Gently fold in cubed pears.
Carry on...
Lemon Cardamon Cake
Grind 20 mL (4 tsp)* cardamon seeds.
Zest two unwaxed lemons.
Juice the lemons, reserving in measuring cup.
Sift flour, salt, cardamon, sugar, baking soda, lemon zest.
Top up lemon juice with 5mL vinegar and water to 250 mL.
Add liquids, stir, etc....
*Cardamon is very much a highly personal matter. Use as little or as much as you wish. I always have the seeds and pods on hand. If you can get only the finely ground cardamon, that works just fine.
Random Notes
All of my spice amounts are approximate. Feel to drop a spice if you don't like it. Feel free to adjust amounts to your preferences. I tend to like a slightly more aggressive flavour profile, so govern yourself accordingly.
When zesting for these cakes, I tend to do half the zest finely, half coarsely, using the same grater. You get the coarser grating using longer strokes, and turning the fruit as you do the longer stroke.
I no longer buy ground cinnamon, but only cinnamon sticks. I grind normally four or five sticks at a time using an electrical spice grinder, and keeping the powder in an airtight jar. NOTE: You will get a very fine grind, but a fine sieve is a very good idea, as there will be bits of bark that adamantly refuse to be ground.
Honestly, I estimate the oil, probably 45mL. I think that I found 30 mL to dry. I've got to the point that the only things that I measure closely are the flour and water. I go by hand feel and taste.
[Warbling like Julia] Bon appétit!
Oh, yes - sorry. Put the vinegar in the water, as Pomona says.
I also forgot to say that I'd be very interested in any variations that people come up with.
My go-to recipe is the eggs, butter/vegetable fat and dried fruit version and, although I do use different combinations of dried fruit, depending on what is in the cupboard, I have never tried it with fresh fruit.
I will definitely experiment with your recipe and the variations you have made.
Having, over many years baking, grown bored with the taste of cinnamon and the standard 'mixed spice', I do try all sorts of spicing. Recently I have used Chinese five spice (look for a brand without garlic), allspice, and Lebanese seven spice, and have also mixed random proportions of the various sweet spices, usually with high proportions of cardamom or nutmeg, those being my favourite flavours. And, of course, the occasional hit of chilli, just to wake up the taste buds (;
I have made vinegar cake in the past, but using the 'rubbing-in' method, not as a boiled fruit cake.
Top tip for using citrus zest in cakes - rub the zest into the sugar first before any creaming or mixing step. A lot of the flavour is in the little pockets of oil in the zest and getting the flavour into the sugar makes things much more flavoursome.
Only the first cake, Raisin Spice Cake, is the fruit exposed to heat before baking. Note that in my instructions for the apple and the pear cakes, the fruit is incorporated into the batter raw. None of the variations is in any way a 'boiled cake'.
The method for the first fruit cake is called the boiling method, so such cakes are often referred to as boiled fruit cakes. It's a common way of making moist fruit cakes without any eggs and/or fat, especially if dates are involved.
Loving this cookbook. Worth every penny. Today we had slaw made with picked raisins, red and green cabbage, carrots, red peppers, and toasted chopped walnuts. A winner. Yesterday it was fresh mushrooms, lemon peel, lemon juice, red pepper flakes. So far I am loving everything I have cooked from this book. It truly makes the vegetables the star of the meal.
I was wondering that. Maybe pickled raisins?
Sounds good!
Wait... I'm meant to do something with lentils others than chuck them in a pan with some hot water?
It's possibly not an issue with modern supermarket lentils, but certainly all the Indian recipe sites (as in, written by Indian people) I use tell their readers to pick over the lentils to check for bits of gravel and the odd bad/weird lentil that might not soften properly. They also usually recommend soaking split lentils for dal for extra creaminess.
The eldest two, who have a long-standing love affair with prawns, have cottoned on that it can be made to include these particular crustaceans so I suspect next time I make it the non-veggie version will have them.