Blueberry Amazing cake!!!

Blueberries. Blueberries are amazing little fruits. One cup contains about 80 calories and zero fat. 4g fiber and 24% of your daily vitamin C needs. They are rich in vitamins C and K - and they also contain smaller amounts of various B vitamins and vitamin E. They are rich in manganese and contain some potassium too. Blueberries are quite amazing based on their strong antioxidant capacity. Beyond the rigid nutrition data facts - the power of blueberries is in their color - their phytonutrients.

Fron WHFoods.com: "Virtually all of the (blueberry) phytonutrients function both as antioxidants and as anti-inflammatory compounds in the body, and they are responsible for many of the well-documented health benefits we get from regular consumption of blueberries."

..the short story: eat more blueberries! Here is one delicious way (scroll down for recipe!)..
Blueberry Cake
vegan, makes one 9" round cake

1 1/2 cups organic white flour
*sub with other flours if desired
3/4 cup sugar, organic (why organic here)
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 Tbsp vegan butter, softened
1/2 tsp almond extract (sub with vanilla if desired)
3 Tbsp rolled oats
2 Tbsp flax seeds + 2/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup soy milk, vanilla
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
3 Tbsp orange juice + pinch orange zest (fresh squeeze room temperature oranges - or warm OJ to about room temp)
1/2 tsp salt
optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon

fold -ins:
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or almonds)

topping: blueberries +pinch rolled oats + sprinkle of almonds

note: I used about 10 ounces blueberries total - buy 2 6oz packs and eat any leftovers :)

Frosting:
1/3 cup vegan butter, softened
2/3 cup virgin coconut oil
3 cups powdered sugar
pinch salt

note: if you only use coconut oil this frosting is STILL super yummy. You could also add in or sub in some vegan cream cheese if you'd like.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, oats and optional cinnamon to a large mixing bowl. Toss a bit.

3. In a small dish, combine the water and flax seeds. Stir briskly and let sit for about 2-4 minutes.

4. Add the water/flax mixture, orange juice, applesauce, vegan butter, salt, extract and soy milk. Tip: try to make sure these ingredients are either room temperature or slightly warmed. I used room temperature oranges to fresh squeeze - and room temp applesauce. This will help your batter blend more seamlessly - and the vegan butter will stay smooth.

5. Stir your batter by hand until smooth. Fold in the blueberries and chopped nuts.

6. Pour your batter into your cake dish - grease and flour the sides before pouring.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes - or until edges begin to brown a bit. Remove from oven to cool.

8. Start your frosting about 20 minutes before you want to frost your cake. Your cake must be cooled when you frost it or the frosting will melt.

9. Add frosting ingredients to mixing bowl and blend with hand beater mixer until fluffy and smooth. Add in a splash of room temperature soy milk or coconut milk if needed to thin out the blend. Place frosting in fridge for just about five minutes before frosting. Any longer and the frosting will get too firm.

10. Frost cake and add blueberries on top. Serve with softened frosting. Store in fridge - but allow frosting to soften a bit before re-serving from fridge.

raw carrot cake with cashew cream cheese frosting

I promised carrot cake - I deliver carrot cake (in cyberspace, anyway). This is a delightful recipe that I think everyone can appreciate. We all love(d) the classic dessert version, but I'm not crazy about the processed ingredients like white sugar, refined flour, pasteurized butter and cream cheese. I decided to remake this baby with healthy whole foods! Consider it DONE. 

Most recipes ask for carrot pulp (after putting carrots through a juicer) but I just shredded a couple carrots and used them whole. This way you can keep the flavourful juices in the cake. Having said that - carrot juice is freaking delicious. Dang. Now I want carrot juice. Wait a minute - perhaps other raw carrot cake recipes ask for the pulp alone because it gives the recipe makers an excuse to drink a bunch of the juice. Clever...

This cake is a bit less dense that my other raw cake recipes because it's not 100% oats and nuts. As one might expect - it's mostly carrots. These crunchy orange characters are not only delicious, they have an abundance of health benefits! Not surprising, seeing as how they are a plant - and also not surprising, they are most nutritious and easy to digest when they are eaten in their natural form: whole and raw. These guys will give you great skin, improved vision, a clean mouth, and keep you young - in spirit and body! 

I decorated this cake with pistachios, walnuts and dried edible flowers. I recommend also sprinkling on some cinnamon and maybe coconut. I forgot to do so but I'm sure it would make it even more lovely in taste and appearance. One last thing - cashew cream cheese is dangerously delicious. If you haven't made it before - watch out. If you have made it - you know how amazing it tastes. Thank the universal mother (or whoever is running this place) for cashews! 

carrot cake with cashew cream cheese frosting, pistachios & walnuts:

Cashew frosting:
2 cups cashews, preferably soaked for a couple hours
1-2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
Water, as needed 

Cake:
2 large carrots, peeled
1 1/2 cups oat flour or buckwheat flour
1 cup dates
1 cup dried pineapple (or more dates)
1/2 cup dried coconut 
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

To make the frosting: blend all ingredients in your high speed blender until smooth, adding as little water as possible. Taste it - mmm. Put in a bowl and set aside. 

To make the cake: cut the carrots into small chunks. Then throw all the ingredients (including the carrots) in your food processor and pulse until it's all in really small pieces and sticks together. 

Assembly: Press half the cake mix into the bottom of an adjustable spring-form pan, mine was about 6 inches. Then spread on about 1/3 of the frosting. Put it in the freezer until the layer of frosting is hard. Then press on the rest of the cake mix. I let it set in the fridge overnight, then frosted the whole thing, but you can do it right away if you want. Take it out of the pan and use the remaining frosting, cover with whatever garnishes you like. Enjoy!

vanilla torte with chocolate "buttercream" frosting & maca slices

I fashioned this recipe after something called a Dobos torte. A reader asked me to make a raw version of it just as I was brainstorming what to make next... (fate or coincidence?) Whatever your beliefs, I think this turned out pretty yumtastically.
Yes, I do invent words.

Luckily most of you won't know what a Dobos torte is so I'm off the hook for not recreating it that well. It's supposed to be a vanilla sponge cake, thinly layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with hard caramel slices. I didn't make enough layers because (a) this cake doesn't need that many layers to make it filling and satisfying; I didn't want to make each slice a challenge to eat because it was too much and (b) I just didn't make enough cake or frosting. I'M NOT PERFECT, OKAY.

I chose to make maca slices on top because I couldn't think of anything to make a raw HARD caramel from. Date caramel is out-of-this-freaking-universe-delicious but it's not the right consistency for this. So maca powder blended with coconut oil, which turns solid here at room temperature (thanks, chilly Northern climates) did the trick and looks fairly decent, in my own subjective opinion. What say you?

If you'd like to use avocado instead of cashews, go ahead. I would have done that but my avocados chose to go rotten without telling me. What jerks. Just because they're sexy, beautiful and everyone loves them - they think they can do whatever they want. (Okay but actually I was just oblivious and let them go bad. Shut up.)

vanilla torte with chocolate "buttercream" & maca slices: 

Cake:

1 cup oats

1 cup buckwheat groats

1-2 cups dates

Seeds from 1 vanilla pod 

Frosting:

1 cup cashews (or 1 avocado) 

1/4 cup cacao

1/4 cup melted liquid coconut oil

1/4 cup maple syrup, date paste, or other sweetener

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

Maca slices:
2 tablespoons each of maca powder, liquid coconut oil, and maple syrup 

To make the cake: pulse the oats and groats in your food processor until they are small crumbs. Add the dates and vanilla and process until it all sticks together slightly. Put in a bowl and set aside. 

To make the frosting: if you're using an avocado just throw everything in and blend. If not, pulse the cashews in your food processor until they become very fine crumbs, basically cashew butter. Add all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Put in a fridge. 

Make the maca slices: blend the ingredients together then spread into a circle the same diameter as your cake. Let it harden in the fridge, this might take an hour or so. 

Assemble the thing: on parchment paper, press about 1/3 of the cake mixture into a thin circle layer with your hands. You can use a pan to help you shape it or draw a circle and use that to guide you. Transfer this carefully onto your presentation plate. Spread on 1/3 of the frosting evenly. Make another layer on the parchment paper and transfer it onto the first layers of cake and frosting. Continue until you run out. Cut the maca circle into eight slices and place on top of your cake. THEN EAT IT.

happy father's day

sorry in advance: i haven't posted in awhile, this isn't raw, and the pictures are bad. BUT ANYWAY...

i hope your dad enjoyed his day! mine did. it was sunny here for most of the day, some friend's visited, greg made a great breakfast, we bought a new barbeque and grilled veggies, and i made him a cake.

oh... and he got to eat meat -.- hmph! seriously though, if this was 2 years ago... the fact that my dad eating meat on father's day was a big deal and a treat for him would be pretty much unbelievable. i'm so happy we've come this far. i'm very proud of my family.

anyways - cake.

two of my dad's fave things are marzipan and chocolate (two others are beer and BMW motorcycles). so i made him a chocolate cake with marzipan and chocolate frosting. it's baked, but i used organic whole wheat flour and raw sugar. yay!

it was... very good. if you love cake - make this! :) i used a recipe that was already on the blog.

Chocolate Cake (with chocolate and marzipan frostings): makes 1 cake

2 cups cashew milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup cane sugar/brown sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract 

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup cocoa/cacao 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp (or more) each of cayenne, ginger and cinnamon powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients from first list together, and let sit for 5 minutes. Sift in other ingredients and mix until smooth. Taste it... yes. Orgasmic, probably because of the straight-up sugar. 

Pour evenly into two circular cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes, but check it yourself every few minutes after 20 minutes or so. (while they're baking, make the frostings)

When they look done, do the tooth-pick test to see if it comes out clean. Let them sit out in the pans for 10 minutes or so, and then naked on a cooling rack for like 5 minutes.

 -

Chocolate frosting:

1 cup cashew milk

1/2 cup softened Earth Balance 

2/3 cup cocoa/cacoa 

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

 -

Marzipan frosting: 

1/4 cup cashew milk

1/2 cup softened Earth Balance 

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 1/2 cups marzipan

1/2 teaspoon salt

(Make each frosting in their own bowl.) mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Refrigerate until the cakes are ready to be iced. use the marzipan in the middle of the two cakes, then frost the rest with the chocolate frosting. yahoo! 

 -

in other news - check out this thing! it's called "cleanse america". it's a 10-day raw food (or liquid if you prefer) cleanse taking place from june 20th to june 29th and there's 1,000,000 americans participating! it's really exciting to see initiatives like that this one gaining followers. i think i'll take part too, even though i live in canada. but i think this will be the perfect preparation for my 21-day water fast. i can do a mainly liquid, 100% raw cleanse for 10 days, then my fast. 

gah im so stoked!!! i know my parents aren't particularly keen on my decision to do this but it's my life and i have a good head on my shoulders (thanks in part to mom and dad!) if i start to lose too much weight or anything else seems funny, then i will stop! 

simple as that.

-

something special: dark chocolate cake

Today is my brother's girlfriend's birthday. He planned out a whole lovely evening for her, which included a decadent, healthy chocolate cake for two that he asked me to make for them.

I'm not gonna lie - I tasted it while I was making it to make sure it was good. It is SO good. You should make this... soon. I made up the recipe as I was going so I have written it here as close to what I did as possible. In any case you will end up with a double chocolate vegan cake made with love so it can't be a bad thing.

It's safe to say I won my bro some brownie points tonight... or cake points. Happy Birthday, Marcella!

Today I stayed home from school because I didn't feel well in the morning. I really don't know what's up lately. I basically never get sick since I've been vegan and yet in the past two months I've now gotten TWO colds. Hmph.

Ah well, it gave me some much needed time to get my thoughts together for a paper in my history of sexuality course. Fascinating stuff! I love history (we need to know our past in order to understand our present, and predict our future). When you think about it, sexuality is a fundamental factor in everything humans do.

What are all organisms all about? Food and sex. Respectively, they keep us alive and allow us to pass along our genes to continue the survival and evolution of our species. Pretty simple rules for a very complicated world. Ultimately, all we need to look at to understand human behaviour are the driving forces of food and sex. This is why I think my history of sexuality course is so interesting and important. Sorry... I got a little off topic. Back to mini birthday cakes. 

It's super moist and super chocolatey so be prepared for bliss. You'll have left over cake and icing.

Double Chocolate Mini Cake: serves 2

Cake:

3/4 cup vegan milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup cane sugar/brown sugar
1/2 cup veg oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract 

3/4 cup whole wheat/oat/almond flour
3/4 cup cocoa/cacao 
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 tsp cinnamon

A wee bit of honey/agave/maple syrup, if desired

Frosting:

1/4 cup tofu
1/2 cup cashew butter
1/3 cup raw powdered sugar
1/4 veg oil/vegan butter
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
Vanilla seeds from 1 pod
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup agave/honey/maple syrup
1/8-1/4 cup booze (I used maple whiskey) 

1/2 bar melted dark chocolate

1/3 cup cocoa 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the cake, mix ingredients from first list together and let sit for 5 minutes. Sift in the rest of the ingredients and stir until smooth. Taste it to make sure it's to your liking.

Pour evenly into two 9 inch cake pans lined with foil. The batter should be pretty shallow in both; that's because you're going to be making 4 layers. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

While they're baking, make the icing. Blend all the ingredients together until smooth. It should taste like the best freaking chocolate icing ever. Set aside.

When done baking, let the cakes sit out in the pans for 10 minutes. Then take them out and use a giant cookie cutter (big circle) to cut out 4 cake circles - 2 from each cake. Put the bottom layer onto something you can easily transfer it with later. Then frost each layer and finally the top and sides. Hurraw! 

I had to decorate mine with goji berries. You know me.

water fast: day 1 & cupcakes for st. pattie's!

Wow. I slept for about 15 hours. I am a sleep-o-holic anyway, but I could have easily slept more. The only reason I actually got up was to say hi to my friends who came over, and give them some of these:

They're Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Maple Whiskey Vanilla Frosting. Everyone is saying they're delicious so I advise you to make them TODAY. It is Saint Patrick's Day =)

Obviously I didn't eat any today, but I did have one yesterday and can tell you they're awesome. Super moist,  chocolaty with just a HINT of excellent beer. Guinness is a family favourite here.

I've seen this recipe a lot for St. Pattie's, but never a vegan one. So here ya go! Enjoy.

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Whiskey Frosting: makes about 20 cupcakes 


Cupcakes:
1 bottle of Guinness Extra Stout (other kinds are NOT vegan)
2 sticks vegan butter
3/4 cup cocoa 
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups raw sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tb ground flax mixed with 4 Tb water 
1/2 cup vegan yogurt (or use non-dairy milk)


Frosting:
1/2 package tofu
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup raw powdered sugar
1 cup non-dairy milk
Vanilla seeds from 1 pod
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup agave/honey/maple syrup (if desired)
1/4 cup whiskey 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift all dry ingredients together, set aside. Melt butter and beer together, then stir in the rest of the wet ingredients. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined and pour into cupcakes molds, or a cupcake pan lined with papers/vegetable oil. Bake for about 20 minutes. 


While they're baking, make the frosting: blend all ingredients together in blender until smooth and thick. I fiddled with mine a lot and so ended up with a lot extra. If your frosting is too thick - add more whiskey, non-dairy milk, or liquid sweetener. If it's too thick, add more powdered sugar, tofu or vegan butter. Keep in fridge until the cupcakes are ready to decorate. 


Pipe the frosting onto each cupcake and decorate with green sparkles for St. Pattie's! =)

Now, you probably care a lot more about Chocolate Beer Cupcakes than hearing about my water fast; but I'll talk more anyway. Today is good so far, it's the first day so nothing much happens in terms of detox. I feel a bit hungry but not uncomfortably so. I've dranken a quart of water, I'll probably drink another before I go to sleep. Actually, now that I'm typing this, I realize I'm thirsty!
-

raw fudge cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting

These are totally delicious! Everyone in my family agrees, even Greg (my big brother) who has the pickiest palate of all. If you want to make a cute, sweet and tasty dessert for a party, or for no reason at all - make these!

I'm basically saying whatever your situation: go make these. now. 

As with most raw desserts, they're mostly nuts, seeds and dates... hur-RAW!
I made them specifically to post on the blog, actually. I feel bad because lately I've just been eating tons of salad, and a bit of fruit... wonderful for me, but not that exciting for you. We all know what a banana looks like, and how amazing salad is.

So I hope you like them! I like things sweet, so feel free to take out some of the agave in the frosting. And with all raw recipes, you can pretty much do/change whatever you want and they'll still turn out great.
The recipe does make a little extra frosting... but I'm sure this won't be a problem for you =)

Raw Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla-Cashew Frosting: makes about 15-20, with extra frosting

frosting:

1 cup raw cashews

2-4 Tb agave 

Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod

1 t vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

2 Tb melted coconut oil 

Water, only if needed

cupcakes:

1 cup raw nuts (ex. walnuts, almonds, pecans, etc.)

1/2 cup dates

2 Tb agave

1 t vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

1/2 t cinnamon
4 Tb cacao 

1/4 cup coconut flakes

1/4 cup hemp seeds

To make frosting: blend raw cashews into cashew butter in a high-speed blender (Vita-Mix). Make sure to keep pushing the cashews down so they get blended and you don't burn out your motor.  It doesn't need to be super creamy, but make sure it's past the floury stage. It'll probably be really thick.

Then mix the cashew butter and all other ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Put in piping bag and set in fridge. 

To make cupcakes: Pulse nuts in food processor until very fine, add dates until they're broken down. Then add all other ingredients and pulse until it sticks together, but doesn't stick to your hand (rough dough). Use a cookie cutter to form the "dough" into shapes; I just used a circle. Pipe frosting onto the top of the cupcakes and refrigerate for a bit if you want. Then enjoy!

This is a crowd-pleaser for sure. It's fun when you get to tell people they're healthy.