Gluten free Meat cake

I think it was vegansaurus that first introduced me to meat cakes. Knowing that I was about to reach a major milestone in my life, I needed to mark the occasion with something out of the ordinary. It was to be  meat cake. I based the recipe on a fresh new stomach's thanksgiving cake. I used just over 1.5kg of tofu to make a multi-layered tofurkey cake with mashed potato icing. I made it GF too by using tamari instead of soy sauce and topped it with massel gravy just before serving.

Thanks to K for the pics and to the wonderful folks at Las Vegan for accommodating my peculiar cake eating ways so readily.

Gluten Free Choc-orange and Cashew Fudge

Long time no post. My recent return to study and a lack of blogspiration has been my undoing. I'll try to remedy that in the coming weeks.

My uni is only a short walk from Smith street so I've been checking out Las Vegan (never disappoints) and trippy tacos (trippy fries was not vegan or even vegetarian last Thursday. WTF?!) regularly and have hiked down to Soul Food (vegan breakfast good, chickpea salad puke-inducing) and FOE (too many hippy types and their cow and chicken hating ways pisses me off, particularly when I'm hungry) but won't be going to the latter two for a while.

Anyway, let's get to the business end of this post. I'm a sucker for any new vegan products that come out, like the soy condensed milk that came out last year, but am lacking when it comes to actually making something out of them. I've had a can of the condensed milk sitting around for a few months and I'd singled it out as the focus of my next big, lazy, recipe. I googled condensed milk recipes and found an easy one for fudge. Basically, microwave the contents of a can of the condensed milk with a broken up block of chocolate (I used the Lindt 70% and a few tablespoons of cacao powder) until it's all melted and then add a splash of orange extract and some chopped nuts (I used cashews). Pour into a tray and chill for a few hours. I chucked it in the freezer to speed up the process.

Not much to say about this other than it was sweet, chocolaty and fudgy.


NEW VEGAN FIND (Villa Reale: Pesto alla Trapanese)

I was at the Heidelberg Leo's a few nights ago and found a few vegan pestos. They are from Italy and pricey ($8.80 for a 180g jar). I mixed some into a bowl of rice pasta and was blown away by the taste. The ingredients are so basic that I intend to make some myself when I eventually buy my dream food processor.

GF Black Bean brownies

I'm always thinking about ways to incorporate beans into a sweet dish and stumbled upon this recipe at veganfitness.net for black bean brownies. I modified the recipe to make them GF and easier to make. Luckily Melinda's GF brownie mix is vegan. All I needed to add was margarine, which I made myself, and a tin of black beans.

I basically followed the packet instructions and used mashed black beans as a binder instead of  no-egg.
 
My margarine recipe is a blend of several I found on the net.


Vegan margarine recipe

1 part water (I used 1/4 cup)
2 parts oil (I used 1/2 cup)
Enough ground soy lecithin to emulsify the mix (About 2 tablespoons)

Blend the oil and water and add lecithin. Continue blending until it resembles a soft margarine. Add some turmeric if you want to make it yellow.

I made these for the "super duper vegan picnic" that was held last weekend and everyone who had a taste was a fan. They probably would have thought less of me if they knew how easy it was.

GF gingernut biscuit cake

A few weeks ago Craig and Bec held a potluck at their place and I re-invented the choc ripple cake to make it gluten free. This was done by substituting the choc ripple biscuits with LEDA gluten free gingernut biscuits.

The cream was made with 2 cartons of morinaga tofu, which I found in the Asian foods section of safeway/woolworths, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, caster sugar and a splash of soy milk. N.B. Make sure the blender is running while you pour in the oil.

I added the final touch by dusting it with a generous amount of cinnamon sugar.

The end result. Photo: courtesy of K from In the mood for noodles

This dish is a total winner for anyone looking for a mushy, high sugar, treat i.e. everybody.

GF Lentil Loaf

For Lisa's Christmas potluck I made the lentil loaf from CPG's, The Vegan Table, but with a GF twist. I was pretty happy with the outcome.


Ingredients

4 cups water
2 cups brown lentils
1 to 2 onions
3 garlic cloves minced
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup GF corn crumbs (orgran brand)
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
1 to 2 tablespoons tamari
1 to 2 tablespoons GF vegan worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Oil a loaf tin.

Boil and simmer lentils in 4 cups of water until soft and thick. About 1 hour.

Sautee onions and garlic in some oil until onions are soft. Set aside in bowl.

Once lentils are done, take off heat and let cool for 30 mins. Combine with onion/garlic, 1/4 cup ketchup,  corn crumbs, walnuts, parsley, thyme, tamari, Worcestershire sauce and pepper. Combine and adjust to taste.

Press into loaf tin and spread 1/2 ketchup on top. Bake for 45 mins.