Vegan meringues

When I was at the Kent Vegan Festival a few weeks ago, I did a double take on a stall that had beautiful mini meringues packaged up perfectly.

I was so confused.

How could you possibly make meringues vegan?

I went up to the guys behind the stall and asked them pretty much the same question.

Chickpeas – the guy said.

Chickpeas?! I thought.

But here’s the thing: it’s not even the useful part of the chickpeas. It’s the part that you throw away. It’s literally the useless part of the chickpeas that gets thrown down the drain.

Amazing. I had to try it. But I don’t have a mixer in my flat, and I couldn’t face the thought of whippin’ up that chickpea waste water by hand.

So when I popped in to see my parents last weekend I took it as the ideal opportunity to take over their kitchen and make meringues.

They turned out so great! They tasted just like normal meringues, they crunched just like normal meringues, and they were damn fine with fresh strawberries, just like normal meringues.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• The water drained from a 400g can of chickpeas (otherwise known as aquafaba)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Whisk up the chickpea water until it’s turned white and forms stiff peaks (just like normal meringue – you know the drill).

Add the cream of tartar and keep whisking, then start very gradually adding the icing sugar until it forms shiny peaks, like this:

Gently stir in the vanilla and be careful not to knock out any air.

Very carefully transfer the mixture to a piping bag and pipe it out into nest shapes on your greased and lined baking tray.

Put them in in an oven at 110C for 2 hours and whatever you do, don’t open the oven while they’re cooking.

Tip: I tried to take them off the baking tray as soon as they came out of the oven (I’m too impatient) and thought that they’d stuck to it and that they were ruined. I then tried again five minutes later and they came off easily. Moral of the story: be patient.

I smothered mine in Alpro yoghurt and fresh strawberries and it was awesome.

P.S. While I was at it I made some hummus with the leftover chickpeas. I’ll post a recipe soon!

Vegan cupcake heaven

This morning I read an article about the rise of clean eating and it cited the fact that there’s been a 350% increase in the number of vegans in Britain in the past 10 years.

It almost seemed to be blaming the unhealthy fad of clean eating on the rise of veganism, and forgot to mention the other reasons that someone might convert to a plant-based diet.

It also suggested that a vegan diet was synonymous with a super healthy (but actually kind of unhealthy) diet.

I beg to differ.

And since pictures speak louder than words, I’m just going to show you a collection of vegan cupcakes I’ve made and bought over the past month. Because vegan diets don’t have to mean raw superfood diets.

Cupcakes are life.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE6LBe1oPA9/?taken-by=samanthalhopps

 

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Giant oreo cupcakes

Peanut butter chocolate giant cupcake (filled with peanut butter) – so yum!

Salted caramel and strawberries & cream cupcakes from Ms Cupcake in Brixton

Vegutopia at the Kent Vegan Festival

This weekend I went to my very first vegan festival and it. was. amazing.

There were:

• cakes
• brownies
• cupcakes
• hotdogs
• crisps
• cheeses
• *egg* mayo
• activists
• awesome T-shirts
• chilled music
• blue skies

The Kent vegan festival was in a hall in the idyllic centre of Canterbury: think cobbled streets, Tudor-style buildings and a massive cathedral.

I kind of expected an awkward village hall affair, but when we got there, a pretty big queue had already formed outside the hall (the hall was so packed they had to control how many people were going in).

Inside, it was completely rammed, but full of lovely happy people who care about animals (which is a great setting to be in), and a really lively buzz.

To top it all off, there were tastings galore. I tried cinnamon cake, kale crisps, 5 types of cashew cheese, *egg* mayo, and much more.

And here’s a little flavour of what I ate:

Hotdog with lashings of sauce including vegan mayo. Am I sorry? Not one teeny tiny bit.

Mini chocolate cheesecake with the creamiest chocolate you ever did taste

Down and dirty belly-filling cakes just like momma made

Made by Global Fusion, who also sold us this beast of a mud pie

And finally, the most gloriously adorable mini cupcakes in the world.

Chocolate and coconut

Cherry bakewell

All of the above, plus chocolate peanut (yum!)

There were a lot of cupcake stands and since I’ve recently started experimenting with making my own vegan cupcakes, I was really inspired by all of the different flavours and just wanted to bake for the rest of the weekend.

Which reminds me – I can’t believe how crazy hot and lovely this weekend was!

Sunshine, blue skies and lots of vegan food – does it get any better?

Vegan courgette cake with vegan cream cheese frosting

I remember staying with my grandma when I was a little girl, and she suggested we make a courgette cake.

At the time, I was shocked and appalled. I hated courgette, and I couldn’t understand why you’d put it in a cake anyway.

Until she pointed out that it was only as weird as a carrot cake, to which logic I had to submit.

And since then, courgette cake has probably been my favourite kind of cake (I’ve also tried parsnip cake, which is pretty damn awesome too).

I’ve made many courgette cakes myself now, all turning out perfectly, but all made with egg.

I wanted to try making my favourite cake vegan, so I combined a few different loaf cake recipes from across the internet, and decided to use banana and oil as my binding agents.

Although the recipe was delicious, it ended up taking absolutely hours in the oven, because I’d poured a massive mixture all into one tin.

I had to take it out after two hours, cut it in half, and then stick it back in the oven again.

The result: two very crispy layers, one of which ended up falling apart and having to be stuck together with frosting (not really a problem, depending on your viewpoint).

I thought it was a bit of a disaster, but when I took it into work the next day it was absolutely demolished, so I guess it turned out alright after all.

I’ve since made a few changes to how it should be cooked (in two separate tins right from the beginning) and that should help to avoid the architectural problems.

This was also my first attempt at cream cheese frosting, and it was excellent. I used tofutti cream cheese, but I’m sure any other cream cheese alternative would do just as well.

Vegan courgette cake recipe

Raspberry, cinnamon and sweet potato brownie recipe

Here it is, folks.

I made a second attempt at the sweet potato brownie and it was a fine attempt.

These brownies are gooey, smooth, bursting with sharp raspberries and smattered with lumps of dark, rich chocolate.

Plus they contain a vegetable and a fruit and therefore must count as at least two of your five a day. Don’t question it.

You can read the full recipe here.

Sweet potato, raspberry and cinnamon brownie (recipe to come)

It’s been a bit of a sugar-heavy couple of days. My friend Emma came to stay last night and during our 6-hour adventure around London we consumed the following:

• 2 vegan/gluten free cookies from Cookies and Scream at Camden Market
• 4 cocktails from The Gilbert Scott and 2 pots of smoked butter popcorn
• 4 mini cupcakes from Lola’s cupcakes (they do buy one get one free when they’re due to close for the night)
• 2 mojitos, 1 woo woo, 1 mai tai
• 3 scoops of ice cream from Gelupo on Cambridge Circus

We thought we were all sugared out, but then she made the mistake of telling me that someone had made her some sweet potato brownies and they weren’t very nice.

With 4 sweet pots about to go off in the fridge, we decided to give our own sweet potato-based confectionery a go.

Here was the result:

They weren’t at all what we were expecting, but they were pretty good all the same.

I have a couple of ideas for what could improve them, the main one being to shove in a huge handful of dark chocolate chunks.

So watch this space and I’ll update you with the new and improved recipe very soon.

In the meantime, here’s a cool picture of the mixture:

Vegan Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole is my favourite meal in the world, so I wasn’t buying the idea that batter needs eggs to be batter.

After the resounding success of making a batter that consists of only two ingredients (yes, only TWO), I’m wondering if eggs were superfluous all along.

Note: when I had a search on the web for vegan toad in the hole recipes, most of them used an egg replacer, but in my opinion egg replacers are expensive and not using them has never seemed to affect my culinary creations. My advice would be: if a recipe suggest egg replacer, just don’t bother using one and see how it turns out.

So, this recipe is really quick, really simple, and requires a total of five ingredients you probably already have around the house, plus a couple of spices (if you have them), and just salt and pepper if you don’t.

I’ve now made this three times, and the third time I made it for my omnivorous family, as I convinced them through the medium of photography and enthusiasm how amazing the recipe was. I think they enjoyed it, and my only piece of info for meat eaters reading this is: the flavours and textures are a little bit different to traditional toad in the hole, but if you go in and try it without any preconceptions, you’re definitely going to enjoy it.

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• A handful of chopped mushrooms (enough to fill the base of whatever oven tray you are using – choose the size of your tray based on the number of sausages you’re cooking)
• 1 chopped onion
• 70g Self raising flour
• 120ml Dairy free milk alternative (I’ve tried soya and almond and both have worked really well)
• 4 vegan sausages (Linda McCartney’s plain sausages are vegan – when I went into the supermarket the other day they were selling them for less than half price and I scooped about 12 packets into the trolley in one go – they are really versatile, make great sandwiches, and can be used as meatball alternatives for pasta sauces and stroganoff)
• Rosemary
• Salt & pepper

Method

Heat oven to 220 degrees, gas mark 7.

Chuck the onions, mushrooms and sausages into your baking tray, splash a good amount of oil over them and pop into the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the oil is really hot.

While it’s cooking whisk the flour and milk together just like you’re making pancake mixture. The mixture should be quite thin and runny, so if it’s a bit gloopy keep adding milk until it’s the consistency of double cream.

Add some salt and pepper and chopped rosemary if you have it (I was given a rosemary plant as a Valentine’s present – way more useful than roses and hopefully shouldn’t die as quickly) to your taste.

When you think the oil is hot enough, pull the tray out the oven, pour the batter mixture over the sausages and veg, and get it back in the oven as quickly as possible.

Cook for about 25 minutes and don’t take it out of the oven during this time or it won’t rise. Check it at this point – I’ve had some trouble with the bottom not being cooked while the top is burning, and I think this might be because my oil wasn’t hot enough. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that even when the top has burnt it’s still completely yummy, so don’t stress too much.

—

The mushrooms and onions are a really nice non-traditional touch to this meal and are like little surprises when you get to the bottom. The meal is good with gravy but also on its own with some fresh veg.

I really recommend trying this recipe out – it’s one of those satisfying vegan AND indulgent meals that people not in the know don’t realise exist.

We finished this meal off with ripe mango and Alpro vanilla yoghurt!

Vegan Chocolate Cake

You heard it here first: a dark, gooey, scrumptious heap of deliciousness that is totally, 100% vegan.

I’ve done a lot of baking, and baked a lot of chocolate cakes, and this dairy and egg free one is honestly the best one I’ve ever made. It makes me wonder why anyone bothers making chocolate cakes with dairy, but hey ho.

I’ve used this recipe twice, and both times it has turned out perfectly (that’s not bragging, I just wanted to demonstrate how easy it is to get right). It’s also so gooey and thick it’s kind of like a brownie/cake hybrid.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp white/apple cider vinegar

And for the glaze:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 tbsps butter substitute (I use an olive oil-based margarine)
• 2 tbsps soya milk – I ran out of milk so I had to use soya cream – a crying shame! 😉
• 2 tbsps cocoa powder
• 2 tsps vanilla extract

One day I’ll remember to start taking photos from the beginning of the cooking process, but for now you’ll have to put up with the lack of photographic evidence. Also, I’ve used cup measurements because we have them in the house and they’re so easy, but if you need to use grams or ml or whatevs it’s quite easy to convert this stuff on le google.

So, preheat your beloved, cake-making oven to 177C/350F and grab yerself an 8×8 inch square cake tin.

Chuck the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt straight into the tin and mix it up roughly with a fork.

Then add the water, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and vinegar. Mix it all up good and bake for 30 minutes.

Easy peasy – you don’t even have to wash up a bowl!

While it’s cooking, you can start making the glaze.

Boil the sugar, butter, milk and cocoa together on the hob. Simmer for 2 minutes, remove from the heat, and continue stirring for 5 minutes. Then stir in the vanilla extract (I normally forget this step, but I can’t honestly say my delicate taste buds have noticed).

When the cake has been in for half an hour, take it out of the oven and check it with a skewer. My cakes have usually taken an extra 10 minutes on top of the original cooking time. It’s supposed to be soggy inside but not raw.

Make sure the glaze is warm when the cake comes out of the oven for good and pour it over.

TIP: as this cake is so soggy, it helps to line the tin with grease-proof paper so you can lift it out of the tin using the paper

If you can wait, and who are you if you can (?!), leave the cake to cool. Because the glaze is so runny it normally runs to the edges as the cake is not completely flat, but once it’s cut up this isn’t really noticeable.

I’d say have it with a bit of soya cream, but to be honest that would just be a waste of damn. good. cake.

Enjoy!

 

Days 2 & 3

= what I am enjoying right now.

The pain of exams being over for another year, I can finally do what I want, which judging by today will probably involve a lot of baking and a lot of eating.

I walked in the door today, attempted to sate my hunger with an apple, only this satisfaction lasted about twenty seconds, by which time I was already on Google searching ‘VEGAN PUDDING’, aggressive capitals included. Normally after an exam I will console myself/celebrate with cake or chocolate, but neither of those being vegan, I was suffering.

So the internet gave me this recipe for bonfire biscuits, and off I popped to the supermarket to buy the ingredients. Other things I picked up while there include soya cream, quinoa and bulgur wheat, and vegan chocolate, although I think I’m right in saying that a lot of normal chocolate is vegan over something like 70 per cent cocoa content.

Yesterday I had a bit of a struggle when it came to breakfast. I was at the library really early and had forgotten to eat breakfast at home, but when I went to the cafe to find breakfasty things it seemed as though absolutely nothing was vegan. Porridge was made with milk, veggie sausages use egg as a binding agent, and after several minutes of feeling lost and confused I ended up asking for the only parts of a full English that are vegan: baked beans, hash browns, and tomatoes. I felt a bit weird asking for such a meagre selection, but I think that’s something I’ll have to get used to. Overall, my conclusion is the country really hasn’t caught up with veganism in the same way it has with vegetarianism.

I broke the “news” to my parents yesterday, with mixed reactions. It’s fair to say I’ll be doing a lot of cooking when visiting – not that I mind at all, part of the exciting thing about going vegan is being really experimental with food.

I ate a lot of pasta yesterday, and I think this might be a recurring theme.

Today I gave up on the embarrassing breakfast thing and just ordered two hash browns. Best breakfast ever.

This evening I was so excited with my newfound freedom that I wanted to experiment, so I made soy pancakes with a creamy mushroom and cherry tomato topping. Recipe here. The pancakes turned out really well, and I never knew you could get soya cream, so that was exciting.

So with the cookies I mentioned earlier, I really recommend having a go, as they were so simple to make! You literally just melt some butter and syrup, chuck in flour, sugar, oats and coconut and stick in the oven for 10 minutes. So so tasty. I meant to take photos but was too busy eating the mixture to bother.

Buenas noches!