Monday, September 3, 2012

Torta de Zanahoria (Carrot Cake)

While our Tia Ida was visiting from Venezuela, she made this delicious torta (cake). We loved it so much that we insisted the she make it again and again. Enjoy!

Ingredients
4 cups of grated carrots (she will use sometimes up to 5 cups)
1/2 cup of oil (give or take)
5 eggs (she would use 3 whole eggs and 2 whites)
3 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
2 1/2 T baking powder
cinnamon and vanilla to taste
nuts (almonds) optional

Directions
Grease and flour the baking pans. 

In a blender, add the grated carrots, oil, eggs and vanilla. Blend until carrots are pasty.
In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.
Stir the flour and carrots mixtures together.

Bake at 350' for 1 hour. 

Buen provecho!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes or Bundt Cake

We topped theses cupcakes with fresh strawberries and they were delicious!

Ingredients
1-3/4 cup freshly brewed coffee
2/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1-1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbp powdered sugar (for dusting)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Lightly grease 8- or 10-inch bundt pan.

Heat coffee in sauce pan over medium heat until simmering. Turn down heat and whisk in cocoa powder until dissolved. Remove pan from heat and let return to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, and cornstarch until fully dissolved. Add extracts and chocolate mixture and stir well.

In small bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the sugar and oil and beat until the batter is relatively smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan or cupcake liners. Bake cake for 45-55 minutes; cupcakes for 15-20 minutes.

Remove pan from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes. Then invert the pan onto a serving plate and cool completely. Once cool, sift the powdered sugar over the top and enjoy!


Source: Adapted from Yoga Journal.

Almond Polenta Cake (gluten-free)

I made this recipe to take to yoga tonight to celebrate my birthday. My students loved it!

Ingredients
3/4 cup non-dairy butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp grated lime zest
1-1/4 cup gluten-free baking mix (such as Arrowhead Mills or Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 cup stone-ground polenta
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup almond milk with 1 Tbs of vinegar added

Icing/Glaze
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
lime juice (about 1 lime)
zest of 1 lime

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium-size bowl, beat the dairy-free butter and sugar until smooth.
Continue beating and add eggs, extract and zest.
In a small bowl, mix the gluten-free baking mix, polenta, salt and baking powder.
Mix butter mixture, dry ingredients, and almond milk together.

Pour into a greased 6-cup tube cake pan or cupcake liners (approx. 24 cupcakes). Note: these do not rise much, so you can fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full.

Bake cake for approximately 40-50 minutes; cupcakes for approximately 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely before icing.

Mix powdered sugar and lime juice until desired consistency. Add some of the lime zest to the icing for color. Drizzle icing across top of cake or cupcakes. Then mound the remaining lime zest in the center of each cupcake.


Source: I adapted the recipe from YogaJournal to be dairy-free and gluten-free. 


Sunday, April 8, 2012

Mango-Lime Soup

So this isn't exactly a dessert, but it's so good that I couldn't help but post it. You certainly could eat this cold soup as a dessert, or use it as a sauce for a dessert!

Ingredients
4 ripe mangoes
2 limes - juice and zest
1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water
fresh fruit, such as raspberries for garnish
fresh mint for garnish

Directions
Drain and rinse the raw cashews. Then blend the cashews with a little water in a blender, until it's the smooth consistency of heavy cream.

Peel and pit the mangoes. (Save the pits for nibbling later over the sink!)

Add the mangoes, lime juice, and 3/4 of the zest to the blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. Serve topped with zest, fresh fruit, and mint leaves. Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Cafe Pasqual's Cookbook: Spirited Recipes from Santa Fe. (Thanks, Jen, for the awesome cookbook!) If you ever get a chance to eat at this restaurant, it's delicious, but be warned that almost every recipe in the cookbook contains dairy. With all of that butter, no wonder it tastes so good!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Caramel Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

We didn't tell anyone that this is dairy-free twist on the traditional apple pie. It was a favorite at Thanksgiving with the extended family! (Shhh, it can be our little secret.)

Crust
Make a single pie crust. (See the recipe for an Easy Dairy-free Pie Crust.) Bake it according to the instructions.

Filling
5-6 apples (we used a combination of granny smith and gala apples), peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground nutmeg (to taste)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1 lime
2 Tbs flour

Crumble Topping (optional)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon (and/or nutmeg)
1/4 cup vegan butter



Dairy-Free Caramel Sauce
2-1/2 cups sugar
1 can coconut milk

Directions
Make the pie crust and while it's prebaking, make the filling.

For the filling, mix all of the ingredients together and let stand for 20 minutes. While the filling is resting, make the crumble topping and caramel sauce.

For the crumble topping, mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. (If the butter is too soft it will become creamy, not crumbly. Also, I find that mixing it with my fingers or two butter knives works best to create the large crumbs.)


For the caramel sauce, melt the sugar over medium low heat until golden color. Slowly stir in the coconut milk and let simmer for a few minutes, to let any excess liquid evaporate. It will thicken as it cools. [One person said that they wished this sauce was a little sweeter, so feel free to add extra sugar if you like, but it was plenty sweet drizzled over the pie.]



Then pour the filling into the prebaked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until the crust is golden and the apples are soft and bubbly.
Let the pie cool completely.
Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve!