Cookies & Cream Chocolate Cake

For the little vegans birthday we were baking two cakes and she got to choose one of them.  She challenged me to make a Cookies and Cream cake.  Why a challenge?  Because I am probably one of the few people in America that doesn't like sandwich cookies so I was not feeling the force.  The cake was definitely a hit at the party being devoured by kids and adults.  The directions are for how I decorated the cake but feel free to have fun.  The icing was good without the white chocolate, I just love white chocolate and use it when ever I can find an excuse.


Cake Batter
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil (I use vegetable or canola)
1 cup applesauce
1 cup almond milk (soy milk may also be used)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips melted (I melt mine with the milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease three 9" round cake pans.

In a large bowl mix flour, salt baking soda, baking powder, and egg replacer.  In a separate bowl mix sugar, oil, applesauce, milk and melted chocolate.  Slowly mix sugar mixture into flour mixture and stir until well blended.  Pour batter evenly into the three pans.  Tap bottom of pans to get air bubbles to the top.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.  Cake will pull away from side when done.  When done let sit for approximately 5 minutes or until cool enough to touch pans with bare hands.  Flip onto cooling rack. Let cool completely before putting cake together.

Do not start the filling for the layers until you are ready to decorate the cake because it will harden.  The icing may be made ahead of time.

Filling

12oz choc chips melted

1/4 cup almond milk milk
4 tbsp butter substitute
1/2 cup powder sugar

Over low heat melt chocolate with almond milk and butter substitute. once chocolate is melted slowley stir in powder sugar. Place first layer of cake on serving platter/plate.  Use 1/3 of filling covering first layer of cake. Keep filling 1/4" away from cakes edge.   Place second layer of cake on top and do the same thing. Put the last layer on top and pour remaining chocolate over the top.

Frosting
1 cup butter substitute

1 1/2 cups powder sugar

8oz cream cheese

1 cup vegan white chocolate (Optional)

1 tbsp almond milk

15 chocolate/vanilla sandwich cookies crumbled
15 chocolate/vanilla sandwich cookies whole

In mixer blend cream cheese and butter substitute until smooth.  Slowly blend in powder sugar making sure there are no clumps. Melt white chocolate with almond milk over low heat.  Mix melted white chocolate into frosting.  Stir in crumbled cookies.  Cover sides of cake and then decorate with whole cookies.

Jackfruit Taco's With An Asian Spin

After reading about jackfruit I had to give it a try and this is what I came up with.  There is more information on the recipes for the different layers just follow the links.  If you opted not to use tortillas I think the elements would be good on a hoagie similar to a Vietnamese sandwich.

8 tortillas (we used medium sized flour. If you use smaller tortillas you may need more.)
Fresh Spinach
1 batch of Bool Kogi Inspired Jackfruit
1 batch Asian Style Broccoli Slaw
1 batch Cucumber Salsa
1 jalapeno seeded and cut into thin strips

We layered ours in the order above (yes, we put the spinach on the bottom) but have fun. We also added some of the liquid from the Slaw over the top. 

Cucumber Salsa

It was taco night with an Asian flair at the DFV house so I needed a salsa to top them that fit the theme.  This is really light and tasty.  Some other ideas to use it for is on of top grilled tofu or as an appetizer with rice crackers.

1 cup peeled diced cucumber
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 diced green onion (green and white part)
1 roma tomato diced
1 (or more) diced jalapeno, seeds removed
1 tsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp Tamari
1 tsp pressed garlic
1 tsp sesame seed
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp tomato paste

Mix all ingredients together.  Chill until ready to serve.

Bool Kogi Inspired Jackfruit

Last month I watched Melisser Elliott's (from The Urban Housewife) video on Jackfruit Carnitas. Despite the fact that I have never cared for carnitas or verde sauce the idea was very appealing to me.  I spoke to friends that had eaten jackfruit and they all raved about it so it got me thinking.
A friend of mine made Asian style tacos out of Bool Kogi (Korean sesame BBQ beef) so I started reading up on Bool Kogi recipes.  I knew I had tried it long ago and liked the sweetness but couldn't remember much else about it.  One thing I didn't realize until after purchasing my jackfruit was that most recipes that use it as a meat re-placer call for the type not in syrup but in brine.  Bool kogi recipes call for sweetener whether it be sugar, apples or honey so I went ahead and used the syrup variety of jackfruit I bought.  It has a really sweet flavor similar to the level of sweetness in a sweet and sour sauce (which we liked) but you may want to try the brine type which I will definitely be experimenting with next.
On it's own it was easy to tell it was a canned fruit which tasted good but not what I was expecting. In the tacos it was delicious.  If you opt to try this with the non syrup variety substitute the syrup with maple syrup, brown sugar or apple juice.  The jackfruit really cooks down and had I known how much I was going to like it I probably would have doubled it for the amount of time it took to make.  This recipe will give you 8 tacos.
Side note: In Melissers carnitas she used a slow cooker and after making this I really wish I had one.  If you do I would recommend you trying it that way following the same steps that she used for the carnitas.

2 20 oz cans of jackfruit in syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 medium onion diced (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup diced green onion
1/4 tsp grated ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon No Beef
2 tbsp jackfruit syrup
1/4 tsp chili pepper sauce
3 tbsp Tamari
1/4 tsp ground pepper

Drain two cans of jackfruit reserving 2 tbsp of the syrup. Rinse jackfruit and set aside.  I used a non-stick pan so I sprinkled the bottom with an 1/8 tsp of salt and heated for a few minutes to make the surface non-stick.  If you are using a non-stick pan, add the salt after you have heated the oil.  Over med/low heat saute sesame seeds in sesame oil for 2 minutes.  Add the ingredients onion through garlic and cook until onions are translucent.  Stir in ingredients from Better Than Bouillon to ground pepper.  Add Jackfruit and stir into sauce.  Turn heat to low and cover.  Stir ever 20 minutes, breaking apart jackfruit.  This process took about 2 1/2 hours.  Towards the end I used a potato masher to help break it down.  Traditional Bool Kogi is served on lettuce leaves which I think would be good or try the tacos we made.

Asian Style Broccoli Slaw

A friend of mine made an Asian spin on a taco where he used broccoli slaw instead of lettuce and a spicy peanut vinaigrette over the top.  His idea inspired my Korean Sesame BBQ Sauce Jackfruit Tacos but I decided to make them with this slaw instead so that the broccoli was really immersed in the flavor of the sauce.  This is light and tasty and would stand alone as a side salad or add a protein like tofu to make it a refreshing main course salad.

1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp creamy salted peanut butter
1 tbsp miso
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup lemon juice
dash cayenne pepper powder or more to taste
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp fresh basil chopped
1/3 cup diced green onion
3/4 cup vegan mayonaise
12oz broccoli slaw (cabbage could also be used)

In a large bowl whisk together ingredients from tamari to cayenne.  I went easy on the cayenne so the little vegan would eat it but if you like a hint of heat it could use more.  Mix in cilantro, basil and green onion.  Whisk in mayo until it is a creamy consistency.  Stir in broccoli.  Let sit for at least an hour.

Off to Boston...

Mommy and the Little Vegan are off for a girls trip.  We will be back in a week to share more vegan dishes.  Maybe Felipe will be inspired while we are gone and post a new recipe. See you all soon.  Thanks for the support. On a side note, we are almost to 500 likes on Facebook and have followers on 6 of the 7 continents.  Anyone know somebody they can share us with on Antarctica?

Hash Brown Chorizo Pie

As so many of my recipes start out, I bought some vegan chorizo and wanted to something different with it.  Exploring recipes including eggs and potatoes lead me to the idea of quiche, which lead to hash brown quiche recipes which morphed into this idea. 
Now, I have to be honest.  I think I have had a quiche once about 25 years ago and found it to be absolutely disgusting but I never really cared for eggs so I thought I might like a vegan quiche, though I have no recollection of the texture or taste.  Finished product: flavor was great but I personally didn't like the texture (it was really smooth like re-fried beans.) Hubby on the other hand loved it and said it was great reheated today on the stove top.  I thought it would have been good in a burrito with salsa and vegan sour cream.  Being the potato freak that I am I loved the crust!

Hash Brown Crust
3 cups grated potatoes (about 4 small russets) or frozen hash browns
4 tbsp oil or melted vegan buttery spread
1/8 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix ingredients. In a 9" pie pan press potatoes on bottom and sides to form a crust.    Bake about 30 minutes until golden brown brown.

Filling
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
juice of one lemon
1 tbsp white miso
2 1/2 tbsp Bragg's
1/3 cup water
4 tbsp vegan buttery spread
1 shallot diced
1 large clove garlic pressed
1/2 cup dice roma tomato (1 small)
2 tbsp garbanzo bean flour
14 oz firm tofu
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
2/3 cup heavy cashew cream
12 oz soy chorizo (the one I used was gluten free)
1 jalapeno sliced lengthwise, seeds removed (optional)
vegan sour cream (optional)

Reduced oven to 375 degrees.  Mix ingredients from nutritional yeast to water.  In a small pan over low/medium heat saute shallots, garlic and tomato in 2 tbsp butter for 10 minutes.  Melt 2 more tbsp of butter in with shallot mixture.  Whisk in garbanzo bean flour.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Put heat to low and slowly whisk in nutritional yeast mix and cook for 2 more minutes.  Remove sauce from heat.
In a blender mix tofu, garlic powder, tumeric and Himalayan salt until smooth.  In a bowl mix tofu, cashew cream and chorizo.
Using 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast sauce cover hash brown crust.  Pour in chorizo filling.  Cover top with remaining nutritional yeast sauce. Arrange jalapeno on top. Bake for 35 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes and serve with a dollop of sour cream or in a burrito.