Category Archives: Food

Cardamom and Almond Cake (Vegan)

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With January almost over (yippee!), and the days becoming noticeably longer (another yippee!) I hope to have a flower or two to share very soon. But in the meantime I decided to make my Cardamom and Almond Cake again, so that I can share the recipe with you. I made it at New Year and it was so good, but not as cardamommy as I had hoped. So today I added an extra teaspoonful of this delicious spice and it was perfect!

It reminds me a little of the (non-vegan) Swedish Visiting Cake I made a few years ago, with a soft spongy texture, the contrasting crispy flaked almond topping, and of course the lovely aroma. And this one is of course vegan. 😃

So here is my recipe – my second for Veganuary 2020. Please let me know if you try it as it is my own creation!

Cardamom Almond Cake

Preheat your oven to 180° C (350°F) and grease and flour a 24 cm (9 inch) baking tin.

In a large bowl, sift together:

  • 250g (2 cups) self-raising flour
  • 50g (1/2 cup) ground almonds or almond flour
  • a pinch of baking soda
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 tbsps cornflour
  • 6 tsps ground cardamom spice

In a pan, melt:

  • 60g (half stick) vegan butter
  • with 250g (1 1/4 cups) sugar
  • and then add 60 ml (4 tbsps) vegetable oil (eg rapeseed oil)

In a dish, mix:

  • 450ml (2 cups) plain unsweetened soya yoghurt
  • a dash of lemon juice
  • 2 tbsps soya milk

In addition you need about 25g (1oz) flaked almonds.

Now pour all the wet ingredients into the sieved flour mixture and gently fold in. You should not beat or mix, only fold. And watch the bubbles appear as the chemistry does its magic! Pour into your prepared tin immediately, scatter flaked almonds on top and place in your hot oven. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. I made half this recipe (8 slices) in an 18 cm (7 inch) tin today and it only needed about 35 minutes. Do check regularly though, as the almonds may start to burn if it is in too long.

Here is the larger cake:

And here is a slice for you to try…. 😉

Enjoy!

And have a good week!

😃

Homemade Potato Soup and Life in January

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It tends to go a bit quiet here in January at Words and Herbs, with frosty days and chill winds keeping the gardener indoors. But inside it is warm and my kitchen is welcoming.

And with January also becoming known as Veganuary in the UK (and anywhere else?) I simply can‘t let the month pass without posting a recipe or two.

😃

If you haven‘t heard of Veganuary, it is basically a month of vegan eating to get the new year off to a healthy start – and to promote a vegan lifestyle. Magazines are full of ideas for new vegans or for people who simply want to try out a plant-based diet. For old vegans like me I find the magazines rather repetitive and full of time-consuming recipes using trendy ingredients that are either unavailable in our part of the world or out of season or horribly expensive!

So here is a simple and delicious recipe using ingredients you probably have in your pantry already, created at the request of my Man of Many Talents who grew potatoes for the first time last year. (They were a big success – here is one of our harvests!)

I hoped to make the soup like his Mum used to, but I believe she must have used celeriac, which I have never tried – I substitute with a parsnip. 😉 If you see soup recipes in German they usually say ‚Suppengrün‘ which is typically pieces of vegetables like this, sold in our supermarkets in bunches:

My version comes pretty close to the original though. Please let me know what you think if you try it. It has become a favourite in our house!

German Potato Soup

You will need:

  • 1 kg potatoes (any sort will do!), peeled and cut into large chunks
  • 1 leek, thinly sliced
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 parsnip, chopped
  • 1 bunch of parsley
  • 1 tsp mixed herbs (and 1tsp of marjoram if you have any)
  • 1.5 litres vegetable stock
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • A good glug of olive oil

Heat the oil in a very large saucepan and saut̩ the onions and leek until nice and soft. Add all the other vegetables and put the lid on for a few minutes. Add the stock and herbs (save the parsley for just before serving) and simmer gently until the vegetables are cooked through Рabout 20 or 25 minutes. Allow to cool a little. Now the important part!. We like whole pieces of vegetables in our soup, but with a creamy consistency too, so I take my hand blender and pulse very briefly to break down some of the larger chunks of potato.

Add the chopped parsley (and chives go well too) and stir through. Serve with crusty bread, pretzels, crisps or croûtons. 😜

Enjoy!

P.S. I usually make an extra large pot of this soup and freeze some for a rainy day. 😉

 

 

 

Lemon Drizzle Cake (Vegan)

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I couldn’t let November pass by without posting a vegan recipe or two, could I… after all, it is World Vegan Month. What, you didn’t know?!

“World Vegan Month is celebrated around the world as a time to recognise how far the vegan movement has come, to highlight how accessible and beneficial a vegan lifestyle can be and to encourage the vegan-curious to adopt veganism by sharing advice, recipes and ideas.”

The Vegan Society website.

So today I am going to share a delicious lemon drizzle cake recipe which is based on my ultimate vegan victoria sponge. (You can find the victoria sponge recipe here).

It is a light and very lemony sponge cake with a lemon syrup poured over while still warm and then a tangy lemon icing drizzled over when it has cooled. So if you fancy something sweet, but fresh and zesty too, why not treat yourself! This cake has been served to non-vegans, vegetarians and vegans alike, with everyone agreeing it is extremely lemony and very tasty!

It is also incredibly easy to make.

🙂

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease and flour a round 24cm (9 to 10 inch) springform cake tin.

For the cake mixture you will need to sieve together the following ingredients into a large mixing bowl:

  • 350g (2 and 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
  • 2tsps baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt

Next, melt the following together in a saucepan and then allow to cool:

  • 170g sugar and 1tbsp vanilla sugar (3/4 cup altogether) (or add 1tsp vanilla essence)
  • 180g (1 and 1/2 sticks and 1 tbsp) vegan butter or margarine

You will also need:

  • 1 veg egg (either 1tbsp flaxmeal mixed to a paste with 3tbsps water, or another egg replacer equivalent to one egg, both available in health food shops)
  • Zest of 2 large lemons
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 330ml (1 and 1/3 cups) unsweetened soya yoghurt (available in most supermarkets these days)

Once the butter/sugar mixture has cooled down, add it and all the other ingredients to the flour mixture and gently fold in until all the flour is incorporated. Do not beat or overmix. You should see little bubbles in the mixture as the chemistry starts to work. 😃 Pour into the cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes as ovens do vary. Insert a toothpick into the centre and if it comes out clean the cake is done – it should be golden brown on top and starting to shrink away from the sides of the cake pan.

While the cake is baking you can prepare the syrup to drizzle over it immediately after it comes out of the oven.

Lemon syrup:

In a saucepan, melt

  • 1/2 cup of lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar

As soon as you remove the cake from the oven, prick little holes all over the surface with a toothpick and pour the syrup carefully and slowly over the cake so it can absorb it all. Wait until the cake has cooled a little before removing it from the tin and place it on a cake rack to cool completely.

The final stage is the icing.

Lemon icing:

  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup icing sugar

Mix the lemon juice into the icing sugar slowly, making sure you don’t have any lumps. You can stop adding juice as soon as it reaches the right ‘drizzling’ consistency. Drizzle this over the cold cake and allow to set a little before serving.

This recipe serves 12. Simply halve the recipe and use a 16cm round tin (or a small loaf tin) for a smaller cake like this one…

We got 8 slices out of this size.

Yum!

Happy World Vegan Month!

😃

 

 

 

 

I Love 💖 Black Bean Burgers!

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Yes, they are my favourite veggie burgers ever, and I can’t believe it took me so long to try making them!

They are so full of flavour, so quick to make, and so good for you too.

Here is my recipe, which has been tried and tested several times. I have tuned it to our taste, but try adding other herbs and spices if you prefer.

Black Bean Burgers

For four burgers you will need:

  • 1 (400g/14oz) tin of black beans, drained and thoroughly rinsed
  • 1 small onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 4 tbsps oats
  • 1 tbsp ground flaxseed (the sort that is like flour) or soya flour
  • 2 tsps mixed herbs
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • dried breadcrumbs for coating
  • oil for frying

Place all ingredients except the breadcrumbs and oil into a food mixer and process to a slightly chunky paste. Form into four patties, coat in the breadcrumbs and chill for at least thirty minutes. Then heat the oil in a frying pan and fry until golden brown. Serve in buns with fries and all the trimmings (e.g. gherkins, salad, ketchup and mustard or mayonnaise). 😀

Enjoy!

In a Vase on Monday: A Peace Offering

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Only a few sprigs of this and that were peeking out of the snow this morning, but I do love joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden with a vase each week, so they made it into a little red tealight holder that a friend gave me at the weekend.

And then a few cookies were added as a peace offering, since the ingredients of the vase are far from wonderful!

Or perhaps you’d prefer a homemade mince pie?

The rosemary went into our pasta and tomato sauce for dinner, and the mint smells lovely if I touch it. 🙂 So bringing a little of the frozen garden indoors does have its benefits!

Other snippets that made it into the container were golden Euonymus, yellowy-green Vinca, Pennisetum, some Erica, the very last Scabiosa and a shy Hellebore flower that insisted on turning away every time I pointed the camera at it!

(The artistic photo bottom right is courtesy of my Man of Many Talents, and a torch! 😉  )

If you have had snow, do take care. It is slippery out there. And if you live in warmer climes, please send me some December sunshine!

World Vegan Day 2017 and a Fabulous Sponge Cake

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After a rather busy start to the week I spent Tuesday lamenting the demise of the garden after our first frost of the year. But today I am celebrating…

Why? Well, the first day of November is not normally a reason for celebration in our part of the world. In Germany, for example, it is a national holiday where people commemorate those who have died and visit their family graves. And for gardeners here November is a dreary month too, with the dreaded onset of frosty weather and the approach of winter.

And yet for me today stands out in the calendar as it is World Vegan Day! According to figures from the German Nutrition Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung)  there are now over 800,000 vegans in Germany, and research in Britain claims almost 550,000 people in the UK are vegan too. Now that is a very good excuse to celebrate so I have baked a fabulous vegan cake to share with you!

After trying so many recipes for a basic sponge cake, I was over the moon when I finally found the perfect one on the Vegan Recipe Club website, which is the recipe reservoir put together by Viva!, the British group promoting animal rights and a vegan diet.

Here is the link to the original lemony recipe: Our Favourite Sponge Cake

And here is my vanilla version…

The Best Vegan Sponge Cake Ever

For the sponge you will need:

  • 175g (1 and 1/2 sticks) vegan butter (I use ‘Alsan bio’. Find a UK or US brand here)
  • 175g (3/4 cup) sugar
  • 330g (generous 2 and 1/2 cups) SR flour
  • 2 tsps baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • A pinch of salt
  • 330ml (1and 1/3 cups) plain soya yoghurt (I use the zero sugar sort)
  • 1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp warm water)
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 vanilla beanpod

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F, grease and flour two 20cm/8 inch cake tins.

2. Melt the butter then add the sugar. Mix in well till the sugar has partially dissolved. Set aside.

3. Sieve the flour, baking powder, soda and salt into a bowl. Rub in the vanilla bean with your finger tips. Add the butter/sugar mixture, yoghurt, flax egg and vanilla essence. Gently fold in until you get a soft dropping consistency and the flour is incorporated. If it isn’t soft enough, add a splash of non-dairy milk.

4. Spoon the cake mix into the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and golden. Test by inserting a sharp knife or toothpick into the centre of each cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. If not, return to the oven for another 5-7 minutes. Let the cakes cool completely before removing them from their tins. Carefully place them upside down on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

5. For the filling, spread jam of your choice on one of the cakes. (You can also spread buttercream on the other cake – see recipe below*) Put the cakes together like a sandwich. Sprinkle a little icing sugar on the top and decorate as you like.

* For the buttercream filling: Mix 125g sieved icing sugar, 75g vegan butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and a tiny splash of non-dairy milk until creamy.

I do hope you will try this vegan recipe. If you would like more inspiration, there are others on my recipe page (see above), all vegetarian and many vegan!

Happy Baking! 😉