Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I made a pineapple upside down cake using a recipe from Vegweb.  It was super quick, it literally took under 10 minutes from starting it to putting it in the oven, but I had some issues with the baking.  I took it out of the oven after 25 minutes when it looked perfectly golden brown, but when I inverted it on a plate it was completely uncooked inside so it went back in the oven for probably about another 20 or so minutes.  When I then read through the comments on the recipe it seems like a few other people had the same issue, not sure why?

Ingredients

•     1 1/2 cups plain flour
•     1 cup sugar (I would only use half a cup next time because it is a very sweet cake)
•     1 teaspoon baking soda
•     1/2 teaspoon salt
•     1 cup pineapple juice/water (see below)
•     1/3 cup oil (I used canola oil)
•     1 tablespoon white vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
•     1 can pineapple slices in unsweetened pineapple juice
•     1/4 cup UNPACKED brown sugar (I would leave this out next time as it didn't caramelise like I   thought it would so seemed a bit unneccesary)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
• Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
• Pour juice off can of pineapple into 1 cup measuring cup--it should be about 3/4 cup juice.   Add water to make 1 cup.  In a separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar and juice.
• Place pineapple slices into the bottom of a 12 inch spring form pan.   Sprinkle with brown sugar.
• Quickly mix wet ingredients into dry, stirring quickly to combine ingredients well and get out the big lumps.  Pour into pan on top of the pineapple/brown sugar mix.
• Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
• Let cool and loosen sides of cake from pan.  Remove side ring and place serving plate on top.   Flip cake over onto serving plate and remove pan bottom.

Birthday Cake

Greg bought me a birthday cake from The Organic Food & Wine Deli for my birthday this week.  It is an orange & olive oil cake & is really dense & delicious.  The cake itself isn't super orange-y but the icing is quite citrusy.

The Organic Food & Wine Deli

28 Degraves Street

Melbourne

03 9654 5157

Gluten free sponge cake - CNYE potluck

When I was invited to Steph's place for a CNYE potluck I immediately panicked because I don't really make much in the way of Chinese food.  I decided that for my dessert I would make mango pudding.  My best friend's sister owns a Chinese restaurant & when I used to go there when I was omni she would always give me delicious mango pudding so I got her recipe & gave it a go.  The first time I made it I used gelatine free mango jelly in it & it was absolutely disgusting.  So I gave it another go using agar agar & while it was better it still wasn't super tasty. 

Then I threw a bit of a tantrum (because none of my savoury food was working either) & decided that I would just make a cake.  In a nod to CNY, I decided to include lychees so I made a sponge filled with lychees, strawberries & soyatoo.  I wanted all my food to be gluten free so everyone could eat it & found a recipe from a blog called Cooking with Dia which looked really easy & didn't have 4 different types of gluten free flour.  This recipe is super easy & turned out really well - my only problem was that it didn't make nearly enough to make 2 cakes & I actually had to make a second cake for the other layer.  

115gm vegan spread (I used nuttelex)
115gm gluten free self raising flour (I used the orgran brand)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg replacers (read back of box for instructions)
115 gm unrefined caster sugar
icing sugar

Cream the vegan spread, extract and caster sugar together.
Slowly add in the egg replacers and mix in with the vegan spread and sugar.
Meanwhile sift the flour twice and slowly fold into the mixture.
Stir together until nice and creamy.
Split the batter evenly between to 6″ sandwich tins.
Bake at 180°C (356°F) for 20 minutes.
Turn out on cooling rack.

I actually broke the top layer when I was taking it out of the tin which is why there is a massive crack in the top of the cake - oops!

Vegan Yum Yum Hurry Up Alfredo & Cupcakes

Today was quite busy in a good Sunday kind of way. I got up early & went for a walk, then went to Tom Phat for a delicious breakfast of scrambled tofu & then spent the afternoon at my mum's place. So by the time I got home I was looking for something quick to cook or dinner that would give me leftovers for lunch on Monday so decided to make this recipe from Vegan Yum Yum & added in some baby spinach. This is delicious! I have made it twice & don't know why I don't make it more often because it is crazy fast & easy & tasty. I have also used leftover sauce in a potato bake which is also a very good thing.


The best thing about visiting my mum is that I always get sent home with food. Today I got christmassy cupcakes which she made or me to take to work. I can't guarantee that they will all get to work though because they are really good!

East Coast Coffee Cake

This cake is goddamn delicious! I used the recipe from Vegan Brunch (man, I love this book) & added in fresh blueberries because I bought lots of punnets super cheap. I had massive issues with the cake batter though, it was incredibly runny - to the point that it was like pancake batter. I added in another half a cup of flour because I thought that the crumb mix would just sink straight in, it was still really runny but it worked out in the end. I think I slightly undercooked it but the cake was so good that we still quite happily ate it.

World Vegan Day

I went to my 2nd World Vegan Day on Sunday. I met some great people Steph, Danni, Tahn, Kristy & Toby & ate ice cream so all in all it was a pretty good day! I completely forgot to take photos on the day but completely agree with Phillipa's post here about the lack of lunch options. The lines were crazy long & Greg & I were turned away from Funky Pies because they had no hot pies so we ended up eating rice paper rolls & lots of deep fried food from enlightened cuisine.

But, my food highlight of the day was cake!

This is cheesecake & chocolate torte from Naked Treaties (I hate that name) by Jemma who was on Big Brother years ago. We bought 2 slices to take home & these were a bit expensive, I think $5.50 per slice but well worth it. On my plate is 1/2 a slice of each & oh my goodness they were delicious!! Especially the chocolate torte which was super rich & chocolately. Apparently they do catering so at the moment these are frontrunner for dessert at our wedding.

Greg just mentioned that his food highlight of the day was Veganpet cat food. We got a sample for our cats & Greg tried it & loved it - weirdo.