Tag Archives: chocolate

Bunny Cake

30 Saturday Mar 2013

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A fun last minute idea for Easter. And for people who like bunnies. Or Alice in Wonderland. Or both (me, me, me! ).

Bunny Cake

Actually, it’s really rather a very simple idea. I used my to-go Chocolate Cake recipe with this, cause it never fails and it’s been tested at so many birthday parties… But you could use your favorite recipe just as well.

I’m really in love with this idea. However, I’m not sure whether we’ll ever be able to cut this cake… it’s just too cute!

bunnies

 

Look, the bunny already made friends at our house…

The “fur” is made from shredded coconut. I used a simple royal icing to make it stick. I guess a cream icing would look better cause it really covers the chocolate cake and you’d have a white base for the coconut, so no brown cake shines through. However… the way I did it, it tasted better. We just don’t like to much heavy and sugary icing on our cake… so this is a good compromise! I just used a thin layer of icing for the bow.

Bunny Cake 

Fail-proof easy chocolate cake (two ø 20cm / 8 inch pans or one bigger pan)

  • 200g (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
  • 200g (1 2/3 cups) whole wheat flour
  • 1 package baking powder (about 4 tsp)
  • 45g (4 tbsp) cocoa powder (unsweetened)
  • 250g (1 cup) sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 200ml (3/4 cup) canola oil
  • 300ml (1 1/4 cup) water

Decoration

  • 125g (1 cup) icing sugar
  • 1 tsp corn starch
  • 3-4 tsp water
  • shredded coconut
  • pink food colors (I used Wilton)
  • blue icing (or any other color, could use this recipe made with blue food color)
  • black icing (again, you can use the recipe liked above or use your favorite one)
  • little pink sugar hearts for the nose (or pink icing)

For the cake: Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Add water and oil and stir until combined. Pour into two greased, round baking pans and bake for about 30 min (180 C / 360 F)

Let the cake cool down before you cut it like this:

cut it

 

Decoration: Mix shredded coconut (just one or two hands!) with pink food colors. If you’re using Wilton gel colors, like I did, add a tiny little bit of water for even coloring). Mix icing sugar, corn starch and water until smooth. Apply this icing to the “face” and “ears”. Decorate the middle of the ears with pink shredded coconut, the face and the rest of the ears with white shredded coconut.

Cover the bow with colored icing of your choice. I used a chocolate button for the middle of the bow.
Use sugar hearts or pink icing as a nose and draw the face with black icing.

That’s it!

Note: You could also use 400g whole wheat or 400 all purpose flour. I tried both, it still works and tastes good! However, the recipe tastes best when you use some whole wheat flour (even if you’re not concerned about it’s health benefits and so on). Cocoa and whole wheat flour yields a really nice and rich flavor!

bunny

 

Bunny, grinning like a Cheshire Cat ;)

I love it when simple things actually look good. And if you’re a little more skilled and patient than I am (and it’s really nor hard to be more patient then me!) it could look even better!

chicken

 

But for now: Happy Easter!

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Cute Easter Lamb

20 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Today’s the first day of spring! Yay!

However, it’s cold and it’s raining  here… well, that’s just one more reason to do some baking! There’s no sweeter way to heat up the house!

Easter Lamb

My little, chubby Easter lamb.
Baking an Easter lamb used to be a tradition at our house when I was little. We used to have a special pan for the Easter Lamb.
Now I wanted to revive that tradition the vegan way. Without a special pan. If you have very limited shelf space in your kitchen, you think twice before buying another tool, especially those that are used just once a year! No, there had to be another way of baking an Easter Lamb.

Easter

And Easter Eggs. Easter Eggs are so much better when they are made of dough or chocolate!

I used a very traditional combination: Yeast dough, streusel topping and A LOT of sugar icing! I also formed some easter eggs and a little Easter cookie, as I had some dough left. (You could also form one big Easter Lamb… but I usually like to have more and smaller pieces!)

Easter Lamb 

For the lamb:

  • 350g (3 cups) all purpose flour 
  • 50g (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 1 package vanilla sugar OR 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 250 ml (1 cup) room temperatured almond milk (or any other kind of plant based milk)
  • 3 tbsp Oil
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • soy creamer (for coating)

For the streusel:

  • 75g (2/3 cup) all purpose flour
  • 40g (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 40g (3 tbsp) margarine
  • pinch of salt

Decoration:

  • icing sugar
  • water
  • melted chocolate

For the yeast dough, mix all the dry ingredients. Add milk and oil and either knead with your hands (that’s the way I do it) or with a kitchen machine. Add more milk or flour if needed to create a smooth, non-sticking dough. Shape dough into a bowl, place in a large bowl, cover with a towel and set aside for about 40 min.

When the dough has doubled it’s volume, form little balls (Ø about 3 cm / 1 inch) from about 3/4 of the dough. Brush the balls with soy creamer and form the body by placing them in the desired shape on a baking sheet. From the rest of the dough, form legs and head. Brush with soy creamer and add to the body.

Brush legs and head with soy creamer.

For the streusel: Combine all ingredients with you hands or a kitchen machine. Top the lambs body with a “streusel fur”.

Bake for about 30 – 40 min (360 F / 180 C).

Decorate the cooled lamb with sugar icing and chocolate.

Easter Bunny

Easter lamb and bunny! I do like bunnies. I should bake a bunny, too…

easter bunny

More sweet stuff!

lamb or bunny

This was supposed to be a lamb’s head. Looking at it now… it could also be a bunny, right? Oh well, it’s the inner values (the taste!) that counts, right?

cute lamb

Yummy. It’s just as good as “Streuseltaler” from any German bakery. And it’s cute.

Are there any special easter traditions at your house?
As this was an early Easter Lamb, I guess I’ll have to do another one for Easter…

Healthy Date Nougat

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Nougat – a divine combination of cocoa, hazelnuts and sugar!

Date Nougat

Usually, it contains a lot of sugar. Just like the famous spread from Europe that starts with a “N” and ends with “utella”. Here’s the good message: These little pralines taste just like that spread! They are perfect for cold winter days. Maybe enjoy with a cup of hot cocoa? Or as a snack, to keep you going!

I love any kind of date-nut candy when I am studying. They give you lots of energy and help to concentrate. And they taste delicious without any white sugar or artificial flavors. It’s nature’s best candy!

Okay… this candy is not only for winter time… however, let’s have a look at the winter village…

Date Nougat Lego

Transporting the date nougat! Destination: Tanya’s desk. Oh, I like that. The little guys still have to learn how to cook, though…

Date Nougat Lego 2

Another transport! Now, this is urgent! Had to take the post van!

Okay… we’ll go back to winter wonderland! But I guess I should share the recipe first! Well, here you go.

Delicious Date Nougat

Date Nougat 

  • 1 cup soft dates 
  • 3/4 cup coarsely ground, roasted hazelnuts *
  • 3 tbsp cocoa
  • optional: 1/2 tsp  cinnamon or pumpkin spice (recommended for a lovely winter candy!)

Chop dates with a sharp knife into very small pieces. Add ground hazelnuts, cocoa and spices and mix the dough with your hands. Add more nuts if it’s too sticky. Form small balls  with your hands and put on a plate. Don’t store these candies in a box or jar, they need some fresh air. You could either store them at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Of course you could make the dough using your food processor. However, I wanted to try not using any expensive, fancy tools… it works just as great using a knife and your own two handy! And hands are easier to clean than your food processor, keep that in mind!

* Roast hazelnuts: Put raw hazelnuts on a clean baking tray. Roast in the oven at 200 C / 36o F for about 10-15 minutes. Let them cool down and put them in fridge or refrigerator for a few hours. Now put your roasted nuts in a blender or food processor and grind them coarsely (pulse works best). Cooling the nuts in the fridge before grinding them helps to prevent them from turning into nut butter! I love nut butter – but it’s just not what you need in this recipe…
Don’t have a blender / food processor? I recommend using one part store bought chopped hazelnuts and one part store bought ground hazelnuts (hazelnut flour / meal). Carefully roast the ground and chopped nuts in a pan or use them straight from the bag.

* Want to keep it RAW? Just don’t roast the hazelnuts! It’s a little different, but still delicious!

Date Nougat Winter Village

Back to winter wonderland. It’s been snowing. It’s been snowing date nougat pralines! Oh, I like that kind of weather… Winter and I could become friends…

Actually, that reminds me of that movie. Cloudy with a chance of… date balls!

Date Nougat Winter Village

Time to shovel the snow (or date balls!). Hey, Guys… could you tidy up the kitchen, too? Please?

Frosty the Snowman – Lunch before Christmas

16 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Time for some easy food art!

Frosty the Snowman

 

Here’s Frosty the Snowman for lunch!
Food can be so much fun, why shouldn’t you play with it ;) .

You don’t need much to make your snowman lunch, but it looks great. It’s a nice idea for kids – or for yourself.

Frosty

This is more an idea than a recipe, but here’s what you need!

Frosty the Snowman

  • 2 slices whole wheat bread
  • chocolate spread
  • cream cheese (I used my homemade cream cheese, you could use tofuti, too)
  • 1 hazelnut, cut in two halves (eyes)
  • 2 small carrot (nose)
  • small raisins (mouth)
  • lettuce or baby spinach (scarf)

Lego and Frosty

 

Time for a snowball fight – I prefer the Lego version, as it’s less cold…

Oh, the chocolate spread I used for the head is homemade, too! I will post the recipe some time soon!

Have a great Christmas time!

Black Forest Punk Rock

20 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Punk Rock!!!

Black Forest Punk? Why not?
I like to combine what seemingly doesn’t fit together!

Black Forest Cake is a very traditional cake from Germany. A real classic. Something that definitely has to be “veganized”! Yes, many people think that German food and Veganism go as much together as… punk rock and the Black Forest area.
Let me tell you something: They definitelly go together! People didn’t even notice that my cake was vegan. 1 : 0 for vegan cake!

The Germans even have a special word for cream cakes like this: “Torte”. Yes, they love cream cakes. They hardly ever use icing, cream is much more common.

I usually don’t like the combination of fruit and chocolate… with just a few exceptions! This cake is one of them. Oh, it was my Mom’s birthday cake, by the way…

Ring of fire cherries!

Don’t be afraid:
Yes, you do need more then one day to make this cake. But it’s a cake you won’t make every week, so that’s fine! Don’t worry, it’s really easier then you might think!

Black Forest Cake 

Chocolate Cake layers

  • 2 1/2 cups (300g) whole wheat pastry flour (Gemany: Weizenmehl Typ 1050)
  • 6 1/2 tbsp (50g) cocoa powder
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract OR 2 packages vanilla sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml)
  • 1,5 cups (350 ml) water

Short crust

  • 1,5 cups (200g)  whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup (100g) margarine (Earth balance or Alsan…)
  • 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
  • about 3 tbsp water (as needed)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

Filling

  • 1 glas canned cherries (25 fl oz / 750 ml)
  • just over 2 tsp agar agar
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 2-3 packages soyatoo
  • sweetener to taste

Day 1: Prepare the cake layers and the short crust
Mix all the ingredients for the cake layers in a big bowl. Don’t overmix!
Put the batter in an oiled pan (about 24 cm or 9,5 inches) and bake for about 40 minutes (350 F / 180 C)

Short crust: Mix all the ingredients for the short crust. Press the dough into the buttom of an oiled pan (24 cm or 9,5 inches). Bake for about 25 min (350 F / 180 C)

Day 2: Filling and decoration
Whip the soyatoo and add sweetener to taste. Put the cream in the refrigerator.
Boil the cherries (juice and fruit) with the agar  agar and corn starch for about two minutes (don’t use a microwave!). Let the filling cool down for a little while (it should not be firm yet).
Now you need a cake ring or the ring of a springform pan.
Place the cake ring on a big plate or baking tray. Put the short crust into the ring. This is the button layer. The cake ring should stand loosely around the short crust.
Put some cherry juice on top of the crust and let it cool down. Work slowly and wait until the juice get firm. This layer can be really thin (2-3 mm / 0,1 inch).
Now you can add your first layer of cream (about 1 centimeter / 0,4 inch).
Cut the chocolate cake you made the day before into two halves, using a big and sharp knive, so you have two round cake layers. Put the first cake layer on top of the cream layer.
Now you add the cherries. Place them on top of the chocolate cake layer. You can also add some of the juice if you want. Now there’s another cream layer. Fill in the space within the cherries with the cream. Add the second cake layer. Now your almost done! Cote the cake with the rest of the cream. Decorate the cake with chocolate flakes and 12-14 cherries.
Important: The cake tastes much better if you let it sit in the refrigerator for one night!

In the process: Decorating the cake!

Note: The traditional recipe calls for cherry brandy (“Kirschwasser”) – I just left it out cause I don’t like it… Feel free to sprinkle some cherry brandy on the cake layers if you want to.

This was a birthday cake – I definitelly won’t make cakes like this every day… Also, it was the first big cream layer cake I made – it’s easier than I thought it would be! And so yummy!

A (bad cell phone) picture of the different layers. There was not much time to take pictures of our food at the party and I didn’t want to cut the cake before serving…

RAW Frozen Hot Chocolate – Serendipity in a glass

19 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Finally, summer arrived where I live! We have a few really hot days right now, and I am happy to enjoy them with my exams being over by now!

And the best part: hot summer days are the perfect time for frozen treats!!!
Delicious frozen treats melting away in your mouth… or in your hands, if you don’t eat them fast enough!

So, I have some really exciting news: RAW frozen hot chocolate!
Do you know Serendipity in New York? It might be the one place every chocoholic has to visit once in their life… Long ago, I tried some from a chocoholic friend and I had to admit that it was really delicious! In fact, I’d have loved to eat (or drink?) one myself… if it was not winter. I am a cold blain, I would have been cold all day! But know it’s summer! I could have a frozen hot chocolate! Okay, New York is  not close and Serendipity is not vegan… so… I make my own frozen hot chocolate! A RAW vegan frozen hot chocolate! However, frozen hot chocolate always reminds of New York City. So that’s why I put the little statue of liberty next to it!

Making your own frozen hot chocolate is easier then you might think! Your freezer does most of the work…

RAW Frozen Hot Chocolate

  • 50g (just under half a cup) Cashews
  • 50g (just under 1/2  a cup) Almonds
  • 450ml (2 cups) water
  • 3-4 tbsp cocoa powder
  • stevia, agave syrup or any other sweetener to taste
  • tiny dash of salt
  • 2 tbsp nut milk (store bought or just keep a few tbsp from the nut milk you will make for this recipe)

Put the nuts, water, cocoa and salt in a blender an mix. Strain the milk through a nut milk bag (a laundry bag, a cheese cloths or even a kitchen towel works, too! I always use a laundry bag!) This is like heavy chocolate cream made from nuts! Sweeten the milk. It should be slightly oversweetend, the finished product will be less sweet. Put in ice cube trays, ice cube bags or flat containers and freeze! Once it’s frozen, put the ice cubes in your blender (your blender should be able to crush ice), add 2 tbsp nut milk and mix again! I used a vita-mix and pushed the mixture into the knives with the tamper. This will yield the best results… however, I guess this will also word with any blender that can crush ice!

You will be rewarded with the most delicious frozen hot chocolate ever.

 

All right… this is serious food porn. It’s as delicious as it looks, I promise! It’s rich but not too heavy. And it’s healthy! Plus it’s a nice change to all those banana soft serve treats… (I do like bananas. But I don’t want everything to taste like bananas!)

 

Talking about frozen treats melting away…
As I found out, it’s really not easy to take photos of a frozen treat when it’s about 100 degrees and you don’t have an air conditioner… I would have loved to take more photos… to play around… but the Frozen Hot Chocolate had to be eaten before it melted, I hope you understand!

Coffee on the bricks!

06 Monday Aug 2012

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Coffee inside out.

Actually, it’s milk on the bricks. But it just doesn’t sound as good. ;)

This is one of the things I really love lately. It’s so simple, you don’t even need a recipe. It’s rather an idea than a recipe. But however… I have to admit… it is a great idea!
And I love this even though I am not a regular coffee drinker! Also, I do have to write exams right now… so a little extra caffeine is just what I need right now. Have I already whinned about writing exams? I think I have to make up for it. I have to write exams and I don’t like it.

Back to the things I like.

Back to the drink I love!

Who needs Starbucks anyway? I can make my own coffee. It tastes better. And I can make my own frappuccinos, too! (There’s will be another post on that soon…)

So… what did I do?

 

Well… I made coffee ice cubes! So, that’s my brand new toy: Lego brick ice cube trays! Did I mention that I love my new toy? I’m pretty sure I will use it more often…

 

Coffee on the bricks –
Ice coffee inside out 

  • VERY strong coffee, chilled
  • Almond milk
  • Sweetener to taste (I used stevia)

Alright, you don’t really need my “how to”, do you? Freeze the coffee using an ice cube tray or bag. Put the frozen ice cubes in a glass, pour milk over them – enjoy. Use as many coffee ice cubes as you like, depending on how strong you like your coffee. (As my regular coffee already is really strong, I should really not give you any recommendation on that!)

 

Here’s another one: Cocoa bricks! For a non-coffee version.

Cocoa on the bricks –
ice cocoa inside out

  • Cocoa powder
  • sugar / sweetener
  • Almond milk

Prepare a hot cocoa with about 3 times the amount of cocoa powder they recommend on the bag. Sweeten your cocoa! It should be really sweet. The mixture itself can be disgusting – in your drink it will be perfect! Pour in ice cube trays, freeze. Put a few cocoa ice cubes in a glass an pour milk over it – enjoy!

 

A deep sea diver observing penguins in my drink…

PENGUINS?

Penguins! I also made penguin ice cubes…

Did I mention that I really love this drink? (And… did I mention that I really don’t like writing exams in college?)

Not food-related: I just added a “follow me on pinterest” bottom to my page.
… I am gone. Have to learn for college  make more coffee ice cubes. Why does freezing always take so much time?