Tag Archives: cream cheese

RAW Carrot Cake with Mango-Creamcheese Frosting

13 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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The best raw cake I’ve ever tasted.

Raw Vegan Carrot Cake Piece

 

And I’ve made and tasted quite a few by know.
As they usually consist of dried fruit and nuts, they tend to be quite dense and sometimes, they make you feel kind of heavy.

This one is different. It’s still a raw cake, it’s still not an exact copy of the original (anyway, if I want to taste a baked carrot cake, I’ll just bake one!). But it is not as dense and heavy as most raw cakes out there! It’s easier on the stomach and tastes great – what else could you wish for!

Another thing I love about this cake: The frosting is without cashews. Cashew-free frosting!!! I like cashews, that’s not it. But I like to change up things every once in a while.

 

Raw Carrot Cake_3

 

There you go – the princess is cutting the cake!

RAW Carrot Cake 

For the cake: 

  • 1 large carrot
  • 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
  • 1/2 cup dates
  • 1/2 cup dried pineapple or apricots
  • 1/4 cup coconut shreds
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • optional: 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
  • optional: dash of ground gloves, nutmeg, allspice and salt

For the frosting: 

  • 1/4 cup coconut butter
  • about 4 big pieces dried mango (of course, the amount depends on the size of your mango pieces. If the flavor is not intense enough, blend in more mango!)
  • 1/8 tsp ground vanilla
  • 1 tsp coconut oil
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • water as needed (start with 1/4 cup)
  • optional: dash of salt

For the cake: cut carrots into small chunks. Then throw all ingredients, including the carrots, in your food processor or high speed blender and pulse until it sticks together. Use your hands to for a round cake! You could also use a spring pan or tartlet pans, too. However, I kept it simple and just formed small, round cakes by hand.

For the frosting: Blend all the ingredients in you high speed blender until smooth, adding just enough water to create a smooth and creamy (and delicious!) frosting.

Assembly: That’s totally up to you! You could make a two layer cake, like I did. Put frosting on the first cake base, add the second one and cover the whole cake with frosting. You could also use your icing bag.

Raw carrot cake

 

“naked” carrot cakes with just a little mango creamcheese icing. Honestly, that icing is divine…

Raw Vegan Carrot Cake

Oh, of course, a princess always gets what she wants. Here’s her piece of the cake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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RAW Mango Cheesecake

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Playful food and photos

≈ 12 Comments

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Deutsche Version / German version

Okay, I am kind of proud of this one. I just recently got into raw “baking”. I’m not a raw foodist, as you can see on this blog, but I love play around with raw food preparation! For me, it’s a really creative approach that offers so many new possibilities and new flavors! Some of them are worth sharing…

Like this one.

mango cheesecake

RAW Mango Cheesecake. It does not only look delicious, it really is! Don’t compare raw cakes to baked treats. They are not an imitation – they are different, a whole new thing. See them as an alternative or as a very tasty addition to your diet!
Raw cakes are usually quite rich – you might want to cut smaller pieces than you’d do with a regular cake.

RAW Mango Cheesecake

RAW Mango Cheesecake

 Ø about 20cm / 8 inch

For the crust:

  • 3/4 cup (about 100g) pitted dates
  • about 1/2 -3/4 cup nuts or seeds (I used sesame seeds and almonds)
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt

For the filling:

  • 3/4 cup (100g) cashews 
  • 4-5 pieces dried mango (my pieces more rather big, use more if your pieces are rather small)
  • 4 tbsp coconut butter
  • 1/2 cup (about 50g) xylit (or sweetener to taste)
  • 1/4 tsp powdered vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 – 3/4 (about 125ml)  cup water

Crust: Either grease your pan with coconut oil or like it with baking paper. Put nuts / seeds in a food processor and mix until coarsely ground. Add the other ingredients and mix until combined. (Add more dates of the dough is to dry and add more nuts if it’s too moist. It’s hard to give exact amounts here cause it all depends on the moisture of your dates!) Put the dough in a baking pan (Ø about 20cm / 8 inch), form the crust.

Filling: Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix! You might want to soak the cashews before blending of your blender is not that strong. Add more water if needed. Pour the cream into the prepared crust. Lick off the spatulas and spoons you used. (This step is essential. DON’T skip ;) ) Put in the refrigerator over night or until the cream firms up.

raw mango cheesecake

Yummy! When a friend taste-tested the cake, he was like “Wow… this is really… cheesy. It’s like cheesecake…”
Even though I’d definitelly not say that this is a one to one cheesecake alternative,… the cashews definitelly yield a cheese flavor. And the mango coconut combo fits the cake really well. Even though I almost had the whole cake for myself, it did not last long until it was gone… hey, I am writing exams. I need brain food! And it seems like the little guy in the pic (no, he was not the test-taster) feels the same about this cake.

raw mango cheesecake

You can freeze the leftovers, too. You might also find the frozen cake easier to cut (even though I had no problems cutting the cake when I left it in the refrigerator over night). Freezing the cake is especial great, when you are making a raw cake for just one or two people. You can eat the frozen cake straight from the fridge… I promise, it’s the best ice-cream cake I ever had!

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!

Golden Cheesecake – beware of the dwarf!

02 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

≈ 24 Comments

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Cheesecake for breakfast.

Or lunch. Or dinner.

For each meal of the day!

I have admit that I had most of it for breakfast. The good message: This moist and sweet vegan cheesecake without added sugar is healthy enough to have it for breakfast!

It’s been a long time until I started to experiment with vegan cheesecake. This might be due to the high prices of tofutti (I did not make my own cream cheese  at that time…) and because I knew it could not taste as delicious as the original. However, I didn’t know how delicious it can be… why didn’t anyone tell me? You wanted it all for yourself?

I wanted it all for myself, too… it didn’t quite work out though. I should have known…

Dwarfs are greedy. And this golden cheesecake might be perfect for him. Dwarfs like gold.

I am so lucky that he was too small to take it away. He tried though. Dwarfs are not the smartest creatures…

Golden Cheesecake – no sugar, all the fun
healthy vegan cheesecake with no added sugar, Ø about 20cm / 8 inch 

  • about 6 soft dates, deseeded (can increase if you want it even sweeter)
  • 4 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup ( 125 ml ) orange juice or non dairy milk
  • 1 very ripe banana
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 package (350g) firm (or extra firm) tofu

Put all the ingredients in your food processor for blender (use your tamper!) and mix. Test-tasting allowed: If like it sweeter, add some more dates (or even some stevia). Pour into a slightly greased pan and bake for about  30-4o  min. (380 F / 200 C )

Yes, it’s that easy. Be patient (that’s the hardest part, honestly…) and let it cool down a little until you remove the pan.

On a personal note: I was really amazed by all your sweet comments and your feedback! This is still a very young blog and I didn’t expect so many people to visit it! I just want to say “Thank you” for visit my blog and for leaving your comments. Each comment makes me happy cause it means that people actually read (and maybe even like…) what I am doing!

I think he gave it up…

The Viking’s spread

27 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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Time to get some cream cheese on your sandwich!
Vegan cream cheese, homemade! It’s just like tofutti… with some extra awesomeness, of course!

Making your own cream cheese is really easy. I always though that it must be really complicated, or at least a big mess, but, well, lets say… the mess wasn’t bigger than usual. It’s okay when you can tell from a glance in the kitchen that you just prepared something delicious!

Plus, it’s really fun to see the milk curdle. It makes cream cheese making really special. Cream cheese is not just cream cheese anymore. You’ll actually know how it’s made… and how to make it, too! And it’s cheaper than tofutti…

So, here’s how to make your own cream cheese!

  • 4 1/4 cups (1 liter) soy milk (NOT low fat!)
  • 4 Tbsp Lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp oil
  • white vinegar
  • Salt
  • Optional: dried tomatoes, herbs, spices…
  • Optional: 1 pinch guar gum

Put the soymilk in a big pot and bring it to a boil.  Once it boils, stir in the lemon juice. Wait for the curd and the whey to separate. This could take a few minutes… Line a strainer with a dish towel or cheese cloth. Once the whey and curds are completely separated put everything in your strainer and let the whey drain off. It’s tofu now!
Put your homemade tofu in a food processor or blender, add the oil, vinegar, salt, and any spices, herbs or optional ingredients you want. You can make any cream cheese flavor! Use guar gum if you want your cheese to be less smooth. I like the texture when you add just a little guar gum, but you don’t have to add it. Blend until smooth (if it’s not smooth enough add some whey, oil or soy milk)

Do NOT use low fat soy milk in this recipe, it won’t work! Check for the protein content in your soy milk, it should be at least 3%, otherwise the recipe won’t work!
Let your cream cheese cool down before you use it. Store in the refrigerator.

Yummy. Homemade cream cheese. If you leave it plain and just add salt it will taste like tofutti cream cheese! I used sun dried tomatoes (from a jar, otherwise you might have to soak them), pepper, oregano and basil for this version.

Edit: As I caused some confusion by using the words whey and curd for this non-dairy cream cheese: It’s soy curd and soy whey… quite the same thing except for that it’s from soy! I use the words whey and curd rather functional. When making the cream cheese, the soy protein (curd) firms up and separates from the liquid soy whey (which might be greeenish, that’s normal). You can pour the soy whey away and make your cream cheese from the curd. (Tofu is nothing elso but soy curd! ;) )

One photo of the plain version: