Tag Archives: frosting

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!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bunny Cake

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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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!

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…

Chocolate “Rocher Mousse” – or cup cream!

26 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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You know Ferrero Rocher? Those golden balls with the hazelnut in the center? (For smarty pants: rocher is French for rock).

I always wondered who cared for the crispy outside anyway… the cream is what matters! Very good message: You can have all the cream for yourself. It’s vegan, raw and healthy. It doesn’t taste vegan, raw or healthy (don’t ask me what vegan, raw or healthy actually tastes like… but you know, sometimes you serve something made from whole wheat and people tell you it tastes healthy. Most of the time, it’s not a compliment).

It’s easy and quick, too.

Do I have to say more?

Thinking about it… I guess this is cup cream. Hey, there are cup cakes, too. Old story. Now it’s time for cup cream!

Chocolate Rocher Mousse 

  • 1 large, ripe avocado
  • 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2-3 tsp cane sugar
  • 1-2 tsp agave syrup
  • 3 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
  • dash of salt

Mash the avocado (I just used a fork, to special tools here!) and mix in the cocoa, cane sugar, agave syrup, hazelnuts and salt. Serve in a cup (otherwise it’s no cup cream, you know…). Decorate with chopped hazelnuts.

Smile! It’s chocolate!
Did you ever think of using this cream as a spread? I put some of it on a slice of bread – similar to nutella! Yummy!

I can tell you, it’s always a mess when legos are stealing food…

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…

The Princess and the Cookie Dough

30 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in Playful food and photos

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And some flowers.

Maybe a frog.

But mainly: Cookie Dough Dip! Playful cookie dough dip, of course!

Cookie Dough is definitelly a fun flavor, as well as cake batter. I know it’s a typical (ice cream) flavor in the US. Well – can you imagine a country without cookie dough ice cream? You can, as long as there’s cake batter ice cream? Well, … there isn’t cake batter ice cream either…

It was not an easy childhood. The only cookie dough flavored things was… cookie dough. And as long as your parents are watching, you’re not allowed to eat (too much) cookie dough…

The playful twist…

Do I have to tell you that I love anything cookie dough? I think there should be a cookie dough version of every dessert. Guess that’s a big project!

I know there were many variations of cookie dough dips posted all over the blogoshphere lately. (Did I really just write that word? It’s come to that…). My version is inspired by CCK’s chickpea based cookie dough dip.

I wanted to put my own playful twist on it though!  My version contains yogurt, which makes it a little “fluffy” and lighter than the original version. It’s gives this dip it’s wonderful creamy consistency!

Playful Cookie Dough Dip 

  • 1 can chickpeas
  • 1/2 cup soy yogurt (or any other plant based yogurt)
  • 3 tbsp rolled oats or oat flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or powdered vanilla
  • 6 dates
  • Sweetener to taste: more dates, agave syrup, stevia…
  • optional: chocolate chips

Drain and wash the chickpeas. Put all the ingredients (except chocolate chips)  in your food processor or blender (you might need a tamper) and mix. One minute later, the ingredients magically turned into a delicious cookie dough dip…

Variations:

For a richer dip: Add any kind of nut butter! Cashew is great if you want that vanilla flavor, for a peanut butter cookie dough dip add peanut butter! (about 1/4 cup)

Snicker doodle Dip: Add cinnamon

Brownie Batter Dip: Add cocoa

Cake Batter Dip: Add some butter extract

Actually, this is such a basic recipe, you can add anything that tastes good! Don’t add fries though. Nor tomatoes. Okay, you see where this is going…

You can add lego frogs, too. Just don’t forget what I told you about eating legos…

Pink Princess Cupcakes

19 Thursday Jul 2012

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A forest of frosting. That’s what my friend called these pictures.

A forest of PINK frosting!

So you can easily guess what was the girls and what the boys ate at the party…

Not a single guy dared to eat a pink cupcakes… well, they missed out on something great. If you ever want to keep your cupcakes from your boyfriend or other male people, you know what to do: treat them to a pink frosting!

Princess of Forest Frosting Cupcakes

  • 1 3/4 cups (220g) flour
  • 3/4 cup (150g)sugar
  • 1 cup  / 240ml almond milk
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) oil
  • vanilla extract, vanilla sugar or bourbon vanilla powder (I use vanilla powder)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • dash of salt

As simple as it could be: mix everything together with a hand mixer, fill in a muffin pan lined with paper cups and bake at 350 F for about 20 min.

Forest Frosting

  • 1 cup margarine / vegan butter
  • 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • Vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
  • a few drops of red food color OR 1 tbsp strawberry puree

First mix the margarine with your hand mixer or food processor until creamy, that add the other ingredients. Mix until smooth!

In order to apply the frosting, you can simply use a ziplock bag with a hole. It’s as easy as it could be.

Put on your crown and be the Princess of Forest Frosting.