Dairy free chocolate fudge cake with whipped chocolate ganache

 

This recipe needs to be remembered. I baked this for my manager, who doesn't get celebrated enough, and he and the team really enjoyed it. I made it dairy free given I can't taste test anything with dairy, and despite a broken fridge, it turned out great. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

60g cocoa powder (Tesco)

150ml boiling water

150ml light in colour olive oil (Filippo Berio)

150g no-added sugar soya yoghurt (Alpro)

50ml oat milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 large eggs

2 tsp soy sauce

200g plain flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

280g light soft brown sugar

A few salt flakes

For the ganache:

435g 55% dark chocolate (Morrisons basic)

500ml arla plant-based double cream

Sprinkle of salt

To finish:

50g dark chocolate (Morrisons basic)

Gold lustre dust

Specific equipment needed:

2 x 20cm round springform cake tins

Baking parchment

Piping bag

Star nozzle

Method:

1. In a measuring jug, pour the cocoa powder, followed by the boiling water. Leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan. Grease and line the base of two springform 20cm cake tins.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, yoghurt, oat milk, vinegar, eggs and soy sauce (tick them off one by one to make sure you don’t miss an ingredient), until smooth. 

4. Pour in the cooled liquid cocoa mixture and whisk until smooth.

5. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and sugar and whisk until you have a smooth cake batter that easily falls off the spoon. 

6. Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for around 25 minutes, until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out.

7. To make the ganache, chop the dark chocolate into small (0.5cm or so pieces). Tip into a bowl.

8. Heat the double cream in a pan until bubbling. Pour over the dark chocolate. Wait for a minute and then stir to melt. Once smooth, refrigerate to firm up. This will probably take at least an hour, check regularly that it doesn’t over-set.

9. Use a small amount of the ganache to add a splodge to a the cake plate/presentation board. This will be the glue that holds the cake in place (you can also use spare melted chocolate).

10. Use an electric whisk to whip the ganache, it will change from a dark brown to a light mousse-like brown. 

11. Place one of the cakes on the cake plate/board, making sure you have removed the baking parchment. Dollop on ganache and smooth over the top and sides of the cake.

12. Add the second layer of cake and cover the cake in a layer of ganache like a crumb coat. Chill.

13. Cover the cake with more ganache to smooth out the design. I used a piping bag with a star nozzle, and piped little rosettes around the top and bottom, which worked well I think. Add a few flicks of gold lustre dust to the top using a food-safe brush.

14. Use a vegetable peeler to drag across a bar of dark chocolate to create curls. Pour these in a pile in the centre of the cake, leaving a 2cm border to the outside. 

Devour. 

Caramel Biscuit Cheesecake (Vegan)

This recipe is the simplest vegan cheesecake I've seen, and my partner/baby daddy adored it, saying it was their favourite cheesecake (and they eat non-plant based desserts!). A rich buttery spiced biscuit base and smooth caramel topping, what's not to love?

For the base, you can use store-bought caramelized biscuits (Lotus biscuits in the UK), or make your own, which is what I did for this base. For the filling, I used the Lotus biscuit smooth spread - in the future, I may try making my own version of this as well, as now I have 3/4 jar of the most addictive spread in my house!!

This takes around an hour to prepare if you make the biscuits for the base. If not, you can prepare it in less than 20 minutes. It needs to set in the freezer for around an hour before it is ready to serve, and once it has set, you can leave it in the fridge for a few days (not that it will last that long). Beautifully caramel flavoured, and surprisingly, not too sweet, it's a firm favourite of our household.

Makes one 20cm cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the biscuits*:

• 150g plain flour
• 1 & 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 75g light soft brown sugar
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp dairy-free milk
• 110g margarine or butter (vegan)

* Instead of making the biscuits, you could use 200g of lotus biscuits

For the base:

• 200g home-made biscuits (see above) or Lotus biscuits
• 60g margarine or butter (vegan), melted

For the filling:

• 100g Lotus biscuit smooth spread
• 600g vegan cream cheese (I used Violife)
• 45g granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. To prepare the biscuits, preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/gas mark 4. Stir together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and sugar. Cut the vegan butter into cubes and use your hands to rub it into the dry mixture. Add the dairy-free milk and bring to a ball.

2. Roll the dough out onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment - as the biscuits are going to be crushed for the base, you can just spread this out without cutting it into shapes. You want the dough to be around 1cm thick, and you can use a rolling pin or your hands to achieve this.

3. Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly browned. Leave to cool completely.

4. For the base of the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/gas mark 4. Crush 200g biscuits (homemade or storebought) until they are a fine crumb, then pour over the melted butter/margarine. Stir until well combined.

5. Grease and line the base of a springform 20cm round cake tin with baking parchment, and pour in the biscuit mixture. Smooth down so it is level using the back of a spoon. Bake for around 10 minutes, until browning on the edges. Leave to cool completely.

6. For the filling, whisk together the biscuit spread, cream cheese and sugar until you have an even light brown colour. Pour onto the cheesecake base and smooth the top.

7. Cover with clingfilm and place in the freezer for around an hour to set. If you leave it longer, no worries - just bring it out to room temperature around an hour before you want to serve, and it will defrost nicely in that time. 

8. Enjoy!

Vegan Confetti Macarons

Here is another attempt at the vegan macaron (so dairy and egg-free, as well as gluten-free). Not 100% perfect I'll admit, but much closer to their non-vegan counterpart. These I kept really simple, flavouring with vanilla and brushing the top with vegan sprinkles prior to baking. I also coloured them a light purple. They turned out soft but crisp and were well received.

One thing I finally realised for this bake - using almond flour rather than ground almonds works very well, as there is less waste when sieving the almond/sugar mix. The almond flour is far finer, so I'd recommend using that if possible. I bought a big bag from amazon and paid a similar amount to ground almonds.

Makes around 20 macarons

Ingredients:

For the shells:

• 100g icing sugar
• 150g almond flour
• 100ml chickpea water (aquafaba) - this was one can's worth for me
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 125g caster sugar 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Vegan sugar sprinkles
• Gel food colouring, optional

For the filling:

• 60 g vegan butter (I used Flora unsalted)
• 150g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Sift the almond flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add half of the aquafaba and stir to a paste.

2. Tip the remaining chickpea water into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and add the cream of tartar. Start whisking on a low speed for a few minutes, then crank up to a medium speed until the mixture becomes white and holds stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl.

3. Add the caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking for 30 seconds between each addition. Once all of the sugar has been added, you should have a lovely thick glossy meringue that holds stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla (or any other flavourings you'd like the shells to have), and food colouring, if wanted.

4. Place around 1/4 of the meringue into the bowl with the almond flour and sugar. Fold in using a spatula or metal spoon - you can be relatively rough at this stage as you're just loosening the mix.

5. Add the remaining meringue and fold in gently, trying to keep as much air in the mix as possible. It is ready when you lift the spatula and the mixture slowly falls off (like lava).

6. Line 4 baking trays with baking parchment and pipe vertically down onto the parchment until you have a 2-3cm circle (you could draw circles on the reverse side of the parchment prior to piping). Once the tray has been filled (leave a 2-3 cm gap between each macaron), firmly tap the base of the tray on your surface. This can be done by lifting the tray a few inches above and dropping it.

7. Scatter sprinkles on half of the shells.

8. Leave at room temperature for around 90 minutes, or until when you lightly press the shells, no mixture sticks to your finger.

9. Preheat your oven to 140c (120c fan)/285f/gas mark 1. Bake the shell for 10 minutes, then swap the trays over in the oven and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, or until they feel like you could peel them away from the parchment. Leave to cool completely before peeling.

10. Whilst cooling, make the buttercream by whisking together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla. You could add other flavourings/colours at this stage. Whisk until it is fluffy and holds its shape. Fill a piping bag with the buttercream and pipe onto the base of half the macarons. Very gently, press another shell on top.

11. Enjoy!

Keep in an airtight container and these will keep well for 2-3 days. You can also freeze the shells.