Recipe: No-Added Fat Vegan Chocolate Cake

What can I say? My mouth's watering and I can't wait to make this myself.

Ingredients for vegan chocolate cake

• 300g of organic wholemeal flour
• 60g of 10-12% fat - organic cocoa powder OR use 30g organic cocoa powder & 30g organic carob powder
• 60g of organic coconut palm sugar OR use or 30g Lucuma Powder + 30g Red Ecuadorian Banana Powder
• 2 teaspoons of bicarbonate soda
• 300g egg replacer – choose from the following options:
  • a. St. Dalfour Sugar Free Jam or other sugar-free jam
  • b. Soya yoghurt - natural or flavoured
  • c. Pureed fruit e.g. prunes, apples, bananas
  • d. Smoothie - thick and any flavour
  • 250ml of plant milk - soya, oat, hemp, coconut, nut etc. - I used ‘Oatly Organic Oat Drink’
  • 2 tablespoons of organic cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt (optional)

How to make vegan chocolate cake

1. Heat oven to Gas Mark 5
2. Pour the wholemeal flour into mixing bowl
3. Sieve all other dry ingredients and combine with flour in mixing bowl, stirring well
4. In a jug, mix together the cider vinegar, egg replacer, plant milk, and vanilla essence
5. Add the contents of the jug to the dry ingredients, stir and mix well
6. Pour into cake tin
7. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes

Ingredients for vegan chocolate fudge topping

• 150g of Sweet Freedom OR maple syrup, agave syrup, date syrup, malt extract etc.
• 70g of organic 10-12% fat cocoa powder OR use 50/50 cocoa powder & carob powder

How to make vegan chocolate fudge topping

1. Pour the syrup into a jug
2. Sieve the cocoa powder into the jug
3. Stir and mix well until a creamy fudge consistency is achieved - it may take a couple of minutes – keep stirring!
4. Add more syrup or a small amount of plant milk if required
5. Spread evenly on the top of the cake
6. EAT & ENJOY!

Recipe and photo courtesy of Neil Robson.

Chocolate Cake

Recipe: Cauliflower Salad within 10 minutes

This recipe is for a versatile salad.

It may be eaten at room temperature, or refrigerated and served cold.

It's also, not the typical salad, which always sparks interest and livens things up. :)

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients for cauliflower salad

• ½ a head of cauliflower - raw
• 2 diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of Canola oil (also known as Rapeseed oil) or vegetable oil
• 1 bunch of chopped parsley
• 1 lemon - juiced
• 1 teaspoon of dry dill weed
• 15.5 oz can of chick peas

How to make cauliflower salad

1. Dice 2 large tomatoes
2. Finely chop 1 bunch fresh parsley
3. Mix the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl
4. Add pieces of raw cauliflower, which have been cut into small pieces
5. Wash and drain the chick peas
6. Add them chick peas to the bowl
7. In a small mixing bowl combine the oil with the lemon juice
8. Season with the dill weed

Recipe and photo courtesy of Ruth Gougian.

Recipe: Orangeberry and Fruit Granola within 5 minutes

This makes a great vegan breakfast, snack or dessert.

Ingredients for vegan orangeberry and fruit granola

• 250ml Orangeberry
• 2 of handfuls of granola
• 1 chopped banana
• 1 handful of raisins
• Sprinkling of desiccated coconut

How to make vegan orangeberry and fruit granola

1. Pour your granola into a bowl
2. Put the fruit on top
3. Scoop some orangeberry on top
4. Sprinkle with the desiccated coconut
5. Leave for a few minutes so the orangeberry starts to melt and soak into the granola - Orangeberry is a great fruity alternative to using soya/almond milk on your cereal/granola
6. Enjoy!

Recipe and photo courtesy of Michael and Victoria

Recipe: Filling Hemp “Oatmeal” within 5 minutes

Ingredients for vegan hemp oatmeal

• ½ a cup of oats
• 2 tablespoons of hemp seeds*
• 1 tablespoon of raisins
• 1/4 of a tablespoon of ground cinnamon
• ½ a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk

How to make vegan hemp oatmeal

1. Add all dry ingredients into your favourite breakfast bowl
2. Add plant-based milk of your choice
3. Enjoy a nice, filling, sweet without being a sweetened bowl of oats!

Notes *You may add more seeds if you'd like just be aware how much you add as hemp seeds are high in calories and fat--good fat, but even so, it is not beneficial to have too much of anything.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Braelynne Morrow.

Recipe: Mango Passionfruit Pie

Tools needed

- Blender
- Food Processor
- Dehydrator (Optional)
- 7.5” Pie Tin

Ingredients for the vegan mango and passion fruit pie crust

• 1 ¼ cup Macadamia Nuts (soaked and dehydrated)
• 3 tablespoon of Desiccated Coconut
• 1 tablespoon of  Coconut Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Coconut Palm Nectar*
• ¼ tablespoon of Salt
• ¼ tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

*This is not raw – for a fully Raw recipe replace this with Date Paste

Ingredients for the vegan mango and passionfruit pie filling:-

• 1 cup Chopped Sweet Mango
• ¾ of a cup of Sour Passionfruit Goo
• ¼ of a cup of Coconut Palm Nectar*
• ¼ of a cup of Irish Moss Paste
• 3 tablespoon of  Coconut Oil
• 2 Vanilla Beans
• 1 pinch of Salt

How to make vegan mango and passionfruit pie

1. Blitz Macadmia Nuts and Desiccated Coconut in food processor until it's almost powder
2. Add the remainder of the ingredients for the crust and blitz until well incorporated and it compresses easily between your fingers
3. Gently wipe down the pie tin with coconut oil and press crust into it
4. Blend all of the filling ingredients until it's smooth and creamy
5. Pour the filling into the crust and let it set in the fridge for 4 - 6 hours or in the freezer for 2 - 3 hours
6. Garnish with Desiccated Coconut or Mango Chunks and Serve!

Mango and Passionfruit pie (whole)

Photos and recipe courtesy of Jonny Freesh

Recipe: Strawgo Cheesecake

Strawgo Cheesecake is a great recipe, which is quick, easy and involves no cooking! A sure quick fire dessert to impress at any time of the year.

Michael and Victoria

Ingredients for vegan Strawgo cheesecake

• 500ml tub of Strawgo
• Half a packet of vegan digestive biscuits
• 1-2 tablespoons of vegan margarine spread
• 1 punnet fresh strawberries
• 1 large mango - alphonso is preferable

How to make vegan Strawgo cheesecake

1. Put the vegan biscuits in a food processor until they turn to a light crumb texture
   • If you don't have a food processor or just want to do it without using one; just put into a sealed plastic bag and bang away with a rolling pin
2. Once you have your biscuit base in a light crumbly texture add in the margarine spread and mix together until the biscuits turn slightly darker and thicker in texture - your base is then ready
3. Pour into your baking try base and simple flatten and smooth with a spoon until compact
4. Now get your tub of Strawgo (to make the frozen fruit dessert easier to spread leave it to thaw for 5 minutes)
5. Once it has softened scoop it onto the base and smooth - Be quick otherwise it will melt
6. Finally top with your punnet of strawberries and sliced mango in whatever way you fancy - We like to do a mixture of leaving the chopped and whole strawberries with stalks for a more pretty effect
7. Cut up and serve
8. If you are not going to eat it straight away, pop the dish into the freezer and take out a few minutes before serving or serve frozen for a great frozen cake

Recipe and photo courtesy of Michael and Victoria

Recipe: Sugar-Free Hazelnut Spread

This recipe makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients for hazelnut spread

• 1 cup organic hazelnuts - roasted
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons of organic cacao powder
• 3 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup of almond milk
• 1 tablespoon of organic coconut oil
• 1 pinch of sea salt

How to make vegan hazelnut spread

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. Lay out the hazelnuts onto a baking sheet and pop in the oven for ten minutes
3. Watch them carefully as oven temperatures vary and these can go from perfectly fine to burnt quickly
4. Remove hazelnuts from oven
5. Using your fingers or a paper towel, remove skins from hazelnuts - they will come off easily but it doesn't need to be perfect
6. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor
7. Process at high speed for 2-3 minutes until you have a paste
8. Add coconut oil and process for another minute, until it looks smooth
9. Add all remaining ingredients, process for another 2-3 minutes until you have a creamy texture
10. At this point it will be quite thin and liquidy
11. Place it into a jar (I use mason jars) and refrigerate for one hour
12. Remove from fridge and it will be a spreadable texture

If you store this in the pantry, it will remain fresh for about 2 weeks. I like to make it in small batches so we never get to the point that it’s gone bad because we didn't use it quickly enough.

Use the spread on your favourite baked goods, fresh fruit (like apple slices) or on sprouted grain bread.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Sophia.

Recipe: Unleavened Fougasse with Rosemary

Fougasse is a traditional Provençal flattish bread which is similar to Focaccia. This recipe serves 1

Ingredients for vegan unleavened Fougasse

• 100g of wheat flour
• 4g of Baking powder
• 10g of Olive oil
• 50g of water
• 0.5g of Rosemary
• 0.5g of salt

How to make vegan unleavened Fougasse

1. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl
2. Add the water and oil and mix vigorously until you are able to form the dough into small balls
3. Flatten out the balls of dough on a flat surface
4. Oil them on both sides and sprinkle with the rosemary
5. Bake them on a floured baking sheet for 25 mins, or more if a crisper crust is desired

To create a leaf pattern in the bread use a sharp knife or pastry scraper to create a slit down the middle of the bread, as well as, five slits on either side of it. Carefully separate the slits open to create a more prominent design.

Recipe courtesy of Constantin. Translation courtesy of Sarah.

Recipe: Houmous

This recipe serves 1.

Ingredients for vegan houmous

• 15g of dried chick peas
• 20g of lemon juice
• 10g of Rapeseed oil - also known as Canola oil
• 10g of Tahini

How to make vegan houmous

1. Soak the chick peas in cold water overnight
2. Rinse and cook until they are soft enough to purée
3. Mix the drained chick peas with the Tahini, lemon juice and oil
4. Blend the mixture
5. Add salt to taste

Note: the flavour and digestibility of chick peas is improved if they are peeled after cooking.

Recipe courtesy of Constantin. Translation courtesy of Sarah.

Recipe: Pasta with a twist within 25 minutes

I didn't make this but I definitely enjoyed eating it! :)

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients for the pasta

•    2/3 of a tablespoon of olive oil
•    3/4 of a bunch of broccoli – torn into edible sized pieces
•    1 fresh chilli – finely chopped
•    2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves – left whole
•    salt to taste
•    pepper to taste
•    8 cherry tomatoes – left whole
•    130g of pasta – I  use rigatoni
•    1/2 tablespoon of vegan margarine – I  use Pure sunflower margarine
•    2 carrots – grated
•    1 small (200g) can of sweetcorn
•    vegan sausage – thin circular slices – I  use Taifun Tofu-Wiener
•    1 tablespoon of salt – for the pasta

How to make the pasta

1.    Add the olive oil to a pan and heat it
2.    When it’s hot, add the broccoli let it cook for 2 minutes before adding the chill
3.    When the broccoli has become a little bit 'burnt', add the spinach, salt and pepper
4.    After 2 minutes, add the cherry tomatoes
5.    While this is cooking, boil some water and use it to boil the pasta in a separate pan
6.    Add the salt to the pasta and stir
7.    Check the pasta after 7 minutes and if it’s the way you like it, drain the water and add the pasta to the vegetables
8.    Add the margarine to the pan (with the vegetables and pasta in it) and stir
9.    To serve, create different sections on a plate, separating the carrots, sweetcorn and Wiener, and the pasta. 

Pasta served with grated carrots, sweetcorn and Wiener

Recipe: Banana Muffins within one hour

This recipe creates 12 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients for vegan banana muffins

• 4 very ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoons of vegan margarine
• 1 tablespoon of oil
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 a cup of granulated sugar
• 1/4 of a cup of light brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of Baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of Baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon powder
• 1/4 of a cup of Walnuts that are toasted and chopped
• 1/4 of a cup of vegan dark chocolate, chocolate chips

How to make vegan banana muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree F or 190 degree C for at least 10 minutes
2. Place the oven rack in middle of the oven
3. Put muffin liners in a tray
4. Put the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder in a bowl
5. Mix it well
6. Mash the bananas in a separate bowl
7. Add the margarine, oil and vanilla extract
8. Mix it together and then add granulated sugar and light brown sugar
9. Mix it and add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
10. Mix it but do not over mix it
11. Then add the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips
12. Fold them in and divide the batter in the muffin liners
13. Bake them in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes
14. Serve warm or let it cool completely

A tip:-

Check the muffins a few minutes earlier than the stated time by inserting toothpick in the middle of it. If the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are done.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Sheela Shah.