For the next 12 days leading up to Christmas, it is my pleasure to share some of my most treasured vegan recipes, some old favorites and some brand new, perfect for this grand holiday.
I’m starting with dessert, as this recipe(from 2009) might take a little bit more preparation and planning than the others. However, when you present this beauty to your loved ones, the smiles on their faces and their oohs and ahs will make any extra little bit of effort entirely worth it.
Named after Southern Living Magazine’s annual cover cake for their December issue, “The Big White Cake” is a bit of a misnomer, for though the frosting is a luscious pillowy white, the cake is German chocolate. And between the rich layers is a festive–and lightly spiked–adaptation of traditional German chocolate cake filling with it’s nuts and coconut. Dried cranberries and citrus make it a true celebration of winter and gift of the season.
Sugared fruit guilds this delicious, impressive lily. And for all of its wow-power, “The Big White Cake” is really not difficult at all.
This week, I created a cupcake challenge for my Advanced and AP Art Students.
Entitled, “Hey Cupcake! What’s Up?,” it started on Thursday with them making beautiful sketches of 3 different kinds of vegan cupcakes: 2 from Whole Foods (an Oreo flavored and a peanut butter flavored), and 1 that I made: Red Velvet from the recipe for “Crimson Velvet” cupcakes in the fabulous cookbook: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa (who needs no last name, like Cher or Madonna…or Prince).
My students pronounced my cupcakes absolutely divine as opposed to Whole Foods’ pricey ones that had flavorless, dry cake and grainy frosting. They looked pretty but mine were delicious AND pretty…don’t you think?
So, I just want to put in a plug for the book. I have made and adapted SO many from that book and they never fail! Thanks Isa (Chandra Moskowitz)!
P.S. I’ll post images of my students’ finished artwork soon! But, in the meantime, here is a detail of my teacher sample entitled “She Wore Red Velvet.” Mine is about body image/eating disorder/food obsession. (Topics with which I am only too familiar from my teens/20s…and the residual.) Part of the piece is painted with coffee! I was up working on it after my husband and I went to dinner until 12:30 this morning. Did I earn an A? (Sorry about the image quality…it was taken this morning at 6:20 with my not-so-great ‘Droid camera phone on the kitchen counter!)
“Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake???” you may be thinking. “Ick!,” right?
Wrong! Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake is a long-standing classic for a reason. But this is one time when I felt that an old standby needed a little boost. Hence, my Vegan Chocolate Nayo Cake was born. Click on the link to go straight to my recipe on the Nasoya website, or keep reading for the backstory.
Very generously, Nasoya recently sent me a jar each of their newly reformulated Nayonaise and NayoWhipped sandwich spreads to review. So, since I had three jars of mayo in my fridge (those two plus my jar of Vegenaise), I decided I should make something that called for a lot of it to use some of it up before it spoiled.
I remembered a very “old-skool” recipe called “Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake,” so I Googled it and got busy with some research. Many of the recipes I found call for a couple of eggs along with the mayonnaise, but I found one that was naturally vegan except for the mayo, so I started there, substituting NayoWhipped, as it is the sweeter of the two varieties that I was sent.
But I wasn’t completely sold on the cake. Since vegan mayo contains no eggs, I felt the cake needed more lift. But more than that, it need more flavor! I had scanned through the comments on the recipe before I made it and the responses were 180 degrees apart: from the best cake folks had ever eaten to are-you-kidding-I’ll-never-make-this-again. And, I can see how different palates would interpret the flavor so differently. It needed work.
More searching turned up a vegan recipe, but it called for applesauce along with the mayo, and I don’t keep applesauce around. What I really wanted was a recipe that could be made from a standard baker’s pantry.
So, since, unfortunately, our epileptic Great Dane, Minnie, had a seizure in the wee hours of the morning a little while back—time to up her phenobarbital!—I was WIDE awake and decided to hit the kitchen, creating my own version of Vegan Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake that I had been working out in my mind for the couple of days since my first test.
One of the people who commented on that first recipe I found recommended making it with coffee, so that was one of my substitutions, which dramatically helped in the flavor department. But I punched up the flavor even more with Creme de Cacao (it’s vegan!). I just happened to have some on-hand after creating a Vegan Grasshopper Pie for St. Patty’s Day and, boy, am I glad I did!
Besides the coffee and Creme de Cacao, what really did the trick was some additional natural sugar and some apple cider vinegar, which is not as astringent as white vinegar, and adds very subtle complexity. I upped the amount of baking soda from 1 1/2 teaspoons to 2, whisking it into the vinegar for some serious fizzing action. This seems to give a little extra “oomph” to the leavening power of the baking soda. But I also added just a teaspoon of baking powder for good measure.
I am so happy with the end result and just as happy to share it with you and other visitors to the Nasoya website (if you haven’t tried their tofu, I recommend it too!)!
As I said in the card that accompanied this cake when I dropped it off to Independence Veterinary Hospital, where we have taken our pets for MANY years, “Thank you for many years of setting my mind at ease and easing me through when the news was unsettling.”
I decided to make them a little token of appreciation following my frantic Facebook message to our vet’s wife, Kim, who manages the practice, in which I said, “Minnie just ate about 10 olive pits before I took them out to compost! Is she going to be okay?” The answer was, “She’ll be fine,” and led to a funny–and disgusting–exchange about what our dogs have gotten into.
According to the thank you note she wrote, “the guys”– make that our vet, Brian Hastings, and his vet tech, son and one of our beloved dog-sitters, Dusten Keith–were dubious about eating a vegan cake. The horror! But evidently, “they loved it too.”
And so will you! The complex caramel-y notes of the organic cola adds depth to the flavor while the carbonation does wonderful things to the texture. Enjoy!
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon five spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup molasses
1 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweeted soymilk (plain would also be fine)
1/4 cup soy sour cream
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup canola oil (or other mild vegetable oil)
1 cup organic cola, such as Blue Sky Cola or China Cola (Stout beer is a tasty alternative to cola)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon-Sour Cream Glaze (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, except baking soda, make a well in center, and add all wet ingredients, except cola. Whisk to completely combine. In a small bowl or cup, whisk soda into cola. It will fizz up. Quickly whisk into batter until completely incorporated. Transfer the batter into prepared bundt pan and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack, and cool for about 15 minutes. Loosen around all edges with a knife, being careful not to slice into the cake. (I use a plastic knife, as my pan has a non-stick surface, but I still grease and flour it!) Place serving plate over the top of pan and invert the cake onto the plate. Let cool and then glaze if desired.
Cinnamon-Sour Cream Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice (preferably, fresh squeezed) + additional for thinning if necessary
1 tablespoon vegan sour cream
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (optional)
In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients until very smooth. Thin with additional orange juice if necessary. Using a spoon, drizzle over cake. Garnish with a sprinkling of grated orange zest if desired.
This Coca-Cola Cake with Fudgy Frosting is yet more evidence that I have been having powerful winter cravings for Southern comfort foods!
How fun that these obsessions have led to quite a few brand new vegan recipes that I am delighted to share with you.
But, if you are thinking, “Ick. I would NEVER drink a Coca-Cola,” wait! There are a number of organic brands with deeply spicy notes and complex flavor that would be a perfect upgrade to this southern staple.
Enjoy the latest, this addicting cake, complete with back story and organic cola recommendations, on the Go Dairy Free website, the definitive site for all things non-dairy. Thanks to creator, Alisa Fleming!
I think I am obsessed with veganizing Cook’s Country/Cook’s Illustrated recipes!
My latest redux is their Classic Gingerbread Cake. And it is special!
It may well be the moistest and most deeply and complexly flavored cakes you will ever enjoy. I credit the Guinness Stout and the fresh grated ginger, among other things.
When my new long-distance friend and fellow (amazing) Vegan Heritage Press cookbook author, Bryanna Clark Grogan (World Vegan Feast and others), was helping me test the recipes for this dessert, she served it to friends, one of whom said, “This is the best ——- cake I’ve ever eaten!” That’s good enough for me! And I trust it will be for you too.
The Back Story
Back in my pre-vegan years in Nashville, I did some moonlighting as a catering assistant for my dear friend Monica Holmes at her award winning Clean Plate Club. She made what can only be described as a transcendent Flourless Chocolate Cake. Since this type of cake contains no flour, the batter relies on eggs for structure and lift.
I knew there had to be a way to veganize it, but the recipes I’d researched, including from people I respect in the field, looked and sounded like vegan chocolate cheesecakes made with tofu or they contained beans and appeared a bit dry with a crackly top, or they actually included some flour. I’m sure all are delicious, but they aren’t what I wanted.
I wanted something as dense, moist, silky and rich as the original. And that’s what I got, but not until I had baked the cake about 5 times (and made the cream about 7)! At least. The first try was an unmitigated disaster. But it had potential, and that just spurred me on to redouble my efforts. Meanwhile, the generous Bryanna, in British Columbia, was doing the same with the recipe revisions I’d send her, and we were comparing notes. Bry, I love you for many reasons, including your help with this feat o’ chocolate and cream!
My version of the cake is, indeed, based on tofu, but it has some “secret” ingredients responsible for its fabulousness which you are sure not to confuse with cheesecake. It’s its own brand of wonderful.
And the cream, well, it is truly revolutionary. At least, I could find no similar recipes online. As you can see in the photo, it is a beautiful thing to behold. Plus, it is fat-free, cholesterol-free, soy-free, gluten-free (if your extracts are gluten-free), and low calorie! Not only that, but it is delicious and a breeze to make.
For a very long time, I had been thinking that there had to be a way to make homemade vegan whipped cream from one of the vegan creamers. I love both savory and sweet cashew cream, but it is a little heavy and thick, calorie laden, and distinctively flavored. Ditto coconut cream aerated in one of those n2o cartridge-powered whippers.
My cream is delicious with a creamy-fluffy, even billowy texture, and a more neutral flavor (but by neutral, I don’t mean bland!). You will love it on all of your desserts that call for a whipped topping. The base is coconut milk creamer. But can you guess the secret ingredient that makes the magic happen? Funny story about the coconut milk creamer: I purchased it, disappointed that my grocery store was out of soymilk creamer. But what a happy accident! It turns out that the recipe ONLY works with the coconut milk creamer. With soymilk creamer, you get something akin to pastry cream instead.
The Recipe and Thanks to VegNews
Many thanks to the brilliantly talented and generous food editors et al at VegNews for publishing these recipes in “What’s Cooking” online. Please click right HERE to be taken directly to their site for both. And while you’re there, if you haven’t already, enjoy all the good things VegNews offers its readers on a daily basis.
Happy Thanksgiving
I’m posting this recipe now just in case you, like me, are offering chocolate for the first time for Thanksgiving. But, personally, I think the winter holidays are the dessert’s time to shine, dressed up with a little pomegranate seed bling, as in the photo, or a bit of crushed peppermint. In the summer, it has to be raspberries.
Find the back-story and simple recipe for these cupcakes HERE.
And if you don’t have lemon verbena growing in your garden, run, don’t walk, to the nearest garden center or farmer’s market. It has become one of my favorite herbs: pretty, versatile, and easy to grow!
If you live in or near Washington, D.C.–or are lucky enough to visit our nation’s capital and one of my favorite cities (it never seems the same twice!)–put Restaurant Nora on your dining to-do list.
For the last two years, we’ve traveled to D.C. with different couples to ring in the New Year. This year we went with our good pals, Jonell and Scott Walthall, staying at theW Hotel again this year. It is hip and stylish and ideally located between the Washington Mall (NOT a shopping mall!) and the White House.
In trying to choose the perfect spot for a New Year’s Eve dinner, I recommended Nora’s in Dupont Circle, the first restaurant to be certified organic in the U.S. But my connection to the restaurant goes even deeper. I first learned of it years ago when my good friend, Anne Wolcott, shared Nora’s recipe for Chocolate Carrot Cake that had been published in a culinary magazine.
Anne had it made for her wedding cake and shared it with me, requesting it at some point later for her birthday. At the time, chocolate and carrots sounded perfectly odd together–a forced pairing that didn’t seem necessary or even desirable. However, when I was developing recipes for The Blooming Platter Cookbook–whose focus is seasonal–and was in need of a spring dessert, I decided to veganize and adapt the original vegetarian recipe and see what I thought. I adored it! And I hope you will. The recipe follows at the end of this post.
Back to Restaurant Nora…I asked Jonell if she would mind doing a little investigating to see if it would be appealing to the three omnivores in our party, as I didn’t want to speak for them. She discovered it to be an optimum choice, offering a 5 course omnivorous prefix meal AND a 5 course vegan prefix meal. The only difference between the two–besides the obvious–was that the omnis had several choices for all but the first course and I only had one. But one was all I needed. Each course was perfection!
The meal was light, but plenty filling, full of flavor, stunningly presented, and timed impeccably for an ideal rhythm and flow throughout the evening, lasting about two hours and 45 minutes from start to finish. Plus, the restaurant itself is so warm and inviting. The modern-with-traditional-roots appearance of the Amish and Mennonite quilts that hang on the exposed brick dining room walls embody one of my favorite aspects of Nora’s: a fresh take on classics.
Following are photos of each course (I apologize for the poor light quality), ending with my Chocolate Carrot Cake recipe. But first, here is our party in the lobby of the W ready to hail a cab to Nora’s. My stunning orange dress came from Zara’s that day (on sale!), purchased because Jonell and I had both packed long-sleeved black dresses, black tights, and black ankle boots. No way was I going out dressed as the Bobbsie Twins! My necklace and earrings are from Terri Lindelow’s “Cluster” series.
Jonell & Scott Walthall with Betsy & Joe DiJulio1st Course: winter squash and wild mushroom terrine
1) The first course for all of us was this diminutive but flavorful triangular slice of winter squash and wild mushroom terrine.
2nd course: hearts of palm and mango salad
2) My second course was a shaved hearts of palm and mango salad with pomegranate seeds and a citrusy dressing. (Hearts of palm always remind me of my father; he adores them and we usually put a tin of them in his stocking , but the socks he requested took up most of the space this year.) I have never been served hearts of palm shaved and it was a really nice way to enjoy them.
3rd Course: roasted beet and fruit salad
3) Up next was this shimmering landscape of roasted beets with fresh fruit: juicy and simultaneously earthy and bright. It was almost to beautiful to eat. Almost.
4th Course: vegetable risotto with truffle shavings
4) The most filling of the dishes was, of course, my entree. Still, it wasn’t too much: a creamy and flavorful vegetable risotto with decadent truffle shavings over the top.
5th Course: trio of fresh fruit sorbets
5) For dessert, hot tea plus a trio of fresh fruit sorbets and a cookie called a “Cat’s Tongue.
I love sorbet and it was the ideal ending to this multi-course meal: refreshing and light. But sometimes we vegans want something even more decadent for dessert. If you feel the same, I hope you will enjoy this sneak preview from The Blooming Platter Cookbook:
Vegan Chocolate Carrot Cake from The Blooming Platter Cookbook
Vegan Chocolate Carrot Cake
Yield: 8 servings
When my friend Anne Wolcott raved about the chocolate carrot cake she served at her wedding, “mouth watering” was not the first thought that came to mind. I adore both chocolate and fresh spring carrots, but I didn’t think they could be happily married. However, Nora Pouillon of the eponymous Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C., knew exactly what she was doing as culinary match-maker. Her cake inspired my vegan version.
Cake:
1 cup soy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons natural sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup walnut oil or canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
Ganache:
9 ounces vegan semi-sweet chocolate
chips
1/2 cup vegan sour cream
Garnish:
Halved or chopped pecans or walnuts
1. Cake: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and vinegar. Set aside to curdle, whisking a couple of times. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the soy milk mixture, walnut oil, and vanilla. Stir until all ingredients are well combined and no lumps remain. Stir in the carrots.
3. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the side and then invert onto the rack to cool completely, covered with a kitchen towel. Transfer to a serving platter.
4. Ganache: In a double-boiler, heat the chocolate chips until melted, stirring frequently until smooth. Alternatively, you may heat them in a microwave-safe bowl at 20 to 30 second intervals in the microwave, whisking after each. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly whisk in the sour cream.
5. To assemble: Frost the top of the cake with the ganache, allowing some to cascade over the edges. Garnish with pecans or walnuts.
For the next 12 days leading up to Christmas, it is my pleasure to share some of my most treasured vegan recipes, some old favorites and some brand new, perfect for this grand holiday.
This week, I created a cupcake challenge for my Advanced and AP Art Students. 
P.S. I’ll post images of my students’ finished artwork soon! But, in the meantime, here is a detail of my teacher sample entitled “She Wore Red Velvet.” 
