29.10.11

Thank You Cake



Sometimes words just are not enough. Sometimes you have to find other ways of expressing gratitude to someone. The solution to this problem is always chocolate cake. Trust me.

I took a train back to school from New York and it was delayed 3 hours and my poor friend was stuck waiting for me at the station, freezing in her car while I called her every five minutes saying "Okay, they said we should be there in 20 minutes. Oh wait, make that an hour. Oh wait, two hours...." The least I could do was bake her a cake.

This cake is fairly basic, so I decided to boost the chocolatey goodness by drizzling homemade chocolate sauce all over it. Mmmm it came out light and fluffy and was so easy to make! It's the perfect recipe to whip out when you need another way to say "thank you" or "sorry" or "you're the best."



Basic Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sauce (from The Joy of Vegan Baking)

Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 heaping cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

1 cup cold water

1. Preheat oven to 350° and oil a bundt pan or 9" round cake pan.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 15 minutes and flip onto a plate.

Chocolate Sauce:

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp salt

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup vanilla soy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine dry ingredients in a sauce pan and then add the milk and vanilla.

2. Stir over medium heat and let it boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, it will thicken as it cools.



Of course, my kitchen lacks a real sauce pan, so I came up with the genius idea of using a tea kettle instead. It was actually perfect for easy pouring! ...Oh college life.


Enjoy!


28.10.11

Oops



Hey everyone, I'm sorry about this little hiatus I've been on the past couple of weeks. You see, there's this evil demon named midterms and he was keeping me under lock and key for a while, but after last Friday I was free! I've been on fall break in New York City for the past several days, seeing museums, shows, visiting friends, and of course trying delicious vegan food. There are some great places in the city. If you're ever there, go to 'S Nice Cafe- best vegan muffins ever.

Anyway. Long story short, I need to get back on my blogging game. I plan on having a new recipe for everyone tomorrow now that I have some free time to cook before classes start up again. See, I haven't abandoned you!

In the meantime, enjoy one of my all-time favorite artists/videos.

4.10.11

Pear Muffins



Finally, a recipe! After weeks of non-stop commotion, I finally had a chance to take a breather and bake.

Muffins are one of my absolute favorite things to make. They are so simple and so delicious and you can put almost anything in them and still have them taste great. Also I'm all out of oatmeal and cereal and it's been to rainy and gross to walk to IGA, so these little gems just solved my breakfast problems. Seriously. When I don't have breakfast, it's a big problem.



Pear Muffins

(make 18 muffins, or 12 muffins and 1 small loaf of bread)

3 cups flour

¾ cup brown sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups soy milk

½ cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 pears, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 400° and line a muffin tin with paper cups.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Stir until just combined.

3. Fold in the chopped pear and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, let cool and enjoy!





This song has been my jam this week.