Vegan Yum Yum (40 page)
Ingredients
Sponge Cake
1
cups soy milk mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Chocolate shavings (optional)
Sprinkles (optional)
step 8
Once the cakes are cool, place the trifle dish on top on the cake and use a sharp knife to trace around the dish, just breaking the “skin” of the cake. Press the trifle dish down into the cake, twisting as you do so. If needed, use the knife again to cut all the way through. Remove the round piece of cake. Repeat until you have gotten as many rounds out of each cake as you can, depending on what size dish you've used. Each round should be 1 inch tall.
step 9
Using a sharp knife, carefully slice each round in half horizontally, making two ½-inch-thick rounds. Cover with plastic wrap until ready for assembling.
step 10
To assemble the trifles, place a dollop of cherry filling into the trifle dish, then add a cake round, pushing it down into the bottom of the dish. Add some pudding on top of that, then cherry filling, and another round. Press down. Add one more layer of pudding. This should bring you to the top of the glass. Top with optional chocolate shavings or sprinkles. Add fresh cherries as a garnish and serve or refrigerate until serving. (Note that larger trifles will use more than two rounds of cakeâyou should have four to work with.)
Honeydew Coconut Tapioca
T
his dessert has a lot of bang for its buck. Visually stunning and super delicious, it requires minimal effort to put together. It's quickest to make if you look for the semihydrated tapioca pearls that are sold for boba tea drinks (aka bubble tea), but you can make it with traditional tapioca as well.
Honeydew Coconut Tapioca
Makes 4 to 6 servings
step 1
Cook the tapioca according to package directions.
step 2
Heat the coconut milk over medium heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
step 3
Using a melon baller, make several melon balls from the honeydew.
step 4
Scoop the tapioca pearls into serving dishes. Top with sweetened coconut milk. Add melon balls to the top and a sprig of mint to garnish if desired. Serve.
Ingredients
1 cup black semidried tapioca pearls
1 14-ounce can coconut milk
3 tablespoons sugar
½ ripe honeydew melon
Fresh mint for garnish
(optional)
Miniature Baked Doughnuts
I
set out to create a vegan doughnut recipe that didn't involve frying. All you need is a “petite doughnut pan,” which should be available at kitchen stores or online. Look for something nonstick. My standard party dessert has been cupcakes up till now, but now that I know how easy doughnuts are to make, I've been converted.
Miniature Baked Doughnuts
Makes 20 doughnuts
step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 ºF.
step 2
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon with a whisk to mix thoroughly.
step 3
Combine the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, egg substitute, and margarine in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and mix until the margarine is melted. This mixture should not get too hot; you should be able to stick your finger in the mixture and feel slightly warm. If you burn yourself: (1) it's not my fault! and (2) it's too hot for the dough!
step 4
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. It should form a very soft dough or thick batter.
step 5
Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out the dough into the ungreased, nonstick mini-doughnut pan. Smooth out the top of the doughnuts with your fingers, clearing off the post in the middle of each one. This will make for more even, prettier doughnuts, but isn't crucial. If you overfill, your doughnuts will come out looking like they have muffin tops. While not the end of the world, it's not very doughnut-like either.
step 6
Bake for 12 minutes until the doughnuts are almost browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Invert the hot pan over a cutting board or cooling rack to release the doughnuts. Allow to cool completely before decorating (unless you're making powdered sugar doughnuts; see instructions below). If you let them cool loosely covered with plastic wrap, the donuts will stay soft and fluffy.
Ingredients
Special Equipment Needed
Petite doughnut pan
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon
(scant)
nutmeg
1 tiny pinch
(or shake)
cinnamon
½ cup soy milk
½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Egg substitute for 1 egg
4 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine
Decorating Directions
Chocolate-dipped Doughnuts:
This is the easy part. Melt 1 bar of your favorite dark chocolate in the microwave. Remove from the microwave and stir every 15 seconds until chocolate is smooth and barely warm to the touch. I should mention that you should be very careful not to get any water in the chocolate or it could seize up, and no one likes that! Dip your doughnuts one by one into the chocolate, then place on a wire rack and sprinkle with sprinkles.
Glazed Doughnuts with Sprinkles:
Whisk together ½ cup lump-free powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of soy milk. Dip the “bottom” half of the doughnut (the side with the nicer shape) into the glaze, let some drip off, then dip glazed side down into a bowlful of sprinkles (¼ to ½ cup). Transfer to a wire rack that has been set on top of some parchment paper (or wax paper). The excess glaze will drip through the rack onto the paper for easy cleanup later.
Powdered Sugar Doughnuts:
While the doughnuts are still warm from the oven, roll them in a bowl of powdered sugar.
Striped Doughnuts:
Dip doughnuts into the powdered sugar glaze (see glazed doughnuts above for glaze recipe), then drizzle with melted chocolate.
