Vegan lemon cake

I LOVE lemons and citrusy tastes and have been experimenting with vegan lemon cakes for a while.  This one has a lovely clean taste to it, not interfered with in any way.  I've felt others have been oddly "muddy" with the addition of other ingredients to substitute for the eggs. Here the lemon juice itself does the job by activating the baking powder and making everything light and fluffy.

One of these doesn't last long in our house!

You can make these with gluten free flour (I've done it by just subbing in Dove's Farm self raising with nothing else added as their mix already has xanthan gum in it).

Another option is little cupcakes.  One batch of batter will make you 12 normal sized cupcakes.  Bake these for about 18 minutes.

Ingredients

2 cups Self Raising Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
Zest & Juice of 1 Large Lemon (reserve 2 teaspoons of juice for the icing)
100ml Vegetable Oil
170ml Cold Water

Icing
1 cup Icing Sugar
2 tsp reserved lemon juice (plus a little water if needed)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C

1. Measure out the flour and sugar using a measure all cup and add to a classic batter bowl.

2. Measure the baking powder using an adjustable measuring spoon and add to the bowl.

3. Zest the lemon with the Microplane zester, add to the flour and mix well with a stainless steel whisk to aerate.

4. Use the citrus press to squeeze the lemon into an easy read measuring cup, reserve two teaspoons for the icing,  and add to the bowl.

5. Add the oil and the water, measured in the easy read measuring cup, and mix thoroughly with a mix n scraper to make sure all is combined well.

6. Pour into a stoneware loaf pan or lined loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes until fully cooked. Check it's cooked by listening to it - put your ear up close and if it's making little crackly-pop noises it could take a few more minutes. Or poke with your finger - if it bounces back nicely, its done!

7. Remove from the loaf pan and cool on a stackable cooling rack.

8. When cool, make the icing for the top. Sieve the icing sugar and stir in lemon juice and drops of water until the consistency is wet enough to spread over the cake.

TIP:  If your lemons are small use the juice of one and a half in the cake and the rest for the icing.  My lemons seem to have been organic Monsters recently!

Thank you to The Ethical Chef for the inspiration and original recipe.

Citrus Berry Trifle

Wow I've been busy the past few weeks and haven't had much time for blogging. 

I was on the Gardening Scotland stand all day on Saturday with some Pampered Chef colleagues and I made this trifle as a display piece.  I taste tested with my husband as I made it and will definitely be making it again as the trifle is now inedible after sitting on display.  So sad!

I also think I could have a good go at making this egg and dairy free, but I'll have to work on it...I'll get back to you once I've had a go.

In the meantime, here is the original Pampered Chef recipe.

Citrus Berry Trifle

Ingredients:

4-5  limes

175  g full fat soft cheese, softened

150  ml sweetened condensed milk

350  ml whipping cream or double cream, whipped to form soft peaks

450  g fresh berries such as strawberries, raspberries and blackberries or blueberries

450  g Madeira cake, cut into 2.5 cm cubes

600  ml (about 400 g) lemon sorbet

20  g flaked almonds, toasted

Additional fresh berries, to decorate (optional)


Directions:
1.  Slice 2 limes using Ultimate Mandoline fitted with v-shaped blade; set aside. Using Zester/Scorer, zest remaining limes; finely chop zest using Chef's Knife to measure 2 teaspoons zest. Juice limes into Easy Read Measuring Cup using Citrus Press to measure 125 ml juice.

2.  In Classic Batter Bowl, whisk together soft cheese, condensed milk, lime juice and lime zest using Stainless Whisk, until smooth and combined. Attach open star tip to Easy Accent® Decorator; fill with about one-third of the whipped cream and set aside. Gently fold remaining whipped cream into soft cheese mixture with Small Mix 'N Scraper®, until smooth; set aside. Slice strawberries with Egg Slicer Plus(TM). Place mixed berries in Small Batter Bowl.
3.  Cut Madeira cake into 2.5-cm cubes on Cutting Board using Bread Knife. To assemble trifle, place half of Madeira cake cubes into bottom of Trifle Bowl. Top with half of the lemon sorbet using Small Scoop or Medium Scoop; spread evenly. Top sorbet with half of the berries and half of the soft cheese mixture. Arrange lime slices in a circular pattern against inside of bowl to decorate. Repeat layers once with remaining Madeira cake cubes, sorbet, berries and soft cheese mixture.

4.  Pipe whipped cream rosettes around rim of trifle using decorator. Coarsely chop almonds using Food Chopper; sprinkle over top of trifle before serving. Decorate with lime slices and additional berries, if desired. Serve.

Yield: Serves 16

Per serving: Energy 1382 kJ/329 kcal; Protein 3.4 g; Carbohydrate 29.9 g; Fat 22.6 g; Saturated Fat 13.5 g; Fibre 0.6 g; Salt 0.4 g

Cook's Tip: Any flavour of sorbet, such as mango, raspberry, apricot or dark cherry can be used in this recipe, if desired.

Chilled fresh lemon mousse may be substituted for the lemon sorbet, if desired. Scoop and spread the mousse gently, taking care not to crush too much air out of the mousse.

© The Pampered Chef, Ltd. 2006
www.pamperedchef.com