Cinnabuns

My lovely friend Emilia recently baked some tasty looking cinnamon buns, which incited a giant craving for some! I hadn't made any in ages, so I skipped into the kitchen this morning to prepare these bad boys. There wasn't enough cinnamon/brown sugar mix in the rolls, so I incorporated it into the cream cheese icing. Incredelicious.

Hallows Eve Baking!

If you know anything about me, you will know that I jump all over any opportunity to bake cupcakes. Tonight is hallows eve and I have been in my kitchen for two days straight. I decided to take my cupcakes to work, because I haven't shared with my fine coworkers yet. For this spooky occasion, I've made Caramel Apple with homemade caramel sauce, Pumpkin Spice and Strawberry (sauce also homemade) filled Chocolate 'dirt' cupcakes, complete with a marzipan worm. I also made sugar decorations which were NOT easy to prepare, hence why they look ridiculous. Oh well, it was a learning experience!

I had some fun experimenting with different piping tips!

Canadian treats!

Here are a couple treats I made over my thanksgiving visit to Canada. I was determined to make a pumpkin cheesecake, but as our local health food shop never got any plain tofutti cream cheese in, I had to improvise. Instead I created a pumpkin caramel swirl pie with toasted pecans and a graham crust. It was a bit soft for a pie, but definitely the best tasting pumpkin pie I've ever had!!!

My mum celebrated her birthday while I was over, so I created a cupcake in her honor. It's called "The Grand Banana," a chocolate cupcake with a boozy banana flambé center, chocolate ganache, a Grand Marnier buttercream frosting topped with another chunk of banana flambé!

My goodness, it was decadent.

SEITAN'S SECOND CHANCE

Once long ago, I purchased this sketchy looking jar of globby faux meat called seitan. It was revolting. I wish I could recall exactly how it was prepared (i'm guessing a stir fry or similar). I never looked back on my decision to ban the stuff from my diet.

A few weeks ago I acquired a cookbook from my cousin brimming with seitan dishes. My curiosity was renewed. Then a recipe idea attached itself in my head and I was compelled to create it. Nothing fancy or innovative, just seitan stew. I scavenged for an alternative package of seitan (thinking perhaps I had a bad batch) but everywhere stocked the same bloody jar I had used before. I threw caution to the wind and bought it. Suffice to say, it was marvelous. Nicely paired with these vegan cheese scones/biscuits I've made a few times!

CUPCAKE EXPERIMENTO!

Another cupcake combo became lodged in my head... blackberries and chocolate. They turned out gorgeously, especially with the cream cheese blackberry icing, oh my!

BREAD... AGAIN + MYSTERY MUFFINS

I have certainly not given up on the bread front! Our housemate's lovely (and talented) boyfriend moved in with us for a few months and brought an arsenal of baking tools with him. One such delightful item was a bread book. I borrowed it (along with his scale) and produced these nearly perfected loaves.

Around the same time, I threw together an old favourite, muffins! (I believe it was banana chocolate chip... but I still enjoy referring to them as mystery muffins). I remember them being supremo delicio.

DEGREE SHOW DELICIOUSNESS!

I don't recall posting my epic degree show cupcake baking bonanza on here! I went all out, because my design work is, well, adequate, I thought why not WOW potential employers with my baked goods. I don't think any industry members were there, nor took notice, but at least my fellow students were pleased.

Chocolate Black Cherry Kirsch

Boston Cream

Mojito

Red Velvet

Vanilla Rooibos with toffee icing.

I know the icing looks look a dollop of, well something unpleasant, but it was the best icing i've ever made.

This is just another shot of the chocolate packing cakes I made with pistachios, chocolate chips and black cherries.

PACKING CAKES!

To accompany such an arduous task as packing up your belongings, I prepared a variety of cupcakes with pistachios and black cherries + chocolate chips! I recently made some peppermint chocolate ones to take to a job interview. Sadly I didn't photograph them, but man were they TASTY!

STRACHIO!

The latest cupcake experiment, strawberry pistachio. The pistachio is certainly subtle in flavour!

DROOLING

I've been so busy, I've forgotten to post about food – that and I haven't have enough time to prepare anything exciting.

Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

Naughty Strawberry + Chocolate Chip Milkshake

Pesto Pizza w/ Homemade Crust

My friend George is a genius in the kitchen. He's not even vegan and he created this phenomenal and simple dish. I can honestly eat this every single day (and have been pretty much).

ONE HAPPY VEGAN

A few recent culinary delights, plus a visit to the new vegan tea room, the October Cafe!

First, sweet potato + kale enchilada casserole. It was superb! I didn't really have proper layering items, so I used torn up pieces of flat bread mixed with bits of tortilla. Soo good.


I had an intense Boston Cream donut craving, so I thought, why not try it in cupcakes. The goo in the middle didn't taste like the donut sauce, but it was still awesome! I made half the batch with the filling inside and half, I cut the cupcakes and gave them middle layer.


I have been wanting to try spring rolls for awhile. The first round I made when I was tired and impatient, so the filling bits were too hot and started turning the filo into dough. The trick is to let the filling cool completely before assembling. I also threw together a sweet and sour sauce with red peppers, pineapples, tomato paste, tamari and who knows what else. It was pretty tasty. The side dish was a hasty noodle salad with radishes, cucumbers, spring onions, carrots and a sesame/tamari/ginger/garlic dressing. Spicy and simple!


Love this new place, the October Cafe near Old St. The owner was lovely + I had a yummy mango milkshake and the most stellar cheesecake in the universe. Serious. I can't wait to go and try their afternoon tea!

STRANGE FOOD

These probably look strange... but they were really good! I wanted something out of the ordinary, so I gave a recipe from Isa's Veganomicon a go. I know I've ragged on her in the past for the failure of her recipes in my incapable hands. But these quinoa/white bean balls worked out alright. I served them with a red wine/mushroom sauce, which was pretty much the same damn gravy I make all the time. I love it.

FINNISH SWEET BUNS

On my birthday this year, Emilia and I decided we should have champagne and cinnamon rolls. Her mum gave her a sweet little cookbook with her recipes in it. Within it was a recipe for some Finnish rolls that had both cinnamon AND cardamom. They rose oddly, but still tasted great, although rather, uh, well done... mmmm

GOOD WEEKENDS LOOK LIKE THIS

Man alive, this was a good weekend. Three of my favourite things.. following one of my favourite activities - hitting up one of the many Farmers Markets! It was Bermondsey this time. The vendors are always friendly and generally I can find everything I'm looking for.

These chocolate chip pumpkin cookies are probably THE best cookies I've ever eaten. My mum made them for us as kids during halloween. Usually they had smarties in them. I have since veganized the recipe, which is too precious for me to share, sorry!

PROJECT FOOD

When I'm intensely working, I generally don't think about what I throw together. Majority of the time I don't even notice what goes down. I really liked this dish though. It was so easy, just squash, grilled red peppers peppers and some fresh spinach. I added some toasted squash seeds because they're tasty (albeit soggy by the end).


There has also been a few times where I've really been into cabbage. Mostly salads, then I started making sweet + sour stir-fried cabbage (mmmm..). This was just another simple tamari/vinegarette coleslaw that I brainlessly pulled together.

FESTIVE FOOD

When I returned from Scotland during my last visit there in December, just before heading back to Canada for Christmas, I decided to make a bit of a pre-holiday dinner with my friend Hussain. Since we had gone to Edinburgh together the previous spring, I wanted to make something Scottish.. although I'm not certain how Scottish Colcannon is, perhaps more Irish? Anyway this was the dinner we made. Tofu/veggie pattie things with Colcannon + red wine/mushroom gravy. It went down well!

TRUFFLES

Returning to Canada always seems to be a good time for food experimentation. Possibly because I get bored there too easily. Over Christmas I made my second batch of truffles. I tried 2 variations, some with coconut milk, others using tofutti cream cheese. The ones with pistachios were decadent, as where the ones with kahlua inside. Fun fun.

STRESS CAKE

I had a bit of a love affair with coffee cake for awhile. I seem to go through food fixation phases quite a lot. This particular cake was the result of a stressful project that was utterly hopeless. Devouring this walnutty pleasantly spiced coffee accompaniment somehow made the project flailing okay. It also gave me another opportunity to play with the piping kit!

RED VELVET CUPCAKES (sprinkles mandatory)

This is one of my favourite photos. I went through a big red velvet cupcake phase after my homegirl Cindy and I made a batch at her apartment in Toronto. They taste best with Almond milk for SUPREMO moistness (and fun star sprinkles!).

LONG LOST TREATS

I am terrible at updating this site, I realize this. I guess I never thought anyone really bothered with it. I'm going to do my best to get back into blogging. It's been so long since I've posted many of these foods that I've forgotten exactly what they are.

I'm pretty sure these muffins were straight up almond + chocolate chip. Might have some dried cherries in there also. I know that was a pretty killer combo (cherry & almond).


These, I felt like I must master since moving to England. Sultana scones! Simple recipe, which I failed at making a few times before I really got somewhere. Essentially, it's butter mixed with flour/baking powder? a bit of sugar and a splash of milk. The key is to rub a little milk on the top of them before baking. They taste especially nice sliced in half and topped with jam.

I definitely understand why I end up with photos of a solitary baked good. Generally they are so irresistable that I end up eating most of the batch before they've had time to cool. In this particular situation, it's the chocolate addiction that leds me to polishing these off prior to setting properly in the fridge.

My mum has been making these Sweet Marie treats as long as I can remember. Chocolates, peanuts + goodness = BLISS.