Raw Vegan Butternut, Mango, Orange and Marigold Layer Cake

This is  not a cake 'cake' with a sponge, and its not a cheesecake though on first glance that is how it appears.

This is a Butternut, Mango and Orange Marigold Layer Cake,  which I have also pretentiously dubbed as Sunrise Cake.

The bottom is an almond crust, the middle Mango and butternut Squash filling is infused with Mango sweetness and then the topping finished off with a zingy zesty orange  jelly made with agar agar and then finished off with a light scattering of dried marigold flower petals - all depicting colours of the Sunrise. 

I was impressed with myself, though I have to admit the rice paper butterflies actually look a little out of place, here or maybe dare I say it tacky - I did like the scattering of the dried marigold petals.

This is not a very sweet cake, needs a squirt of (soya) cream to cut the richness of the butternut mango filling and the sharp twang from the orange topping.  Its also a very big cake, you can slice it in 8 pieces generously or in 14 slices.  I took some of it into work and shared it with my friends and some colleagues from omnivores to vegans and told them this Butternut, Mango and Orange Marigold Layer Cake was a Raw, vegan and gluten free cake. They were all very impressed and said they felt virtuous and quite light eating it.  

Bristol VegFest 2016 Part 1

I am taking a weekend break from sharing my Cornish Holiday photographs.  

Today I share with you my rainy day in Bristol.  For the third year running, we went to Bristol Veg Fest.  I took loads of pictures, so will be sharing them in two parts.  Today I will share with you my favourite discoveries and tomorrow the rest will follow. 

I kick off with the lovely Poppy Lettice-Boss the founder of Letttices. Poppy is very much like me (that is when I was doing vegetarian and vegan farmers markets) in lovingly creating small batches of artisan food.  

Letttices makes small scale plant based foods, but also vegan 'meat' and vegan 'cheeses'.  

Many of you will know that I am not vegan, but a vegetarian - although my diet is 95% vegan, I am still a vegetarian.  Anyway, I tried her Blue Cheese and wow, I loved how it really mimicked the real thing. Totally recommended.

Cheltenham Vegan Festival

I've never been to Cheltenham, England but when I saw that there was Cheltenham were hosting a Vegan Fair, well I thought this would be the weekend to go and make a whole day of it.  

It was icy cold, but the hospitality of the Cheltenham people was very warm that it was a delight to explore the city, but also the stalls at the Cheltenham Vegan Fair.   Although it was small,  I loved it as it made a fabulous and genuine refreshing change from the usual suspects in South Wales.  So here are some of the delights that my eyes (and belly) were able to feast on.  I apologise sincerely in advance if I have missed your stall here, it was getting busy so I was unable to take pictures of all that were there, but I did visit each and every one of them. 

 Lovely little Badger flower pots

I know a friend who would love this in her kitchen.  I regret not getting it for her now, it would have been a nice house warming gift.

Booming and Busy Bristol VegFest 2015

I had a good time in Bristol at the weekend, what made it even more enjoyable was the company of my nephew and niece.  Before heading down to the Harbour side for Bristol VegFest, we went into Stokes Croft not only to check out the graffiti art, but also to get some breakfast at Cafe Kino.  Then we winded our way to the city centre, when we decided to wander through St Nicholas Market and I treated myself to some Psycho Chocolate Chilli Salted Caramel with Naga Jolokia from the Hot Sauce Emporium. 

When we eventually got to Bristol VegFest it was super busy, I knew it would be so as I attended last year too.  Anyway, I had to go round twice, maybe even three times to absorb what was there, but I am sure that I miss loads in the hustle and bustle.  It was also quite hard to take pictures, so I only have a few to share.

The fabulous Ms Cupcake aka Melissa Morgan in person who was more than happy for me to take a photograph of her.  I have her The Naughtiest Vegan Cupcakes in Town, but have to admit that I have yet to bake from it.  The selection below has me tempted and I am not overly a cupcake girl, but I am happy to bake them for others.  

From baked vegan cupcakes to raw cakes and raw pizza from Paradise Unbakery which I was truly bowled over by. 

I really did not know where to look first.   Everything looked amazing.  

These were perhaps the most beautiful raw vegan cakes I have ever and I mean set eyes upon

 And you could see that they were truly made with love and edible flowers.

My nephew was tempted to try the Raw Thai Nam Home Coconut Water from Coco Face. 

I have box of vegan Marshmallows from Ananda's to make at home, but it was good to try a sample of how the successfully made vegan marshmallow would taste.

There were so many vegetarian and vegan caterers on site, that we were spoiled for choice of world wide cuisine.  I was really tempted by Brownins Caribbean vegan food, but the free samples of vegan cheese crackers and chocolate had me feeling quite content, that I wasn't quite ready to eat lunch. 

There were massive queues for the Happy Maki  (that specialised in vegan sushi wraps) and The Loving Hut, and as much as I would have loved to tried their offerings (of vegan 'fish' and chips with 'fish' sauce), I don't have the patience to line up for food.  

I was excited to see The Spotted Leopard there, but look forward to enjoying their grub some other day when I am in Bristol.

Momentarily I lost D, but when I looked back again he appeared with a cone of Smoked Jerk Spices chunky chips from The Happy Chippy.  I must admit, the last thing I expected to eat at the Vegfest was chips!

I have to admit, I did not come back home laden with goodies, just a few things amongst them Bengal Spice Tea and Koko Dairy and Soy Free milk, but all in all it was a good day and one I would be happy to do again, come next year. 

Raw Beetroot Coconut Halwa Heart Fudge

Bye Bye VeganMofo2014. 

Ultimately I signed up to VeganMofo for myself.  I really enjoyed it, though it was hard on days to come home from work and blog pretty much every single day in the month of September, but I think I just about managed it.  

I've stumbled upon some lovely new vegan blogs (thanks especially to VeganMofo Randomizer) and re-acquainted with some old fellow bloggers.  Its been nice; and most of all I have been inspired and have bookmarked a number of wonderful, innovative and delicious vegan recipes (many that I really cannot wait to make). 

To show my appreciation to the good people who organise VeganMofo every year, and all those bloggers that came along, especially those that that took time to leave a comment on my humble little blog, well I offer this Raw Beetroot - Coconut Halwa Hearts.  Thank you. Thank you so so much for welcoming this Welsh vegetarian into your warm VeganMofo arms. 

This is pretty much the same recipe as the Betroot 'Bounty' Bars, but here they are completely naked and raw Grrrrrr  served simply on a plate.  This is not a dessert to eat with your fingers, unless you want beet red fingers. Just enjoy every bite - its awesome!

Raw Beetroot and Coconut Halwa Hearts Fudge
Makes depends on the size of your moulds from 8 - 12
Ingredients
185g medium raw beetroot, peeled and roughly chopped
150g soft dates
50g dessicated unsweetened coconut
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Method
Put all the ingredients into a food processor (I used my Optimum 9400 Blender) and blitz, not to a puree though, more liked grated coconut until it comes together like a dough.  Scrape out into a bowl, and press into your chosen moulds.  Put in the fridge and allow to firm up in the fridge, preferably overnight.  
Remove from the moulds the following day and enjoy.
Keep refrigerated.  Consume with the week. 

Red Velvet Raw Vegan Beetroot 'Bounty' Heart Bars

I am absolutely in love with these 'Red Velvet Raw Vegan Beetroot 'Bounty' Bars', as much as one could be 'in love' with a raw dessert.  I don't do OMG, but this time the inner minx in me just could not resist yelping OMG especially on my first taste.  Every time I took a small bite , you know that feeling when your eyes dance in your head with delight - swoon - well I was not that far from that feeling.  These were pretty awesome in my opinion, and the flavour just got better as the days passed.  

The raw beetroot dyes and sweetens the white coconut and vice versa.  I was personally happy to eat these by hand like a bar of chocolate (rather than a spoon), but because of the natural beetroot juice colouring, BEWARE that your fingers will get a little stained; and for goodness sake do not wear white, in case some red coconut bits fall off and land on you - you have been warned.  

Whilst I was making these, I thought of my mother.  When I was a nipper, I remember my mother often treating herself to a bar of Bounty, because she loved the coconut content.  I know in my heart she would have loved these, but the greedy girl in me ate them all, not in one sitting but over the week.  I barely left the house that week meaning  there were no trips to my mother, hence the reason she did not get to try them.  I am a bit disappointed in myself for not jumping into the car and driving over with some of them, as I would liked to have known of her response to them, especially the raw aspect of the bars.  Although, my mother is quite adventurous compared to my sister-in-laws, going raw (unless its chutney, relish or a dip) may be a bit out there for her, but she may have surprised me and loved them as much as I did.

Anyway, when I plated these up ready for their photo-shoot, D muttered that they were not very neat and not fit for photographing.  I sort of agree with him and responded  'I just wanted to see if the recipe and combination worked', next time and there will be a next time I will make them look a little more neater than they are here, but truthfully I don't know when that is going to be so I have decided to share the ones that I have photographed with you now for VeganMofo 2014. 

Vegan Raw Carrot Halwa Fudge

I made these flame coloured soft fudgy bites a little while back.  It is based on a traditional Indian and Pakistani recipe called Gajjar Ka Halwa or Gajrilla, made with condensed milk, full fat milk and ghee, but this one is 100% vegan.

You may also be surprised to note, that it is actually also a raw recipe made with raw carrots, nuts and berries, in this case goji berries and pistachio and almond nuts.   

As someone who has consumed her fair share of traditional carrot halwa (and South Asian sweets), I can hand on heart say that this really did taste like the real thing, rich and packed with loads of flavour.  I was rather pleased with myself.   

I've just sliced the 'halwa' fudge here into bite size pieces, but you can also roll them into bite size balls too.

Cacao Nibs and Avocado Mousse aka Raw Sludge Pie

I know, I know another vegan, gluten free Raw Food Tart filled with raspberries.  The truth is that I am trying to make the most of my garden raspberries while they are still coming from my garden.  

Also I want to tease some of you as this Sweet Pie is not all that it seems.  The mousse that is mimicking the appearance of dark chocolate is actually not chocolate.  For a start, it is not even chocolate, it is cacao nibs.  Secondly, what gives this pie filling a mousse like texture? There is a mystery ingredient well hidden in it - Avocado - a raw vegan nifty culinary trick I picked up from raw food bloggers when I first started blogging in 2009. Its absolutely amazing how avocado can form the base for one of the most luscious raw puddings around.  In fact Avocado Chocolate Pudding is probably one of the most popular raw food desserts around; and experienced raw fooders have probably had more raw chocolate pudding than they care to remember and don't quite understand what the fuss is, but for some us especially those living in the U.K, outside of the raw food scene its a very new way of preparing food and is getting big Wows! 

Anyway, this is my second recipe in the week with cacao nibs.  The first was Cacao Nibs, Raw Chocolate and Cocoa Muesli.  A little while back, I made some raw chocolate from scratch and have since acquired a taste for raw cacao.  Cacao nibs  can be ground and added to cakes and puddings.  I have to admit it is not to everyones taste, but give it a try, you just never know.  

Raw Coconut and Date Tartlets with Raspberry Mousse

I made my first ever Raw Tart  recipe last year, and it was truly delightful.  I've been wanting to find an excuse to make a variation of it again, and the red fruit flowing from my garden, mostly raspberries provided the perfect reason.

Raspberries don't last long in the fridge either, going mouldy here and there.  I will probably take to freezing some, but I want to make the most of them while the season lasts. I've already made Raspberry Bakewell Bars; Raspberry Coconut Balls; and Raspberry Pavlova, but this time it was time for another delicious Raw Pie.

The raw vegan Raspberry Mousse filling recipe featured on my blog only last month (see here), there is no cream in it, its not even substituted with vegan cream either, but made with frozen bananas and raspberries.  Its lovely on its own, but as much as I enjoyed the mousse-like texture, I wanted more texture and bite this time, and decided to make cases  to hold the raspberry filling. The tartlet cases are made with dessicated coconut, nuts and soft fruit. Of course you don't have to have raspberries as the filling, you can make this with strawberries too. Now whatever you decide, you will need a fork and spoon to tuck in.  Enjoy.  I am sharing this with Emily at A Mummy Too for #RecipeoftheWeek 4 - 8 August 2014. 

Raw Raspberry Coconut Balls

I made these tasty little flavour bombs a fortnight back when the raspberries from my garden starting coming on thick and fast; and the World Cup football mania was still on peoples minds.  

I decided to take inspiration for these from my No Bake Carrot Granola Bites that I made last year; and blitz three simple ingredients in my Optimuum 9400 blender: Cashew nuts, raspberries and dates.  It worked fine, but visually mushed together these ingredients came out a little chocolate red from the dates and a tad sticky, so I went a step further and rolled them in dessicated coconut, hence the name Coconut Balls part and then refrigerated them to eat later. 

I had a feeling that D would not like these, don't ask why? Sometimes (wrongly I must admit) I just assume these things, but whilst he was sitting slumped on the sofa watching the footie, he shouted out at me 'These are quite nice'.
'Oh good' I said rather surprised.
The recipe below makes quite a lot and there is no way between the two of us, that we can eat them all, so I have frozen the others, and will bring out some when we need a burst of fruit injection in the mouth. 

Carrot Ketchup

I've made some vegetable burgers recently, and wanted to try out something different in place of relish or supermarket bought red ketchup or the brown sauce varieties. I had loads of carrots in my vegetable basket and decided to take inspiration from my recent Carrot and Coriander Hummus and thought what if I went a step further and pureed the carrots to a sauce, the result awesome.  

The Raw Carrot Ketchup was sweet from the carrots, but it also delivered a light twang from the tamarind, and a little bit of warmth from the dried chilli flakes.  The coriander is of course,  optional.  I love the flavour, so tend to throw it in lots of savoury dishes, but feel free to omit this if you so wish.   I also loved how smooth the carrot ketchup was, considering it was made from raw carrots, there were no bits at all.  Pour and scrape into a squeezy bottle and squirt over oven baked chips, sweet potatoes wedges, vegetable burgers and much more.   Yes you read right, I did use raw carrots for the recipe.  If your carrots are organic, you do not even have to peel them, just give them a good scrub.  For ease I used tamarind concentrate, but you can if you so wish use **tamarind pulp or those dried pressed tamarind cakes which of course will need to be soaked and pressed of its juices, then omit or reduce the water in the recipe below.

You can try to make this ketchup in you blender, but I must tell you that I chose to try out my new Optimum 9400 Blender from Froothie.  I do have a blender from a  well known designer brand, and often make spreads and dips such as Hummus, but it does not offer the same creamy smooth bit- free that I got from the Optimum 9400 Blender. The other thing I noted immediately is that majority of the blenders that I have used in my life would take a good 10 - 15 minutes in reaching the point of creamy smoothness, as well as a lot of stopping and scraping down of the blitzed vegetables from the sides.  Using the Optimum 9400 Blender  reduced this massively.  The ketchup was made literally within a minute and I hardly had to scrape the vegetables off the side.  It was such a breeze to use. 

This carrot ketchup is a delicious change from tomato ketchup or even brown sauce!  Next watch out for my Beetroot Ketchup!

Almond and Date Milk

The past week or so my stomach has been feeling a little tender, so much so that I have not wanted to aggravate it further by drinking espresso, coffee or acidic juice in the morning.  I was ready to go out an get myself some fruit to make a smoothie, but whilst I was over my parents home for mothering Sunday, my mother reminded me of a almond drink she used to make for us when we were children known popularly as: Badam -Khajoor ka Dooj, an almond drink flavoured with fresh dates. 

This almond drink is not quite a lassi - the original smoothie, but thereabouts.  Well I was prompted to make some.  It has been a good, filling, naturally creamy and nourishing alternative drink and very calming on the tummy.

This is not really a recipe, as you make it to taste.  But this is what my mother told me to do in order to make one very large glass. 
Badam and Khajoor Dooj (Almond and Date Milk)
Ingredients and Method
Soak 10 raw almonds in some water overnight
Following day, rinse and remove the almond skin, it should slip off easily.  If not, soak in some hot water, rinse and try again.  When the almond skin has been removed.  Place in a blender with a large glass of water* and a couple of dates and blitz until very smooth.   Pour into a large glass.  I like my almond drink to have a bit of bitty texture from the almonds and dates, but if you don't like the idea of crunchy sweet bits sticking to your teeth, then just use a tea strainer to remove. 
Enjoy immediately, or chill and consume on the day as the liquid will separates from the almonds and dates. 

This drink is completely vegan*, but you can half and half it with dairy milk, coconut milk or soya milk.  For the sweetener, you can use honey, maple syrup, golden syrup, even sugar... I guess in you can also replace the almonds with cashew nuts, but I have never done so, so cannot vouch for the flavour.  I am sharing this recipe with Frugal Follies who is hosting Frugal Thurday and  Ricki at Diet, Dessert, Dogs for her Wellness Weekend: 22nd - 26th March.
 
Oh so your know, I have been making this drink on and off all week. I have also decided to freeze some of the excess in my umbrella lollipop moulds. It will not be a traditional almond kulfi's, but I know upon licking one, it will remind me of them and for a fraction of the price too. 

Verdant Wild garlic and walnut pesto

On our drive to the South West coast and through the country side this weekend, I had spotted what I thought was wild garlic, but I was not wholly confident. So I asked D to park the car on the quiet roadside whilst I got out to inspect the leaves much closely. The white flower buds had not yet opened, but I was beginning to feel pretty confident. I gently rubbed the broad leaves gently and then smelled my fingertips. I was instantly hit by the scent of garlic and this confirmed this was indeed 'wild garlic' Oh you should have seen my face lit up, it was almost like I had found a precious crystal or two.

Well not being one to pass on free food, especially one that you are unlikely to find at the grocers. I got to work and harvested enough for a meal or two. This 'seasonal wild weed' is also known as ransom, wood garlic and buckrams.
When I got home I weighed out my verdant pickings. I had managed to harvest just over 300g wild garlic. Now the question was what to do with these heady leaves, other than just enjoying them as part of a salad. The one cook book on my burgeoning bookshelf that I was certain to give me some inspiration was Denis Cotters 'Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and me...'. I was not disappointed.

I settled on making this wild garlic and walnut pesto. The taste of wild garlic is subtle compared to a clove of garlic. Wild garlic is much softer, but it does linger on the breath. This pesto recipe is extremely versatile. Denis suggests using this pesto for pasta dishes, tarts and egg dishes such as frittata. Its also lovely as a spread on crusty bread or pitta chips. This pesto will store in the fridge for a week, just drizzle a layer of olive oil over the top.

Wild Garlic and walnut pesto
Ingredients
100g wild garlic leaves and stalks if tender
75g shelled walnuts
8 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until you reach the desired consistency. You may wish to add more olive oil. Season to taste. Slightly adapted from Denis Cotters Wild Garlic, Gooseberries...and me.