Lemon Poppy Seed Baby Cakes

Mmmm, it's almost, (dare I mention it?) ... almost time for HOLIDAY BAKING! (*Gasp!!*) I know, I know, I said the "H" word.

If you're like me - and by all accounts it appears most of my fellow bloggers are not - the Holidays will find you doubly rushed and scattered and disorganised.

This is the story of my life anyway, I don't need the extra pressure through November and December to whip up EXTRA-beautiful and EXTRA-tasty treats for every potluck, exchange and food-related-function on the calendar. But it happens every year, like it or not, and each year I attempt to find more ways to plan and prepare ahead.

That's where these darling little Lemon Poppyseed Mini-Bundt Cakes (which my kids fondly call "Baby Cakes") come in. The secret? Leave off the glaze, and they FREEZE perfectly!! Then when a Holiday event pops up unexpectedly, just whip these babies out of the freezer, drizzle with a zesty, lemon-y glaze and you'll be the hit of the party.

Best of all, they are light, fluffy, VEGAN and don't use white sugar (OK, the glaze does.).

Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Baby Cakes

(or muffins)

nonstick cooking spray

1 whole lemon (you'll use all of it)

2/3 cup Silk Soy Creamer (or 1/3 cup plant milk and 1/3 cup blended silken tofu)

1 1/3 cup WW pastry flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup agave nectar or corn syrup or golden syrup

1/2 cup real maple syrup

1/2 tsp real vanilla extract

1/4 cup cornstarch (No, don't sub this, it's totally what makes them fluffy!!)

Preheat oven to 350.

Take your lemon and grate the yellow rind. Set aside. Juice well, adding any pulp you can. Set aside.

Spray 4 mini-bundt pans or 6 muffin pans with non-stick spray.

Mix lemon zest and juice with Silk Creamer. Set aside.

Combine dry ingredients (except cornstarch) and set aside.

With an electric mixer, mix wet ingredients together and slowly sprinkle in cornstarch. Beat until smooth.

Reduce speed to low and add the dry mixture a little at a time, then the lemon-creamer mixture, alternating back and forth a couple times until it's all mixed really well.

Pour into prepared pans.

Bake 20 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool. Freeze if you want them for later. Or glaze.

Lemon Glaze

1 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup non-bone-char powdered sugar

Stir together, drizzle over Baby Cakes.

There's a New Driver On The Road...

LOOK OUT WORLD!











Yes, congratulations are in order. (Or sympathy, if you're talking to ME). My oldest Sprout completed Driver's Education today. She was very excited. I was very nervous.

Here she is with her little certificate (I photoshopped out all the important stuff just in case my Mom reads this and worries about privacy on the Internets and all....)

Actually she's a great driver. I feel old though...

And here's the celebration cupcake waiting for her on the dashboard of our car.

I know I'm the only person on the planet who has not had Vegan Cupcakes Take Over Their World yet... call me a non-conformist.

I simply use the old egg- and dairy-free "War Cake" or "Wacky Cake" recipe I grew up with, making it into cupcakes instead of a sheet cake. I believe it's just about the same as the book anyway. Turns out perfect, tender and very chocolate-y!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup non-dairy milk or water (I use almond milk, I don't like the way water works in these so well, even though that's what my Grandma used)
1 teaspoon vinegar (cider or white)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup regular ol' Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F .
Line a muffin pan with liners.
Whisk together the milk (or water) and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle (obviously it won't curdle if it's water). Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract to the milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).

Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

FROSTING

1/2 cup shortening OR 1/4 cup coconut oil in a semi-solid state (use this if you won't have the cupcakes in a warm area)
1/2 cup Nucoa margerine (or other vegan margerine)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup soy creamer

INSTRUCTIONS
Beat the shortening and margarine together until fluffy. Add sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla and soy milk, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy. Add more sugar if needed to make it firm, I sometimes do.

"War Cake" and Chinese Seitan with Walnuts

Lucky you (or maybe not) ...two (totally unrelated) recipes today.

These are stand-bys that I've had in my repertoire for years. I know there's at least a million versions of them all over Recipe-land, but for your viewing pleasure, here are the magic combinations I've always used.

Evidently I hadn't made either in a while, but I got inspired for whatever reason and whipped them up for supper last night. They were gobbled in minutes by hungry munchkins.

(As you can see, the cake got "sampled" before I could even get a decent picture - so it looks like a mess, not the pretty cake that it started out to be!!)

So, dessert first: "War Cake" was actually developed during WWII when sugar, butter and eggs were rationed. It uses no butter or eggs . Thus it's also vegan.

Now, you tell some unsuspecting (and un-vegan-educated) omni that you have a vegan cake and they just may turn up their nose. Their loss.

But you give them this interesting little tidbit of history - call it a 'War Cake' (or 'Depression Cake' or one of it's many other names) and they'll be fascinated, trust me. It's super simple too, (no eggs to crack even) probably one of the first recipes my kids learned to make.

War Cake with Praline topping

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cup cold water

Now the easy part:

Mix the dry ingredients.

Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Mix wet ingredients together and pour into dry.

Stir until smooth.

Pour into greased pan.

Bake in 9 X 12 or two round pans at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

When cool, frost it as desired.

We've always used a "German Chocolate Cake" nuts-and-coconut-type topping... I used to sneak into the pantry and pick off the nuts when I was little, they were sooooo yummy!

Topping

• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1/2 cup sugar or rice syrup
• 1 Tb. egg replacer powder (mixed with soymilk)
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts

In a medium saucepan, whisk the egg replacer powder and soymilk together.
Stir in sweetener and vanilla, and add the Earth Balance.
Cook over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture thickens, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, about 8-12 minutes.
Remove from heat, add coconut and nuts, and beat with the wooden spoon until frosting is of spreading consistency.

Do not taste until it has cooled a bit, as it gets VERY hot.
Spread on the top of the chocolate cake. It'll be runny and soak in a bit but this keeps the cake moist too.
Serve warm or cool.

Chinese Walnut Seitan

• 1 cup coarsely broken walnuts* (I use halves, it's prettier)
• 1 Tbsp. peanut oil
• 2 cups bite-size seitan chunks , your favorite recipe or store-bought
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup onion slices
• 1 1/2 cups bias-cut celery slices
• 1 1/4 cups vegetarian chicken broth
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. cooking sherry/red wine or apple juice
• 1 (2/3 cup) bamboo shoots, drained
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced

In skillet, toast walnuts in hot oil, stirring constantly.

Remove nuts to paper towels.
Put Seitan, onion, celery, and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth in skillet.

Add salt only if you think it needs it.

Cook uncovered 5 minutes or till slightly tender.
Combine sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, and cooking sherry; add remaining broth.

Pour over vegetables in skillet.

Cook till sauce thickens.
Add bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and walnuts.

Heat through. Serve over your favorite veggies and rice.

In the picture, I layered rice, then just a generic package of frozen, cooked vegetables, then the Walnut Seitan on top (mainly 'cause I didn't want to use a bunch of serving dishes - I'm lazy, I admit it).

*You can use cashews or pecans if your family isn't a fan of walnuts. Mine actually prefer cashews but I happened to have walnuts tonight.