May 2, 2017

 

| High Protein | Nutrition Packed | Vegan | Iron Rich |

 

I enjoy baking. It is something i love to do when i am happy, sad or anything in between. It gives me a sense of calmness, readiness and it provides a sweet treat as well.

Recently, it was my birthday (May 3rd) and because i love to bake, i decided to make my own birthday cake (is that sad or great?)

 

I had a great birthday. It was filled with lots of food, some vegan pizza, ice cream and some new tea! I walked with my parents around Main Street- Chinatown which, for those of you who don’t live in Vancouver, is a really old part of the city. It is filled with old coffee shops, Chinese markets and interesting stores. We saw some really cool things, like 200$ ginseng, and some interesting items, such as dried geckos (which apparently are for making tea).

Walking around the city and finding new areas and stores is one of my favourite past-times. It is exciting to go on Vacation for sure, but it is also incredibly exciting to explore our own cities as well.

 

Of course, the night ended off with this delicious tiramisu and a lot more white tea (which just got added to my new tea collection).

 

I was originally going to move towards something like a double layered chocolate cake (which i may have to make soon anyways, because chocolate.. Am i right?) Then, i remembered that  few years ago, one of my first vegan baking adventures (probably back in 2013) was a vegan tiramisu. It turned out really great, and had all the desired textures and flavors of a traditional tiramisu. Unfortunately, sometimes when i am busy in the kitchen, i forget to keep track of the ingredients i am using (so replicating the recipe is always hard because i can never remember what went into it)

This time around, I did keep track of the recipe (yay me!) and I am glad i did.

 

Do you have a sweet celebration coming up? Why not bring some mason jar tiramisu cakes (besides the delicious, creamy texture these bad boys provide, they also are full of omega 3 vitamins, calcium, plant based protein and lots of iron! So what do you have to lose?

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cookies:

• ½ cup almond milk (I used sweetened so increase the sugar if you use unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil (solid)
• A pinch of salt
• 4-7 tablespoons sugar (depending on your milk)
• A heaping ½ cup of flour ( i used all purpose)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda

 

Soaking Syrup:

• ¾ cup espresso
• Optional: a splash of alcohol (I omitted, but traditionally something like kahlua is used)

 

Vegan Mascarpone:

• 1 ¾ cup of nuts (usually something like cashews would be used, but i used a mixture of almonds, walnuts, hemp hearts and buckwheat groats)
• ⅓ cup agave nectar
• ⅓ cup coconut oil (melted)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup almond milk (I used sweetened)

 

Vanilla “Whip Cream”

• Splash of almond milk

Coffee “Whip Cream”

• A splash of espresso
• Optional: an additional splash of kahlua (or other alcohol)

 

 

Instructions

1. Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a small baking pan (depending on the size/ shape you want your cookies) with parchment paper.
3. Whisk Soy Milk and Apple Cider Vinegar in a bowl set aside. In a separate bowl, mix the Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda into a bowl. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk Vegan Butter, Coconut oil (solid), Sugar and Salt till light and fluffy, about a minute. Whisk in the Vanilla Extract.
5. Alternate whisking in the Almond Milk mixture and dry ingredients, starting with 1/3 of the dry and ending with the last third of the dry mixture.
6. Spread mixture out onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. I prefer if this is a little under-baked, and it is okay to eat raw (no risk of salmonella without eggs
7. Vegan Mascarpone Filling: In a high speed blender, combine Nuts, Agave, Coconut Oil, Salt, Vanilla and Almond Milk. Blend thoroughly until smooth and silky.
8. Divide mixture into half.
9. For Vanilla: use first half of mixture, if it is very thick, you can add a dash of Almond Milk. Set aside.
10. For Coffee Cream: blend second half of Mascarpone mixture with Espresso, and alcohol if desired.
11. Assembly: To assemble, grab your favourite mason jars! 
12. Cut a piece of sheet cake to fit the bottom of your ramekin or glass.
13. Dip in Soaking Syrup for just a second or two and place into the bottom of your jar.
14. Top with a layer of Vanilla Cream and dust with Cocoa Powder.
15. Freeze for 10 minutes.
16. Once out of the freezer, top with a layer of Coffee Cream.
17. Freeze for 10 minutes.
18. Repeat until all ingredients are used up.
19. Allow cake to firm in the fridge for at least a few hours before enjoying (If you can resist).