Vegan Vanilla Chocolate Layered Birthdaycake

This is a birthday cake, that is not only made easy but it also tastes so delicious. It is better than any present and it will be the cake on the table, no mater how many other non vegan cakes are there. Let me give you the recipe.

I got that recipe on a blog online, however the cake had to be soy free, so I changed some ingredients. In the end, the whole thing is now even easier to make.

Here we go:

Ingredients for the cake:
2 1/4 cups (360 ml) almond vanilla milk
3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (110 ml) canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups (250 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
4 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the frosting:
1 cup cocoa butter
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Strawberries
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup almond vanilla milk

Instructions:
- preheat the oven to 350 degrees °F
- grease 3 x 6" or 8" inch cake pans
- in a large bowl mix the almond vanilla milk with the apple cider vinegar. Let it activate for 5 Minutes.
- add the oil and vanilla extract.
- in a separate bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cornstarch. Sift the dry ingredients into the big bowl peu a peu while using an electric hand mixer.
- divide the cake batter evenly into three pans (leave 1/3 in the bowl and mix it again with the cocoa powder)
- bake for 22 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- let the cake cool down completely.

- For the frosting, blend strawberries in a blender with almond milk, mix liquid cocoa butter with strawberry - milk paste and powdered sugar. If it's too liquid, add more powdered sugar, if its too dry, add more almond milk.
You can decide if you want to use cocoa powder for a chocolate frosting or strawberries for a pink frosting. I made 1/3 pink frosting and 2/3 chocolate frosting.

Vegan Dog Cookies

If you feed your dog vegan dog food, you might have a hard time with dog treats. The ones you find in pet shops are not vegan at all, they contain meat and all sorts of slaughterhouse waste (I checked some ingredient lists that even said bonemeal or liver).

Time to make your own dog treats/dog cookies. Its easy and cheap!

You simply need flour, baking soda, peanut butter, oats and carrots. I'll add the recipe down below.

Some people say, dogs shouldn't have peanut butter. I use unsalted peanut butter, and my dog goes crazy when I have one of those dog cookies in my hand. I mean, I am not a vet, but that little dog treat made of simple ingredients can't be unhealthier than what is mixed into regular dog food (gelatin, artificial flavors, thickeners, ...).

As I said, our dog gets a vegan dog food, the brand is Natural Balance. I add a link if you are interested. In my opinion, dogs can digest everything, and I'm sure that they get all the nutrients from that vegan formula - that we usually feed with rice and veggies. In fact, her breath smells way better since she is on the vegan formula, than when she was fed the non vegan dog food with turkey and beef. Just logically I would not feed a cow to my dog, because she wouldn't be able to hunt and kill a cow. I think the cow would be able to protect herself and kill the dog if she had to.

In my opinion, a cat can't be fed vegan (just as a side note) - some people do it and they say it works. Thankfully I don't need to think about that.

Also, as the dog is still hunting rats every once in a while, I wouldn't call her a "vegan" dog. She is plantbased, everything else is up to her. If she catches a rat, she can eat the rat. But most of the time she doesn't even want to eat the rat after catching it.

Here the recipe, try it out, no matter if you have a vegan dog or not. It's a simple and delicious cheap homemade snack that helps you get your dog's attention during a walk or a hike. 

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup oat flour (simply blend oats until they are flour-like)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup peanut butter unsalted
1/2 cup grated carrots

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a cooking sheet with parchment paper.
Simply mix everything together in a big bowl. It needs to become a slightly sticky dough and hold together. If it doesn't hold together, add a little bit more peanut butter (or water) and it its too sticky, add a little bit flour or oat flour.
Form little bits your hands and place them on the cooking sheet. Depending on the size of your dog they can be smaller or bigger.
Bake for 10 minutes (depending how small they are, they will be cooked faster). If the bottom of the cookies gets brownish, they are done.
Let them cool down completely before giving them to your doggie.

Glutenfree guilt free Streusel Oat Bars

Here's a recipe that you should definitely keep in mind next time you are craving something unhealthy sweet and naughty. Why? These incredible oat bars are vegan, gluten-free and low in fat. They are made with natural ingredients only and no white sugar is used. Give them a try, you won't even take a lot of time. They are done in less than 40 minutes and you probably have all the ingredients at home!

I used blackberries for the topping, because I'm lucky to live in a neighborhood full of blackberry bushes and it's the season right now to pick them. But of course, you can substitute with any other sort of berry, like raspberry, strawberry, cherry, - you can even use the frozen berry mix from the supermarket. 

The crust is incredible, the use of oats makes me think of fresh granola, I just love the smell in the kitchen after opining the oven. I'll definitely make them again sometime around christmas and add cinnamon to the crust. That will be amazing.

I don't want to talk about how amazing this recipe is for too long. Simply try it and convince yourself.

Here is this simple and quick recipe:

Ingredients: 
4 cups of oats (doesn't matter if you use quick oats or big whole oats / you can substitute 1 cup with coconut flour or almond flour. That will make it amazing)
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup maple syrup (alternatively use xylitol sugar and dissolve it in 1/3 cup water)
12 oz blackberries (or any other berry)

Instructions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 320 °F (180° C). Prepare a regular pan with parchment paper.
2. Process oats in a vitamix or a food processor until you have flour. 
3. Combine oat flour in a bowl with salt, and coconut/almond flour if you substitute.
4. Add the coconut oil, almond butter and maple syrup to the bowl. Use hands or a spoon to combine until the mixture comes together.
5. Set aside 1/3 of the mixture for the topping. Use 2/3 of the mixture to distribute in the parchment lined pan (1/2 inch thick crust works well in my opinion). Pick crust a few times with a fork. 
6. Bake crust for 10 minutes.
7. Add blackberries to food processor or vitamix and just pulse a couple times. Its nice to keep a "berry texture".
8. Remove crust from oven and add the berries evenly on the crust. Crumble the reserved oat mix as "Streusel" on top. Bake for another 15 minutes. 
9. Remove from oven, let it cool or enjoy them warm with some vanilla ice-cream.

Moist and delicious fat free vegan Bananacake

Ok this is the best vegan fat free Bananacake I've ever made. Even if you are not vegan, even if you don't care about fat, check this out!

The batter alone is so tasty and I love the simplicity of it. Adding cups of liquid butter used to gross me out, so this is my new alternative for a fast and easy cake.

This is actually a diet cake, considering there is no fat in it, I calculated the macros. 

I really like the texture of this goodie. The inside of the cake turns out soft and moist - almost gooey - (not dry at all) and the outside will be nice and crusty. 

It will be very sweet if you follow my recipe, so you might as well use less sugar. 

Also you can leave out the cocoa powder, but hey, isn't that marble effect just perfect?

But first to the recipe:

For one bread tin you will need:

4 ripe bananas (middle to bigger size)
2 cups white or whole wheat flour
2/3 cups white or brown sugar
1 Tsp liquid vanilla (or substitute with vanilla powder/vanilla sugar)
4 Tbsp water
1 1/2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
optional: cocoa nibs or chocolate chips, nuts, raisins

Directions:

1. preheat the oven to 350 degrees F°. Depending on your pan, you might have to grease it, or you use a baking sheet.

2. mash the bananas with a fork. Add the water, vanilla and sugar. Mix until it is smooth and creamy.

3. add the flour, baking powder and salt and then mix everything with a handheld elective mixer. You can add the chocolate chips, cocoa nibs or nuts now.

4. pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan.

5. add the cocoa powder to the rest of the batter, blend it in and pour the chocolate batter into the pan was well. It will give you a nice marble effect in the end.

6. bake for 50-60 minutes. (Do the toothpick test, as every oven is different)

And now to the macros: One cake will give you

421g Carbohydrates, 8g Fat and 41g Protein and a total of 1,785 Calories (just the basic recipe, if you add chocolate or nuts you will have to add those). But hey, compared to a classic cake recipe, this is pretty awesome. 

Summer Cake: Chocolate - Strawberry - Vanilla

This is - in my opinion - THE cake for the summer 2017. Its simple, you get the ingredients almost everywhere, and its delicious. It only takes 25-30 Minutes in the oven, while you can prepare the frosting and cut the strawberries. So you can serve it in under 40 minutes after you start mixing the ingredients! Here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients for the cake:
14 tbsp Vegan Margerine/Vegan Butter (for example Becel or Earth Balance), softened
1 Cup Silk Tofu
1/3 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Chocolate, chopped in small pieces.
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
6 tbsp All-purpose flour
1/8 Cup Cocoa Beans/Cocoa Nips, chopped/blended
2 tbsp Baking powder
pinch Salt

For the frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp vegan butter/margerine/coconut oil, softened
4 tbsp vanilla soy milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract (best is french vanilla)

For the decoration:
Strawberries (or other berries)

1. preheat the oven to 380°F / 180°C.
2. Grease a springform pan and line with parchment paper.
3. In a medium size bowl, mix all the dry ingredients: Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa powder, flour, cocoa beans, baking powder and salt.
4. Add softened butter/margerine and silk tofu and beat on low with a hand held mixer until well blended. The cake batter should be smooth.
Pour batter in springform and bake the cake on the bottom rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a center placed toothpick or knife comes out clean.
5. While the cake cools down, prepare the frosting. Blend all ingredients in a mixing bowl together until smooth. If it gets too dry, add more soy milk, if its too soft, add more powdered sugar. It should be thick but still spreadable. When the cake is cooled down completely, cover with the frosting and decorate with strawberries.

Worlds bestest cherry pie inspired by Katy Perry

Katy Perry's new song called 'Bon Appetit' is out. She published the new single together with her own cherry pie recipe and on the day after the release, fans could meet her in New York at a food truck giving out of her Cherry Pie. For me as a food-addict and hobby cook/baker, this was something I had to try.

Well... you know me, I always have to change recipes up and I did it here too. So as Katy Perry makes the "worlds best cherry pie", I make the "worlds bestest cherry pie". Check it out!

So, what I tried to do is: Stay as close as possible to Katy's original recipe. She postet a written recipe and even filmed a "how to" video. 

The only thing I changed was replacing the cows butter with vegan butter. I used the Earth Balance, it comes in a cube-shaped tub and in my opinion is really close to what non-vegan butter tastes like. Also as I didn't have fresh cherries, I used canned ones. Didn't make a difference in my opinion as you bring them to boil anyways. 

Now, my version of the cherry pie is cruelty-free. I don't know how Katy Perry thinks about veganism but she should try it. You get the same taste, the same flavors and you don't higher your cholesterol level. Milk and any other forms of dairy products clog your arteries because dairy is always coming with a lot of saturated fat. It's not good for your cardiovascular system. The vegan butter alternative is made of oils from plants, so it's made out of unsaturated fats. 

Right now, there is a lot of advertisement happening to promote dairy. But don't let them fool you. Inform yourself. 

Here comes my recipe of a cruelty-free vegan cherry pie. Bon Appetit!

Ingredients for the crust:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I think you could even use spelt flour)
1 cup vegan butter (e.g. Earth Balance)
1/2 cup ice cold water

Ingredients for the filling:
6 cups cherries (fresh or canned, probably even frozen)
2 Tablespoons vegan butter
3/4 cups sugar (or brown sugar)
2 Tablespoons Water
3 Tablespoons Cornstarch 

Directions:
Combine flour and vegan butter with your hands until you feel like the dough is too dry (moist sand) and then slowly add the water, one spoon at a time. When the dough is sticky enough to stay together, form two balls, form a disk and wrap them into cellophane foil. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
Heat 2 Tablespoons of the vegan butter in a pan on moderate heat and add the sugar and simmer. Stir around. When the sugar is dissolved, add all the cherries. Combine Cornstarch and Water in a little bowl until the cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add it to the cherries and bring them to a boil. Stir and let it boil for another 2 minutes so that the starch can thicken the cherries. Set aside and let it cool while you prepare the crust.
Preheat the oven to 350-375°F.
Roll out the first disk of dough until its big enough to be the base in your pie plate (about 9-inch). Roll out the other disk of dough and cut long stripes with a knife. These ones will form the lattice on top of the pie. Add the cherry filling into the pie pan and decorate with the dough stripes in the typical pie-lattice shape.
Bake the pie for about 50-60 minutes. Let it cool or serve warm. Listen to Katy Perry songs. Optional: Add vanilla ice-cream. Bon Appetit.

MEET in Gastown / MEET on Main

Hey, if you ever come to Vancouver, this should be on you top ten to-do list. Meet in Gastown or Meet on Main. I can totally recommend this restaurant, and now I'll tell you why.

Maybe you have experienced something like that in the past: You walk into a restaurant, you read through the menu and you just want to order everything.

Whatever I ordered so far was out of this world. When I first discovered MEET, all I could order was one of their burgers. They have so many delicious (all vegan) burgers on their menu, it's incredible (for example a "southern bbq burger" with whiskey sauce or a "mac n' cheez burger" which is loaded with mac and cheese sauce made from cashews). I always thought I'll miss out on something if I order one of their bowls or a salad instead of these crazy delicious burgers (that - by the way come with a little side salad and a mountain of fries). I was wrong. Their other dishes (for example "the lovely" - a bowl with brown rice, kale, coconut bacon, marinated organic tofu, shredded carrot and a fantastic almond satay sauce makes me hungry just thinking of it!) are also very good! They have a really tasty chili sin carne on their list, that you can always order on the side! 

However, for your first visit, I would always point to the burgers on the list. 

I don't really know if you can make a reservation (because we ended up there more or less spontaneously) but I would definitely recommend that. This place usually is extremely crowded, sometimes the waitress told us to come back in one hour. 

I didn't really get to order many desserts, because I was just so satisfied that there was no need for it. Next time, I will definitely try the deep fried banana or a cheesecake. 

The pricing is more than fair. You pay around $15 for a main dish, which is - in my opinion really a good price considering that there will definitely only be vegan food on your plate and some of the ingredients are organic!

If I am asked which location I like better, I'd go to Gastown. I just love the atmosphere there, vintage tables and loft style come together in the old part of the city. It's located at 12 Water St. and Meet on Main is located at 4288 Main Street. 

Check out the menu here.

Fact is: You get everything here. Vegan, optional gluten-free. Healthy and nutritious and a little greasy and fast-food-style. Go and check it out!

The New Forks Over Knives Magazine

Forks over Knives is a really good documentary about the health benefits of a plant based whole foods diet. If you haven't watched it yet, you can watch it on iTunes, Amazon or on Netflix. Recently the creators of the award-winning documentary Cowspiracy released a documentary called 'What The Health' that uncovers more facts about how massive the impact of vegan food on our health is. You can watch it here. 

My intention was to add in as many vegan documentaries as possible into a post, that is about a magazine. Sorry, not Sorry. 

However, this magazine earns some serious credits. Its 96 colored pictures are full of interviews, success stories, expert tips and other interesting stories. For me, the craziest fact is, that there are over 70 delicious vegan and healthy recipes in this single magazine. You might think, US$ 9.99 is expensive? With that many recipes, I can call it a cookbook. Also its not financed by advertisements because its completely ad-free. Forks over knives calls it a "Bookazine"

I attached you a recipe down below, which shows how to prepare the burrito bowl from the front cover. Copyright Forks over knives. 

Get your copy before June 26th! You can order it online and the shipping is worldwide. I don't get paid for this, haha.
If you live in the States or in Canada you can also check out Save On, Walmart, Safeway or other grocery shops that sell magazines, or bookstores.

I can totally recommend it. BTW: Imagine the world was vegan. Impossible? And here comes a free tip: Watch this movie about it. 

Vegan Pumpkin Pie / Thanksgiving

This Vegan Pumpkin Pie that we had for Thanksgiving was so delicious. Im going to share the recipe here. As it is not created by me, you can find the source down at the bottom.
The crust is perfect, the filling is moist and delicious. It was my first ever vegan pumpkin pie but also my first pumpkin pie! I definitely want to eat this again and I can highly recommend it to you!

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1 tablespoon vegan granulated sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Fine salt
1/2 cup coconut oil (packed)
4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
8 ounces silken tofu
2/3 cup vegan sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Fine salt


Directions
For the crust: 
Put the flour, sugar, vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor, and pulse to combine. Add the coconut oil in small spoonfuls, and pulse until the largest pieces are pea-sized. Add 4 tablespoons ice water, and pulse until evenly combined. Squeeze a handful of the dough together; it should just hold its shape. If the mixture is too powdery, pulse in an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, pat into a 1/2-inch-thick disc and chill for at least 1 hour up to overnight.
To make rolling easier, let the dough soften up a bit-it should be slightly soft when pressed-at room temperature (this may take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen). Roll the disc into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface or between two pieces of floured parchment paper. If the dough gets too warm, refrigerate it to firm it up. Ease the crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Fold the overhanging dough under itself, and crimp the edge as desired. Chill for 30 minutes.
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line the chilled pie crust with a large coffee filter or foil, and fill with pie weights. Bake until the edges are lightly golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the coffee filter or foil and weights, and continue baking until the crust is lightly golden all over, 15 to 20 minutes more. Transfer to a rack, and let cool completely.
For the filling: Process the pumpkin puree, tofu, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Pour the filling into the parbaked pie shell, and bake until firm and set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack. Chill for at least 2 hours up to overnight. Slice and serve.

INSPIRED BY: Foodnetwork.com