Food, Wine and Wishes

On August 22, I had the pleasure to join the event “Food, Wine and Wishes” at Loutet Farm in North Vancouver.
It was a charity event with silent auction to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Loutet Farm. Loutet Farm is a project initiated by the North Shore Neighbourhood House.
This project is called Edible Garden Project.

“The Vision: Employing underutilized public parkland provided by the City of North Vancouver, Loutet Farm’s goal is to operate an economically viable urban farm within a residential area. Funds generated through the sale of the produce are directed back into the operations of the farm while creating valuable green-collar jobs for north shore residents. In addition, the Loutet Farm offers a range of workshops and hands on learning opportunities focused on sustainable food production for both adults and children.”

Over 200 people are working at Loutet Farm, a non-profit urban farm; producing tons of vegetables per year that are used to provide food to people in need. This is quite unique. 

I'm sharing this because the idea of having urban farms in cities is great; a project to grow local and seasonal vegetables, to teach children the steps between planting seed and harvesting food and to work outside in the nature together - we need more of this. 

It was a beautiful evening with my colleagues and I thank my work for the spontaneous invitation.

Here are some pictures of the event:

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.