Dairy/Soya-free Chocolate and Black Cherry Sponge Pudding

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 10 people

Calories per serving: 500

 

Chocolate sponge pudding is my ultimate favourite dessert. As soon as I smell it I'm instantly transported back to primary school, where chocolate sponge pudding with custard was the best dessert they served. When they served it at my old job (in a hospital) I could smell it the minute the kitchen door opened, and I always had to go in a pinch a little. I find it irresistible! But, apparently it's really hard to find a perfect one. Over the last few weeks I've bought chocolate sponge puddings from three different brands, and none of them were quite right. Too little chocolate sauce, pudding too stodgy or worse, too dry... never quite right. So I resolved to make one at home... my ultimate perfect sponge pudding!

The nicest sponge pudding I've ever eaten is made in the bakers shop where my mum has worked for many years. When I was a kid my mum would bring me a big slab of this cake, smothered in ganache, and I would either eat it cold with black cherry yoghurt, or heat it up and have it with custard. The ganache would melt into the custard and oh... it was amazing! I don't know quite how I tripped over the black cherry yoghurt and chocolate cake combination, but it works. So for my ultimate favourite chocolate pudding I had to pair it with black cherries!

So yeh, this is it. It is fantastic! I've also discovered that dairy-free chocolate ganache is about a hundred times easier to make than ganache made with cream (which I've always struggled to get quite right) and just as nice. I'll never make ganache with cream again! Credit for the ganache recipe has to go to this site. 

I made this recipe in a loaf tin, as I wanted to make it easy to cut into slices and then microwave, but you could make it in a square tin.

Ingredients:

 

Sponge pudding:

• 50g cocoa powder
• 6 tbsp boiling water
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 3 medium eggs
• 4 tbsp almond milk
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 300g caster sugar
• 1 x 400g tin black cherry filling (I used Princes) 

Chocolate ganache:

• 200ml almond milk
• 300g dairy-free plain chocolate (broken into pieces)

Method:

 

Sponge pudding:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan/ Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 2kg loaf tin or 16-18cm square cake tin.
• In a large bowl, mix the cocoa powder with the boiling water to make a paste.
• Add the remaining ingredients (except the black cherry filling) and beat well until combined. 
• Place the black cherry filling into the bottom of the tin, then pour the cake mix on top. Bake in the oven for around 45 minutes. (You want the cake to be cooked all the way through, but don't worry if it's ever so slightly too wet - that will add to the puddingy texture).
• Leave to cool in the tin.

Chocolate ganache:

• Once the cake is completely cool make the ganache by gently heating the almond milk in a saucepan. Once hot, remove from the heat and stir in the pieces of chocolate until entirely melted. 
• Pour over the cake immediately and leave to set.

To serve:

• Cut the cake into slices as required and heat in the microwave for about a minute until the chocolate ganache begins to melt and the cake is hot. Serve with custard.
• Alternatively eat cold with dairy-free ice-cream. Yum! 

 

Dairy/Soya/Egg-free Fruit and Nut Soda Bread

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Egg-free

Serves: 10 people

Calories per serving: 350

 

I love soda bread. When I discovered it years and years ago it was a revelation to me! Here was a bread that required no kneading, took minutes to throw together with very cheap ingredients, and actually tasted delicious! I could eat it every morning for breakfast smothered in butter and sometimes jam. It's just wonderful, and so healthy.

Over the years I've had a couple of soda bread recipes that I've made regularly. One is a plain soda bread made with milk and oats; the other is a fruit and nut soda bread made with apple juice and ground walnuts. Both are delicious. For this recipe I've amalgamated the two, made a few changes, and made the whole thing dairy/soya-free. I'm really pleased with the result. This might be my new favourite soda bread recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 250g plain flour
• 250g plain wholemeal flour
• 100g rough oats
• 100g walnut pieces
• 200g sultanas
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 400ml almond milk
• 25g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 1 tbsp lemon juice 

Method:

• Mix together the almond milk and lemon juice and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 4. Scatter some flour onto a large baking tray.
• Place the flours, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and oats into a large bowl. Rub in the spread until it's dispersed.
• Stir in the sultanas and walnuts.
• Make a well in the centre and add the almond milk. Stir together and then turn out on a floured board and knead for literally seconds until the mix comes together into a rough dough. (It doesn't matter if it's a little sticky).
• Place onto the floured baking tray and cut a large cross into the dough, almost all the way to the bottom.
• Place in the oven and bake for around 45 minutes. The bread will sound hollow when tapped underneath when it's cooked. 
• To give it an extra crispy outside place a clean, damp tea towel over the top as it cools.

Dairy/Soya/Egg-free Fruit and Veg' Muffins

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Egg-free

Makes: 9 muffins

Calories per muffin: 315

 

I'm back. I had a lovely Christmas and New Year, and hope everyone else did too. And now the kitchen is finally almost devoid of baked-goods I've started experimenting and baking again...

So as part of some Christmas hampers I made for friends and family, I made some delicious carrot and brandy jam. But apparently I made far too much carrot puree, so froze it to use at some later date. Then when I was trying to think up recipes, I figured I'd make something that could use up a substantial amount of this puree. Muffins! I thought. Carrot muffins. In my attempt to make these egg-free I inadvertantly made them super-healthy, and as I was on that path I tried to make them as super-duper healthy as possible, using as little oil as I could get away with and using agave nectar in place of sugar. What I've ended up with are some delicious muffins that include four different kinds of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. And did I mention they're delicious?

If you don't have carrot puree, that's fine. Grated carrots will work just as well. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 70g seedless raisins
• zest of 1 orange
• juice of 1 orange (plus any pulp that ends up in the bowl)
• 1 cup carrot puree (or about 200g grated carrots)
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp ground linseeds
• 1 banana
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 85g walnuts (chopped)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 5 tbsp agave nectar

Method:

• Place the raisins into a bowl with the orange juice and zest and leave to soak whilst you make the rest of the mixture.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 4. Place 9 muffin cases into a muffin tin.
• In a large bowl place the carrot puree/grated carrots, vegetable oil, ground linseeds and banana, then blend using a hand-blender (or place into a food processor and do it that way).
• Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into another bowl. Add the spices. Fold this mixture into the wet mixture. Add the walnuts and agave nectar and mix gently, then fold in the raisins and any leftover juice.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 30-40 minutes. (You might find the centre is still a bit sticky. If that's the case bake for another 5-10 minutes.)
• Cool on a wire rack.