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.

Dairy/Soya-free Mincemeat Pie

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 8 people

So I'm all done with moving house (which was unbelievably stressful, let me tell you!), and I'm back to baking. Christmas is a busy time for me. I make homemade Christmas hampers as presents for family, full of jams and sweeties, each year. I've just spent the last two days making fudge and pectin stock for jam, and there's much more to come. So I won't get much time for any dairy-free baking. However, I have managed one recipe, and it's a good, Christmassy one.

Mince pies. My mum makes the best mince pies! It's all in the pastry! I can't abide the sweet pastry pies you buy in shops. It's just wrong! Mince pies should have a short, buttery, savoury pastry to compliment the very sweet mincemeat. If my mum doesn't bake any, then I make some myself. I very rarely buy them in the shops.

This year I wanted to go one step further and make my own mincemeat, making it as luscious and boozy as possible. I found a recipe, tweaked it a little, and made it into a huge mincemeat pie to get the maximum amount of filling as possible in there. Served warm with custard it was just amazing!

Here is the recipe for the mincemeat I worked from: http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipes/boozy-mincemeat.html. I made a few changes because I couldn't get hold of any dried pears, used raisins rather than sultanas, and didn't have quite enough raisins in the cupboard. It worked out really well! I have three jars of mincemeat left waiting to be used for mince pies (you should really jar it up and keep it for a couple of weeks before using it, to let the flavour develop, but I made this recipe two days after making the mincemeat).

Ingredients:

Mincemeat:

• 1 large cooking apple (peeled, cored and grated)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 110g dried apricots (chopped)
• 100g dried papaya (finely chopped)
• 110g dried figs (chopped)
• 110g dried dates (chopped)
• 120g glace cherries (chopped)
• juice and grated zest of 3/4 of an orange
• 375g raisins
• 4tbsp bitter orange Marmalade
• 175g light soft brown sugar
• 175g demerara sugar
• 3tsp ground mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 140ml dark rum
• 130ml brandy

Pastry:

• 225g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 120g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• cold water
• 1 egg (beaten) - optional

Method:

Mincemeat:

• Toss the grated apples in the lemon juice and set aside.
• Place all the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Add the grated apples and mix.
• Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave for two days, stirring occasionally.
• You can now use the mincemeat, but it's better if you pot it into sterilised jars and leave it for two weeks.

Pastry:

• Place the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the spread using your fingers until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the water a tiny bit at a time, stirring, until the mix comes together into a dough (make sure you don't add too much water!). Place the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.
• Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5. Grease and line a 20cm tart tin.
• Roll the dough out on a floured board and place into the tin, cutting off the trimmings to reserve for later. Blind bake the pie case for 15-20 minutes.
• Add enough mincemeat to the pie to completely fill the case (the more the better!).
• Roll out the pastry trimmings and cut into 2cm strips to form a lattice. (This is a bit tricky to get the hang of, but I managed to do it the first time after seeing it done many times on Masterchef). Stick the strips to the pie case using water.
• Brush the pie with beaten egg and place into the oven for around 30 minutes until the pastry is golden.
• Serve warm with custard, or leave to cool and eat cold with some boozy cream. Yum yum!

Dairy/Soya-free Spiced Apple Tart

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 6 people

Calories per serving: 240

Someone who works with my mum keeps kindly giving me surplus fruit that she's grown in her garden. Last week she gave me a huge bag of cooking apples. I didn't have a clue what to do with them, but then I had a pie case left over after making a couple of pumpkin pies and figured I'd try my hand at a spiced apple tart.

This tart is very quick and simple... it's one of the simplest recipes I've posted to this blog. The most time-consuming part is peeling and slicing all the apples. It's also very delicious, especially served warm with some icecream or custard (I prefer the custard!).

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 95g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 30g caster sugar
• 35g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 1 small egg (beaten)

Filling:

• 4 large cooking apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
• 30g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 75g granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar

Method:

Pastry:

• Make the pastry a few hours beforehand.
• In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and spices. Rub in the spread until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Pour in the egg a little at a time and stir with a butter knife to combine. There should be enough with one egg to bring the dough together into a ball, but if there isn't add a little more. (If you accidentally add to much egg and it's wet, add a touch more flour, but don't worry too much. It doesn't particularly matter for this recipe).
• Once you have a ball of dough place it into an 18cm pie dish. Press the dough into the case using your fingertips, pushing it out to the sides and spreading it evenly. (This can be a bit time-consuming but I found this dough a little difficult to roll out with a rolling-pin and this was easier).
• Place the pie case in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, Gas Mark 6. Blind bake the tart case for 20 minutes until just browned, then set aside to cool.

Filling:

• Preheat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, Gas Mark 5.
• In a large frying pan, melt 15g of the spread and stir in 40g of the sugar, the lemon zest and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Add the apples and gently cook for around 10 minutes until the apples are soft and have started to break apart. Mash them until they almost form a puree, then set them aside.

• Heat the remaining spread, sugar and cinnamon in the frying pan and add the remaining apples. Cook for about 5 minutes until the apples are just starting to soften.
• Spoon the apple puree mixture into the tart case. Then arrange the second lot of apples on top. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for about 30 minutes until the apples are soft and the tart case is crispy.

Dairy/Soya/Gluten/Egg-free Pumpkin Polenta Pancakes

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Gluten/Wheat-free, Egg-free, Nut-free

Serves: 2 people

Calories per serving: 350

 

Smothered in strawberry jam!

 

Pumpkin season is upon us. Pumpkin isn't something eaten much in the UK unfortunately. Thankfully I discovered how wonderful it is some years ago as a student with my first exploration of pumpkin pie. This recipe is a perfect autumnal affair!

It actually came about as part of some experimentation. Some time ago I had a huge bag of cornmeal that needed using up, after making some cornbread, not really liking it, and not knowing what to do with the rest. I googled some recipes, found a recipe for polenta pancakes, tried it and instantly fell in love! I mean, seriously! These were one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted! So of course I needed to come up with my own, allergen-free, version. 

It took a lot of experimentation! The crucial thing was replacing the egg. I tried a few different replacements, none of which worked, before finally trying pumpkin purée and gram flour. And they were heaven! I just needed to improve the consistency, which took a little more experimentation, and I finally came up with the perfect recipe! Honestly, these are AMAZING! If you have some leftover pumpkin this autumn you just HAVE to make them!

Ingredients:

• 55g gram flour (sieved)
• 45g fine cornmeal (polenta, maize flour)
• 65g pumpkin purée
• 35g non-dairy, non-soya spread (melted)
• 100ml almond milk
• 15g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

Method:

• Combine the cornmeal and almond milk in a large bowl. Whisk in the spread, gram flour, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and baking powder.
• Stir in the pumpkin purée.
• Heat some oil in a large frying pan. Ladel four drops of the mixture into the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden.
• These taste really delicious spread with strawberry jam. Enjoy!

Dairy/Soya/Gluten/Egg-free Coconut Ice Fudge

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Gluten-free, Egg-free

Makes: 25 pieces

Calories per piece: 158

Ever since I started this allergen-free culinary journey, I've wanted to try making fudge. I love fudge making. I think it's because I enjoy eating fudge and always figured it would be really really difficult, but then one day I had a go and discovered it's not difficult at all! I've made it lots of times since then, but was always a bit concerned about how dairy/soya-free spread would work in place of butter, given it can be a bit watery and greasy. I was also unsure of the milk. Most fudge recipes use evaporated milk, but I have made it with whole cows milk before... you just have to up the sugar. I figured coconut milk, with its high fat content, might make a good substitute.

Anyway, this week I had some coconut milk on the shelf, and not much else by the way of ingredients, so figured it was the perfect time to have a go. I pulled out a few fudge recipes I have around, read them, and then improvised. I used slightly less spread than I'd use butter, as I was worried about the watery-ness, and had to up the sugar content half way through because it wasn't thickening properly. In the end I've ended up with quite a delicious-tasting product. It's not as "fudgy" as conventional fudge, and with a consistency that resembles coconut ice... but it sure is scrummy!

As an aside, honestly, don't be scared of trying to make fudge! It's not difficult. There are a couple of ways you can mess it up, but I'll take you through the steps. Even if you do mess up, it's so quick and cheap to make you can always try again, and the "mess up" will still taste delicious to eat yourself!

Ingredients:

• 90g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 650g granulated sugar
• 300ml full-fat coconut milk
• the zest of 1 lime
• 50g toasted dessicated coconut

Method:

• Grease a 20cm square cake tin.
• Place the spread, sugar and coconut milk into a large pan. (I use a jam-making pan for this. The bigger the pan, the quicker the fudge cooks.)

• Heat gently, stirring, until the spread has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
• Continue to heat, stirring occasionally, as the mixture bubbles and turns over. Don't have the heat too high or it will burn. It should look like this:

• Now, there are two ways to check when it's ready. You can use a sugar thermometer, and take it to "soft ball stage", but I prefer the bowl of water method. Fill a bowl with water, and after 10-15 minutes drop a small amount of the mixture into the water. Try to roll it into a ball with your fingers. If it falls apart, cook the mixture for another 5 minutes before trying again. If it comes together into a slightly sticky ball it's ready. Simple!
• When the fudge is ready, remove it from the heat, stir in the lime zest and dessicated coconut, and then leave to cool for 5 minutes! This is where you can mess up your fudge. If you leave it too long it will start to set and the consistency will be all wrong. 5 minutes! And if you notice it start to set, and when you stir it it cracks, you've left it too long.

• After 5 minutes you need to vigorously beat the mixture. Beat the crap out of it! You're breaking up the crystals and creating the consistency. Once the mixture starts to thicken and lose it's shine, it's ready. Don't worry, you can't really over-beat it. Just pay attention to the change and use your instinct. It should take about 5 minutes.

• Pour the fudge into the prepared cake tin as quickly as possible. It will start setting immediately.

• Then leave it to cool. Once coolish, mark out 25 squares with a knife. And once completely cool and set, cut the fudge into its pieces and store in the fridge.
• See! Easy peasy!

Dairy/Soya/Gluten-free Honey Polenta Cake with Homemade Fig Jam

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Gluten/Wheat-free

Serves: 10 people

Calories per serving: 650

Jam. This week I made jam for the first time. I had a batch of figs I'd picked up cheap on the market, and my blogging friend Lily had given me some brilliant instructions on how to make any jam at all. So I figured I'd take a crack at it. I was surprised at how easy it was and how delicious it was! SO worth it!

Anyway, once I'd made all this jam I was just itching to make something with it. Honey, I thought... something with honey would go well. So I had a think for a few days, milling a few recipe ideas around in my mind, and I finally settled on some sort of honey polenta cake. I love polenta, but I've yet to use it to make a cake. So I found a basic polenta cake recipe, played around with it a little to make it my own, and walla! And it's an amazing combination! This cake went down a storm at the homeschool group where I take my recipes to be tasted. :)

Of course, other jams would work well too if you don't want to make your own or you can't get hold of fig jam. Strawberry jam would work beautifully. Or you could always just make the jam and eat it on toast, which is how I'm eating the rest of the batch I made! :)

This jam recipe is pretty basic. You just take some fruit, weigh it, add about 40% of the weight of cooking apples, add the equivalent total weight of sugar, and boil until it makes jam. I'll give the specific weights I've used in the recipe, but feel free to tweak it based on how much fruit you have to use.

Ingredients:

Fig jam:

• 485g fresh figs (diced)
• 200g cooking apples (peeled and diced)
• 700g granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Honey polenta cake:

• 190g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 110g clear honey
• 60g demerara sugar
• 4 1/2 medium eggs
• 180g ground almonds
• 130g cornmeal (fine-milled polenta/maize flour)
• 3/4 tsp  gluten-free baking powder
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Icing sugar (for dusting)

Method:

Fig jam:

• First, sterilise your jars. Wash them using warm soapy water, dry them, place them on an oven tray (with the lids) and put into an oven at 130C/110C fan/Gas Mark 1 for at least 20 minutes while you make the jam.
• Place a side plate into the fridge to go cold.
• Place all the fruit and sugar into a large pan and boil gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved, leave to simmer gently, stirring occasionally. After 15 minutes put a small amount of the jam onto the cold plate and leave for a couple of minutes. Slide your finger along the jam... if it's setting and has formed a "skin" the jam is ready. If it's not put the plate back in the fridge and continue to simmer, repeating the checking process every 5 minutes. (It took my jam about 40 minutes to set). Once the jam is setting on the cold plate remove it from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract, remove the jars from the oven, and fill them. It's easier if you use a jam funnel (I don't have one so got jam everywhere and just washed the closed jars later).
• Place a waxed disc on top of each jar and leave until cooled a little. Then put on the lids. Walla!

Honey polenta cake:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 6. Grease and line two 20cm cake pans.
• Place the spread, honey and sugar into a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted.
• Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Then divide the mix between the cake pans and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. (This is quite a dense cake... don't expect it to rise very much).
• Remove from the oven and turn the sponges out onto a wire rack to cool.

• If you've made the cake straight away after making the jam, you can just use the still-warm jam straight from the pan. If you've made it after jarring the jam you'll need to warm it a little to make it easier to spread on the cake. Just put it in a saucepan and heat gently. I used about 100g of jam in this cake, but use as much as you like. :)
• Spread the jam on the cooled sponges, put together, and then dust with icing sugar by putting it through a sieve.

Dairy/Soya/Gluten-free Chocolate, Black Cherry and Amaretto Tart

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Wheat/gluten-free

Serves: 8 people

Calories per serving: 530

 

 

I've wanted to have a go at gluten-free pastry for a while. Tarts are my favourite things to bake. I've been able to make good shortcrust pastry since I was a teenager, and now I'm a pro. I haven't had a "soggy bottom" for about ten years. :) I just love making pastry... getting my hands into the butter and flour, the feel of the "breadcrumbs" through my fingers, the rolling out, the satisfaction of getting the case lined properly. It's a joy. So yeh, the idea of a new challenge when it comes to pastry intrigued me.

 

I've also wanted to make a dairy-free chocolate tart for some time. It took me a long time to track down some dairy/soya-free chocolate in my price range, and once I did it was sitting in the fridge begging me to use it! The chocolate I got was Lindt's 85% cocoa dark chocolate, which states on the label "may contain milk and soya". So for those with a severe milk/soya allergy it may not be suitable, and you might have to fork out for guaranteed dairy/soya-free chocolate. This chocolate is obviously very dark indeed and gives the tart an almost bitter flavour, which I like, but it might not be to everyone's taste, and in that case you might want to use a dark chocolate with a lower cocoa ratio.

 

So I found a recipe for gluten-free shortcrust pastry online and went ahead with my first tart. But the pastry was so unbelievably crumbly. I had a nightmare rolling it out and getting it into the case! I also found it absorbed all the cherry liquid, leaving the filling a little dry too. So I tried again, this time adapting the recipe for myself, and adding an egg to bind it. It worked much better. I also doubled the amount of cherries and jam, and added even more Amaretto. The tart I've ended up with is a truly adult, indulgent tart which is strongly-flavoured and rich. It's scrummy! (And yes I am running out of adjectives!). So here's my recipe...

 

Ingredients:

 

Pastry:

• 200g brown rice flour
• 100g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 50g caster sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 medium egg (beaten)

 

Filling:

 

• 1x425g tin black cherries in light syrup
• 4 tbsp cherry jam
• 100g dark chocolate
• 75g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 50g cocoa powder
• 3 medium eggs (beaten)
• 4 tbsp Amaretto liquer
 

Method:

 

Pastry:

 

• Place the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the spread and rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (You can also do this much quicker and easier in a food processor, but I really like doing it by hand).
• Add enough egg that the mixture starts coming together to form a dough. (My granny taught me to do this with a butter knife... just gently move the dough around with the knife until it starts to clog together. Don't add too much egg that it becomes sticky). If the mixture is too dry after you've added the whole egg, add a tiny bit of water. Bring the dough together to form a ball, wrap in clingfilm, and place in the fridge whilst you make the filling.

 

 

Filling:

 

• Preheat the oven to 190C, 170C fan, Gas Mark 5. Grease a 20cm pie dish.
• If the cherries have stones, remove them and set aside. Place the cherry jam in a small saucepan and add a little bit of the syrup from the cherries to thin it out a little. Heat until warm, stirring, then set aside.

 

• Place the dark chocolate into a glass bowl and heat over a pan over gently simmering boiling water to melt. (or use a microwave if you're brave enough (I always burn it!)). Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the spread and sugar until light. Add the almonds, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, eggs and Amaretto and mix.
• Remove the pastry from the fridge and place into the pie dish. Spread it out into the dish using your fingertips until it fits the dish (I tried rolling it out the first time and it was so delicate I was wasting my time! This way is MUCH easier, and you get the pastry thick enough that it doesn't crack when baked!).

• Add the cherries to the tart, spreading them out, then pour over the cherry jam/syrup. Don't worry about there being too much liquid! The pastry will absorb most of it... you need the liquid!

• Pour the chocolate filling over the top and smooth out to completely cover the cherries.
• Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes. You want the filling to be set but still a little bit soft, and the pastry to be cooked.



Note: You should eat this tart as soon as possible after baking! The longer you leave it, the more liquid the pastry will absorb, leaving the filling somewhat dry. It's not a tart that keeps well.

Dairy/Soya/Gluten/Egg-free Coconut Rice Pudding with Caramelised Bananas

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Wheat/gluten-free, Egg-free, Nut-free

Serves: 8 people

Calories per serving: 460

I'm discovering that so many of my recipes come about through improvising with things I randomly pick up whilst out and about, or with things I have in the house that need using up. I guess that's the best way to create! This week it was pudding rice. I've never been moved to make rice pudding in my life, but this week I saw some pudding rice on special in the supermarket and just bought it, figuring I'd think of something to do with it. Then I have some bananas turning black on the sideboard and figure hey, why not make some rice pudding with coconut milk and stick some bananas in?! So that's what I did.

I wanted to make the pudding quite tropical flavoured... heavy with coconut and banana. I've never made rice pudding before, or caramel, but figured I could improvise with a few basic recipes to work from. As it turns out the pudding I made had far too much caramel to pudding, so I've tweaked the recipe a lot, doubling the amount of pudding and reducing the amount of caramel to make banana the more dominant flavour. But either way, it's yummy!

This rice pudding is very easy to make. I was amazed at just how simple to make it is. Caramel, on the other hand, is not so easy. As I say I've never made it before, so my partner (who used to be a chef) helped me out a lot with the timings and told me when it was ready to add the bananas. I almost burned it. So I'll take you through the steps in detail in this recipe so you can do it too without almost burning it. Of course the rice pudding is delicious all on it's own if you just want to make that and leave out the caramel!

Ingredients:

Pudding:

• 180g short-grain, pudding rice
• 1 litre coconut milk
• 120g caster sugar
• a large pinch of salt

Caramelised bananas:

• 100g caster sugar
• 100ml water
• 2 large ripe bananas

 

Method:

Pudding:

• Place the coconut milk, sugar and salt in a large saucepan and heat until simmering. Add the pudding rice, return to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for around 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is thick and the rice is soft. Add more liquid if the rice is still a little hard and all the liquid has been absorbed. (The liquid should be almost totally absorbed, kind of like a risotto).

Caramelised bananas:

• About 15 minutes before the rice is finished, place the sugar and water into a non-stick frying pan and heat gently. Preheat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, Gas Mark 4.

• The sugar/water mix will start to bubble. Don't stir it. Instead shake the pan a little every so often to stop the mixture from sticking. Continue to heat gently and the mixture will gradually start to darken. Whilst this is heating, cut the bananas into slices.
• The mixture will start to turn a golden brown colour. Watch closely. As soon as it turns a pale brown colour and starts to smell like caramel, remove from the heat and add the bananas. (If you take it too far the caramel will burn and be ruined).
• Cook the bananas in the caramel, off the heat, for about two minutes on each side.

• By now the rice pudding should be cooked. Place the caramelised bananas into a casserole dish and pour the pudding on top. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until the rice pudding has formed a skin.

Dairy/Soya/Gluten/Egg-free Vanilla Sponge Cake With Caramel Buttercream Icing

Dairy-free, Soya-free, Wheat/gluten-free, Egg-free

Serves: 8 people

Calories per serving: 620

 

Okay so it's not the prettiest cake in the world, but I promise it tastes good!

When one of the readers of my blog set me the challenge to come up with a dairy/soya/gluten/egg-free cake that she could make for an upcoming birthday party I couldn't resist the challenge. I'd never made a gluten or egg-free cake and had no idea where to even start! And so began a week-long escapade of research, discussion and experimentation. 

I started out making small batches of cupcakes and experimenting with different egg-replacements (I couldn't get hold of any egg-replacer from my local health food store - they'd sold out). First I tried baking just a batch of gluten-free cupcakes to get a baseline. I used rice flour, gram flour and cornflour as the starch. They were nice. 

So then I tried my first egg-replacement... baking powder, oil and water. Yuck! They were HORRIBLE! Just tasted like baking powder. For my third batch I tried mashed potatoes. They rose ok but still tasted far too much like baking powder and they were very heavy and dense.

So I reached out to my readers for ideas, and someone suggested fizzy pop. So next I tried that. Fizzy pop and mashed potatoes. Bizarre! I also tried putting some ground almonds into the mix in replacement of some flour to try to give a better texture. They were ok, but a bit too crumbly. And there was a cornflour aftertaste that was just nasty. 

Fortunately the next day the cornflour aftertaste had gone, strangely, so I attempted a cake. But it was a disaster! It tasted horrible and just fell apart... it went in the bin.

By then I'd run out of ingredients and was waiting on some xanthum gum from eBay (which I was assured would help with the texture and cornflour flavour). I'd also been advised to try using ground linseeds instead of mashed potato. So a few days later I tried a slightly different mix of flours and almonds, added a bit more butter and sugar, more flavouring, xanthum gum, substituted the mashed potato with ground linseeds mixed with water, and tried one more batch of cupcakes. And they worked!!! Six attempts later I had a working recipe.

The following evening I doubled the mix and made a small cake. And it's delicious! It's still very delicate and a bit on the squishy side. I had a nightmare icing it! But it does hold together if you're very gentle with it. I wouldn't want to attempt to make it into a bigger cake, but it does hold together for a small cake.

So without further ado, here is my painfully (and expensively) constructed dairy/soya/gluten and egg-free recipe for sponge cake. 

Ingredients:

 

Cake:

• 150g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 165g golden caster sugar
• 60g brown rice flour
• 20g gram flour
• 20g cornflour
• 1 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthum gum 
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 1/2 tbsp ground linseeds mixed with 4 1/2 tbsp water until eggy
• 80ml lemonade
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Buttercream:

• 110g non-dairy, non-soya spread
•  350g  icing sugar
•  1-2 tbsp almond milk
•  1 tsp caramel flavouring 

Decoration:

• About 300g of fondant icing
• Dairy/soya/gluten and egg-free decorations 

Method:

 

Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two small cake tins with greaseproof paper (I used 16cm tins). Make sure the greaseproof paper has been greased too so the cake doesn't stick to the paper.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream the spread and sugar until light and fluffy. It's important you get as much air as possible into this cake, so cream them until they are almost white!
• Add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and beat together. Then add the wet ingredients, leaving the lemonade until the last minute. Quickly beat together and then get them into the tins straight away! Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, but check them after 40 by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, they're cooked.
• Leave the cakes to cool in the tins.

Buttercream:

• The crucial thing with this cake is not to mess about with the sponges too much! They're so delicate. So don't turn them out until they are completely cool and the  buttercream is made.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the spread until it is light and pale. Then add the icing sugar and beat. Add enough almond milk to make a loose spreading consistency (it needs to be quite loose so it doesn't destroy the delicate cake when it's being spread!). Then add the flavouring and mix. 
• Turn one sponge out and very carefully spread the buttercream on it. Then add the second layer and carefully spread the remaining buttercream all over the cake. Chill for at least 15 minutes before adding the fondant.

  
Decoration:

• Roll the fondant out as thinly as possible, dusting with icing sugar so it doesn't stick to the work surface or rolling pin, and lay over the cake. (Mess with it as little as possible!). Smooth using a fondant smoother, then return to the fridge. Decorate when the icing has set.

Dairy-free Blackberry Frangipane Tart

Dairy-free, Soya-free

Serves: 8 people

Calories per serving: 470

 

 

Autumn. Autumn is coming. And as much as I've loved the summer, autumn is still, and will always be, my favourite season. And the best thing about autumn, for me, is blackberries. Blackberries bring back happy childhood memories of foraging with my family as a kid, then coming home and helping my mum to make blackberry pie. It's a tradition I'm repeating with my own daughter. This year is the first time she's really been into it, and we've made the most of the early season.

 

So because I had a basket bursting full of blackberries I figured I would invent a new recipe... something a bit more exciting than a classic blackberry pie (though I will be having at least one of those this autumn too!). This is my first attempt at a dairy-free tart, and I have to say that you wouldn't even know it's dairy-free. It is really delicious.

 

I used blackberries in this recipe because I had lots to hand, but it would work equally well with raspberries or blueberries. You could even try experimenting with cherries and try using amaretto rather than almond extract. Playing around with flavours is fun.

 

Ingredients:

 

Pastry:

•  235g plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 125g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 medium egg (beaten)

Frangipane:

• 260g fresh blackberries
• 120g non-dairy, non-soya spread
• 120g icing sugar
• 120g beaten eggs
• 120g ground almonds
• 25g plain flour
• 3 tsp almond extract

Method:

 

Pastry:

• Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt.
• Rub in the spread until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
• Add a small amount of egg and bring the mixture together using a knife. If it's too dry to come together to a dough, add more egg, and if necessary a tiny amount of cold water. The dough should be wet enough that it's not cracking apart, but not sticky. (Making shortcrust pastry can take a little practice, but by adding the liquid gradually your dough shouldn't end up too wet).
• Chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. Preheat the oven to 190C/ Gas Mark 5.
• Roll the dough out on a floured surface and place into a 20cm pie dish. If you have gaps up the sides of the pie dish, patch up with excess pastry. Leave the pastry hanging over the sides (you can trim it later).
• Line with greaseproof paper, add baking beans or rice and blind bake for about 15 minutes.

 

Frangipane:

• Place the blackberries into the tart case and spread out.

 

 

• Place the spread into a large mixing bowl and put in a microwave for a few seconds until it is almost melted. Then cream the spread and icing sugar until mixed. The mixture will be very runny.
• Gradually add the beaten egg, mixing between each addition. Then add the flour and ground almonds, stirring them into the mixture.
• Stir in the almond extract.
• Pour the mixture onto the blackberries.

• Place the tart into the oven for around 40 minutes, until the top is golden and the frangipane is set. (It should still be moist).
• Allow to cool, then trim off the excess pastry and serve.