Vegan Chocolate Coffee Cake

Before I start on my actual post, I would like to share some exciting news with you! Recently I was asked to do some freelance food photography for Momowich, a South East Asian Cafe located in London. Their beef rendang it totally awesome and authentic so give it a visit when you are in the Liverpool Street area! I got the gig thanks to Wenlin, the founder of Edible Experiences who liked what she saw on my blog and referred Momowich to me. Thanks again Wenlin! For foodies in London and those who plan to come to London for a holiday, do check out her website for a whole host of food related experiences, be it supperclubs, walking tours, tasting, cooking classes etc. You won't have time to get bored once you get on the Edible experiences wagon!

It was a really fun experience to do some food photography other than for my blog so my hubby and I are now available for freelance photography assignments around London. Our portfolio can be found on the Eight Dot Photography facebook page. Do check it out and let us know what you think. There's not too much there at the moment but we'll definitely be building it up. :)

Alright back to my post. I've been trying to cut down on sugar and butter recently so I'm always on the lookout for healthy recipes. One of my fave blog to visit Love Food Eat which not only features healthy Indian food but also healthy baked goodies! Not knowing too much about vegan food, it's pretty interesting to see all the beautiful cakes and cookies usually made without dairy and eggs. Yes! It's possible!! I usually bake without the use of dairy but haven't done so without the use of egg so I was pretty intrigued when I came across this vegan coffee chocolate cake that's also made with wholemeal flour! How much more healthy can it get!!!?  In this recipe, vinegar was used to make the cake fluffy so that's another new thing I've learnt!
The texture of the cake was great and was not dry at all. Chocolate and coffee are of course a match made in heaven!!!! I love drinking coffee and it's perfect to have some coffee cake to go with it! Coffee overdose? I think not! 

Recipe adapted slightly from Love Food Eat.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
50g dark chocolate(chopped up)
1 cup strong black coffee
1/4 cup light olive oil
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp vanilla


Method
1) Preheat the oven at 170 deg C/330 deg F.
2) In a bowl combine all the wet ingredients. Combine all the dry ingredients and mix till everything is combined well.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients slowly stirring to mix everything well. Be careful not to over-mix.
3) Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake for around 25 mins . It's ready when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Chokladbollar - No bake Swedish Chocolate balls

Chokladbollar is a swedish delicacy, readily available in Sweden that's oh so easy to make at home. No baking is required so it's a great one to involve kids in. 

I first found out about these chewy, coconutty treats when Sasa, author of Singlish Swenglish, brought some homemade ones over when she visited way back in 2007. It was love at first bite and so I asked for the recipe. Back then, I don't bake at all so I was pretty happy about the 'no bake' aspect of the recipe! haha

Since I'm kinda like a coffee addict, the addition of coffee suits me perfectly and tones down the sweetness of the chocolate balls. Feel free to replace coffee if you are not into coffee. Cooled down hot chocolate or even some liquor would work too.
This would be perfect for the upcoming Valentine's Day too!



Ingredients: (Makes around 24 balls)
100g butter, room temperature 
60g soft brown sugar(use white castor sugar if you prefer it to be sweeter)
1/2 tbsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp cocoa powder 
120g oats
3 tbsp strong, cold coffee 
Desiccated coconut or Pearl Sugar or sprinkles or cocoa powder


Directions:
Mix sugar, cocoa powder, oats, vanilla sugar and coffee in a bowl.
Using your hands, work the soft butter into the bowl until it's all nicely mixed.
Using your hands, start rolling balls approximately the size of meat balls (2 cm across or if you get bored, use your imagination!!)

Roll the balls in desiccated coconut or pearl sugar or sprinkles or cocoa powder , put them on a plate and leave them to cool in the fridge for an hour or so.
Enjoy!


This post has been added to the #chocolatelove Blog Hop!!! Come join us by linking up any chocolate recipes from the month of Feb 2012.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Squash Cupcakes!!

 Here's another recipe from one of my more well used cookbooks at the moment, Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood. Having previously tried her Banana Courgette Bread and Aubergine Brownie which both turn out well, i was looking forward to try another one of her healthier but still tasty recipes! So i went 'a-flipping' and having just made some peanut butter cookies, the words peanut butter just popped out and of course since I'm not one who would pass up a chance to make something or rather anything with peanut butter this recipe became the chosen one! ;) 

The cupcake wasn't light as a cupcake should be as it was rather like a brownie, chocolatey, dense and the squash did its part to keep the cupcake moist. Though not a typical cupcake, it still taste pretty good especially with that awesome peanut butter icing! I was a little naughty  as i made a little more than the recipe called, fully intending to lick the bowl clean after I was done!!!! haha I think it'll be pretty good with a peanut butter icing filling too...peanut butter overdose?? I think not!!! ;) HO HO HO!!!

Adapted from  Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

100g unsalted peanuts or ground almonds

3 medium free range eggs

200g brown sugar

200g peeled and finely grated butternut squash

100g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Icing:

60g smooth peanut butter 

2 tbsp golden icing sugar, sifted

2 tbsp cocoa powder

pinch of salt

5 Tbsp boiling water

Method

- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cases.

- If using peanuts, blitz them in a food processor until totally ground. Set aside.

- Whisk the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until pale coffee coloured and fluffy. Next, whisk in the grated squash followed by the flour,peanuts or almonds, baking powder, cocoa and salt, until everything is well combined.

- Spoon the batter into the paper cases and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool the muffin tin on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes and continuing to cool completely.

- To make the icing, put the peanut butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder together in a small bowl and mix with the back of a spoon to form a paste. Next, slow incorporate the boiling water with balloon whisk, one spoonful at a time until  you get a smooth paste. Ice the cupcakes when completely cold.

Chocolate Heaven at Cioccoshow Bologna

Chocolate Tools

What luck! The chocolate fair (Cioccoshow) was on when we visited Bologna! The Cioccoshow is an annual event that happens every Nov since 2005 in the heart of Bologna showcasing the works of many master chocolatiers.


All kinds of chocolates in all shapes, sizes and forms were sold so we really felt like we in Charlie's chocolate factory! Check out what we saw there! Aren't they creative??

Melts in your mouth, not in your hands!!

 

A 35,000 sq ft M&Ms World Store, apparently the biggest candy store in the world, packed with 4 levels of M&M chocolates, merchandise(and people!) has recently opened its doors in Leicester Square London. Here you can find all sorts of containers filled with M&Ms of every colour imaginable.

We mustn't forget about all the clever merchandise that's available for sale too. There are all kinds of different ones to entice you to part with your cash and it definitely works as loads of people left the store with big bags of goodies...anything from bracelets to figurines to cushions to football to tshirts etc etc etc. Very clever marketing I must say!

It's definitely a must see for M&Ms fanatics and tourists as you can even take photos with life sized M&Ms characters! 

Does this scene look familiar? ;)