Nigella's Not-Just-For-Vegans Vegan Chocolate Cake

In a recent episode of her new series Nigella shared a recipe for her "Dark and Sumptuous Chocolate Cake" that she says "might just be one of the best chocolate cakes you have ever eaten". There's a challenge if ever there was one. Better than her Chocolate Marmalade Cake? Better than a Chocolate Guinness Cake? And vegan?? Hmmm.

I'm always up for a challenge though when it comes to sampling chocolate cakes so, for the benefit of anyone who happens to read this, I thought I'd give it a try.

Vegan, of course, means no butter and no eggs (or any other animal product of course). Instead the recipe calls for coconut oil and coconut butter. Luckily I already had some coconut oil and managed to find coconut butter in my local Holland and Barrett. Beware though, this stuff is not cheap. A 250g jar is over £7 but luckily I had a 20% of voucher to soften the blow a little. Add to that 150g of dark chocolate and you have a pretty costly cake.

So was it worth it?

In short, yes! Seriously, this is a pretty amazing cake. The cake itself is dark and moist but still light with just the vaguest hint of coconut in the background (but don't let that put you off if you're not a fan). Ultimately though, this cake is all about the icing. Obviously the fact that it contains 150g of dark chocolate is a big help and this, combined with coconut butter, sugar and instant espresso power, made for something pretty special. Overall it has a very dark, rich chocolatey flavour so if you like your chocolate cakes more on the sweet side then this may not be for you but it was a big winner for me.

You can find the recipe on Nigella's website here.

For the record...

* The expensive coconut oil and butter can be substituted for 90ml of any vegetable oil and regular butter or margarine.
* I was concerned that my cake tin wouldn't be watertight enough for the running mix so decided to line it with foil before greasing and lining the base with parchment. This worked just fine.
* It took around 15 minutes longer than the recommended time for mine to cook through to the centre.
*My icing was not very runny by the time the cake was cool enough but it was still spreadable so didn't cause me any problems.

Prawn & Coconut Satay Broth

It's no secret that I'm a fan of a quick, after-work dinner so I was especially happy when this recipe turned out to be a success. It's yet another find from one of my favourite recipe books, In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt which contains so many great recipes that it's must for, well, anyone really.

This particular recipe comes under the chapter headed-up "Lazy" so I was on to winner from the start. I find some quick-to-make dishes can end up a bit disappointing, taste-wise, but that definitely wasn't the case this time. Coconut and peanut are always a great combination and both flavours are boosted by the salty soy sauce and sharpness from the lime.

The problem I had with this dish was the fact that I only have one suitable bowl for this sort of thing. I had to eat my portion out of a pyrex bowl! I'll have to get shopping as I'll definitely be making this again.

Prawn & Coconut Satay Broth
(adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt)

2 strips of medium egg noodles
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons smooth or crunchy peanut butter
200ml coconut milk
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
200g cooked king prawns, defrosted if frozen (I used uncooked prawns and just cooked them through in the wok before starting on the rest of the recipe)
1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
a pinch of dried chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of soy sauce (or more to taste)
a squeeze of lime juice
a large handful of coriander, roughly chopped (most definitely optional in my case)

1) Cook the noodles as per the instructions on the packet

2) Heat the oil in a wok or large saucepan and briefly fry the garlic. Stir in the coconut milk and peanut butter and mix together before adding the stock.

3) Bring to a simmer then add the prawns, spring onion, chilli flakes and soy sauce. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the prawns are heated through, and then add the cooked and drained noodles.

4) Return to a simmer and finally add a squeeze of lime juice and the fresh coriander. Serve straight away.

Serves 2

Nanaimo Bars for the Beaters Hut Bakers Club

A couple of weeks ago I took part in the third meeting of the Beaters Hut Bakers Club, a local baking group where members bring food to share based on a theme but, unlike the Clandestine Cake Club, there are no restrictions on the type of food you can bring.

This month the theme was International which turned out to be quite tricky - it's possible to have too much choice sometimes! After a lot of mind-changing I eventually settled on a recipe from one of my favourite places, British Columbia in Canada. Nanaimo Bars are thought to have originated in the 1950s when the recipe was submitted to a local Women's Institute Cookbook and have grown in popularity ever since.

Although I have been to British Columbia I have never actually tried a Nanaimo Bar, although I've heard lots of favourable reports from people who have. These have now earnt a permanent place in my repertoire though as they are delicious. They are very sweet (the white centre is basically just a buttercream) but the base of biscuit, chocolate, nuts and coconut adds bags of flavour and texture.

If you search the internet there are many different recipes to choose from but in the end I settled on this one. The top layer of chocolate isn't as thick as it seems to be in some of the pictures I came across but I think the amounts were about right.

Here are some of the other fantastic International dishes we had to choose from...

Janet's Italian Plum Torte

Poppy's French Lemon Macarons

Shauna's Indian Curry and Puri Breads

Jean's Honey Cake

Lucy's Mexican Empinadas, Mexican Dips and Tortillas

Rob's New Zealand Afghan Biscuits

Roger's Italian Focaccia

Shane's Portugese Custard Tarts

Vicky's German Battenburg

Bridget's Italian Panettone

Vicky's Turkish Baklava

Eleanor's French Profiteroles

For some reason I forgot to take a picture of Jessica's delicious Australian Lamingtons.

It was a great evening plus we had the added benefit of taking home the leftovers to enjoy the next day. Thanks to Shauna for bringing us all together. The next Beaters Hut Bakers Club is being held on Thursday 25th October and the theme is Halloween!

Banana & Chocolate Cookies

If I ever write a recipe book I think I'll call it "Recipes to Make Your Home Smell Fabulous" and I've already got the first recipe right here.

The recipe in question comes from Hungry?, a book I reviewed earlier in the year and I'm still using on a regular basis.  I've been wanting to try these for ages but, until this week, never quite managed to have all of the ingredients in the house at the same time.  They were definitely worth the wait though.

They're quite unusual, being wheat and egg free, and have a more cake-like texture than normal cookies but don't be put off as they taste great, especially when they're still warm from the oven.  Plus, as I mentioned above, while they're baking your kitchen will filled with the deliciously comforting aroma of banana and coconut.

Banana & Chocolate Cookies
(adapted from Hungry? from the Innocent Drinks people)

3 ripe bananas
100g/4oz butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 large handfuls porridge oats
100g/4oz ground almonds
100g/4oz unsweetened desiccated coconut
a handful of raisins or chopped dried apricots
a pinch of ground cinnamon
100g/4oz milk or plain chocolate, chopped into small bits (or just use a bag of chocolate drops)

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.  Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper (you may need two).

2) In a big mixing bowl, mash up the bananas with a fork then add the melted butter and vanilla and give it a good stir.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the chocolate, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate pieces.  It probably won't look quite as firm as normal cookie dough but don't worry.

4) Spoon the mix onto the baking sheets, using about 2 teaspoons per cookie.  Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden. (The original recipe suggests leaving space for them to expand but mine didn't grow that much).

5) Leave to cook on a wire rack for a few minutes.  They're best eaten while still warm but will also keep just fine in an airtight container for up to a week.

Makes about 25