Cake, Cake and More Cake!

It was Matt's birthday last week so we had both our families over to celebrate. We made two huge roasted vegetable lasagnes served with green salad and garlic bread. If you've not discovered this super easy bechamel sauce recipe from Deerly Beloved Bakery you should definitely check it out. It's brilliant and is all done in a blender with no heating and stirring involved! It went down well and most people had seconds. 


For dessert I made two cakes. The first was a coffee and walnut cake from the Cake Scoffer. This is an old favourite that I've made many times and is a great cake recipe particularly for new vegan bakers. The Scoffer series of booklets were written by Ronny who lives near me in Glossop and they are all brilliant. The sequel Return Of the Cake Scoffer is still available but the original Cake Scoffer is now out of print. There's a few copies on Amazon for over £20 so if you do spot one at a vegan fair you should definitely snap it up! There's also the Salad Scoffer and the Breakfast Scoffer.


Matt requested a Victoria Sponge and I had to admit that I'd never attempted a vegan one before. I used the recipe from the Ms Cupcake cookbook and it was a great success. It's an easy recipe and came together quickly. I will definitely make this again although I would halve the frosting recipe. As I ended up with loads of frosting leftover I whipped up a batch of peanut butter cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World for Matt to take into work.


I started on a bit of a health kick last October and everything was going great with healthy eating and daily exercise until the week before Christmas. I was feeling better than I had done in years until I got up one morning with a bad pain in my left foot whenever I put weight on it. After hobbling around for a week I went to the doctors who put me on prescription painkillers over Christmas and told me to come back in the New Year if it hadn't improved. It didn't and got worse with my ankle continually swelling up too. An x-ray didn't give any clues and then a week ago I had an MRI scan which showed that I had fractured my heel! Seems like it was a combination of rubbish trainers and repetative exercise on my hardwood living room floor. It seems to be finally on the mend and I'm hoping to start using my exercise bike next week. I've been pretty fed up with it all in January and February and my good habits went out of the window and there's been lots of carb heavy food and sweet treats. I found this book Sweet and East Vegan for £3.99 in a discount book store recently so I'm going to be trying out some of the healthier treats from this. Has anyone come across this book and made anything from it?

Comments

  1. vegan.in.brighton6 March 2015 at 16:41

    Nick always requests Victoria Sponge too and yours looks miles better than any I've ever made. Happy Birthday Matt!

    ReplyDelete
  2. All Consuming6 March 2015 at 21:43

    Ooooh harsh, I feel for you heel hon, hope that gets better soon! The cakes sound lush too. :D Xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deerly Beloved Bakery7 March 2015 at 08:09

    Oh glad you are feeling better and they have got to the bottom of your foot pain! I hope you get better super quick! XXX

    ReplyDelete
  4. Susan9 March 2015 at 07:12

    I haven't had Victoria Sponge since going vegan, but I love it!
    Sorry about your foot, that sounds so sore. :/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kendy P9 March 2015 at 16:43

    i have the book but have not made anything out of it i recall. i guess when it comes to healthier sweets i always try the recipes from book like forks over knives and the like - low/no sugar & no oil.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Joey11 March 2015 at 09:11

    Argh - that's bad news about the heel. How long til it's back to normal? I've been exercising in bare feet on hard floors, so I'm going to have to think about something else to do instead. I love the victoria sponge - Ms Cupcake's recipes are great, but I usually find them on the too sweet side (and I'm not normally someone who shies away from sugar!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tea and Sympatico11 March 2015 at 21:08

      Ooh yes, please be careful with the exercise, I didn't even know i'd done anything until I woke up one morning and it was hurting. The pain is almost gone now but cos of my age i'm being sent for a bone scan to check for oesteoparosis.

      Delete
  7. Jasmine Trinity24 March 2015 at 21:50

    Your heel injury sounds so painful, at least you know what it is now and can understand why your ankle kept swelling up! Those cakes look absolutely gorgeous! If only you could reach into your screen and take a slice :o) Looks like you've got a good rise on the sponge too! Go steady with the injury and don't do too much too soon, and when you get off your exercise bike feet up! (maybe with a slice of cake) hee hee x

    ReplyDelete

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