Chocolate Ice Cream Cake!

Last Sunday was Adam's 31st birthday, and in honour of the number 31, I decided to make an ice cream cake a la the old 31 flavours.

I used the "your basic chocolate cupcake" recipe from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World", a modified version of the chocolate ice cream recipe from "How it all Vegan" and a double batch the chocolate ganache recipe from VCTOtW.

I modified the ice cream recipe to make it more chocolatey and rich by adding about twice as much cocoa as the recipe asked for, plus about another 1/4 cup of sugar. I find I have to do this alot to any Kramer chocolate recipes because I like my chocolate desserts to be ridiculously chocolatey. I have a feeling Isa (from the other two books) may share my view there, because her recipes never skimp on the cocoa! Sarah Kramer is allergic to chocolate, so we'll let this one go. I also made the recipe in my ice cream maker, rather than the hand mixing method she employs.

So what I did was make one batch of the cupcake recipe in a lightly greased big springform pan -- I am guessing it's about 12 inches. I baked it for the time suggested for the cupcakes, and it turned out fine.

While the cake cooled, I made my ice cream, and let it get to a fairly firm, but still soft serve vibe consistency.

When the cake was totally cooled, I poured the ice cream on top of the cake, still in the spring form pan.

I popped all of that in the freezer while I made a double batch of the chocolate ganache recipe (with bittersweet cocoa camino chocolate, of course.)

After letting the ganache cool at room temperature, I spread it on top of the now cold contents of the springform pan. I finished the whole thing off with a topping of sifted icing sugar, and pressed a snowflake cookie cutter into the ganache a few times once it had firmed up, which gave the top a nice, cracked, almost brownie-like appearance. It looked very bakery-y, especially once the springform pan came off and revealed all the pretty layers! I am definitely going to be doing a gazillion variations on this. Next I want to do a pumpkin ice cream cake with chocolate ganache and a cranberry shortbread crust!

I let the whole thing cool for about an hour, and ate it when it had reached a perfect holds-together-not-melty-yet-not-too-hard ice cream cake texture. I find that with soy ice cream, it is better to err on the side of soft, because with the high water content of the tofu, too frozen can mean ice crystal central, and nobody wants that.

If you make this, and freeze it overnight or something, thawing it for a good half hour (checking on it frequently) should do the trick. My freezer makes things super frozen, though, so you may find it comes out of the freezer fine as is. The thawing time is nice for the ganache, though, regardless, so let it sit a few moments, anyway.

Here's a picture. I wish I took one right away -- this is after the whole thing had been thawed and refrozen a few times.
It was delicious, and fun to make, too!

xo.h

xo.h

finally.

I finally figured out how to focus properly with my new SLR digital camera.
That means I can now take really close up pictures of tea and babies' faces.
Now I just need to learn to make them right-side-up in the blog.
Shit's about to get crazy.

happy new year

with the new year has come some real Ontarian winter weather.
the kind my mom used to tell me about when i would dare to complain that it was ever cold in Vancouver, where I grew up.

I thought I would list here my top 10 favourite ways to pull myself out of my inevitable winter rut. Here we go...

10. Hot chocolate. I know it sounds like not a big deal, but around my house it is. I take the darkest cocoa, make a paste with some soymilk in a pot, add the sugar, slowly add milk with the heat on ( all of this prevents lumps), then add a bit of rum, a touch of mint extract, some cayenne pepper and cinnamon -- what have you. It is a truly wintery drink that is even better when it is shizzy out.

9. Music. I write more, record more and listen to music more when it is cold out. This is the perfect time to make mix CDs for your friends or sweetheart, to bust out that guitar and write a new song or go to your local indie record store and stock up on new music (right now I am listening to a copious amount of Amy Winehouse and Sufjan Stevens.)

8. Whole grains. I am a grain nerd. This time of year, I am all about the brown rice, the millet, the oats. Mmmm. Make a huge pot all for you, throw some tamari and spicy sesame oil on it and stare out the window contemplating climate change.

7. Movies. For some reason I like old movies during the winter. Maybe because many of them were made when people were looking for an momentary glance away from the pains of war or poverty or oppression of various sorts, so they are lighter, dancier, music-y-er. Perfect to come into after freezing your ass off at the streetcar stop because you just had to wear your new shiny royal blue nylon tights today, dammit.

6. Baking. This one needs no explanation.

5. Feigned denial. I KNOW it is winter out. Stop asking me if I am cold in what I am wearing. It makes me colder. I am trying to make God feel sorry for me, and to remind people of warmer times to come.

4. Clean air. Any time I feel bisquey about the cold, I remind myself that I can go out almost every day in the winter if I am willing to pile the clothes on, and put Kai through getting dressed for it. Not so in the smoggy summer here in Toronto.

3. Baths. This one also needs no explanation.

2. Blankets. They seem kind of useless in the summer, but wrapping myself up in one all womb-like in January saves me thousands of dollars in bad therapy.

1. CBC Radio One. Perfectly imperfectly perfect.

xo

The Spirit is Upon Me...

weirdly early this year!

Maybe it's because I have a little one now.
Maybe it's this motherload of snow that we just got in Toronto.

I dunno, but I just covered my windows with snowflakes my sister and I made out of crepey white paper from The Paper Place on Queen West, and now I am devising a vegan cookie coup which will overthrow the totalitarian regime headed up by egg white icing that has ruled Christmas with an iron fist for nigh on too long.

If any of you are looking for some awesome vegan cookie or dessert recipes this holiday season, or if you want to give someone a vegan cookbook as a gift, here are some of my favourite go-tos.

Vegan With a Vengeance - Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World - also by I.C.M. (all cupcakes!!)
Veganomicon - The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook - again, I.C.M. and Terry Hope Romero
La Dolce Vegan - Sarah Kramer
Fresh at Home - Ruth Tal
Refresh - Ruth Tal

All written by ladies! You vegan boys better get ypur write on!

Happy baking, doods.

Vancouver heartache,

I miss Vancouver.
This time of year it folds in on itself like a soggy Chinese food takeout box, and I love it.
You can truly hide behind a mug of tea there for the whole winter.
No striving through the whipping cold wind.
No echoing windshield scrape sounds at five am.

Toronto is my home now -- I know that.
I stil watch Canucks games once in a while, and when they are in the playoffs, but really I am phoning it in.
I still feel Vancouver on the inside, but I am plated in Toronto.

I miss sitting in the spitting molecular rain on a bench at Kits beach not needing anything.
I miss the pigeon gray skies holding out for days.
I miss the relentless ocean.

I haven't been there for more than a year,
I used to go every few months.
I am a visitor there now in many ways.
In other, more important ways, I am never away from it.

content kickstart

whoa
i haven't posted here in a month.

to kickstart content, i am going to fill out the vegan blogger survey that all the good vegan bloggers are filling out for MOFO (a month of vegan food writing, basically...) If you are completely uninterested in veganism nerding, you might want to hit the back button now. :)

1. Favorite non-dairy milk?
nutrisoy plain - not chalky, not tofu-y tasting - just clean goodness, and supp'd with vitamin d and b12, as well as calcium, etc. in good amounts.


2. What are the top 3 dishes/recipes you are planning to cook?
- vegan chocolate cheesecake
- vegan veggie pot pie
- vegan pumpkin chocolate brownies

3. Topping of choice for popcorn?
- sunflower oil, salt, garlic powder and nutritional yeast -- tastes exactly like dad's orange popcorn from the 80s.

4. Most disastrous recipe/meal failure?
- gluten free gnocchi (dissolved on contact with the huge kettle of boiling water) and the raw on the inside fried pancake thingies i tried to make with the rest of the gnocchi dough. turns out the gluten is what holds gnocchi together. oops.
- pancakes in a stainless steel frying pan. never, ever try this.

5. Favorite pickled item?
those pink falafel things you get in montreal.

6. How do you organize your recipes?
i buy alot of cookbooks and keep anything else on my computer.

7. Compost, trash, or garbage disposal?
trash, sadly -- no compost in my building.

8. If you were stranded on an island and could only bring 3 foods...what would they be (don't worry about how you'll cook them)?
dark chocolate
tofu quiche
raspberries

9. Fondest food memory from your childhood?
eating plums from my backyard with my sister and pretending we were runaways.

10. Favorite vegan ice cream?
homemade!

11. Most loved kitchen appliance?
the oven! also the hand blender for blending soups right in the pot.

12. Spice/herb you would die without?
garlic!

13. Cookbook you have owned for the longest time?re
fresh at home by ruth tal-brown

14. Favorite flavor of jam/jelly?
blueberry

15. Favorite vegan recipe to serve to an omni friend?
vegan chocolate cake with ganache icing

16. Seitan, tofu, or tempeh?
tofu, for it's endless possibilities

17. Favorite meal to cook (or time of day to cook)?
dinner parties for two

18. What is sitting on top of your refrigerator?
a basket containing odds and ends that i sort through once a week (okay. once a month)

19. Name 3 items in your freezer without looking.
wheat germ, flax seeds, frozen pancake batter

20. What's on your grocery list?
saffron, nori-mu silken tofu, vegan organic icing sugar

21. Favorite grocery store?
gotta say whole foods -- sorry, small health food stores who don't have all the things i need...

22. Name a recipe you'd love to veganize, but haven't yet.
dairy queen mint oreo blizzard

23. Food blog you read the most (besides Isa's because I know you check it everyday). Or maybe the top 3?
whatever isa's is linking to that day

24. Favorite vegan candy/chocolate?
cocoa camino mint dark chocolate bar

25. Most extravagant food item purchased lately?
organic fair trade dutch process cocoa powder

26. What are you having for dinner tomorrow?
Rotini with sundried tomatoes, capers and artichoke hearts with vegan caesar salad

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World...

is a great cookbook with all cupcakes in it by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
All vegan cupcakes. 75 of them.
All vegan cupcakes that are fan-fribbin-tastic. Honestly.

And the book is cute and little like a cupcake.

I got mine at Pages on Queen West in Toronto. Both they and Type on West Queen West are really good about ordering things in for you if they are out of stock. I am sure any bookstore could get it in for you -- it's pretty popular.

Make a cow happy today and try veganizing that shmiz. Your heart will thank you, too.
So will your pee-pee arteries which are in charge of you-know-what if you are a boy.