Month: March 2023

Recipe Sunday – Vegan School Dinner Sponge (Traybake)

/ thevegancatlibrarian / Leave a comment

Hello beautiful cats! How are you? I hope you are enjoying your weekend! For me, this is a very relaxing one as the past week has been so busy – but Sundays are also for a walk and I found a lovely new spot not too far from my home: I wasn’t aware of it as I usually go the other direction and a colleague told me about it. Loved this little Sunday adventure! And what better sweetie I could find at home if not this Vegan School Dinner Sponge by TraditionalPlantBasedCooking?! If you don’t know this website, please go and give it a look because they have veganised almost every food you grew up with not only from the British Isles but North America, Oceania and more.

So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Vegan School Dinner Sponge by TraditionalPlantBasedCooking

Ingredients

  • 225 grams self-raising flour sieved, or plain/all purpose flour with an extra ½ teaspoon of baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder sieved
  • 175 grams caster sugar or granulated
  • 6 tablespoons vegetable oil such as rapeseed/sunflower (this is not a strong tasting oil)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 225 ml water

Jam and coconut topping:

  • 8 tablespoons fruit jam (jelly) Give the jam a good mix with a spoon so it’s easier to spread.
  • 4 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Method

Prepare the sponge:

  1. Preheat oven to 160 Fan/ 180 Celsius/ 350 Fahrenheit/ gas 4.
  2. Grease the baking dish and line with greaseproof paper if necessary.
  3. Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix.
  4. Add wet ingredients and mix to a smooth batter.
  5. Scoop the cake batter into the baking dish. A spatula is amazing as it helps scrape all the batter off the bowl.
  6. Place baking dish on the middle shelf of the oven.
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on your oven. Fan ovens are often faster to bake. Check the traybake after 25 minutes. Cake is ready when risen, lightly golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
  8. Leave the cake for about 20 minutes and then carefully remove from the tin to cool on a wire rack. Or simply leave in the tin to cool. It will be fine. Carefully peel away the baking paper.
  9. Once cool finish the sponge by adding the decoration.

Jam and coconut topping:

  1. Whip your jam with a spoon to loosen it up and make it easier to spread. Spread over your cake.
  2. Sprinkle coconut over the jam to cover.
  3. Slice into 12 pieces.

I enjoyed a piece of this sponge with some hot tea after the walk!

Love,

TVCL xx

Recipe Sunday – Vegan Goulash with Mushrooms and Smoked Tofu (and an alternative!)

/ thevegancatlibrarian / 2 Comments

Happy Sunday, cuties! Are you surviving the “Artic Blast”? The weather forecast for our area was saying that there would have been a lot of snow, but in the end, we had only a sprinkle and not much else! However, it has been below zero for a few days so this called for some warm and comforting food and I was in the mood for a goulash: I still remember when my granddad was making this dish, all the care he was putting into it and how delicious and comforting it was. Obviously, it wasn’t vegan, but I was looking to recreate that feeling again and I managed to find the perfect recipe! ForkfulOfPLants’ recipe for a Vegan Goulash with Mushroom and Smoked Tofu is just what you want.

ForkfulOfPLants’ recipe for a Vegan Goulash with Mushroom and Smoked Tofu

Ingredients  

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 brown onions chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 red bell pepper chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 500 g mushrooms sliced
  • 2 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 200 g carrots chopped into ½ inch pieces
  • 300 g potatoes chopped into 1 inch pieces
  • 1 block smoked tofu (approx 225g) cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 400 g chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 500 ml vegetable stock
  • 3 springs fresh thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste

Method 

  1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chopped onions and pepper, and sauté over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes until they start to soften.
  2. Add the mushrooms, and cook for 5 minutes more, or until they start to release liquid. Then, add the smoked and sweet paprika, and the garlic powder.
  3. Stir the spices through, then add the carrots, potatoes and tofu. Sprinkle over the flour, and mix well again.
  4. Finally, add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, vegetable stock and fresh thyme. Stir to combine, then bring the goulash to a steady simmer.
  5. Cover and cook for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes has passed, remove the lid, stir, and allow to cook for a further 20 minutes uncovered, or until the potatoes are soft and the vegetable goulash has thickened.
  6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Alternative

You can swap the smoked tofu for the same quantity of soy chunks – rehydrate them in warm water, drain them and add to the recipe instead of the tofu.

I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe!

Love,

TVCL xx