Recent munchings...

This weekend, I was lucky enough to enjoy yet another vegan cake baked my my wonderful mum! I mentioned to her a little while ago that I had never had a vegan carrot cake (I haven't seen many recipes for them and I think my mum was initially a little sceptical about doing a cake without the usual buttercream frosting). Anyway, she came across a recipe in her magazine that was aimed at people with various allergies, which included a tasty looking recipe for a (vegan of course) carrot cake! My mum therefore decided to make it when I came home this weekend!

The cake had lots of dried fruit in, which is the reason that I think the recipe does not include a frosting. My mum decided to finish it off my just dusting the top with a little icing sugar. The only adjustment she made to the recipe was halving the amount of cinnamon. I think the recipe initially called for over a tablespoon of cinnamon, which my mum thought would be a little overpowering, especially for my little sister who likes quite plain foods.

I think my mum was right to make the alteration because the cake still had a lovely hint of cinnamon but you were able to taste all the other flavours of the fruit in the cake too. It was surprisingly moist, almost in between the texture of a cake and a pudding. That means that it should keep well (not that we needed it to, it took the 4 of us in our family only 2 days to finish the entire cake! I did mean to post the recipe but I left it at home- I will try to remember to get it next time I go home!

I also had the pleasure of enjoying a chocolate cake (yet another one!) baked my my lovely omni friend. I think he is better at vegan baking than me! This cake was a chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate buttercream-style frosting. It was absolutely lovely- nice and chocolatey but not too rich (the piece pictured below is my generously sized slice!)

A less tasty item that I consumed this weekend was the bar of carob pictured below. I eat lots of dark chocolate but rarely carob, so I decided to give this bar a try. Unfortunately, the health food shop only had this 'no added sugar' bar, which I would not have selected by choice (when having a treat why not have the sugar too?) However, I decided to buy it nonethless and hoped it would be nice. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed! The bar had absolutely no sweetness to it at all! The only way it was vaguely palatable was if I dipped the pieces into sweet tea : ( I was very disappointed and wished I had just purchased a bar of my favourite Green and Blacks instead. Fortunately, my mum had sneakily bought me 2 bars of Green and Blacks with cherries so all was not lost!

Recently, I have especially been enjoying 'Trek bars' as a snack. They are primarily made from dried fruit and nuts and are really yummy! They are nice and moist and a great snack to have 'on the go'! My favourite flavour is shown below: 'Cocoa Brownie'. While it doesn't taste exactly like a brownie, it has a nice chocolate hint to it and is a very similar texture. I am all out of these at the moment but will be stocking up on some more very soon!