January 2023 Entries

When I first started to learn to bake in lockdown I made quite a few vegan recipes (followed by Nigella's vast collection of course), which is why I was surprised to see this vegan chocolate cake that I had neglected to bake in the past. Thus, welcoming this challenge with open arms was inevitable. Omitting coconut oil in the cake and replacing with sunflower oil led to a stubborn sponge that was crisp at the top yet wouldn't set in the middle, however, baking with tinfoil tightly wrapped over the top of the cake was a lifesaver here. In terms of decoration, I wished that edible flowers were in season but in lieu of this, artistically arranged fruits, nuts and seeds provided a tropical touch that anyone in the northern hemisphere yearns for at this time of year. I found that I also kept the integrity of the cake intact as a vegan chocolate cake by using ingredients such as chia seeds, pistachios, oranges and bananas to spruce it up.