Vegan chocolate-tahini timbale cakes

As you may knwo I'm not really a sweet person, but if I have guests over for a cup off coffee I can't just serve them "nothing" - and today I wanted to surprise them - as they hardly expect myself serving a dessert. 

Anyway, back to the roots. I got a new cooking book and in there I saw and found a recipe for chocolate-tahini cakes. 

I had to try - I could not really imagine tasting tahini good in a sweet cake, but the result- and yes I tasted it off course - was astonishing good!!! The original recipe said using muffin-forms but as I'm not having real muffin form I decide to make timbale cakes - looks even better than cakes in a muffin form. 

As I'm guarding my sister home with the garden I even had some rasperry to serve with - fresh harvest at my sisters garden. (and this for the next two weeks) As my sister fridge is overfilled I mostly will take the harvest things at home, either cooking or preparing jams out of it. 

My guest really like it and this is always a good sign, hmm? And served with fresh sweet rasperries just delicious.....

If you wonder as well if they tastes, try them out and you will be surprised!

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Vegan chocolate-tahini timbale cakes

This variation involves using tahini in place of butter. The batter is baked in timbales. You'll need to have enough (about 2 ml) nonstick (silicone) timbales to make two dozen timbales at a time.

Makes about 24

Ingredients:115 g dark baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
120 ml unsweetened plain soya milk
160 ml Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
120 ml tahini
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
190 g all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1½ teaspoons baking powder
43 g cocoa powder 
½ teaspoon salt

Direction:

Preheat the oven up to 180C

Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the soya milk over medium heat until it begins to steam and almost comes to a boil. Pour the soya milk over the chopped chocolate, then add the Kahlua, tahini, and vanilla. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is entirely melted.

Sift the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, cocoa, and salt together into a large bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and stir gently until just combined. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag without a tip or a resealable
plastic bag with one corner snipped off.

Put about two dozen timbale moulds on a baking sheet (the number of moulds per pan varies, so just get as close to two dozen as you can). Pipe the batter into the moulds, filling each about two-thirds full.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are firm but the inside is still slightly soft (test by inserting a wooden skewer or toothpick). Transfer the moulds to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes, then invert the moulds and let the timbales cool completely, about 15 minutes. Lift off the moulds and dust the timbales with powdered sugar. These treats are best eaten the day they're made.

Vegan Apple-crumble-cake

What a sunny morning - great for having breakfast on the balcony. 

Today I had to help my parents at their fleamarket table. The first one for them, cause they're are moving out from my childhood house into a own appartement. (They are not getting younger and the house is too big for them). 

When I heard that they are moving out and wanted to sell the house - I cryed.... No more feeling like coming home and knowning that none of us children would/ could take the house.

I tried to convince my parents by renting the house - let's see what's happening. 

Anyway, today was a HUG fleamarket on 3 parking decks and my parents had a place where they sells un-used stuff. 
As you may can imagine, standing there from early in the morning till late afternoon you need food, water (or whatever) and coffee.
For the sweet snack I brought a cake - easy to transport and eat. 

Well, we were all glad about the sweet, the day was pretty long. Luckely we had a good place and had the sun on our back. 

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Vegan Apple-crumble-cake

4 Persons

total time: 40 min

Ingredients:

1 kg sour apples

500 g wholemeal flour

250 g vegan margarine

200 g cane sugar or agave nectar

1 packet of baking powder

1 packet of vanilla sugar

4 tablespoons cold water

1 pinch of salt

For the crumble mixture :

250 g wholemeal flour

120 g cane sugar or agave nectar

100 g vegan margarine

1 packet of vanilla sugar

Preparation:

For the short crust wisk together margarine, sugar and pinch of salt until it gets fluffy. 

Measur flour and together with the baking powder, vanille sugar give into the margarine-sugar mixture and knead well under.

At the end, add the ice-cold water and quickly knead with your hands to have a smooth dough. Then form the dough into a roll, wrap in foil or leave it in the bowl, covered and place in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, peel the apples, cut  into quarters and remove the core. To beware from turning brown sprinkle over some lemon juice. 

For the crumble topping all the ingredients together and knead with fingers and sprinkles it crumbs.

Grease a baking tray and cover with the dough , spread the apples and sprinkles on it and bake for about 45 minutes at 180 ° C .

chrunchy roasted sweeted amandes

Christmastime, always the time when you enjoy being together with your family, lighting the candles in the evening, maybe a fire in your chimnee. Hopefully some snowflakes falling outside - just so great. It's always a magic, special time. Unfortunatly most people don't really know why we're are celebrating Christmas and that's sad.

Anyway. Every years from the beginning of december till christmas we have a christmas market in the city (I posted pictures the year before) and beside clothes, goods, sweets, spices, candles a.s.o. there're alway the "houses" were they serve food and sweet things.

One thing I mostly buy during this christmas time are chrunchy roasted sweet almonds (thought I don't really like almonds) but those chrunchy ones just taste soo great - hard to resist.

This year I still hadn't the time to go to the market and therefore I decided to make them on myself. They are simple and quick done.

Kids will love them

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Chrunchy roasted sweeted amandes

Ingredients: 
1 dl water
200 g sugarr
1 tsp. vanille sugar
maybe 1 hint of cinnamnon
200g unpeeled amandes

Direction:
Add everything exept the amandes into a pan and cook up. When cooking add the amandes. Cook under constantly stirring, till the sugar stick to the amandes and they look chrunchy. Shortly roast till amandes "shine". Immediatly give the roasted sweeted amandes to a lightly oiled backing sheet, spread out and let cool!

They taste chrunchy and sweet and of course so course. If you like amandes then you're defently going to love those chrunchy sweet roasted amandes. They are just tasting so great and they can be always bought during pre-christmas time at the christmas ferry. People just love it. No one can resist them ;)