Archive: January 2008
Holiday Dessert Review!
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
The holidays can be a rough time if you’re trying to avoid really bad food, but those of us at Hell Food are not opposed to enjoying some treats here and there. After all, if you eat well and exercise year round, the holidays are not an issue. Moderation and consistency are always the key. Have a few treats and otherwise maintain your healthy habits and you will be fine.
This year, Kelly and I had a FSM themed holiday, and so our holiday meal was made up of Italian food. For this year’s dessert, I chose tiramasu. The last time I had tiramasu I wasn’t a vegan, so it was a challenge to find a good recipe. After doing some research I found a good one at the Insomniac Chef blog. After looking at the recipe, I felt I could make it without any issues. Here is the recipe from his site:
Sponge Cake:
(Based on recipe I found online by Candace Naomi Sakuda)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/3 cups water
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and free of lumps. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool complete and then slice it into lady finger shaped strips. Put the strips on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 18 minutes.
“Mascarpone”
8 oz Soy Cream Cheese (I used toffuti’s vegan cream cheese)
1/4 cup soy sour cream (I used toffuti’s vegan sour cream)
1/4 cup vegan cream (you can try silk coffee creamer but I used Alpro Soya Heavy Cream which you can buy here)
2 tablespoons Amaretto
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agar (this is a vegan gelatine, I found some at a Korean grocery near my house but if you do not have that kind of thing near you you may have to buy some online)
Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dissolve the agar into it and allow it to cool to room temperature. Combine the cream/agar mix with all the other ingredients above and beat well. Put the mix in the fridge to set for several hours.
Coffee/Liquor Dip
1 cup expresso
3 tablespoons amaretto
3 tablespoons sugar
Combine these ingredients and put in the fridge to cool.
Topping
1 high quality dark chocolate bar, grated (store in the refrigerator)
To assemble the dessert dip the “lady fingers” you made into the coffee dip and lay them in a large deep dish. Pour the “mascarpone” over top of the cake. Sprinkel the “mascarpone” with the grated chocolate and then chill the entire dish in the refrigerator for an hour or until you are ready to serve.
I did make two small changes. First, I was unable to find sour cream that was vegan in time, so I instead used soy vanilla yogurt, and a little extra cream cheese. Also, I didn’t have the exact sized baking pan required, so I used a round 9 inch pan instead. I think both these changes would be immaterial to the overall product.
The result, in my opinion, was great. It tasted pretty good. The fake dessert cheese reminded me of real mascarpone cheese, and the chocolate bar I picked added another level of expresso taste that really gave it some kick. Kelly didn’t like it as much as I did; she preferred the frozen browni trifle I had made before. However, even she had to admit it came out pretty good. I would do this recipe again, maybe next year as well. So if you’re tiramasu fan and a vegan, I highly suggest this recipe.
References:
http://insomniacchef.blogspot.com/2007/04/vegan-tiramisu.html
The holidays can be a rough time if you’re trying to avoid really bad food, but those of us at Hell Food are not opposed to enjoying some treats here and there. After all, if you eat well and exercise year round, the holidays are not an issue. Moderation and consistency are always the key. Have a few treats and otherwise maintain your healthy habits and you will be fine.
This year, Kelly and I had a FSM themed holiday, and so our holiday meal was made up of Italian food. For this year’s dessert, I chose tiramasu. The last time I had tiramasu I wasn’t a vegan, so it was a challenge to find a good recipe. After doing some research I found a good one at the Insomniac Chef blog. After looking at the recipe, I felt I could make it without any issues. Here is the recipe from his site:
Sponge Cake:
(Based on recipe I found online by Candace Naomi Sakuda)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/3 cups waterCombine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth and free of lumps. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool complete and then slice it into lady finger shaped strips. Put the strips on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 18 minutes.
“Mascarpone”
8 oz Soy Cream Cheese (I used toffuti’s vegan cream cheese)
1/4 cup soy sour cream (I used toffuti’s vegan sour cream)
1/4 cup vegan cream (you can try silk coffee creamer but I used Alpro Soya Heavy Cream which you can buy here)
2 tablespoons Amaretto
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agar (this is a vegan gelatine, I found some at a Korean grocery near my house but if you do not have that kind of thing near you you may have to buy some online)Bring heavy cream to a boil in a small sauce pan and then dissolve the agar into it and allow it to cool to room temperature. Combine the cream/agar mix with all the other ingredients above and beat well. Put the mix in the fridge to set for several hours.
Coffee/Liquor Dip
1 cup expresso
3 tablespoons amaretto
3 tablespoons sugarCombine these ingredients and put in the fridge to cool.
Topping
1 high quality dark chocolate bar, grated (store in the refrigerator)To assemble the dessert dip the “lady fingers” you made into the coffee dip and lay them in a large deep dish. Pour the “mascarpone” over top of the cake. Sprinkel the “mascarpone” with the grated chocolate and then chill the entire dish in the refrigerator for an hour or until you are ready to serve.
I did make two small changes. First, I was unable to find sour cream that was vegan in time, so I instead used soy vanilla yogurt, and a little extra cream cheese. Also, I didn’t have the exact sized baking pan required, so I used a round 9 inch pan instead. I think both these changes would be immaterial to the overall product.
The result, in my opinion, was great. It tasted pretty good. The fake dessert cheese reminded me of real mascarpone cheese, and the chocolate bar I picked added another level of expresso taste that really gave it some kick. Kelly didn’t like it as much as I did; she preferred the frozen browni trifle I had made before. However, even she had to admit it came out pretty good. I would do this recipe again, maybe next year as well. So if you’re tiramasu fan and a vegan, I highly suggest this recipe.
References:
http://insomniacchef.blogspot.com/2007/04/vegan-tiramisu.html
Update!
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Check out the main HellFood.com page for the first product that we’re giving recognition for.
Check out the main HellFood.com page for the first product that we’re giving recognition for.
links for 2008-01-04 Friday, January 4th, 2008
A food I never thought I’d have to write about
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
On a recent podcast, I heard about a food, so nasty and unhealthy sounding, I just had to write about it. It’s a bacon chocolate bar which you can read about here on Vosges Chocolates. It’s not a bacon shaped bar and it’s not an artificial bacon flavor enhanced bar. It’s real bacon in real chocolate.
The website doesn’t provide any nutritional information, but then again, if you’re interested in eating a bacon chocolate bar, you’re probably not that concerned with health. Due to the use of meat and the utterly unhealthy combination of bacon and chocolate, this bar isn’t getting the Hell Food thumbs up. My god, just eat an apple!
On a recent podcast, I heard about a food, so nasty and unhealthy sounding, I just had to write about it. It’s a bacon chocolate bar which you can read about here on Vosges Chocolates. It’s not a bacon shaped bar and it’s not an artificial bacon flavor enhanced bar. It’s real bacon in real chocolate.
The website doesn’t provide any nutritional information, but then again, if you’re interested in eating a bacon chocolate bar, you’re probably not that concerned with health. Due to the use of meat and the utterly unhealthy combination of bacon and chocolate, this bar isn’t getting the Hell Food thumbs up. My god, just eat an apple!