Recipe recommendation: Queen Elizabeth cake

My lovely girlfriend, Julie, offered to make me a cake for my birthday so I asked her to bake me a Queen Elizabeth cake. It's been my favourite type of cake for as long I can remember. It's a dense, moist date cake with a sweet, rich coconut icing. Why is it called a Queen Elizabeth cake? According to a Maclean's article the story is either that it was invented for Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 or for the coronation of the preceding Queen Elizabeth (the Queen mother) in 1937. Either way, it's a classic and it's delicious.

Julie followed a recipe from the blog Hungry in Halifax. It's very similar to more traditional (but non-vegan) Queen Elizabeth cake recipes. It's very good! I give it three thumbs up and urge you to give it a try next time your sweet tooth acts up.

What a nice birthday cake! Thanks, Julie!

Doesn't that look tasty?

Recipe: Vegan Anything-Goes muffins

Here's a flexible muffin recipe that can fit whatever flavour of muffin you're craving or the ingredients you have on hand. It's based on Canadian Living's Anything-Goes Blueberry muffins recipe.  It's one of those recipes that's really really hard to mess up. My favourite version is carrot muffins because the carrots make them deliciously moist.

You can tell how often I make this by the terrible shape the paper is in!

Recipe: Vegan Anything-Goes muffins
Makes 1 dozen muffins

2 cups whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Optional: nutmeg, cardamom, orange rind, almond extract, grated ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 mashed banana
1 cup non-dairy milk (almond, soy, coconut, etc)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups anything*

*Some ideas for your "anything" (any combination of the following): chocolate chips, grated carrots, grated zucchini, chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, raisins, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, chopped dates, more banana, chopped apple

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2. Mix together the wheat, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon (plus any other dry spices) in a large bowl.

3. Mix together remaining ingredients (expect for your "anything") in a separate bowl.

4. Pour the wet ingredients slowly into the dry ingredients and mix gradually. Don't overmix; there should still be a few streaks of dry flour.

5. Fold your "anything" into the batter and separate the batter into muffin tins.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are domed and golden. Allow to cool before eating.

Enjoy!

Simple recipe: Almond and date energy balls

Here's a quick recipe that's so simple it shouldn't even be called a recipe: almond and date energy balls. It's perfect for a snack or a healthy dessert. I made them tonight because my girlfriend has night shifts this week and I thought it would be good for keeping her energized through the night. It has fruit sugars from the dates for an immediate fix of energy as well as almonds to give some longer-lasting energy. It also has cocoa to give these energy balls a delicious fudgy taste, reminiscent of brownies. They aren't the most attractive-looking snacks (my dad, who introduced me to this recipe, likes to call them "poo balls"), but I've tried to make them a little prettier by rolling them in shredded coconut.

Recipe:
2 cups dates
2 cups raw almonds
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1-2 tbs peanut butter, if required

1. Place the dates, almonds, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract in the blender. Blend until smooth. Depending on the strength of your blender, this may take a couple minutes.

2. Try to roll a bit of the mixture into a ball. If it doesn't stick together add a bit of peanut butter and blend it again until the mixture becomes just sticky enough to roll into balls. 

3. Roll the mixture into balls. They can be any size you like, but I like mine about the size of a timbit (a "doughnut hole", for any non-Canadians). Roll the balls in the shredded coconut.

Enjoy!