March 26, 2005
Vegan Carrot Cake
Carrot cake for Easter seems to fit. I think I'll leave a piece out for the Easter bunny.
Don't even think about making this a layer cake, just be happy to be eating tasty carrot cake as a vegan and count your blessings. I tried to get fancy and ended up eating a lot of gooey, broken pieces of cake that I could not paste together for the life of me.
This recipe does it in a 9x12 pan. Good enough.
Vegan Carrot Cake
3 sticks, plus 1 tablespoon Willow Run Margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon corn starch
4 large eggs - Ener-G-Egg Replacer (follow directions on box)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts - like walnuts or pecans, toasted (if desired)
Cream Cheese Icing:
8 ounces - 1 tub Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
1 stick Willow Run Margarine
1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease (9x12 inch) cake pan with 1 tablespoon
of the soy margarine and set aside. In a large bowl,
cream the margarine with an electric mixer. Add
the sugar, and beat. In a medium bowl or on a
piece of parchment, combine the flour, baking
soda, cinnamon, salt, corn starch and mix well.
Add the dry ingredients, add the egg replacer, beat well.
Add the vanilla extract and mix. Add the
carrots and beat on medium speed until well
incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the raisins
and nuts. Mix well.
Spoon into the cake pan and bake
until set and a cake tester inserted into the
middle comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
For the Frosting: In a large bowl, cream
together the Tofutti cream cheese and the
soy margarine until light and fluffy.
Add the sugar gradually, beating constantly.
Add the vanilla and when the cake is cool,
spread the top with tofutti cream cheese
frosting.
Serve to your favorite bunnies.
Posted by Denise at 11:27 PM | Comments (4)
March 15, 2005
Dole's VEGAN Fruit-and-Gel Bowls
Jodee, an Almost Vegan reader who was kind enough to email me, gave me this tip. She wrote me this in an email first:
"I know the feeling of wanting something you never cared about before you couldn't have it - isn't that funny?
I am an avid label reader - so if I'm standing next to something at the market you can bet I"ll read the label - DOLE lime gel cups with pineapple in teeny-tiny letters at the bottom of the package says - no animal products!"
Then Jodee did her homework and followed up by sending me an email she received from Dole themselves.
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Dear Jodee,
We appreciate your interest in Dole Food Company. We're glad to provide the information you requested and hope it is useful.
DOLE Fruit-N-Gel Bowls do not contain any animal sourced ingredrients. The gel is derived from plant. The gel is made of Carrageenan and Locust Bean Gum. The two main ingredients that form the gel in this product are carrageenan (derived from red kelp) and locust bean gum (from the locust tree seed). These polysaccharides are like starch and they form a gel when combined with water. No gelatin is used in our gels and they are free from animal-sourced ingredients.
Try our other flavors:
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Lime Gel w/Pineapple
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Orange Gel w/Mandarin Oranges
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Strawberry Gel w/Peaches
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Reduced Sugar Pears in Kiwi-Berry Gel
DOLE Fruit-n-Gel Mixed Fruit in Black Cherry Gel.
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Thanks so much for the gel(lo), Jodee.
Posted by Denise at 10:59 PM | Comments (5)
March 02, 2005
Soy Boy's New Website!
Look at this - Soy Boy's New Website!
It is really nice with shots of the actual people making the food and great quotes like: "Traditional tofu masters have a saying that there are two things they will not show another person: how to make babies and how to make tofu." - The Book of Tofu
I learned of their new site, because a very nice man in their company emailed me today. He happened upon my Almost Vegan review of their Soy Boy ravioli and here is his review of my review:
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Hello Denise,
I just stumbled across your review of our tofu ravioli and was thrilled to read it. We don't think you could have put it any better. I printed it out and have it hanging in our break room so everyone here can see it. That kind of positive feedback really means a lot to us. I also wanted to let you know that we do have two other varieties of ravioli and several other products that you can see at www.soyboy.com, now that the site is up. Thanks for the support!
Kind regards,
Tim
Northern Soy, Inc.
345 Paul Road
Rochester, NY 14624
Tel: (585)235-8970
Fax: (585)235-3753
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Posted by Denise at 05:15 PM | Comments (2)
