Vegan experiments- today cakes.

The recipe that I would like to share today might cause mixed reactions : for vegan readers it might just be quite a normal cake recipe with lots of protein and fibre in it. For the rest this might sound like weird-greenie-geek-food because instead of  white flour, eggs or butter this cake contains beans. Yes, you read right, white beans you probably associate with a not-so-popular-over-here english breakfast.

I have to admit that I read about a bean-cake recipe weeks ago on the lovely vegan blog Choclate Covered Katie. A lot of comments assured that you don’t taste the beans in it. But still. Beans in a cake? This sounded like an experiment I had to try when no guests are expected ;)

I modified the ingrediants that they fit to the inventory of my cupboard and was amazed about the taste of the raw batter. Since there are no eggs in it I was brave and tested it. Ok, you got me, I always taste the raw batter, this is the  reason I bake in the first place!

The baked cake looks like a giant cookie and is very moisty inside. I after testing it, I was amazed that the cake really did taste like a sinfull, rich dessert. Of course there is sugar in it, but the rest of the ingrediants count as healthy food!

(magic) bean-cake

For a small spring form(18cm/7inch)

250g  canned white beans

 100g brown sugar 

7g vanille sugar

 1 very ripe banana

 50g oats

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

2 tablespoons canola oil 

25g nugat (to veganize it, use dark choclate chips or if you like coconut grapes)

1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Rinse the beans under Running water. Chop the nugat. Use 1 teaspoon oil to grease the form.

2. Blend all of the ingrediants but the nugat and in a food prossesor. Stir the nugat in and fill the batter in the greased form. Put it into the oven for about 40min, until it has a nice colour.

I used my nutella light from the last post as a frosting! But you can drop that or use any frosting you like!

Nutrition facts:

(without frosting)

1183 kcal

32,5g fat

26g protein

195 carbs

Evil food…

Do you have food that you should never ever buy, because you can’t stop thinking about it, until it is eaten up? Well, in my case I have two huge weaknesses: pickels and nutella. This sounds like I am pregnant, but I can calm you: I don’t eat them together :) (I figuratively see my father heave a sigh)

I guess my passion for pickels is tolerable, because I count them as veggies and you can never eat too many veggies, right? But I can hardly allay my nutrient-conscience when I have a glas of nutella in the left and a spoon in the right hand…

I almost accepted the fact that I just can’t buy a glas of nutella, because eating 400g of chocolate in one go doesn’t fit together with my plan of becoming 113 years…But I guess you all know what happens if you forbid yourself something: It just becomes more appealing!

The only way out for me was to create something which tastes as good but has less calories and fat. And guess what: I was successful! I am not sure if this recipe can cure your nutella addiction (I just assume that there are more people with a nutella addiction out there!), but if not you still have a yummie spread that is made in a minute with only 2 ingredients:

Nutella light

50g nougat

50g cream cheese (light cream cheese works as well!)

Melt the nougat in the microwave (be careful not to burn it!). Stir the cream cheese in the liquid nougat. Put it in the fridge for 1h. Get a spoon. Feel a little less guilty.

(yes I put it on bread for the picture-rare occasion)

I also tried it with white chocolate and grated coconut which worked perfectly. I guess you can use every choclate you like.

Back with a goodie…

Knock-knock. Anybody still here?

Sorry that I made myself rare the last few months. I finished university and started a new job, which changed my life a lot! I always thought that being a student is a full time job-but guess what: people are right when they tell you that you never have as much time as being a student.
Having less free time had an enormous influence on my cooking and baking habits: I just didn’t cook very much in the last few months! Last week I realized that this is something that I really miss and therefore I have to make time for it in future!

I feel really bad that I didn’t write anything, therefore I blog about a real I-feel-sorry-and-want-to-make-it-up-recipe which is an all-time favourite of mine:

Garlic-wrinkle-bread

for the dough:

600g wheat flour

300ml lukewarm water

40g fresh yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

50ml oil (olive, canola or sunflower)

for the filling:

2 garlic cloves

1 onion

1/2 bunch of parsley

120g butter (or margarine to veganize it)

1 teaspoon salt

1. Liquidate the yeast in the lukewarm water. Stir dry ingredients, add the liquid yeast and olive oil. Knead the dough until you can form a ball. Put the bowl in a warm (about 37°C/100°F) place for about 30min, until the dough has doubled its size. I like to put it into the oven and switch the light on, this is just the right temperature.

2. Chop the parsley, garlic and onion fInely. Mix it with the butter (margarine) and salt.

3. Roll the dough to the size of a baking tray and  spread the garlic butter evenly over it.  Cut the dough to 5cm (2 inches) stripe and put them like an accordion in a greased spring form. Let the dough rest for 15 min, before you bake it at 200°C (392°F) for about 25-30min. I recommend to put some aluminium foil under it, because some of the butter may leak from the spring form.

It is best straight from the oven!