Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Very Vanilla & Cherry Coffee Cake

This Sunday the BF and I are getting together with friends for an Easter brunch pot luck.  As soon as I saw the invite my mind wandered... baked goods... mmmmmm.

Inside my head shuffled all the breakfast recipes I've been dying to try out.  I decided on coffee cake since it's easy to prepare a day ahead.  Because I'm committed to showing all of my friends how deliciously perfect vegan food can be, I knew that a dry-run would be necessary.  So that's what I did last Sunday.  I did-a-darned good bake job.

I started off with Alyson of Manifest: Vegan's "favorite" Cherry Almond Coffee Cake and modified it slightly into what can only be described at the coffee cake of my dreams.  Continue on for the full dishing...

Very Vanilla & Cherry Coffee Cake
(makes an 8" square or round cake)

Cake
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (you could also try Silk's Very Vanilla for some added kick)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar (regular vinegar will work too- just don't use balsamic!)
3/4 cup margarine (I used half coconut oil, as I stupidly forgot to buy more Earth Balance at the market)
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer whipped with 6 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup sweet sorgum flour
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
Crumble
1/3 cup rolled oats (I chopped my oats a little finer in my coffee grinder)
1/2 cup sweet sorgum flour
1 1/2 teaspoons margarine 
1/4 cup dried cherries
Icing
1 tablespoon margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons vanilla soy milk


- In a small bowl, soak cherries in boiling water
- In a large mixing bowl cream together sugar, margarine and vanilla
- Whip together Ener-G egg replacer and water is a small bowl
- Mix Ener-G into the large mixing bowl with sugar and margarine
- Stir together soy milk and vinegar in small bowl, let it sit for 5 minutes (creating a "vegan buttermilk")
- In another mixing bowl combine sweet sorgum flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, salt and baking powder.
- Gradually combine dry mixture to the sugar and margarine, also adding a tablespoon of curdled milk at a time
- Beat until fluffy
- Drain the cherries and fold into batter
- Grease your pan and pour in cake batter!
- On to the crumble... combine all ingredients except the cherries, work together with forks or fingers
- Mix in half of the remaining cherries
- Cover batter evenly with crumble, distribute the remaining cherries on top
- Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes
- Once the coffee cake is finished (a knife inserted in the middle will come out clean), remove from oven and let cool completely
- Mix together all icing ingredients (add a little more soy milk if consistency is too thick), and artistically drizzle on your baking masterpiece!!!


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