Just in Case You Have Any Vegan Guests Lined up

As you know I love cooking baking and I love entertaining guests. This week has been quite good on both fronts: on Wednesday, I made a really nice (if I say so myself) chanterelle risotto for the Mermaid and myself and this afternoon Bella and her sister came for their belated/early birthday pressies and a mini "tea-party". "Little" cousin has been vegetarian for quite some time now and decided to try out a vegan diet from October onwards. Me, I like a culinary challenge and so I went on the hunt for a vegan cake recipe that doesn't contain too many odd ingredients that I know would go to waste in my kitchen cupboards.

I found this recipe for spiced apple cake which I slightly adapted (by adding cardamom, vanilla and lemon peel and replacing sultanas and raisins with currants. I didn't have wholemeal flour at home and therefore used normal wheat flour. Oh and, of course, I added flaked almonds on top. If there is a "Flaked Almonds Society" out there that needs a testimonial, I'll be first in line). The cake was sursprisingly tasty. I say surprisingly as I'm one of those people who instantly think "bleurgh" when they see "vegan" on the menu. For some reason I tend to equate it with bland and "not the real thing". I would make this again, next time adding more apples as they sort of "disappeared" in the mix and were not really noticeable at all.

Here is a close-up of a slice. I would have used cranberries if I had had any at home.

 

My verdict: thumbs up for this easy and tasty cake!