Vegan Chocolate Pudding Cake with Caramelized Banana and Almond Topping - Online

Link to Vegan Chocolate Pudding Cake 
Ingredients:

1 c. flour

1 TBL. baking powder 

1/4 c. cocoa powder 

1/4 tsp. salt 

1/2 c. dry sweetener (I used organic sugar or cane juice) 

1/3 c. oil 

1/2 c. soymilk 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

3/4 c. dry sweetener 

1/4 c. cocoa powder 

2 c. boiling water

What to do:

1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl stir together the first 4 ingredients (flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt).

2) Add in the 1/2 c. sugar, oil, soy milk and vanilla. Mix gently until just combined (don't overmix). 3) The mixture will resemble cookie dough more than cake batter.  Spread it into a lightly oiled casserole dish or loaf pan and set aside.  (My batter was fluid-like cake batter.  Also, I used either a 8 X 8  inch pan)

4) Clean and dry out your bowl then mix together the 3/4 c. of sugar and the other 1/4 c. of cocoa. Sprinkle this evenly on top of the cake mixture.

5) Carefully pour the boiling water over top of everything - and DO NOT MIX! it really does do it's own thing in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes and enjoy!

Not going to lie, this one made me nervous!  Since the recipe didn't specific what size pan to use, I pulled out the first reasonably sized pan from the cabinet.  The recipe is fairly straightforward and then throws a complete curve ball - pour 2 cups of boiling water over top of everything, really?!  Fortunately, the water did not spill over the top of the 8 X 8 inch pan but it certainly came close.

Now, folks, on to the Caramelized Banana and Almond Topping... 

Link for Banana Topping with Variations

Ingredients: 

1/4 c. unsalted butter Earth Balance

4 small bananas (approx 1 pound) (I only had three 'nonnies lying around so I just used scant measurements of all the other ingredients)

1/2 c. sugar brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 TBL. banana liqueur (optional) or 2 tablespoons syrup (optional) Disaronno Amaretto

1 tsp. vanilla extract almond extract

What to do:

1) Melt the Earth Balance in a large saucepan.

2) Slice the bananas and heat in the butter until they soften.  Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and ground nutmeg.

3) Add the Amaretto and the almond extract

4) Serve warm or at room temperature

First of all, I am really liking the "strike-through" font as you can see vegan substitutions for the ingredients.  Quite possibly my new favorite font.

MM enjoyed this dessert recipe enough to have a large serving before embarking on a 7 mile run.

NMcL was a little turned off by the banana topping.

Try it for yourself and YOU decide!

Caramelized Onion Tart with Sweet Potato Sage Crust - 500 Vegan Recipes - p.182

For the crust:
1/2 c. sweet potato puree, at room temperature (For this, I nuked a sweet potato in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes, then let it cool for a bit before tossing it into the magic bullet and blending)
1/4 c. water heated to 100 degrees
2 TBL. canola oil, plus more for coating the bowl
1 TBL. agave nectar
1 c. white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour (I used regular whole wheat flour because I am not racist)
3/4 c. light spelt flour (versus dark spelt flour?  what the hay?)
1 tsp. dried sage
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. fine salt
1 tsp. bread machine yeast (and yes folks, there is a difference between bread machine yeast and regular yeast)

For the caramelized onions:
3 TBL. peanut oil
2 softball sized red onions, cut into rings first, then into half moons
2 large shallots
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

For the Parmesan-like sprinkles:
2 TBL. roasted, salted sunflower seeds (since my were raw and unsalted, I just roasted them on the stove top for a few minutes until they became brown and fragrant.  I refrained from adding salt)
2 TBL. sesame seeds
2 TBL. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 tsp. dried sage

Directions:
1)  To make the crust:  In a medium bowl, combine the sweet potato puree, water, oil, and sage.
2) In a large bowl, combine the flours, sage, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, salt, and yeast.
3) Stir the flour into the sweet potato mixture.
4) Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and pliable, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky.  Shape dough into a ball.
5) Lightly coat a large bowl with oil, add the dough, and turn the dough to coat.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, for 60-90 minutes.  While the dough is rising, prepare the caramelized onions and Parmesan-like sprinkles.
6) To make the onions, place all the onion ingredients in a large saucepan.  Cook for about 20 minutes over medium low heat, or until the onions are caramelized and brown.  Set aside.
7)  To make the Parmesan-like sprinkles:  Place all sprinkle ingredients into a coffee grinder or food processor (or Bullet).  Blend until pulverized into a fine powder.  Set aside.
8) Twenty or thirty minutes before the dough is done rising, pre-heat the oven to 400.  Roll out the dough into an 8 x 10 inch rectangle on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
9) Spread the caramelized onions and Parmesan-like sprinkles on the dough.
10) Bake the Tart for 18 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are golden brown.
11) Serve with mixed greens!

This was a fairly labor intensive meal - though it was well worth it.  The caramelized onions took about 2 hours to caramelize fully - but boy were they delicious and was the wait worth it.  (Watching Hulu + a bout of insomnia helped to pass the time!)  Next time, I'll set the heat a little higher to speed up the process. 

The juxtaposition of the salty from the onions and the Parmesan-like crumbles and the sweet from the sweet potato was delightful.  The sweet potato tart was almost like a sweet potato pizza crust.  There were some nice hunks of sweet potato spread throughout the dough that gave the tart an interesting texture.

The Parmesan-like crumbles made quite a few crumbles.  And they were plenty salty enough using the unsalted sunflower seeds.  

MH and DH, especially MH, enjoyed this recipe.