Orange Madeira cake....

Because sometimes you simply just need a slice of cake...
In my experience on those kind of days Madeira type of cake is the best - quick and easy to make and so many flavour possibilities. Yes, you can keep it nice and simple by just adding few drops of vanilla essence, but why, why when it can be so much more by just adding a tablespoon, or tow, of your favourite marmalade ;) In my case - it's orange. I carried the flavour not only within the cake itself, but also in the icing - which I like only as a thin layer of it, on the top, just enough.

The cake will keep well, covered in a cling film for 3-4 days, though it didn't have a chance to last that long at my house... If you fancy it and you'll bake a vanilla/plain version, you can pour some rum or brandy (mixed with a bit of warm water) over it, when it's still warm and still in the baking tin.

How to make it...

Vegan chocolate fudge cake...

It's quite tricky to make a chocolate cake without eggs, a chocolate birthday cake which was a request from my 5 year old, who happens to have an egg intolerance. It's no an impossible task, but I really wanted to make something without bananas, as that's the most common and easiest egg substitute.
After doing some research I settled for this chocolate fudge cake. I was slightly apprehensive at the start, but once I tried the cake mixture (yes, I ALWAYS try the raw cake mixture, but be honest here - who doesn't?! ;) ) I liked the taste - not too sweet but definitely very chocolaty! The smell when the cake was in the oven was absolutely fantastic, it smelled like a rich, hot chocolate drink, that was definitely a good sign.

This cake is best served with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (unfortunatelly I wasn't able to do the icing suggested in the recipe). It has quite a dense and slightly sticky texture, just like fudge, which I'm personally a huge fan of! My Husband wasn't entirely convinced by it, but both girls loved it, and that was the main thing :)

The recipe was taken from a "Mayim's vegan table" by Mayim Bialik. It's an interesting cookbook and perfect for someone who's a novice in the vegan world. The original recipe calls for a vegan icing, made from tofu, as I can't seem to be able to tofu anywhere near me in the shops, I had to omit that step.

How to make it...

Vegan banana pancakes...

NO, I have not turned Vegan, or even Vegetarian over the New Year's resolutions, but if you're reading my blog for a while you probably know that my younger daughter has an egg intolerance... Thankfully it's not a severe case and she can get away with an occasional slice of cake etc. but things like pasta, Belgian waffles, pancakes etc. have to be egg free - otherwise there is a severe case of scratching the following night...
It's easy to buy dry, egg-free pasta, but pancakes are more tricky, and boy they both do love their pancakes! After some research online I wasn't happy with any pancakes that I've made, without using the eggs. But thankfully there was one, I just had to discover it.

I'm following Mayim Bialik on Instagram (who you may know from The Big Bang Theory) and I was tempted to get her cookbook "Mayim's vegan table", when she got it out. It didn't disappoint. I was a complete newbie when it came to vegan, plant based eating, so I found the book really helpfull in terms of explaining what vegan food is all about and how to get around baking/cooking without the eggs in your diet. It's in that book that I found the recipe for egg-free pancakes, that actually worked and girls really liked them!

I've adapted the recipe ever so slightly, to suit my girls' taste buds, but they're really very small changes (for ex. in Mayim's recipe there's no sugar at all). It can be challenging at times to eliminate from your diet things that you took for granted, that are called for in so many everyday dishes, bakes... But it IS doable!

How to make it...