Hidden-Veggies Brownies

Hello, and long time no see!  Where have you all been?  I'm sure it's you that's been away, am I right?  Anyhow, I wanted to put up this post before another major holiday came and went because I made these brownies for Easter.  (Did I just say that?  Easter?)  Yes, Easter!  Argh, anyways, I'm back, I'm back.  A few years ago, both my mom and SR gave me the same cookbook for my birthday.  I kept SR's because she inscribed hers, and traded Mom's in for something else.  Anyhow, it's by Jessica Seinfeld, ol' Jerry's wife, and she made a cookbook hiding pureed veggies in food for her kids, Deceptively Delicious.  I've tried making several of the recipes, and some have turned out "eh," and some have turned out "yikes!," and some have turned out "mmm."  I will share my veganized versions of the "mmm" ones with you.  I did get the idea for my Banana-Flax French Toast from her.  So, like I said, I've veganized these recipes and adjusted the ingredients to suit our tastes, etc.  One important note on these brownies, she says not to eat them warm; I will go so far as to say, eat them CHILLED.  They are a completely different flavor room temp versus chilled.  Yuck versus yum.  I brought these over to the family at Easter and told none of the relatives the secrets hidden within, and all they could taste was deliciousness and cocoa.  They were very surprised when they found out these were healthy!  Yeah!  Enjoy, and I hope to be more regular here, without Miralax!

  Hidden-Veggies Brownies.  These are the brownies cut into 24 squares, and they are huge.  You can easily make 48 squares and be satisfied.  Serve them chilled!

Hidden-Veggies Brownies

Ingredients:

Non-stick spray

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate baking squares

2 cups of carrot puree (about 4 or 5 carrots steamed then pureed)

2 cups of spinach puree (about 8 or so cups spinach steamed then pureed)

2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 cup cocoa powder

2 Tbs. margarine, room temp or softened

2 Tbs. vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 and 1/2 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 baking pan with the non-stick spray, and set aside.  Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring frequently, being careful not to burn it.  In a large bowl or large pot (you'll need something large!), whisk together the chocolate, carrots, spinach, brown sugar, cocoa, margarine and vanilla.  Whisk until smooth.  You can use a hand mixer on low, if you wish.  Add the flour baking powder and salt, and stir with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Pour the batter in the pan, and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool completely on a cooling rack.  Can cut into 24 large squares or 48 smaller ones.  Must be chilled before being enjoyed.  Do not eat at room temperature in order to appreciate the full-deception.  Kids and grandparents alike will love these!  Feeds well more than five hungry vegans.

 

Puppy Dog Cake, Superhero Transformation Cake and JK's 7th Birthday!

Hello!  I thought before too much more time has passed I should put up the cakes for JK's birthday that was over the summer.  Since JK's actual birthday was on a Friday, I asked him what kind of cake he would want, and he asked for a puppy cake.  His party was the next day on Saturday, so I made him a cake that is supposed to represent the moment of transformation from an ordinary man to a superhero.  People thought I either just went crazy with the frosting and ended up with an abstract design, or politely nodded when I tried to explain what I did and that it was on purpose.  I think it looks good!  What do you think?  :-)

Both of these cakes use my White Cake with White Butter Cream Frosting  as their base, and then built from there.  They are easy and fun to make, and taste good too!

 Puppy Cake

 

  Side view of Puppy Cake - notice how the ears go down to the bottom layer

 Slice of that cute puppy!

 Superhero Transformation Cake - you see it, right?

 A slice of that transformation

Both cakes start with the batter for my...

White Cake:

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan or raw sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups soy milk 
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two round cake pans with an oil spray, and lightly flour their bottoms. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl or mug, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate the flour mixture and the milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. With the last addition of milk, add the Egg Replacer mixture and the vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. Divide between the two cake pans, and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for fifteen minutes in their pans on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cakes out onto the rack to finish cooling.

The Frosting for both starts out as my White Butter Cream Frosting and is tweaked for each cake.  Here's the basic frosting recipe:

Frosting:

1/2 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
1/8 tsp. salt
3 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbs. soy milk

Directions:

When the cakes have completely cooled, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and salt. Starting on low speed and working up to medium, beat in the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the soy milk, and beat on medium speed for three to five minutes, until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Makes enough frosting for one double layer cake. 

For the Puppy Cake:

Extra Ingredients:

2 Tbs. cocoa
2 vegan chocolate chips
1 freeze-dried raspberry or fresh berry

Extra Directions:

Divide the frosting in half.  Mix in cocoa in one of the halves.  Spread about half the chocolate frosting onto the top of what will be the bottom layer of cake.  Add the top half.  Spread the vanilla frosting on the sides of the cake and the top, leaving space for the puppy's ears.  Spread the chocolate into two large floppy ears that extend down to the bottom layer of the cake.  Add a couple of cute eyebrows and a little dot nose.  Place the two chocolate chips as eyes and the raspberry as a tongue.  Now, you've got an adorable puppy cake!

For the Superhero Transformation Cake:

Extra Ingredients:  NOTE:  I've misplaced my actual recipe, where I noted precise measurements.  I'll guesstimate here and update when I've found the recipe, but this is pretty close.

1/4 cup freshly pureed blueberries
1 Tbs. turmeric

Extra Directions:

Divide the frosting into 2/3 and 1/3.  Leave the 2/3 vanilla, and spread the cakes as normal.  Divide the remaining third into another 2/3 and 1/3.  Mix the blueberry puree in with the smaller amount and the turmeric in with the larger.  Spread the turmeric-based frosting in creative angles and segments to represent the explosion of a person becoming a superhero; don't forget the center of the blast.  Flick the blueberry-based frosting on the cake with a fork to add to the sheer excitement of the transformation.  Behold, the blinding blast of man to hero!  Eat up.

Both cakes feed five hungry vegans for a couple of days or several babbling children at a birthday party.  Yummers!

Three-Layer Neapolitan Cake and SR's 16th Birthday

Back on July 20th, SR celebrated her 16th birthday!  It was a great day, and I threw her a surprise birthday party.  My parents were gracious enough to let me use their home for SR and her friends.  SR thought we were just going over to Grannyma and Poppy's to drop off JK, so she could have a teen rollerskating party.  So, she was more confused than surprised when she saw her friends; she told me later she stood there wondering for a moment if we were picking them up from there to take them to the rink.  Anyways, we had a lot of fun, a lot of behind-the-scenes planning and baking, and a great, wonderful cake!  Now, this is definitely a sugar-filled cake.  I am going to dabble with other ways of sweetening, but I didn't want to practice on her cake.  So, be prepared: sugar!  I used my White Cake recipe for the white layer, and a double portion of the White Butter Cream Frosting that I made with it to frost the entire cake.  I adjusted my Big and Little Pink Strawberry Cakes, Naturally recipe for the pink layer.  I'm still working on creating the perfect natural pink color, so you'll see what I did below to achieve this pink look.  It was very good, but it's still a work in progress.  And for the chocolate layer, I used my Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes recipe .  I think the end result came out beautifully visually and taste-wise.  Let me know what you think!

Three-Layer Neapolitan Cake

 

The cake layers are cooling on my mom's counter.  

 

Stacked and ready for the outer layer of frosting.  The lighting here makes them look yellow, but look below to see their real colors in natural light.

 

Cake all finished and waiting to be devoured.

 Another shot of sacrificial cake.

 

I had to show a shot of one of the games I planned.  I asked each guest and SR if they wanted to either be a "thrower" or a "lander."  I gave them no other clues.  SR chose to be a lander, and her friend and teammate Brandon was the thrower.  Landers had to wear shower caps while throwers covered their heads with shaving cream then threw popcorn at the piles of cream.  The team with the most popcorn stuck won.  By the way, little JK played all the games too; he wasn't left out.  :-)  This is one of my favorite photos of the whole day.  I love the smiles!

 SR blowing out her candles.

 

SR enjoying her cake.

 A shot of the cake with vegan Neapolitan ice cream.

Three-Layer Neapolitan Cake

Ingredients:

For the White Layer:

2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

For the Pink Layer:

2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup soy milk
Juice from one can of beets, about one cup
3 Tbs. strawberry extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

For the Chocolate Layer:

Non-stick spray
A little flour for dusting
2 cups vegan sugar
1 and 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

For the Frosting:

1 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
7and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 Tbs. soy milk

Directions:

For the White Layer:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12x9 inch cake pan with an oil spray, and lightly flour its bottom. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl or mug, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate the flour mixture and the milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. With the last addition of milk, add the Egg Replacer mixture and the vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for fifteen minutes in its pan on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

For the Pink Layer:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12x9 inch cake pan with an oil spray, and lightly flour its bottom. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate beating the flour mixture and the soy milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. At the end, add the beet juice, strawberry extract, Egg Replacer mixture, and vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for fifteen minutes in its pan on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

For the Chocolate Layer:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 12x9 inch cake pan with an oil spray, and lightly flour its bottom. Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a mug, whisk together the Egg Replacer and the water.  Pour that mixture and the soy milk, oil, and vanilla extract into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix with an electric blender on medium speed for two minutes.  Pour in the boiling water and mix on low, until the water is blended in.  Batter will be thinner than you might expect, but it's okay.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool for fifteen minutes in its pan on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cake out onto the rack to finish cooling.

For the Frosting: 

When the cakes have completely cooled, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and salt. Starting on low speed and working up to medium, beat in the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the soy milk, and beat on medium speed for three to five minutes, until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Makes enough frosting for a giant triple-layered cake. Feeds lots of people, including five hungry vegans at one big party or for several regular days.  Recommend to serve with vegan Neapolitan ice cream.  So good!

Easter, 2013 and my Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake!

We had a busy but wonderful Easter celebration.  On Saturday, we went once again to Animal Place like last year, where JK participated in an animal-friendly egg hunt, we all went on a self-guided tour of the pigs, chickens and bunnies, and we enjoyed a lovely picnic afterwards.  The egg hunt is for children two years to seven years old, so JK has only one year left of this event.

We joined a small group for dinner at my parents' home.  I brought my Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad , and we enjoyed burgers, a fruit salad and a green salad.  We also had vegan desserts as well: chocolate chip cookies, fruit cake, and a new cake I introduced to everyone, which I call my Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake.  It's Easter right?  It has to be something special!  I kept the frosting on the thin side, much to G's utter disappointment, because I thought it was rich enough already.  I'm not a fan of coffee by itself, but I occasionally  like a slight flavor of it in ice cream, and it turned out nicely here, too.  I like the bumpiness of the end result and the bits of brown cake peeking through the frosting.  I could have evened out the tops to make them lay flatter, but I like this look.  It reminds me of old-fashioned times, for some reason, before there were specialty frosting spreaders and electric mixers. This was a  humongous cake, but it was enjoyed by all.  Hope you all had a great holiday, too.

Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake!

My Easter feast: Boca burger, Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad, Green Salad, Fruit Salad

Our dessert choices: chocolate chip cookies, fruit cake, and my cake.  The licorice that snuck in the picture is from Grandma to little JK.  Artificial flavors and colors are sometimes allowed on holidays, especially if they're from Grandma.  :-)

 

To make the four layers, place each layer on a cake stand.  With a serrated knife, cut through the cake horizontally, while slowly turning the cake stand.

Here's a slice of that tasty treat!

Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake!

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 and 1/2 cups flour
2 cups vegan sugar
1 and 1/3 cups cocoa
1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking soda
3 cups Vanilla Almond milk
3 Tbs. white vinegar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
2 cups vegan chocolate chips

Non-stick spray
Extra flour for dusting

Frosting:

1/2 cup (stick) vegan margarine, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
1/3 cup brewed French Roast coffee, cooled completely

Directions:

For the cake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two round cake pans with the non-stick spray and sprinkle with flour.  Tap out any extra flour, and set pans aside.  In a very large bowl or even a large pot, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar and almond milk and set aside to curdle for about five minutes.  Add the oil and vanilla extract to the milk mixture and whisk.  Pour into the flour mixture.  With an electric mixer on low, blend until the ingredients are somewhat mixed.  Turn up the speed to medium and mix for about another minute until completely blended.  Pour into waiting pans.  Pour one cup of chocolate chips over each of the pans of batter.  Take a fork and gently press the chocolate chips down a bit into the batter.  (When baked, the tops of the cakes will be bumpy.  When sliced in half, most of the chips will be in the top half of each cake.  This will make the end result: chippy, not chippy, chippy, not chippy.)  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool in pans on cooling rack for fifteen minutes.  Remove cakes from pans and finish cooling completely.  When cooled down, chill cakes in refrigerator for at least a half an hour, preparing them for slicing.  When cakes are chilled, place one on a cake stand.  Position a large serrated knife in the middle horizontally.  Slice a couple of inches into the cake, then turn the cake stand, repeating the process.  The cake should be sliced all the way through by the time the stand makes a complete revolution.  If not, just carefully slice through whatever little piece is hanging on in the middle.  Repeat process with second cake.

For the frosting:  In a medium bowl, beat the margarine on low speed until creamed.  Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat on low speed until combined.  Add the vanilla and coffee.  Starting on low speed, mix until blended, then work up to medium speed and mix for another four minutes to thicken.  Place the first bottom layer on the cake stand.  Take about four tablespoons of frosting and put a dollop in the center of the layer.  Spread out the frosting, kind of like spider legs, then smooth out over the layer.  Top with the first top layer of cake and repeat process until you reach the last layer.  Use the same method with the top of the cake.  Frost the sides as usual, just trying to cover as much as you can.  If there's any frosting left over, take turns with the sides and top, frosting away and smoothing out, until there is just enough in the bowl to justify finishing it off yourself.  Because this is so large, it can be sliced rather thinly to serve a lot of people.  Feeds five hungry vegans and family and friends for a few days!