Vegan Mint Chocolate Cupcakes, a Vegan Potluck and meeting Ms Cupcake

Me (left) and Ms Cupcake Mellissa Morgan.
The luminous green cake she's holding is the one I made from her recipe

Ms. Cupcake is a south-London based vegan baker, originally from Canada. Her real name is Mellissa Morgan and her first recipe book, called "The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town", has just been published by Random House. Ms. Cupcake started selling her cakes on a market stall in Greenwich and now has her own shop in Brixton, but I first discovered her at the annual environmental fair in the south London village where I live. Her cake stall looked so tempting and as I was there with a vegan friend we decided to try one of her bakes- it was awesome!

So when I saw her cookery book had come out, I had to buy it - partly so I would have some great recipes I could make for my vegan friend and partly because I knew Ms. Cupcake's cakes tasted great. Then I was lucky enough to meet her a second time...

I somehow came across a group called the London Vegan Meetup - given I'm neither vegetarian nor vegan I'm not actually sure how I originally found out about it. I saw that they were holding a potluck dinner one evening in London, and advertised that Mellissa would be attending and holding a book signing. My vegan friend was actually on holiday so I decided to venture along by myself - hoping desperately that nobody would find out or mind that I am a very happy meat eater! But I thought it would be a good way for me to find out more about vegan food and try some dishes - and I learnt that not all wine is vegan which had never occured to me before. As it was a potluck, the idea was that everyone would bring a vegan dish to share - and to me the obvious choice was to make a cake from Ms. Cupcake's book.

The carrot cake  Ms. Cupcake made for the potluck. I had a slice and it was delicious!

I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make something I could enter in one of this month's blog challenges; one of the first recipes in the book is for mint chocolate cupcakes and mint is the ingredient to be paired with chocolate for this month's We Should Cocoa. Also, I don't like mint 
so taking cakes along to an event where other people would eat them was ideal!

When I arrived one of the organisers came over to say hello and I told her what I'd made and that it was from Ms. Cupcake's book, and she immediately went and got Mellissa who came over for a chat. We spoke for several minutes and then I was staggered when Mellissa said she'd never actually eaten a cake someone else had made from one of her recipes. 

That put me under quite a lot of pressure and I was really nervous! Luckily, Mellissa really liked the cake and said it had an "excellent crumb". She was lovely and I was really pleased to have had the chance to speak to her - and her mum who was also there - and I'm thrilled to be able to say mine was the first cake she had tasted made by someone who had bought the Ms. Cupcake recipe book!

She even signed my book and wrote that my cupcakes were divine, which is pretty cool and very kind of Mellissa to say so.

I also met some guys from a vegan bakery called the Vegan Tart, who made this awesome cake. They also have a stall in Brixton, where Ms. Cupcake is based, so I think I'll need to make a trip there soon!

Here's an overview of how I made the cupcakes; I made some small adaptions and I'm not giving you the whole recipe here, you will just have to buy the book!

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Mix soya milk and vinegar and leave for ten minutes - it will start to bubble a little. Preheat oven to 180C.

Mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, bicarb of soda and baking powder.

Add the milk and vinegar, oil, vanilla and mint flavour and mix well.

Fill a dozen cupcake cases and bake for about 15 minutes

Some of mine sank a little in the middle; I discovered from the troubleshooting section of the recipe book that I had probably been too heavy-handed with the baking powder as this can cause cakes to sink.
In the end this actually helped when I was piling the filling onto the cakes anyway!

The book also has a recipe for the most amazing vegan chocolate spread which I've never come across before but it tasted fantastic. It only has three ingredients but I'm not telling you what they are, you'll have to buy the book!

I spread the chocolate icing onto the cakes, taking advantage of those which had sunk a little in the middle so I could pile in the filling but keep the top fairly level.

I then made some vegan buttercream using Vitalite which is vegan, though I didn't have as much left as I thought so I was unable to follow the exact quantities in the recipe. I flavoured it with peppermint and added a little mint green gel food colour.

I piped swirls of the buttercream on top of the cakes, though it was a little softer than I would have liked, which I'm sure is because I didn't follow the recipe exactly.

Ms. Cupcake's recipe uses vegan chocolate chips which don't seem to be that easy to get hold of - she suggested Wholefoods when we were chatting at the potluck. You could grate a bar of plain vegan chocolate over the cakes, or get these dairy-free chocolate buttons which are easier to find in supermarkets than the chocolate chips.

I decorated the cupcakes with chocolate chips; they went down very well at the potluck and disappeared very quickly!

I'm sending these to We Should Cocoa as the ingredient this month is mint. Victoria from A Kick at the Pantry Door is the guest host for June, on behalf of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog  and Chele of Chocolate Teapot.

I'm also sending this to the Four Seasons Food challenge, hosted by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Chez Foti. Their theme this month is picnic food and outdoor nibbles, and cupcakes are perfect for a picnic.

Meal Planning 2013 - Week 25

I stayed the same weight last week which was annoying as I tried really hard - and my scales at home showed a decent loss, but when I got to Slimming World their scales showed I weighed the same as the week before! So I have to try hard again this week to make sure the loss that I know I've achieved shows up. I think I will treat myself to something a bit more calorific this weekend though as it will be the first time in ages I've been able to spend some proper time with my boyfriend, as he hasn't been well for several weeks.

Monday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch Baked sweet potato with bacon and quark
Dinner Going to a film screening of a documentary made by young people at the youth club where I volunteer, straight from work. Not sure what time it will finish so I'd better take a sandwich and some low-syn snacks.

Tuesday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch sandwich - chicken and cranberry
Dinner Going to see my boyfriend who is recovering from his second kidney stone operation in the space of two weeks... will be easiest if I take something to eat. Teriyaki salmon with couscous is quick, easy and low-syn.

Wednesday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich - soft cheese and mango chutney
Dinner Sausages with sweet potato cakes

Thursday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich - ham and cheese
Dinner  Depending on how my boyfriend feels, we might go to the cinema and eat out; if I'm cooking (either at his house or mine) I'll make a low-fat chicken curry.

Friday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch sandwich
Dinner Slow cooker honey and ginger chicken from this recipe

Saturday
Breakfast cereal
Lunch Potato ham and tortilla based on this Slimming World recipe
Dinner Not sure what I'm doing yet this weekend as it will depend how well my boyfriend feels. I'm hoping he'll be able to come over to my house for dinner though I may end up having to go to his again. (I have my own place, he doesn't). I could make a variation on my tried and tested chicken and boursin recipe perhaps though I am also tempted to cook a roast chicken. I think he deserves a dessert after the few weeks he has been through as well, but it depends whether I am taking it to eat at his house - I might make a classic chocolate mousse or if we are at my house try out my new waffle maker.

Sunday
Brunch  If my boyfriend is at my house I'll make Findus-style crispy pancakes - which I had on the meal plan last week but had to cancel. If I'm at his house they usually have bacon or sausage sandwiches so I could take some low-syn Quorn sausages.
Dinner steak and homemade potato wedges

Hotel Chocolate H-Box Summer Selection - Review

Summer and chocolate are not normally two things I associate - as melting chocolate all over your hands is annoying and I'd rather have an ice cream when it's hot - but Hotel Chocolat has proved me wrong. They sent me their H-Box Summer Selection to review and the range of summer-inspired chocolate truffles - including Eton mess and raspberry pannacotta - was just perfect for this time of year.

I do occasionally shop in Hotel Chocolat and for the past few years have got my boyfriend's Easter egg from there, so I already knew they were high quality and worth the more expensive price. I wasn't familiar with their "H Box" range; a box with a cut-out H on the front allowing you to see the chocolates inside. According to the website the H Boxes contain Hotel Chocolat's most popular chocolate recipes and they are "the perfect size to surprise someone special or take home as a well-deserved treat".

I chose to review their Summer Selection box, which costs £12 and contains 14 chocolates in 11 different flavours. This meant you get one of each chocolate and two of just a couple of them - I actually wondered why they didn't just have one of each or two of each as the extra ones seemed a little arbitrary. But I'm not complaining!
The contents of the box are really colourful and look lovely.

The box itself looks very pretty and comes with a fold-out 'menu' listing all the flavours. The chocolates are different colours and finished with toppings or stripes and really look very attractive - I think anyone presented with this box would be pleased. Each chocolate is a good size as well.

I shared the chocolates with a couple of willing volunteers who gave me their opinions on each chocolate. Here's what we thought:

Trillionaire's shortbread - like millionaire's shortbread, with a caramel layer, hazelnut praline and little pieces of cookies on top. The cookie pieces were especially nice and this was one of the taster's favourite chocolates. It's the sort of thing you would want to eat in an entire dessert.

Blueberry cheesecake - a layer of blueberry truffle with a sour cream cheesecake layer. It looks very attractive and is an unusual colour; the blueberries flavour is intense, and the cheesecake layer is very creamy.

Raspberry pannacotta - again a really lovely looking chocolate and the first one I chose from the box. It has layers of raspberry and vanilla cream and is encased in white chocolate. The raspberry is really fruity and summery, though the aftertaste is mainly white chocolate.

Chocolate trifle - more of a traditional chocolate truffle but it has a layer of bisuit on the bottom, with praline and vanilla truffle. It melts in the mouth.

Eton mess - strawberry mousse and meringe encased in a less-sweet white chocolate, according to the chocolate menu. This chocolate looks very appealing and is the perfect flavour combination for summer; the strawberry taste is distinctive and the meringue is crunchy, while the white chocolate is not overly sweet so works well here.

Berrythyme truffle - in the picture in the menu this chocolate has a pink and green stripe around the white chocolate ball, which are separate with a gap in between. But on the chocolate itself, as you can see from my photo,  they are almost overlapping and it looks like one stripe so it's not as pretty. But appearance aside, it tastes wonderful, with a really zingy raspberry mousse. I couldn't detect the hint of thyme though that's probably more down to my unrefined pallet.

Sour cherry truffle - a sharp but sweet sour cherry in a creamy truffle centre, and really bitter dark chocolate wihch the tester said was delicious, but suggested she thought this one may not be to everyone's taste.

Summer berry - a summer fruit-flavoured truffle encased in dark chocolate. This is quite unusual and a great blend of different flavours. The truffle centre is so much nicer than standard chocolates that have a creamy or liquid centre (like traditional orange or strawberry creams).

Caramel cheesecake - a biscuit layer, soft caramel and a sour cream cheesecake layer. Another one for those with more traditional chocolate tastes, this one is luxurious and delicious.

Custard tart - the menu describes this as "the perfect balance of creamy vanilla custard truffle with a delicate hint of nutmeg", but it wasn't really one for me. The custard just didn't really work in a chocolate in my opinion.

Coffee and walnut torte - a deep layer of coffee praline with little pieces of walnut. This has a a gorgeous rich dark coffee flavour and even though  one of the tasters doesn't like nuts, he said the flavour was lovely and the texture of the nuts wasn't overpowering, so he gave this one the thumbs up.






The custard tart was the only chocolate that we felt missed the mark slightly, though of course this is a matter of personal taste. The other chocolates were delicious, high quality and a great range of original flavours that you wouldn't find elsewhere. The Hotel Chocolat H-Box Summer Selection would make a great gift at this time of year.

Disclaimer: I was sent the box of chocolates free of charge by Hotel Chocolat to review. I was not required to make positive comments.

Restaurant Review - Gaucho, Tower Bridge

Restaurant name: Gaucho

Location: Near Tower Bridge, London

Description: Upmarket Argentinian steak restaurant

Reason for visit: My boyfriend's birthday; I'd booked a table after we went to the top of the Shard

We ate: Steak! We both went for the bife de lomo, £33 for 300g and a side of chips at £4, plus bearnaise sauce at £2.95. For dessert I had a salted dulce de leche macadamia cheesecake, which at £9.25 was pushing the boat out a bit, and I think my boyfriend had the chocolate and hazelnut cake, £8.50.

The food was: Amazing. Very expensive but probably the best steak I've ever had. The chips were a little disappointing though obviously they were not the main attraction. And the dessert was heavenly.

The atmosphere/service was: Excellent. The waiter brought a board with a selection of steaks to our table so he could explain each cut and we could choose what we wanted which was a nice idea.

Price range/value for money: Probably the most expensive meal I've ever paid for (I was treating my boyfriend as it was his birthday). It was a fantastic meal though - we just need an excuse to go again!

Would I recommend it: Absolutely - but if you can get someone to take you on an expense account that would be a good idea!

Slimming World-style Harissa Lamb with Potatoes Boulangere

I made this a little while ago and can no longer find the recipe so I'm still blogging it partly as a reminder to myself! It's a fairly simple and tasty recipe and a good way to serve lamb if you are fed up with mint sauce (though I never get fed up with mint sauce!).

For the lamb you need harissa paste - I used ready made though if you are ambitious I imagine you could make your own - fat free Greek yogurt, and the juice and zest of a lemon.

Mix all of the above - you only need about 1 tsp of the harissa paste and about 3 tbsp of yogurt to serve two.

Spread the mixture over lamb chops and leave to marinade for a few hours or ideally overnight. Then bake in the oven.

To make the potatoes boulangere, thinly slice the potatoes using a mandolin or potato peeler.

Layer in an ovenproof dish with a sliced red onion

Pour over a pint of vegetable stock and bake in the oven for about an hour. Recipes like this often use cream but this is a healthy low fat version and just as tasty.

When the lamb is cooked you still have a nice layer of the harissa yogurt mixture on top.

I served the lamb with the potatoes and some vegetables; it's a nice dinner recipe that I would do again.

Restaurant review: Giraffe

Restaurant name: Giraffe

Location: South Bank, London

Description: Family-friendly restaurant chain

Reason for visit: A quick dinner before my choir concert at the Southbank Centre

I ate: parmesan chicken schnitzel with mashed potato

My companion(s) ate: falafel burger; Giraffe burger; salmon and smoked haddock fishcake. And for dessert my boyfriend ordered a rocky road sundae.

The food was: My chicken schnitzel was very nice; it came with a garlic and herb butter and a rocket salad and the mashed potato was very fluffy. The falafel burger went down very well with the vegetarian in our group; it comes with grilled pepper, houmous, beetroot, rocket, halloumi cheese, tzatziki and harissa so a bit more interesting than your usual burger! The Giraffe burger itself isn't that unusual; a beef burger with bacon,m cheese and all the usual trimmings, but it was pronounced very tasty. The fishcake was a good size and my friend who ordered it was very pleased with it. The Rocky Road Sundae (see photo) was huge; it had a base of chocolate brownie, with marshmallows and chocolate and vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate sauce over the top. It's ideal for sharing.

The atmosphere/service was: very good. One of my group wanted a main course that only appeared on a two-course set menu, rather than the main menu, but only wanted the one course. The waitress was happy to oblige and I believe charged a reduced price from the set menu cost. The restaurant was quite busy but we didn't have to wait long for our food, which was good as I only had an hour before I had to be on stage for my choir concert!
Price range/value for money: Good value - nothing is that expensive and the portion sizes are generous.
Would I recommend it: Yes, I've been back a few times; they have a lot of choice on the menu to cater for all tastes and the food is good.

Teacups Birthday Card

I made this birthday card for a friend who I was taking out for afternoon tea on the day. She loves tea and drinks it in vast quantities so I thought this card would be perfect!

I used a square white card blank and made a square by sticking on pieces of ribbon. All the tea cup stickers are from the same packet and I arranged a big one in the middle and small ones around the sides. I used a 'happy birthday' silver outline sticker at the bottom.

Philadelphia Sausage, Bacon and Potato Bake

I was looking for a simple recipe that my boyfriend would like that would also give me leftovers to reheat after a choir rehearsal, so I had in mind some sort of one-pot bake. I came across this recipe on the Philadelphia cheese website, for a Philly sausage, bacon and potato bake. It was really good!

To serve three or four if you are having a side dish of vegetables with it, you need:

6 sausages

4 rashers bacon, cut into pieces

1 onion, diced

500g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

200g Philadelphia Light with Spring Onion and Black Pepper

120ml chicken stock

30g grated cheddar

Chop the sausages and bacon and fry with the diced onion until the meat is browned and the onions translucent.

Meanwhile boil the potato slices in salted water for about 8-10 minutes; it will depend how thick you have sliced them as you want them to be tender but not so soft they fall apart.

I decided to use a mixture of Philly and fat-free Quark as I had an open pot I needed to use up.

Melt the cheese in a saucepan with the stock but do not bring to the boil.

Spoon the sausage, onion and bacon mixture into a casserole or pie dish, pour over the sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for about 25 minutes at 190C until the cheese is golden and serve with a green veg or salad.

Meal Planning 2014 - week 24

I weighed in last Wednesday rather than Saturday and was really pleased to have lost a pound. I've just signed up to DietBet to give myself some extra motivation! It does mean though that it will be a week and a half until my next weigh-in so I need to be careful - so I've been going through my latest copy of Slimming World magazine for recipe ideas.


Monday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Sticky Quorn sausages from Slimming World magazine, with new potatoes and vegetables
Dinner Choir rehearsal so I'll take some chicken to snack on and have something like macaroni cheese on toast when I get home.


Tuesday
Breakfast Cereal or toast
Lunch Salmon and new potatoes and veg
Dinner Going to the youth club where I volunteer in the evening so I will have more of the roast chicken to snack on and take a sandwich I can eat on the way home.

Wednesday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch Tuna Marie Rose wholemeal roll from Slimming World magazine
Dinner With my boyfriend but not sure if I'm going to his house or he is coming to mine so I haven't yet figured out what to eat.

Thursday
Breakfast yogurt
Lunch Ham roll
Dinner A rare night in! Monkfish wrapped in bacon - I planned to do this a while ago but ended up having to postpone so the fish has stayed in the freezer. With Slimming World sweet potato cakes.

Friday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch Baked potato with bacon and low-fat soft cheese
Dinner Visiting my boyfriend in hospital as he is having another kidney stone operation so I will take a tuna roll and some syn-free snacks to eat while I'm there

 Saturday
Breakfast Yogurt

Lunch I have a choir rehearsal for much of the day so will take a packed lunch; I think my best bet is a sandwich and some low or syn-free snacks.
Dinner Giraffe's jerk fish with lime and garlic jerk butter with the rest of the monkfish, with mini roast potato cubes

 Sunday
Breakfast Yogurt
Lunch Quorn burger or sausages?
Dinner Going to my boyfriend's as he recovers from the operation- I'll wait and speak to his mum about dinner options and perhaps offer to cook for them. At some point I want to make pulled pork for him and also a really good burger like we did in our burger making lesson.

Book Review - Cooking With Flowers

Book title Cooking With Flowers
Author Miche Bacher
Publisher Quirk Books
Price/RRP $24.95
Where did I get it? Received a review copy

The blurb on the back: Sweet violets, spicy orchids, savory sunflowers, who knew flowers were so delicious? Here are more than 100 recipes that will bring beautiful flower-filled dishes to your kitchen table! This easy-to-use cookbook is brimming with scrumptious botanical treats, from sweet violet cupcakes, pansy petal pancakes, daylily cheesecake, and rosemary flower margaritas to savory sunflower chickpea salad, chive blossom vinaigrette, herb flower pesto and mango orchid sticky rice. Alongside every recipe are tips and tricks for finding, cleaning and preparing edible blossoms. You'll also learn how to infuse vinegars, vodkas, sugars, frostings, jellies and jams, ice creams and more with the colour and flavour of your favourite flowers. Fresh from the farmers' market or plucked from your very own garden, a world of delectable flowers awaits!

Overview of book A really pretty book with lovely photos and some of the most unusual recipes I've ever come across. I had no idea that so many flowers were edible, and there are useful sections on how to prepare flowers for eating, how to make flower syrups and candied petals and so on. There's a good mixture of cakes and other things like bread, ice cream and drinks; to be honest I don't know how many of the recipes I will actually make as I don't have many of the flowers in my garden and unless you're a regular at the garden centre you probably can't get hold of them so easily, but it's a lovely book to have. I also think that you could make some of the recipes and leave out the flower component - not that you would particularly want to, but I made a cardamom, raspberry and rose petal cake that I think would have been just as gorgeous without the rose petals as they weren't one of the main ingredients.

First recipe in the book calendula cornbread

Last recipe in the book sparkling geranium limeade

Random recipe from the middle of the book Hollyhock cream puffs

Quality/ number of photographs Beautiful photos (the flowers on each bake obviously help) though in some cases the photos are a full page and in other cases they are a small picture on the same page as the recipe. It looks like every single recipe has a photo whether it is large or small.

Number of pages 190

Have I made anything from this book? A cardamom, raspberry and rose mascarpone layer cake which was absolutely amazing.

Overall impression in three words Unusual, impressive cakes