• ​1 cup cream soda
• 1/2 cup vegan butter (Trex)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp caramel essence
• 1 and 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1/8 cup cornflour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• ​1/4 tsp salt

• ​1/4 cup vegan butter (Trex)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup coconut milk (from a can)
• 2 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• ​1/8 tsp salt

1. ​Preheat oven to 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
2. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin.
3. Beat together the butter, sugar and extracts and slowly add half the cream soda.
4. Sift together all dry ingredients and slowly add to the butter mixture.
5. Add the remaining cream soda and mix until no lumps remain.
6. Fill the cupcake cases to 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 18 to 20 mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool for 10 minutes in tin and then remove to wire rack.
   
9. ​For the Butterscotch: Melt the vegan butter in a medium saucepan.
   
10. Whisk in the remaining ingredients.
    
11. Bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes without stirring.
    
12. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
13. Pour into a piping bottle and squeeze a little amount into each cupcake.
    
14. For the buttercream: Beat together the vegan butter and coconut milk.
15. Sift in half the icing sugar and beat until combined.
    
16. Sift in remainder of the icing sugar and the vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
17. Spoon into piping bag and pipe on to cupcakes. Drizzle with butterscotch and serve.

• ​Roll out/Read rolled shortcrust pastry dough (I used Jus Rol)
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 9 tblsp jam
• 6 tblsp dairy-free milk alternative
  
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tsp hot water
  
• juice of quarter lemon​

1. Preheat oven to 200 Celsius.
   
2. ​​Roll out the dough until quite thin. Cut up dough to have 18 rectangles.
3. Take 9 of the rectangles and leave the other 9 to one side. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
4. Spoon the jam evenly onto the centres of these 9 rectangles, keeping within a cm from the edges.
   
5. Take one rectangle and brush the edges with the dairy-free milk and then cover with a non-jammed rectangle.
   
6. Press the edges with a fork and use your fork to make some air holes in top of the tart.
   
7. Brush with non-dairy milk.
8. Repeat steps 5-7 until all tarts are made.
   
9. Put tarts on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for 18- 20mins until golden brown.
10. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
11. Make icing by mixing 1 cup of sifted icing sugar with the hot water and lemon juice, then sift in remaining icing sugar and mix until smooth.
    
12. Spread a small amount of icing on each tart and serve.
    

• ​400g Dark chocolate (I used Bourneville)
• 6 Round Biscuits (I used Hobnobs)
• Vegan Marshmallow

1. ​Melt 300g of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Leave aside to cool slightly.
2. Make marshmallow
3. Coat inside of mounds with melted chocolate using the back of a spoon. Set aside.
4. Dip the biscuits in remaining melted chocolate and place on parchment paper to harden.
5. Spoon mallow into piping bag.
6. Melt 100g of chocolate and put into a piping bag. Leave to cool.
7. Pipe marshmallow into each mould up to the top.
8. Pipe sone chocolate on the marshmallow and around the biscuit.
9. Place biscuit on marshmallow and use a knife to smooth the join.
10. Allow to cool and then turn out of moulds.

• 1 cup of dairy-free milk
• 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar/Lemon Juice
• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bread soda
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp sugar/maple syrup (sweetener)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ripe banana
• 2 tbsp dairy-free butter

1. Add vinegar/lemon juice to milk and set aside to curdle slightly and create buttermilk-like consistency.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder and bread soda.
3. Mix cornflour with water in a small bowl and add to milk mix.
4. Add vanilla extract and maple syrup/sugar to milk mixture and stir together (omit the sweetener altogether for refined sugar-free pancakes)
5. Add milk mixture into flour mixture and mix until a smooth batter.
6. Mash banana and mix into batter.
7. Melt dairy-free butter in pan and stir into the batter.
8. Wipe pan with absorbent kitchen towel and add scoops of batter to pan.
9. Once bubbles form on surface, flip pancake and cook for a further 30 seconds.
10. To keep pancakes warm, pop them in a preheated oven at a low temp.
11. Serve and Enjoy!

Hello Friends.

It's been a tough few months but suddenly Halloween is here or Oíche Shamhna as it is As Gaeigle. To mark the occasion this year I brought my mini loaf tins across London to Crystal Palace and had a wonderful day with Rommeij mixing up this Brack. We must really be grown ups because now we like Brack but when we were kids we only ever ate it to get the ring. And then that one time Margie hid the ring in Halloween Mallows and had to tell us because we didn't eat those either!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups hot water
• 3 Lady Grey tea bags
• 1 2/4 cups of mixed fruit
• 1 cup Almond milk (or other dairy alternative)
• 1/3 cup Vegan butter (we used Trex)
• 4 cups Plain flour
• 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Mixed spice
• 7g (2.5 tsp) instant yeast

Method:

1. Brew tea bags in hot water for at least 4mins.
2. Soak fruit in tea for about an hour.
3. Grease your baking tin.
4. Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan until butter has melted and then leave aside until cooled slightly (hand hot).
5. In a large bowl sift together flour, sugar, salt and spices, and stir in yeast.
6. Add the milk mixture and bring together to a dough.
7. Knead for about 5 mins.
8. Drain fruit and pat dry with kitchen towel.
9. Knead the fruit into the dough, a little at a time, adding extra flour to keep dough from getting too sticky.
10. Once all fruit is incorporated you should have a smooth ball of dough, put it in a greased bowl and cover with a damp tea towel or greased cling film.
11. Leave to rise for 1 - 2 hours.
12. Punch out the air and knead again.
13. Shape the dough into a ball if using a circular baking tin, or fit it into two 1 pound loaf tins. (We used 2 tiny loaf tins and 1 big one).
14. Allow to rest for a further half hour.
15. Preheat oven to 200C
16. Pop Brack into oven and cook for 35-45 mins. (Keep an eye on it, the little ones only took 30mins). Cool on a wire rack.
17. Wrap a ring in baking parchment and poke into the cake at the end, or pop it into dough before the second rise.

Hi Friends,

Here's my favourite breakfast to have after working out! Full of good fat from the avocado, some protein from the cashew cheese and iron in the spinach, this keeps me nice and full until lunch.

Ingredients:

• Bagel
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 Avocado
• Hummus
• Homemade Cashew Cheese
• Handful of spinach
• 1/4 of a leek
• 3 or 4 cherry tomatoes
• Pinch of chilli flakes
• Pinch of pepper
• Pinch of pink Himalayan salt
• 1/2 lime
• A few sprigs of basil

Method:

1. Slice up the leek and chop the tomatoes in half.
2. Melt the coconut in a frying pan and add the leek and tomato.
3. Toast the bagel.
4. Slice up the avocado.
5. Add spinach to the pan along with salt and pepper.
6. Spread hummus on one half of bagel and cashew cheese on the other.
7. Add sliced avocado to hummus half and add chilli and squeeze the lime on top.
8. Add spinach, leek and tomato to cashew cheese half of bagel and top with some basil.
9. Enjoy!

Hello Friends, I know this post is long overdue but we've had a busy few weeks between travel, work, visitors and illness. So, I've finally gotten around to posting the second instalment of my Vegan Easter weekend!

Saturday morning we got up before most of London and headed to Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium. Spending 90 minutes with 12 of the nicest cats was a great experience in itself but on top of that, they were thoroughly vegan-friendly. I probably should have mentioned I was vegan before ordering, as their Chai has vegan powder, but they let me know before I tasted it so I was able to order a Hot Chocolate with Soy Milk. I also ordered a Hummus and Sundried Tomato Bagel. I wasn't sure which dessert to choose from their Vegan Dessert Menu, it all looked so good, but in the end I was able to try a cupcake that they'll be putting on the menu soon. It had the best strawberry frosting!

Hello Friends,
I've been looking forward to this four day weekend but I didn't know just how great it was going to be.  On Friday, we went on a daytrip to Brighton and discovered a misty covered pier, a collection of delightful shops and, most importantly, the most vegan-friendly restaurants. Seriously, every café and restaurant had a vegan option or served up only Vegetarian and Vegan dishes.  We hid from a brief shower of rain inside VBites, an all Vegan café. I was so excited about the promise of whipped cream and marshmallows on top of hot chocolate that I couldn't resist ordering a cup with my Hottie Dog. It was also great to be able to steal some of Duane's BBQ Chicky covered Pizza.  I was so full up Duane nearly had to roll me along the pebbled beach.  As usual my eyes were bigger than my stomach, so I had to save a Chocolate Strawberry Cupcake until we got home Friday night. It went lovely with a glass of wine!

Hello Friends,

We've had a busy October so we decided to start November with a lazy weekend. We became couch potatoes and filled up on pancakes, crumpets and Netflix! On Sunday we went up to The Farmer's Market at Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace). I picked up a delicious Vegan Nut Roast, some Bouncy Bars from Mr. Prempy's and pretty Rainbow Chard and Pink & Purple Kale. I've put the kale into all my meals this week including these Wraps!!

Ingredients:

• Small onion
• Two leaves of rainbow chard
• A few leaves of purple kale
• Small beetroot
• Small tin of chickpeas
• Small jar of tomato sauce (or 1/2 cup homemade sauce)
• Coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence
• pink Himalayan Salt and black pepper to season

Serves 2

Method:

1. Roughly chop the onion and the kale.
2. Remove the stalks from the rainbow chard and chop them up too.
3. Grate the beetroot.
4. Heat a small amount (less than 1tblsp) of coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat.
5. Add in the onion, kale, chard stalks, grated beetroot and chickpeas and cook gently until the onion is translucent.
6. Sprinkle on the herbs and seasoning.
7. Add in the tomato sauce. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, reduce heat, stir and simmer for at least 10mins.
8. Spoon mixture onto the chard leaves and wrap up.
9. Serve immediately.