Desserts

That Time Betty Made Me Want To Each Peach Cobbler

July always make me think of peaches which is how I came up with this Peach Cobbler Cake. I had my friend, Betty (@stemsandforks), in my kitchen and we were discussing how impossible it is to eat desserts one portion at a time. I mean, have you ever tried eating only one donut? Or one slice of homemade pie? It’s totally different when you buy said pastry, but when it comes directly out of your own, I think it’s almost impossible to limit yourself to one serving. In Betty’s case, she was lamenting over the challenge of eating just one serving of peach cobbler.

That Time I Went Peach Picking On the Hottest Day of my Life and We All Got Sick Eating Too Many Peaches

It was hot outside. The kind of hot that mutes everything but the arching keen of cicadas. It reminded me of the one of the hottest days of my life—the time I went peach picking with my family. For some ungodly reason, I was convinced that peach picking in St. Louis would be a fun trip in the middle of July. So, my entire family, including my grandmother, packed into a couple of cars and we drove 7 hours (it seemed that long…) to Missouri. There, we were greeted by neat rows of pretty peach trees. Within minutes, we were stuffing our faces with the most delicious, mouthwatering, sweetest peaches we’d ever eaten, while my still spry and self-sufficient grandmother was climbing up the branches of the trees in blatant defiance for all the signs reading “DO NOT CLIMB TREES.”

This sounds like fun. And it was. For about 23 minutes. Before long, our hands grew sticky with peach juice and our faces drenched with sweat. After scaling a handful of peach trees, my grandmother looked like she was going to pass out from heat exhaustion and all or stomachs were beginning to ache from gorging on 17 peaches each. So, after spending 4.5 hours driving to St. Louis, we spent all of 43 minutes on the peach orchard before packing all the peaches into our trunks and settling in for another 4.5 hour long ride home. Was it worth it??

I dunno.

I mean, I can tell you without a doubt that these were the BEST PEACHES OF MY LIFE, but I don’t know if it was worth the drive back and forth, especially when the peaches at the grocery store or farmers’ markets are pretty good.

I Like The Cake Part of Peach Cobbler Almost As Much As The Peaches

Anyhow, moments from that scorching trip to Missouri were flickering through me as Betty detailed the irresistible appeal of her peach cobbler, and I decided then and there that I needed to make a peach cobbler cake. You see, the thing is, I like my cobbler to be way cakier than the traditional cobbler. I also liked the idea that rather than a hapharzard conglomeration of cake and peach, that a Peach Cobbler Cake would have a set “cake” part and a set “peach” part.

And that is how this Peach Cobbler Cake came to be. The question is:

Can you limit yourself to one slice?

Other desserts to try

• VEGAN STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE CAKE
• SUPER SIMPLE VEGAN CHOCOLATE MINT CAKE
• VEGAN PISTACHIO BISCOTTI

This Vegan Strawberry Shortcake is straight out of my childhood. When I was little, my mother used to buy me a strawberries and cream birthday cake from a famous Chicago bakery, Lutz. To my mom, there was no greater proof that we had “made it” in America than picking up a perfectly crafted cake, topped with gilded strawberries and whipped cream for her daughter’s birthday. The thing is, It was ok, but, the cake was often dry and the strawberries were too big. And the creamy filling was, well, too sugary, while the strawberries weren’t sweet enough. You feel me?? So, for this birthday, I decided to come up with my own cake—with everything just the way I like it and the BEST part is—it’s a LOT cheaper than some fancy shmancy cake from a ritzy bakery. My cake was moist (not dense). My creamy filling was thick but not overly sweet. And my strawberries were cut up into bite sized pieces and stewed with a little balsamic and maple syrup for just the right amount of tarty deliciousness. And voila—the perfect strawberry and cream cake was born.

Lutz isn’t open anymore. Like many family owned bakeries, it gave way to the massive bakery chains that have swept the world over (for better or worse). But, I know my mom would love this cake if I could cut her a slice (we are both in quarantine, still). If your mom is within arm’s reach, make this for her. If the mother of your children is nearby, make this for her. If you are a mom, make this for yourself.

Or, if you just like cake, make this Vegan Strawberry Shortcake Cake just for the hell of it. You won’t regret it!

Other desserts you will love

• SUPER SIMPLE VEGAN CHOCOLATE MINT CAKE
• HEALTHY CARROT CAKE (VEGAN & GLUTEN FREE)
• VEGAN APPLE DONUTS WITH PANTRY ONLY INGREDIENTS!

Vegan Strawberry Shortcake Cake

This Vegan Strawberry Shortcake is straight out of my childhood. When I was little, my mother used to buy me a strawberries and cream birthday cake from a famous Chicago bakery, Lutz.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

9 Slices

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup plant milk
• 1 Tablespoon vegan sour cream
• 1 teaspoon white wine
• 66.6 grams sugar
• 3 Tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 187 grams flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package instant vanilla pudding powder
• 1 cup plant milk
• 9 ounces vegan whipped cream
• 4 cups vegan wafers or shortbread cookies
• 3 cups strawberries cut into quarters
• 1 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice
• 1 Tablespoon sugar or maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon potato starch
• 4 Tablespoons water

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray cake pan (I used a square 9x9 brownie pan) with cooking spray.
• Add vinegar to 1 cup plant milk and set aside.
• Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large bowl. Whisk together ingredients to remove clumps.
• Using stand mixer on medium low (with whisk attachment) or hand mixer, whisk butter, vegan sour cream, and sugar until fluffy. Next add plant milk + vinegar mixture and vanilla and almond extract.
• In two parts, add flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
• Pour patter into greased baking pan and place in the center rack of preheated oven for ~18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
• While cake is baking, make pudding following instructions on the box but with half the amount of plant milk (e.g., if the instructions require 2 cups of milk, use only 1 cup of milk).
• Once pudding is thick and creamy, fold in vegan shipping cream and mix until fully incorporated. Set aside in fridge.
• Next, make strawberry layer. Start by making slurry, but adding 1 tbsp of potato starch to 4 tbsp water. Stir together until starch dissolves.
• In a small pot, add strawberries, together with balsamic vinegar, orange juice, and sweetener over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until strawberries soften (3-4 minutes).
• Remove from heat altogether. Add slurry and begin stirring immediately to create sauce. Place in fridge to cool, while cake continues to bake.
• When cake is done, set aside and allow it to cool for ~15 minutes.
• When cake and strawberry filling are both cooled, add a layer of wafers/cookies over the top of the cake.
• Next, top the cookie layer with pudding/cream layer.
• Next, top the pudding/cream layer with the strawberries.
• Add another layer of cookies.
• Top the cake one final time with pudding/cream layer.
• Place in fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Best served one day after.

Sign Up For a FREE Copy of Our E-Book! Sign Up Here!

Mint and dark chocolate make the perfect combination for a deliciously delightful vegan chocolate mint cake.

I have made many chocolate cakes in my time and I always look fondly at this Super Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe. It is the first recipe I tried baking after going vegan in 2016, because my husband (then boyfriend) truly believed that all other desserts were superfluous next to chocolate cake. At that time I was (and still remain) an avid follower of the legendary Stephanie Jaworski of JoyofBaking.com. I learned so much about baking from her and set out to veganize a lot of her recipes. Her rich, dark chocolate cake was the first thing I tested in my vegan kitchen.

Now, I always feel like the beginning of summer is truly the best time to bake a chocolate cake. What better way to celebrate brighter, warmer weather than derailing your “beachbody” plans from the get-go? LOLOLOL. Look, I’m all about being fit and healthy, but there should be no arbitrary “clock” that starts in May. I like eating 80% healthy year-round. And I like eating 20% chocolate cake, year-round!

The great thing about summer, of course, is that you have so many berries to choose from in terms of toppings. Blackberries, blueberries, and of course, the iconic strawberry all make wonderful toppings for your chocolate cake. If you’re my husband, the only true soulmate to chocolate cake, though, is vanilla ice cream. Sigh. Is there anything that declares “summer is here!” more brilliantly than a slice of chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream?

Regardless of the weather, this Super Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake will make your eyes pop at how good it is and it will be one you make so often, you’ll have the recipe memorized (I do!) before you know it.

This Super Simple Vegan Chocolate Mint Cake is:

• Moist
• Intense
• Dark
• Adult

Wow, the above sounds like a description for an improper movie.

Double it to make a layer cake, triple it to wow your friends. You can bake it in a sheet pan to make a sheet pan cake. You can bake them in a muffin pan to make cupcakes. Add chocolate chips/chunks to them for the resident choco-philes in your life. The point is, I want to make this a true “starter recipe” for you—just like it was for me. It paved the way to so many other vegan cakes, cookies, breads, and pastries that I added to my little recipe box over the years and it can do the same for you!

I came up with this Vegan Pistachio Biscotti recipe because of my father-in-law. Roberto was Roman and it is largely due to him that I started baking at all. He baked massive blueberry muffins (hence my obsession with jumbo muffins) and cherry pies. But he was probably most well-known for his little biscotti. I say “little” because his were never those obscenely large batons masquerading as Italian cookies inside coffee shops. Not only are store bought biscotti too big, they are often times dry and hard enough to damage your teeth.

Roberto’s biscotti were sufficiently petite to enjoy in one sitting. While they always possessed the characteristic “crunch” of a cookie, their centers were chewy enough to transmit both flavor and depth—two things often lacking in mass produced biscotti. In other words, if you want the kind of biscotti that will break your window, these Vegan Pistachio Biscotti are not for you.

Now, I could never quite master his trick for making them exactly the right balance of crunch to chew. Something in the drying process. But I have to say, these Vegan Pistachio Biscotti are the only ones I’ll eat—not only because they’re vegan, but now that Roberto is no longer with us, these are truly the next best thing.

I came up with this Vegan Apple Donuts recipe using only pantry only ingredients because, let’s face it, getting fresh stuff can be a challenge these days.  I was worried that the lack of fresh apples would make a dent in my original donut recipe, but I was pleased to discover that these donuts tasted JUST AS FREAKING AMAZING. This recipe is also so simple to make. Even if you’ve never made donuts in your life, this is the best recipe to pop your donut making cherry, trust me.

The other nice thing about these Vegan Apple Donuts (other than being dairy and egg free, of course!) is that they are baked, not fried. In fact, I prefer baking these donuts as opposed to frying them. They are fluffy, light, and pair perfectly with your morning coffee.  The rich cinnamon sugar will satisfy your sweet without decaying it, and you won’t feel quite as badly about eating 4 of them in one sitting (this is very possible, especially shortly after they are dusted with the aforementioned cinnamon sugar…). 

I actually made a version of these donuts a local restaurant here in Chicago (they liked my desserts a lot!).  They were sold out in 3 hours, so… you do the math.  Make Vegan Apple Donuts for yourself and your family this weekend and be the star of your kitchen!

Other recipes you’ll love:

• EASY PEASY PANZANELLA

• EASY FOCACCIA BREAD

• VEGAN BANANA CHOCOLATE CHUNK MUFFINS

Vegan Apple Donuts with Pantry Only Ingredients!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

12 Donuts

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Donuts

• 1 1/2 cup apple cider or juice
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/6 cup vegan butter halfway melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup non-dairy milk
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Topping

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp vegan butter melted
• 3 tbsp vegan butter melted

Instructions

 

• Pour apple cider/juice into small pot over high heat until it boils. Then reduce heat to simmer until you have about 1/2 cup of cider/juice left (~20 mins).
• Set reduced cider/juice aside to cool.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease baking pan with vegan butter, oil, non-stick spray.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
• In a separate large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, non-dairy milk, apple cider vinegar, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
• Pour wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients. Add cooled apple cider/juice. Whisk everything together.
• Spoon or pipe batter into baking pan. Place the pan in the oven for about 10-12 minutes.
• While donuts are cooling, mix together sugar and cinnamon for topping.
• Dip donuts in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar on both sides.

Notes

Equipment Small pot 2 large bowls Whisk Spatula Donut baking pan Spoon Optional: Piping bag or large plastic baggie Optional: Standmixer or handmixer

Sign Up For a FREE Copy of Our E-Book! Sign Up Here!

One of the first things I learned to veganize was chocolate cake for my husband—who has a sweet tooth—and this Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Frosting is a recipe I developed for him this year. In lieu of filling this space with SEO driving drivel, here’s a short little snippet I wrote about him the other day:

At some point, I grew so disenchanted with “real life,” I slipped into that blue-grey space between everyday and the skeins of Frank O’Hara’s grit without thinking. I’d crawl out of bed at 3 in the morning and sit on our couch with Daisy pressed against my outer thigh, her rhythmic breathing still easy and hypnotic. We had floor to ceiling windows in our living room and I always marveled at how rapidly daylight–grim or blushing–would steal over the hardwood floors. I think I dreamt then, even while wide awake, of a different life, of Central Park and her as yet untested womb and thawing ice rink, the lurid glow and buzz of a neon sign wheezing through the thickest parts of darkness, and a fire-escape dangling from the eaves like a gypsy’s earrings. I was in love with a man from New York, then, but in retrospect, I think I fell in love with New York. All the promise it trembled with, the future caked into the curbs and sewer grates and the smell of autonomy underlying the decay of last night’s regret.

These days, my life with A has made it almost impossible to slip into the blue-grey space again. A loves the color red and my day-to-day is plastered over with primary colors leaving little room for shadows and day dream. No, not leaving little room, but bearing no need for day dreams… The union between my computer screen and reality reminds me of our trips to New York, including our first one. When we were still on unsure footing and I wondered whether I could ever grow to be the woman he thought I was as he slid a bagel across the counter at Isadora’s.

Last night, while walking his mother to her car, I turned around and lifted my hand in his direction, “I’ll wait for you,” I said, sweetly, as the streetlamps cast a halo around us. He took my fingers, and I wondered, then, whether this would be one of those things he would remember loving me for when the lights flickered and night yawned beyond what we could bear.

In conclusion, you should make this Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Jam Frosting, because it is good Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Jam Frosting and you will like this Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Jam Frosting.

Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Jam Frosting

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  

Ingredients for cake

• 3 1/2 cups self rising flour sifted
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 cups plant milk
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 1/3 cup vegan butter partially melted
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract

Ingredients for frosting

• 1 1/2 cups vegan butter
• 1 cup vegan cream cheese
• 1/2 cup strawberry preserves
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon vegan pink food coloring

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line 3 7” round cake pans with parchment.
• Mix vinegar with plant milk and set aside until it curdles
• In a large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. In stand mixer, add plant milk + vinegar mixture, together with vanilla extract and butter and mix on low until well combined.
• Slowly add dry ingredients and continue mixing on medium low speed until no dry ingredients remain.
• Measure cake batter out evenly into three cake pans (I used a scale) and tap them gently to pop air bubbles before placing them on the center rack of your oven.
• Bake for ~28 minutes until the sides are pulling away from the edge of the cake pans and the centers spring back to the touch.
• Remove from oven and allow cakes to cool completely before frosting.
• For frosting, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. Add sugar to stand mixer with paddle attachment.
• Drop in butter, cream cheese, and jam and begin mixing on medium high until thick and creamy.
• Add teensy drops of food coloring (I use a toothpick) until you achieve desired color.

Sign Up For a FREE Copy of Our E-Book! Sign Up Here!