Monday, April 14, 2008

Rebecca's Cakes; the Vegan Cake Girl & an Jaffa Orange Drizzle Cake recipe!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

Before departing for London, I was surprised to receive a note on Flickr asking if I'd like to sample some vegan baked goods while overseas. Being a gal with an intense sweet tooth & a love for reviewing what the vegan world has to offer, how could I say no?! Enter Rebecca; the Vegan Cake Girl. Shortly after I arrived in London, I received a notice that a box was waiting for me at the post office. My jaw dropped when I spied the large box she had sent to me; it contained a selection of baked goods from breakfast items to cakes, not to mention candies, cute little pins, & suggestions on where to find tasty vegan goods in the UK.

When looking at her website you'll see this is just a small sampling of what Rebecca does. Cupcakes, cakes, trifles, puddings, brownies, cheesecakes, & even Petit Fours are on the menu! Additionally, she does cake mixes for the less baking inclined & catering for events. Here are my thoughts on what I sampled by Rebecca's Cakes, once again using my dessert rating system.

Jaffa Orange Drizzle Cake- This sweet, fluffy, moist cake was just a bit bready & had wonderful marbled gooey parts. The orange zest throughout was lovely & it was topped with a delicious chocolate shell. It had a great flavor & my friends raved about it so much, I sent them one as a thank you for letting us stay with them! 4 ½ stars

Plum & Pine Nut Muffins- A fluffy & not-too-sweet muffin with soft pieces of plum baked in & toothsome pine nuts on top. It made for an interesting combination & the sweetness seemed to mainly come from the plums. I can't say this is a flavor combination I would pick out for myself, but nonetheless, it was not a bad muffin at all. 3 stars


Sticky Toffee Pudding
-
This bready, not super sweet cake contained dates & was spongy & soft. The butterscotch sauce was very sweet & had a nice burnt sugar taste. I couldn't help but steal a bit of the topping to put on Swedish Glace ice cream & it was great! I found the cake tasted best when covered in the sauce & soaked through, which made it pretty addictive! 3¾ stars

Croissants- "Buttery" & a bit wheaty & mild with a nice outer flakiness & fluffiness, while the inside was a bit more bready & savory tasting. It was nice, but I'm not sure I was ever a croissant person, so I wasn't bowled over. They reminded me a bit of the flaky dinner rolls that come in tubes. 3 stars

Maple Pecan Danish Pastry- A nice, hearty wheat, yet sweet & fluffy pastry with great maple flavor & a tasty drizzle over the top. The center contained whole pecans which Ryan loved & wished for more of. This would be very nice warmed up! 3¾ stars

Blueberry Waffles- These hearty, but still light blueberry laced waffles were perfect reheated in the toaster to start my mornings off. They had a nice wheat taste, almost like a digestive biscuit, & inspired me to make some waffles for freezing at home for a quick breakfast! 4 stars

Rebecca was kind enough to share the Jaffa Orange Drizzle cake recipe for my readers, so now you can enjoy it as much as I did! The measurements are in grams or ounces, so break out those kitchen scales or use a conversion calculator. Trust me, it's worth it!

Rebecca's Cakes Vegan Jaffa Orange Drizzle Cake
Ingredients:
140g / 5oz Vegan Margarine or Shortening, softened.
200g / 7oz Self Rising Flour (If you can't find this, use all purpose flour & increase the baking powder by 2 tsp.)

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
200g Sugar
Ener-G Egg Replacer equivalent to 3 eggs (4 1/2 tsp Ener-G with 6 Tbsp water, blended)
6 Tbsp Soy or Rice Milk
Zest of 1 Big Juicy Orange

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees (160 degrees centigrade).

Mix all of the ingredients using an electric mixer until they're light & fluffy
.
When you lift the paddle the batter should drop easily, if it's a little stiff, add a bit more milk.

Pour the batter into a greased & lined loaf tin.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.


When the cake is cooked take it out of the oven & pierce all over with a skew
er or cake tester & immediately make the Orange Syrup.

Orange Syrup
the Juice of 1 Big Juicy Orange
50g/2oz sugar

Bring the juice of the orange & the sugar to a boil in a small pan.

Pour over the cake immediately & leave to cool completely. If you try & cut it while warm the syrup will make the cake fall a
part!!

Once the cake has completely cooled, melt 50g/2oz of the finest, darkest chocolate you can find & drizzle it over the cake!
Et Voilà!

Overall, I was thrilled with my chance to taste test this array of lovely baked goods. If you live in UK, have a friend there, or are taking a trip there, do yourself a favor & order some vegan desserts from Rebecca. She ships within the UK, has pick up available in North London, & is as sweet as her treats!

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

that does it! I have to go back to London.

Unknown said...

That's a lot of vegan goodies.

Anonymous said...

Lucky you! What a great addition to the trip. And we get the recipe--yay!

Unknown said...

YUMM!! The Jaffa Orange Drizzle cake sounds FABULOUS!
What an awesome way to start your stay in London!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Ooooh, how lucky are you, Melisser, to have been able to sample all those decadent treats!! Wow!! And thank you for sharing one of the recipes!!

I wish you could have given the sticky-toffee pudding one a higher rating - it looked the best, to me! :0)

Anonymous said...

I have made my own sticky toffy pudding as -you guessed it- cupcakes, and they were fabulous! All of this looks wonderful. Lucky gal!

Michelle H said...

That orange cakes looks delish! :o)

I had a question for ya, if you don't mind. :o) I bought the book Vegan Cupcakes take over the world and there are a few recipes with flaxseed in them. Is there anything I can substitute for that. Thanks. :o)

bazu said...

Ack, I'm so jealous! I want delicious vegan baked goods waiting for me in every city I visit! Yum.

Anonymous said...

What killer desserts! The pine nut/plum muffin is particularly unique though, I wouldn't have thought of that combination.

KitteeBee said...

hey melisser!
what a loot! it sounds like you had a lot of fun tasting all this goodness, thanks for reporting back and making us all jealous!

xo
kittee

Erin said...

Oh wow, how generous of Rebecca to provide the Jaffa Orange Drizzle Cake recipe. Yum!

Your London trip sounds like a blast, it has even got me suddenly wanting to go. (Though, er the extent of my trip would be just to fill up my tummy with yummy vegan food).

Jess said...

I am SO making that cake! Thank you for the recipe. What a lucky gal you are to be the recipient of all those delicious treats!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

oo, dang, i'm jealous

Anonymous said...

What! Vegan Cake Fairies Overseas? What an incentive to travel.

That was so generous and lovely; I'm glad they turned out to be so good. Excited to try out this Jaffa Orange Drizzle cake soon.

shannie cakes said...

jaffa cake! my friend is from new zealand and he always raves about jaffa's i'll have to make this for him!

Anonymous said...

How cool is it that you rec'd a package during your travels and right at the beginning no less! LUCKY!

Anonymous said...

I have been dreaming about London and the UK for the past six months!
Lucky you!

Diz Rivera said...

Wow, everything looks pretty great. I love the review with the stars and all.

julie hasson said...

Hey Melisser! What a score of vegan baked goods in London! Thanks for sharing the recipe for the orange cake. I just need to go and buy myself an orange now.

London is one of my very favorite cities. It sounds like you had an amazing time!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Dang girl! You are lucky. Oh, and I'm so excited to have another use for my kitchen scale!

Bianca said...

You are so lucky! Everything looks and sounds amazing, especially that chocolate cake with the sauce!

Amey said...

whoa!!
What a glorious gift. I can make cakes and muffins and such... but it's things like that yummy-looking pastry treat that I miss the most. I did make myself croissants once... but just seeing the amount of margarine that went into them sort of made me lose my enthusiasm for eating them. It's better to have someone send you one in the mail!
:)

TB said...

wow, you're a lucky lady! what an awesome package to receive, and thanks for sharing that recipe!

Angelina said...

Thank-you for the comment on my blog and the recommendations.

I am glad I found your blog! It is definitely challenging to find vegan sweets, so I am thankful for the ideas!

Mikaela said...

"...leave to cool completely." That sounds like torture!