A Long Weekend of Birthday Baking

Gaaaah, this post is about one month late but I still wanted to share three recipes I had tested out during the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Over that long weekend, I baked goodies as presents to three birthday girls: a childhood friend, a church friend, and my beloved grandmother. Without further ado, some eye-candy for you to indulge in.

Building the Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Layer Cake

Once I confirmed that my childhood friend, Tiff, was a fellow fan of pumpkin, I decided to go all out for her birthday cake. We were celebrating her 'entrance into adulthood' with a 'baby turkey' (aka Costco rotisserie chicken) dinner, Disney movies, and a sleepover. Sounding epic? Just wait until you hear about this Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Layer Cake I made her. Alternating layers of chocolate pumpkin cake and crustless pumpkin pie, glued together with whipped coconut cream. I could eat the whole cake and feel [almost] guiltless. I just got some teasing from my best friend, looking down on the cake just because I mentioned it's vegan. Whoa whoa now, don't hate on vegan food! Vegan food can be de-lish, as proven by this cake.

Completed Vegan Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Layer Cake

It was my first time using and eating whipped coconut cream, oh my goodness, Coconut Crumpet went on a vacation to heaven. I stuck a can of Rooster Brand Gold Label Coconut Milk into the fridge overnight for the vegan whipped cream. I highly recommend using this particular coconut milk because of its high, high, high fat content. It's super rich, thick, and coconutty. All the coconut whipped cream recipes I've seen online use the 'full fat' cans of coconut milk, which yield about half a can of whip-able coconut cream. The Gold Label Coconut Milk yields more than 3/4 can of coconut cream!! It was enough to frost this loaf-sized cake. 

As for the actual cake part of the cake, I used a pumpkin chocolate brownie recipe and adapted this crustless pumpkin pie recipe. While the brownie turned out fine, I took my Rachel-ifying a little too far for the pumpkin pie layer. It was bubbling in the oven like a cauldron and rose about five times the height that it should have, then I almost burnt it, and all that height collapsed as it cooled and some batter stuck to the sides of my loaf pan. Thankfully, the taste was fine and it would be ready to become a cake with a bit of a trim.

On the same day as I decorated this cake, I baked up two more birthday presents. Some Cranberry Orange Ricotta Muffins for my grandma and Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for a church friend, who is a lover of peanut butter and chocolate.

Cranberry Orange Ricotta Muffins

These muffins follow the same recipe as this Blackberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins I already have on the blog. This ricotta muffin recipe yields the fluffiest muffins ever; it is a must-try! I replaced the blackberries with cranberries, lemon zest and juice with that of an orange, and sprinkled the tops with turbinado sugar before baking. The raw sugar gives a beautiful sparkle and delicious crunch to the finished muffins. It's just unfortunate the the sugar will dissolve by the next day...so no more crunch :(

Soft Baked Peanut Butter Cookies

And finally, a batch of soft-baked peanut butter cookies, packed with chocolate chips and peanut butter chips of course. These were soooooooooooo good~~ Totally my type of cookie: soft, thick, chewy, peanut-buttery... I'm drooling again. You probably want to know what recipe I used right? Well head over to Sally's Baking Addiction; she has a plethora of cookie recipes with a good mix of healthy recipes too! 

I altered a few ingredients as softened (not melted!) coconut oil replaced the butter and Reece's peanut butter chips and chocolate chips instead of M&M's. The base of the cookie can be made vegan with the use of coconut oil. 

Soft Baked Peanut Butter Cookies

Even though many peanut butter cookie recipes recommend sticking to the regular creamy peanut butter stuff that is laden with sugar, I went ahead and used my natural peanut butter. The trick is to make sure the separated oil is very thoroughly re-incorporated (stir it every time you open the jar) and the jar is kept in the refrigerator. By keeping the natural peanut butter cool, the texture becomes creamy instead of runny.

I forgot to press down on the cookie dough before baking, which is why my cookies look a lot smaller and fatter. That isn't really bad at all as there will just be more soft cookie inside to enjoy!

Well, I hope that these little posts of "what I've been baking" is interesting. Halloween is over and now we're charging full force into Christmas. While I had a fun Halloween dressing up as a minion (I have a slight obsession with those yellow pill-shaped creatures), Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. No arguing. I cannot wait for Christmas and all the festive deliciousness that happens during December; hopefully I'll be able to post about my successful recipes! Pumpkin pie anyone? The perfect Vegan Pie Crust can be made by following my recipe here. I'm still working on a perfect pumpkin pie filling so please check back soon! The Crumpets will try our best to post as often as we can between our busy schooling ;) We have lots to accomplish before we wander into the scarier-than-Halloween land of university...dundunDUNNNN..


Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Ghiradelli Soda Foundation and Chocolate Shop

Ghiradelli is a San Fransisco based chocolate company; they are the Lindt of America. My mom and I had our eyes set on dessert from Ghiradelli the second we walked past it while looking for lunch, which we later found at Flo's V8 Cafe.

Golden Gate Banana Split ($9.95)

Named after San Fransisco's iconic bridge, this luscious boat of ice cream and all the fixin's was heavenly. I surprised myself and liked the chocolate and strawberry ice cream most. The chocolate ice cream was rich and chocolately, not just sugary like that fake stuff sold in the aisles of the grocery store. Comparable to Bella Gelateria's chocolate gelato. I haven't had strawberry ice cream in ages, no exaggeration used, mainly because it usually tastes too fake and sugary. But this was totally different, there were chunks. of. fresh. strawberries. Ehmagawd. The crushed pineapple topping was an uncommon but delicious addition. I didn't care much for the bananas, as it wasn't very ripe. But the ice cream was gorgeous, beautiful, made in heaven. Three scoops for ten dollars isn't that bad when the quality is as phenomenal as this. Guys, this is the real deal. Oh, sorry for the melt-y looking sundae photo, we ran three minutes from Ghiradelli to Fiddler Fifer & Practical Cafe in the 30+ degree sun. There is only a handful of tables outside the ice cream parlour, which 1) isn't very pleasant to sit in the hot weather, 2) you may cry watching your delicious ice cream melt before your eyes, and 3) the tables are probably all full in the afternoon.

Mint Bliss Dark Chocolate Sundae ($8.95)

Since my mom's favourite ice cream is mint chocolate, that is the flavour of sundae she chose. Before I begin the rest of my ranting, this dark chocolate fudge. Oh. My. It was sinful, and so good. Dark chocolate has never been this amazing before and this sundae just took it to the next level. One scoop of chocolate ice cream, which was also in the sundae and I've mentioned that it is ah-may-zing, and one scoop of mint ice cream. The mint ice cream is okay, very creamy and smooth but I don't love mint ice cream as much as my mom. The mint ice cream (that isn't dyed green) from Coconut Bliss is probably just as good. The highlight of this sundae is the dark chocolate fudge. The cold ice cream turns this hot, liquidy chocolate sauce into chewy fudge. I felt naughty eating this stuff.

Although the prices at Ghiradelli inside California Adventure are a bit steep, it's well worth the splurge and the portion sizes are acceptable and can be easily shared with another person, or two if you're kindhearted. I will dream about these decadent ice cream treats. Did I mention you get a free square of chocolate each time you step into the store? Oh yes, we went in twice. Once to see the menu in the morning and once to actually purchase ice cream. We left the park with a total of eight squares of melted caramel-filled chocolate, whoot whoot!

Reviews on Yelp 

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Raw Vegan Tart

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Raw Vegan Tart

Raspberries and chocolate, a dreamy combination of sweet and tart. My family is down to the last few raspberries from our trip to Krause Berry Farms so I took the opportunity to incorporate them into some kind of chocolate dessert. This recipe is a no bake, super easy, and uses minimal equipment. It's a tart that looks extravagant enough to bring to a dinner party. No one has to know it is vegan and can also raw!

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Raw Vegan Tart

I managed to put this tart together in one hour, the pressing in of the crust taking most of that time. It sat in my fridge while my mom took us grocery shopping for our upcoming 'glamping' (glamorous camping) trip. By the time we returned home with an entire cooler of food for the barbeque, I was hungry and ready for a sweet snack. So hungry that I forgot to sift icing sugar over the tart to make it prettier. All that was on my mind was "photograph then eat". Oops~ Natural animal instincts, okay?

The vegan mousse is quite impressive. If made with a stronger machine like a Vitamix, the texture could become a lot smoother. My 'antique' food processor did an okay job but I could still feel a few clumps of mac nuts. I was so surprised as to how airy and light the mousse is! Looks like real mousse and feels like it. It's amazing what nuts can turn into whether it be a custard for Nanaimo Bars or a crust for a Banana Cream Pie, nuts are a healthy and satisfying alternative to highly processed store-bought food with zero nutrition and who-knows-what in it. Plus, it's been loving made with your own hands and effort~

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Raw Vegan Tart

Next time I make a this tart, I'll have to either make the sides shorter or double the mousse filling. The final product will look more 'normal' and less like a boat (as my mom described it as). But aesthetics aside, this is absolutely delicious. I couldn't stop eating after one slice and helped myself to another. The chewy and naturally sweet crust is just as good eaten alone. This wetter version of the crust used in my Nanaimo Bars holds its shape a lot better and doesn't crumble at all. I can imagine it working beautifully in mini individual tarts.

The overall tart is very lightly sweet with no refined sugars whatsoever. Most Asians prefer less-sweet desserts so this tart suits those with that preference. As for myself, I would probably add a tad bit more honey and cocoa into the mousse to give the dessert a more robust flavour. I mean, if you're going to eat dessert it might as well be one that truly satisfies your craving for glucose. 

When in a rush and need a delicious and nutritious dessert, try making this Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Tart! It won't disappoint any taste buds ;)

Click below for the recipe

Flavours of Nanaimo Cake

Flavours of Nanaimo Birthday Cake

The Nanaimo bar. The no-bake three-layered bar is named appropriately after its city of origin and has been given the title of British Columbia's favourite dessert. Now, I'm not sure if all British Columbians love the Nanaimo bar, but I do know it is my brother's favourite dessert. Very well, he is a British Columbian...

Born on the seventh day of the seventh month, my brother must be a lucky boy, in certain ways. I have saved my family a lot of money baking cakes for birthdays and special events (and also doubling them up as gifts, puahahaha!) and his birthday is no exception. The reason why I didn't just make an actual Nanaimo bar is because of the few days expired carton of whipping cream sitting in my fridge door. The fastest way I could think of using it is by icing a cake. Too bad there aren't enough people to eat a two layered cake, that would've used even more whipped cream. I had to brave the hot oven on a summer day to make this cake -wipes imaginary sweat-.

Holey cake, revealing the bottom, texture of the cake

Chocolate Banana Cookie Dough Cream Pie

Who says a vegan can't have pie?!
A pie that is so delicious and good for you at the same time? Yes please!
Your family and friends would NEVER believe this pie isn't laden with processed sugars, butter, lard, modified corn starch and all that "natural and artificial flavouring" junk. But i don't blame you if you decide you want the whole pie to yourself because I grant you permission to eat this whole pie! 
But do try controlling yourself eh? ;)

Vegan whipped cream is the best thing I've ever experienced in my life. It tastes so. freaking. delicious. 
Coconut whipped cream= happy peanut crumpet

Chocolate Banana Cookie Dough Coconut Cream Pie

yield 1 pie that would make you go "MAMA MIA" 

Crust:

1 c. almonds

1 c. walnuts
1 1/2 c. dates

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Chocolate Layer:

4 large bananas (set 2 aside for slicing)

3 tbsp. agave

1/4 c. almond butter

1 tbsp. coconut oil

dollop of vanilla paste (or splash of extract)

Pinch salt

1/4 cup cacao

splash of almond milk

Whipped Cream:

1 can full fat coconut milk, in fridge overnight (I used Thai Kitchen organic coconut milk)

1/8 - 1/4 tsp. stevia

splash of vanilla extract

For the crust, put everything into the food processor and pulse until it forms a sticky gooey delicious mass of dough. Remember to pulse so the oils of the nuts don't release as much to prevent it from being too oily! Take a generous amount of dough to press into your pie pan. Put your crust into the freezer to firm up while you make the filling. 

For the leftover "crust", roll them into cookie dough balls the size of the nail of your thumb and set those aside. 

For the chocolate layer, put all of your ingredients in the food processor (except the almond milk) and just give it a whirl until super smooth with the consistency of a thick pudding. If you think your mixture should be a little runnier, add a teensy weensy splash of almond milk, but don't add too much or the filling won't hold its shape!

Pour this lovely concoction into the prepared crust and let sit in fridge until it firms up a bit.

Once firm, slice your 1 banana thinly (so you get more slices), and scatter them in addition to some of the cookie dough balls all over the chocolate layer. Bat your eyelashes at the pie and admire for 1 minute (optional step ;) ). TIME TO MAKE THE COCONUT CREAM!

Take the coconut milk you've been hiding in your fridge and spoon off all the thick goodness from the top. You will be left with clear liquid which can be used for smoothies, or any coconutty baked goods. It tastes sort of like a coconut syrup/extract. I know coconut crumpet would approve. After the scooping of the yummilicious full fat coconut milk, it's time to whip it up baby! Use a handmixer or stand mixer for optimum fluff, but because I don't have a hand mixer and I didn't want to wash the large bowl of my stand mixer, I decided to whip by hand. Wheeee! When you get soft peaks, add your stevia in and whip until you get moderately stiff peaks! Now, you don't want to eat this whole bowl because your pie will make it all up to you later. So just spread this goodness on your pie and lick ALL the equipment that touched this luscious cream. 

Garnish your pie with another sliced banana and your remaining cookie dough balls, and stick it into the fridge for at least 1 hour before eating! (or you can eat it all gooey and melty :) )


Lots of nuts,
Peanut Crumpet xoxo

Nutella-stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt and Brown Butter

A classic with a classic-Can we call this a double classy cookie? 

Kitchening & Co.

Kitchening & Co. Macarons and Chocolate Ginger Cookie

During my visit to the Eat! Vancouver festival this year, I picked up a few goodies from Kitchening & Co. to bring home. I had a few extra tickets to spend and the flavours were appealing so it seemed like perfect chance to try something new. 

I first ate the Chocolate Ginger Cookie. I prefer the soft, chewy cookies over crisp, thin ones, so this one was right up my alley! It was surprising to find chunks, large chunks, of chocolate within the cookie. I appreciate that they didn't skimp on the chocolate (the cookie itself should already have cocoa powder), but I think the cookie would be better without the massive slabs of chocolate. The ginger flavour and texture was just right; it's a delicious cookie, just as I had read from Foodology while eating breakfast the morning of my visit.

Black Sesame Macaron & Toasted Coconut Macaron

The amount of coconut-flavoured products I consumed at the Eat! Vancouver festival was innumerable. Peanut Crumpet and our fellow 'Clumsy One' can confirm that. So, seeing that Kitchening & Co. carried a Toasted Coconut macaron, I couldn't pass it up. Obviously, toasted coconut tastes so much better than just coconut. Just like how toasted nuts are more fragrant that raw ones. Anywho, the smell of the coconut was present before I even bit into it. The taste of the coconut wasn't as strong as the smell, but it wasn't too lacking. I'm not quite sure what the filling flavour was, but I remember it to be a bit tangy. The Toasted Coconut macaron was the better tasting one out of the two I tried.

The Black Sesame macaron let me down. There was no black sesame flavour, or aroma. In fact, it had a bit of a strange taste to it... The filling was too sweet and overpowered the already nonexistent black sesame flavour. If you're looking for a good black sesame treat, this one isn't it.

Despite that one disappointing flavour, I am still interested in trying more of their macarons. Macarons are finicky so the same recipe can yield completely different results depending on the flavour. The macarons themselves were well made and looked cute, small and tall. If you're a macaron fan, Kitchening & Co. is worth a try. They don't have a store front but check their website for events they'll attend or go to any Urban Fare market and they'll carry the macarons.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡

3rd Tier: Mocha Cheesecake Squares, Coconut Muffin, and Green Tea Cream Puff

DIY Mother's Day High Tea at Coconut Crumpet's Home

As a dessertatarian, this is obviously the most exciting tier. The fact that I prepared an excess amount of each recipe didn't really bother me. That meant I would have dessert to last me a week, mwahahaha! There were a few bumps along the way during my baking of these desserts. A malfunctioning convection oven, running out of all purpose flour, burning this, burning that... Nevertheless, the guests didn't notice so let's just keep it between us, ok?

DIY High Tea for Mother's Day

DIY Mother's Day High Tea by Coconut Crumpet

To celebrate Mother's Day, as well as my mama's birthday, I prepared a high tea lunch for her and a group of close friends to enjoy. It took three or four days to prepare as one would never have enough time to cook, bake, and assemble everything in one day. With some helping hands and baking elves, this ambitious project of mine was successfully presented. Even if it was with [not purposely] mismatched dishes and a plastic tablecloth...

Sharing high tea with a group of friends is truly an experience every foodie should have, whether it be at a restaurant or hosting one yourself. It's a rare chance to dress up and act like a bunch of rich old grannies sitting at a beautifully adorned table having quality gossip time. That is the Crumpets' dream life as retirees.   

My love for high tea has grown significantly after this party. I just picked up 3 sets of tiered trays from Costco in preparation for any other opportunities for me to host another high tea. They only have 2 tiers, but hey, it was $6!

Below is the menu for that day's high tea. Recipes for select goods will be accessible through the links. The ones with no links are because there isn't really a recipe, the words you read are all the ingredients used. There just ain't much to it.
 

Open-faced Cucumber Cream Cheese Sandwich

Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Sandwich

Tuna Salad Sandwich

Bell Pepper, Mushroom, and Cheese Quiche

Shrimp and Avocado Crostini

French Onion Crab Round

Mini Bacon and Cheese Scone

Lemon Cranberry Scone

Devonshire Cream

Mocha Cheesecake Square

Coconut Muffin

Green Tea Cream Puff

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries with Toasted Almonds

Chocolate Coconut Pudding

Chocolate Coconut Pudding

Yes, another coconut post. What can I do, I am Coconut Crumpet and therefore must live up to my name.

Strawberry Chocolate Icebox!

You drooling yet? ;) Just look at that natural pink colour! No chemically formulated colours here, folks!

My intention was to post an Easter recipe, but somehow this turned into another delicious frozen dessert. Well, who's complaining? ;) It's probably because of this beautiful weather I'm experiencing this past few days here in Vancouver.

Warning, your eyes may experience some extreme widening and you
may will feel the urge to get into your kitchen and make this chocolatey strawberryness ;)

If you like strawberries dipped in chocolate, you're definitely at the right place. And don't get intimidated by its gorgeousness; this is one of the recipes that requires little hands-on time, but a longer waiting time (which is definitely the hardest part!) :D

In fact, you make lose some of the love for chocolate-dipped strawberries, as now you can have something that tastes better, and is wayyyy healthier for you than the 50 grams of sugar you get from the chocolate fountain. Oh, and did I mention it's vegan also so no animals are suffering on your behalf? ;)

Strawberry Chocolate Icebox - makes one 11× 5.5 × 3 inch loaf pan 

The "To-Die-For" Banana Bread

Before I begin this post, I would like to clarify that the recipe below has been originally modified to develop a flavor similar to that of the true "To-Die-For Banana Bread" by Erin Heland. In other words, this is NOT the authentic "It's to Die For" Banana bread recipe. 

For details, please visit http://itstodiefor.ca/ 

Bailey's Chocolate Cupcakes

Bailey's Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting

Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I present to you Bailey's cupcakes! My experience with this recipe has many ups and downs. Let me explain...

The first time I made this recipe, I accidentally doubled the amount of milk. Luckily, the 8 inch cake turned out perfectly fine. Now the second time I made it, I was too lazy to use applesauce so I replaced all the 'fat' with yogurt. That resulted in a very dense and hard cake. Not too good. Today, my luck has not been the greatest. (No four-leaf clover from the leprechaun for me?) Only after three trials and nearly 2 hours later did an acceptable cupcake come out of the oven. This was an unexpected blow to my baking ego, I suppose its a reminder to stay humble, haha!

Three trials later

1st trial: burnt.

2nd trial: too low of an oven temperature, expanded before becoming fulled cooked.

3rd trial: followed oven temperature in recipe + used a foil tent to shield the tops. 

Since I was baking these as gifts, I could not use burnt or ugly cupcakes. My family will take care of those...

Nevertheless, these cupcakes will please 'adults' and those who love Irish cream. Fudgey and rich in flavour, a tastey (and healthy!) cupcake for anytime of year!

Bailey's Chocolate Cupcakes

Adapted from Skinnytaste 

Yield: 8 large cupcakes

Ingredients:

• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 7 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1 egg
• ½ cup stout
• ½ unsweetened apple sauce
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1½ tbsp oil

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake tin with 12 liners.
2. In a large bowl sift together all the dry ingredients; sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and espresso powder. 
3. In a medium bowl combine the wet ingredients (egg through canola oil) and beat until smooth.
4. With a mixer, slowly add the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Pour about 3 heaping tbsp into each cupcake liner and bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

*Tip: If using a small convection oven, you may want to cover the top with some tin foil for the first 10-15 minutes and uncover to bake for the last few. This will prevent the tops from burning too fast.

Decoration Choices:

1. Bailey's Whipped Cream - Using an electric mixer, whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of Bailey's and mix until incorporated. This works well for decorating cakes.
2. Bailey's Buttercream Frosting - For 8 cupcakes, beat ¼ cup of room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Sift in 1 cup of icing sugar until incorporated. Then add 2 tbsp of bailey and mix until pipping consistency is achieved.

Love from Coconut Crumpet's Corner ♡