When I think of a retro recipe, my mind goes to this cookbook that every mother since the 1970’s seemed to own, my own mother included. Thankfully, my mother spared me from Party Potato Salad loaf, Frozen Cheese Salad, and anything with a mixture of gelatine and mayo. I am forever grateful.

The only real recipe that looked good, or edible, was a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I wanted to update this recipe with some seasonal fruit, make it vegan, and with a gluten free option. I am crazy for peaches and haven’t been eating them enough. 
I was at the farmer’s market where these beautiful fuzzy peaches were calling my name. The farmer suggested to wait a day before eating them to ripen up a little bit more but slightly underripe peaches were perfect for this cake. Ripe peaches are great for eating but a little more difficult to cut for this recipe.  I consulted one of my favourite culinary books, The Vegetarian Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity with Vegetables, Fruits, Grains, Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, and More, Based on the Wisdom of Leading American Chefs, for some flavour suggestions and saw ginger and whiskey. Whiskey is not gluten free since it is made with grains but if you need this cake to be entirely gluten free, replace the whiskey with fresh lemon juice or just powdered sugar. 

The spicy ginger and warm whiskey pair so well with this lightly sweetened peach cake. It can be made in a cake pan instead of a cast iron. The day I tested this recipe, I made it three times just make sure. Make sure each peach slice is touching the cake pan and the peaches don’t layer onto each other or when you flip the cake to remove it from the pan, it is one big mess. Believe me! 

The recipe is best served over tea with a good chat with a friend. If you don’t like peaches or ginger, omit the two and try with some berries perhaps. I haven’t tried it but I am sure it would be good. 

9 recipes down, 21 more to go! See you tomorrow for Day 10: Something Blue. Missed Day 8? Check it out here.

Stay connected on the daily by following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  Made this recipe? I would love to see it! Use the hashtag #screcipe on your social media. 

FYI: This post does contain an Amazon Affiliate link, which means I would make a (very) small commission on any purchase of my recommendation. I personally own this book and LOVE it! Mark owns the non-vegetarian version and the veg one is bigger When it comes to books, size matters. 

Peach & Whiskey Upside Down Cake

 

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

50 mins

 

A retro upside down cake with a modern vegan twist! Inside of the traditional pineapple, I decided to use summery peaches, warm ginger, and whiskey. It can be made in a cast iron or cake pan. The baking time will vary slightly. Always test out with a skewer and allow to cool completely.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Vegan

Serves: 1 cake

Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• ½ tablespoon melted coconut oil
• 2-3 firm but ripe peaches, pitted and sliced thin
• 1 
cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk
• 1 
teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• ⅓ 
cup melted coconut oil
• 1 
teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ 
cups 1:1 ratio gluten free flour blend*
• 1
 teaspoon baking powder
• 1
 teaspoon baking soda
• 1
 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 
  
• For the Whiskey Glaze (optional):
• 6 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon Jameson Whiskey (it's vegan!)
• Teeny pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Add the ½ tablespoon melted coconut oil to the cast iron skillet or 9" cake pan and wipe all around with a paper towel. Add the peach slices to the pan cut side down, making sure that the peaches have contact with the pan. If they are layered too much on top of each other, when you flip the cake over, the peaches will be a mess. Set aside.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the apple cider vinegar and the almond milk until the mixture is frothy. Allow it to sit for a few moments.
3. Mix in the sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, and salt.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until they're just combined, adding a little more almond milk if the cake batter is too sticky.
6. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the topping is fragrant and toasty and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
7. Leave the cake in the pan for about 10 minutes. Run a pairing knife along the edges of the cake. Gently flip the cake over onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to completely cool before adding the glaze.
8. To make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the icing sugar and whiskey until completely smooth. For the gluten free option, add it with lemon instead of whiskey or add powdered sugar.
9. Slice and serve!

Notes

*I used Bob Mill's 1:1 GF Flour Blend

3.3.3077

The post Day 9 Vegan MoFo: Peach & Whiskey Upside Down Cake appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

This is the big announcement part….

Moving forward, each recipe featured on Sprouts & Chocolate will be 12 ingredients or less! My archived recipes will remain on my site for you to access but any new recipe posted will follow this new rule. What counts as an ingredient? Any ingredient that isn’t water, salt or pepper.

I am excited to start this new chapter of my site and I hope you readers love these easy methods and ingredients! Within this eBook, there are over 15 vegan and gluten free summer recipes that don’t require an oven or stove PLUS are 12 ingredients or less. Recipes include:

Frozen PB+ Fudge Squares (on cover)

Rainbow Kale + Cabbage Slaw No-Cook Tomato Sauce over Zoodles Black Cherry Nice Cream Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Pops This project was challenging but whenever I started to waiver, I remembered that any accomplishment started with trying. I feel a lot of us drown ourselves in the details of a project, creating long to-do lists and feeling defeated before we even started. I know I did with this eBook but I just looked at my list and started. Just start. The first thing I did was pick a topic, and from there, one by one, my tasks list became smaller. A person can only do one thing at a time, so pick your one thing and start today! You just have to try. 

You don’t have to do it alone. Two months ago, I knew nothing about creating an eBook so I reached out to fellow bloggers. With their experience, they become an invaluable source of information to me. I attended The Healthy Maven‘s How to Create an Ebook seminar and purchased Minimalist Baker‘s How to Publish and Sell Your eBook video tutorials. With these resources, I went from being technology-illiterate to creating my own eBook. A huge thanks to Minimalist Baker for creating the best and most comprehensive video tutorials. If you want to create your own eBook for your site, I highly recommend purchasing this tutorial package.

Crossing this goal off my list has made the unpleasant parts of this experience worth it. Yes, even that time I had to restart my entire eBook because my external drive wasn’t plugged in all the way. Each struggle I faced getting to my goal has made the accomplishment that much better.

So how do you get your FREE copy of Sprouts & Chocolate: Uncooked? Subscribe on the sidebar, confirm your address and you will receive an email on how to download it to your device at zero cost to you.

Thanks again to my readers for continuing to follow me throughout this experience! Here is to another year blogging! 

Sincerely,

Jessica DeMarra
Sprouts & Chocolate

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VeganMoFo creators suggested to bloggers to have a dedicated theme for a certain day of the week so I have decided for the next month Wednesdays are going to be the”Pick-Me-Up Hump Day Drink!” because who doesn’t need a little boost midweek?

I am excited to share this recipe with you because it was definitely what I needed one particularly grueling week when everything was going wrong and I just couldn’t get my feet on the ground.

This milkshake is a variation on my previous frozen treat love Chocolate Cherry Garcia by Ben & Jerry’s. I was a weird kid that always preferred the not so typical ice cream flavours meant for children- it was never just vanilla or chocolate or strawberry but mint-chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio and I would eat anything in cherries and chocolate. I remember getting those bright red and syrupy maraschino cherries covered with a waxy hyper sweet chocolate as a Valentine’s Day present from a high school boyfriend and eating the whole box in one day. Perhaps I lost my taste from them after that because I haven’t eaten them in years but this milkshake recipe is definitely a keeper (unlike my high school boyfriend and don’t worry, it wasn’t because of the cherry chocolates.)

This recipe calls for raw cocoa nibs and maybe you are like I was, discouraged to use them because they are an acquired taste, rather bitter and hard. Not at all like those luxurious melt-in-your-mouth smooth chocolate memories of your past but raw chocolate has its place and tons of good things for you. So what is so good about raw cocoa nibs? (PS I am not a doctor so this is not intended to be medical advice)

Antioxidant Power

Raw chocolate has loads of antioxidants in them to fight off free radicals in your body. Now what is a free radical? Free radicals are an uncharged molecule (typically highly reactive and short-lived) having an unpaired valence electron [1]. They have the ability to damage your cells and cause them to mutate their DNA. Mutated DNA is the root of a lot of diseases because your cell is getting all the wrong messages about what it is suppose to do [2]. So fight those free radicals with antioxidants! Cherries are also known for their antioxidant powers so this milkshake is pretty good for you on that level!

 Mighty Magnesium

Magnesium is an essential mineral that is important for muscle and nerve function. Magnesium helps calcium in your body! [3] You need a balance of both to make sure you are absorbing calcium properly. This mineral also helps restore your body’s pH balance.

Feel Good Chemicals

Phenylethylamine and serotonine are the brain’s feel good chemicals and raw chocolate does contain a small amount of both. However there is a “too much of a good thing” with raw chocolate [4]. Phenylethylamine is a stimulant so it can have the same effect as caffeine for some people so if you are caffeine-sensitive I would recommend lower the amount of cocoa nibs used in this recipe.

More Minerals!

Raw chocolate also contains many other essential minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese [5].

Raw chocolate power mixed in with cherries packs a good antioxidant punch against all those nasty free radicals. Science aside, this milkshake is also fresh, creamy, rich and insanely delicious. I hate when I get cherry-stuff and it isn’t cherry-y enough! You know what I mean? Cherry is the star of the milkshake with a subtle hint of raw chocolate in the background. Drink up!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I will be posting a lot more eats and treats as the month continues! Happy VeganMoFo! 2 recipes down, 18 to go….

[1] Google definition of a “free radical”

[2] http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/how-antioxidants-work1

[3] http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5473/11-Miraculous-Ways-Magnesium-Heals-Your-Mind-Body.html

[4] http://www.cacaoweb.net/nutrition.html

[5] http://www.cacaoweb.net/nutrition.html

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Turns out having a kid around wasn’t nearly as easy as I thought since they ask probably 100 questions an hour and while he doesn’t have to be constantly entertained like a toddler, he couldn’t understand why I did not have any kid-stuff or know any children that live in my building. This questions and concerns all occurred before we hit the front door of my apartment. I wanted to take a mental nap.

 But kids are funny in their way and they will say things that are really ridiculous but make perfect sense when you try to rationalize it from their perspective. Sammy renamed a few daily things around Toronto that I never gave a second thought to such as:

1)   The TTC Subway System is now and forever will be called the “basement train.” (I tried to explain to him that it is train under the ground in which he responded “like a basement!” I agreed and he named it the basement train. This actually got a few laughs from commuters on the same train as us.)

2)   My apartment building he named “the shared box house.” This one I did not understand at first until he explained to me that everything was organized and the balconies look like boxes.

3)   To him the escalators are the “scary stairs”. When I asked why he found them scary he said that they are spikey and then the floor eats them at the top.

 Fair enough…

We were walking down a busy street and saw a giant billboard ad for McDonald’s Milkshakes and he asked if he could have one. Call me a party pooper but I wasn’t about to bring him there knowing what is in those milkshakes. I worked there as a teenager and I KNOW what is in there and the answer is nothing good. Still his craving was there and I suggested to him that I could make him one the next day (it was late and we were out when we saw the billboard) if he really wanted. Of course, being related to me did not pass the opportunity for a sweet treat and ask for one the next day.

I decided to do an ice-cream free milkshake. Say what!? I know I know how sacrilege of me but recently when I headed to my small hometown I couldn’t find one vegan ice cream brand. So this is one for those people who may not have access to the prepare vegan foods like I do living in Toronto.

Thankfully, I did a little prepping and the milkshake was ready to be made. Just toss most things in the fridge or freezer the day or night before and you are ready to make a rich, creamy and insanely delicious shake.

 For the freezer:

• Strawberries (fresh strawberries washed, trimmed and then frozen or just buy frozen strawberries)
• Almond milk in an ice cube tray (this is how I got away with not using ice cream so it is really important to do!)

For the fridge:

• Canned coconut milk (this will solidify all the creamy goodness of the coconut milk to use in your shake) If you are just making 1 or 2 milkshakes, 1 can in the fridge should be fine but if you are making more, add a second can to the fridge.
• A large and deep glass or metal bowl (you will be whipping the remaining coconut milk in. How else would you top your shake but with a little or a lot of whipped coconut milk? I followed the Oh She Glows Coconut Whipped Cream recipe)

Once everything is prepped, just toss it all in the blender the next day and whirl away! This shake is fairly thick which I love but if it isn’t your thing, just add more coconut water.

I know this seems like a little more work than just buying a milkshake but it is super delicious, fresh and kid-approved by Sammy (unless your child has a nut allergy since it does contain almond and coconut).

His milkshake craving was satisfied and the glass was empty by the time I photographed my shake. The day after the first shake, he asked for another. Success! Cool Aunt Jess is making a come back!

The post Vegan Strawberry Milkshake: Ice Cream Free appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Mark doesn’t care for typical breakfast foods but he sure does love pancakes. I have a Whole-Wheat Blueberry Pancakes recipe that are kid approved but I wanted a recipe that was a touch more grown up. Pulse some almonds and add some orange zest with a touch of liquor makes this typical diner breakfast elegant. 

This Sunday was a special because Mark came home from France! He told me all about his trip over breakfast and coffee. One night he was doing a sound check for the Hennessy Music Festival in Cognac and guess who was also doing their sound check on a different stage? Allen Stone!

If you have never heard of his music before go and youtube it now, Unaware and his cover of Marcy Playground’s Sex and Candy are my favourties. Mark and I are big fans and are going to see him play at The Phoenix in October. He apparently fangirl-ed hard for him and his band and had no shame in telling me so. I am still sort of jealous because I was in my dank and dark dungeon of a classroom doing quadratic functions for academic upgrading while he partied with rock stars in Cognac, France. Sighhh but Mark promises me that we will return to Europe soon enough. In the meantime, summer peaches will occupy my thoughts. 

Needless to say, I am so glad he is home and I think he is as well despite having a life changing experience in France. Thankfully he brought back some goodies for me to indulge in. Cheers to lazy Saturday, pancake breakfast and of course some Cognac.

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