1st Anniversary Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake and A Giveaway!!

It’s my one year blogging anniversary this month so I decided to bake a cake. I actually made a loaf and some cupcake type muffins out of the same recipe and topped them both with a heavenly chocolate ganache.

You may have noticed that I don’t make a lot of sweet things, mainly because I would end up eating them so I try to steer clear as much as possible. This little beauty however is vegan. Can you believe it?

There’s no butter, no oil, no milk and no eggs. Even the chocolate ganache is vegan, it’s made with almond milk. If you are feeling a little sceptical, don’t.  This cake is moist (really moist in fact), crumbly, rich and delicious, you would never think it was vegan, I promise.

The recipe came from a new vegan cookbook called Blissful Bites by Christy Morgan. Christy was a private chef and cooking instructor for many celebrities in L.A before moving back to her hometown of Dallas where she now writes a food blog  The Blissful Chef and teaches vegan and macrobiotic cooking.

“The Blissful Chef will show you the way to bliss with delicious recipes, cooking classes for any skill level, a blog filled with helpful information and tips, and tasty alternatives that are free of processed foods, totally plant-based and good for you. We are on a mission to show that clean food can be delicious, easy to make, and will bring more energy and bliss into your life!

What you’ll find here is helpful information for those flirting with plant-based diets, and everything to do with living a eco-friendly, cruelty-free life.”

This was my first attempt at a vegan dessert and I have to say I am really pleased with it. It actually tastes better than most “normal” cakes, seriously. And the chocolate ganache, well….

From this book I have also already made the vegan pumpkin pancakes but I actually replaced the pumpkin with persimmon and served them with a persimmon sauce and maple syrup – I will be posting the recipe soon.

There are so many tempting recipes to choose from but the ones that have caught my eye and are definitely on the “to do” list are :  Macro Macaroni Cheese, Macro Mole Enchiladas, Coconut Chocolate Bars,  Wheat Free Fudgy Chocolate Brownies, Orange Pumpkin Ginger French Toast, Vegan Eggs Benedict and Azuki Bean & Japanese Pumpkin Soup.

If you would like win a copy of this fabulous book and try out some of those recipes for yourself  simply do one or more of the following and leave a comment saying what you did. Leave a separate comment for each to enter more than once and leave a way to contact you should you win.

This giveaway closes at midnight (Spanish time) on Wednesday October 26th 2011 .

• Leave a comment telling me which of the recipes mentioned above you would most like me to cook.
• Like Cook Eat Live Vegetarian on facebook, then leave a comment telling me you did or already do.
• Subscribe to or Follow this blog (subscribe in the top right hand corner of side bar), then leave a comment telling me you did or already do.
• Follow Foodblogdog on Twitter, then leave a comment telling me you did or already do and including your Twitter name.
• Link to this giveaway on Facebook, then leave a comment telling me and including a link to the post.
• Tweet about this giveaway, tagging me @Foodblogdog and linking to this giveaway, then leave a comment telling me and including a link to the post.

A winner will be chosen by random number generator on Thursday 27th October and announced on that day also. Good luck!!

So, as I said, it is my one year blogging anniversary this month. I actually can’t believe it’s been a year but then again I feel like I have been doing this forever too. I can’t remember what life was like before blogging came along and completely took over my life.

I would like to thank all my followers including the ever faithful prolific commenters and food bloggers to name but a few (Greg, Tanya, Tiffany, Caroline  and of course my biggest fan, my Dad Tony). I never thought, when I started this journey that I would “meet” so many wonderfully positive people out of this. I just wanted to cook seasonal vegetarian food inspired by the fruit & veg I saw growing every day while out walking our dog, Rufus.

The thing is that I now feel like I know all these people really well through reading their blogs and would love for us all to meet up for lunch somewhere, sadly I know that this can’t happen. Mainly because they are scattered all over the world from Spain to New Zealand from Canada to Australia, from Israel to Thailand, from India to Singapore and all over the USA.

 It has kind of spiralled out of control into a complete obsession with food, photography and keeping up with other people’s blogs. I also have to thank The Washer Up for his support. The poor thing has to listen to me talking about food constantly, put up with eating cold food because I always need to photograph everything before he can eat it and live in a pretty untidy house because I am either cooking food, photographing food, editing pictures or writing about food. That leaves little time for anything else I can tell you, especially the washing up.

He does eat well though….most of the time!

I would also like to thank the silent majority of you out there. The stealth followers who are just as faithful but not as loud, so to speak. I really appreciate your support too.

Okay enough schmoozing this is beginning to sound like an Oscars speech, here’s the cake recipe….

This recipe uses tinned/canned pumpkin and unsweetened apple sauce. If , like me, you don’t live in a country where these products are readily available you will have to make your own.

For the pumpkin puree: I used about 850 gr of pumpkin (unpeeled) about half a medium one. Cut off the stem then cut in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy bits then lay face down in a casserole dish or roasting tin with a cup of water. Cover with foil and bake at 200 C for about 45 minutes until the flesh is soft. Leave to cool slightly before scraping out the flesh into a bowl or processor and blend to a smooth puree. Cool before using. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Use within a week.

For the unsweetened apple sauce: I used 1 apple which I peeled, cored and chopped. Put this in a small saucepan with enough water to cover the apple and cook on a medium heat until the apple is soft, you may need to add more water. Mash with a fork and leave to cool before using.

Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

Makes 1 loaf (or about 12 muffins/cupcakes), vegan. Adapted from The Blissful Chef

• oil for greasing the loaf tin
• 340 gr (2 1/4 cups) spelt or wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp mixed spice (or pumpkin spice mix)
• 260 gr (1 1/2 cups) palm sugar (or brown sugar)
• 3 tbsp plain soy yoghurt
• 1 tin pumpkin puree 400 gr (or see recipe above)
• 4 tbsp (1/4) cup unsweetened applesauce (or see recipe above)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1oo gr (1/2 cup) 70% chocolate, chopped  (or chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 180 C and oil the loaf tin or line the muffin tin with paper liners. Sieve together the first six dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk together.

In another bowl whisk together the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate. Fold the wet into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold through the chocolate.

Pour the batter into the oiled loaf tin and smooth over the top, or use an ice cream scoop to put one scoop of the batter into each muffin case.

Bake the loaf for 50-60 minutes. Test with a toothpick, if it comes out free of batter, it’s done. Or bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes until done.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

• 1oogr (1/2 cup) 70% chocolate, chopped or chocolate chips
• 55 ml (1/4 cup) almond milk (or soy or rice milk)

Put the chocolate and milk in a small saucepan on a low heat. Stir continuously until melted, smooth and shiny.

Leave the loaf or muffins to cool before topping with the chocolate ganache.

Spread the ganache evenly over the top of the loaf or dip the top of the muffins into the chocolate and swirl around until evenly coated.

Enjoy!!

And don’t forget the giveaway closes at midnight on the Wednesday 26th October, good luck!!