Strawberry Short Cake

Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 2 8-inch round cake or 16 cupcakes

Takes about 1 hour

If you have fresh strawberries, you can place them on top of this dessert for a prettier set-up.  However, I like using frozen strawberries to make the sauce so that this cake can be made all year round and not just during the summer.  If you don’t have pre-made nut butter for the cream, just use a food processor instead of a blender and blend about 3 tbsp of sliced almonds in with the topping instead of the nut butter.  You can use peanut butter, in theory, but the taste will be stronger (you will have a somewhat peanut-y taste).  With the two cakes, you can place one on top of the other with a layer of cream in between and on top, drizzled in strawberry sauce or you can just keep them separate and serve thinner slices.

Cake:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking soda

½ cup canola oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cup of soy milk

Cream topping:

1 box silken tofu

2 tbsp nut butter (almond or cashew)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp sugar

Strawberries:

2 ½ cups of strawberries, sliced (can be frozen)

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp soymilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 8-inch cake pans.

2. Mix together the flours, sugar, and baking powder.  Mix together oil, lemon juice, and soymilk and then add the dry ingredients to it.  Stir and add in vanilla extract.

3. Pour half the cake batter into each pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes (until toothpick can be inserted cleanly).

4. While the cake is baking, combine all the whipped topping ingredients in the blender and blend.

5. Combine all the strawberries in a pan on the stove.  Cook on high until you have a thickened sauce (about 10 – 15 minutes).  Allow to cool.

6. Serve slices of the cake topped with cream and strawberry sauce.

VARIATION: Strawberry shortcake cupcakes.  Fill tins about ¾ of the way full and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes until toothpick can be inserted cleanly.  Serve individual cupcakes with cream and strawberries.

Maple Vanilla Cake with Streusel

This recipe is from awhile ago.  It's simple but very fluffy and delicious.  I tend to use half and half whole wheat and white flour in most of my dessert recipe but you can easily do all one or the other.

Maple Vanilla Cake with Streusel

Makes 9 large squares or 16 small

Takes about 45 minutes

Cake Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup white flour

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil (peanut works well)

1 ½ tbsp white vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla

2/3 cup maple syrup

Streusal:

5 tbsp white flour

½ tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp margarine

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together the dry cake ingredients in a bowl.  Stir thoroughly.  If needed, sift the flour.  Add the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and maple syrup and stir well (but don’t overstir or the batter will turn rubbery).  Pour the batter into an oiled 9-inch square baking pan and spread evenly.

3. In a separate bowl, make the streusel.  Combine the flour, cinnamon, and sugar together.  Mix well and then add the margarine.  Use your fingers to work the margarine into the flour mixture until you get a crumbly mixture.

4. Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the cake.  Put the cake in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.  Turn during baking once or twice to insure even cooking.  Cake will probably puff up a lot during baking and deflate a little when taken out of the oven.  This is normal.  Allow cake to cool before cutting.

Banana Carob Bundt Cake

 This cake has taken several tries to get right but I finally present the finished version!  A major key to making a good banana cake is not over-working the bananas (just mash them).  I use whole wheat flour for this cake and it's not noticeable but I assume you could easily substitute in white flour without any problem.

Banana-Carob Bundt Cake

Serves 10

About 1 hour, 10 minutes

Marbling always makes cakes look fancy.  Carob has a distinctly different taste than chocolate but still tastes very nice with banana.  Mash the bananas, don’t blend them, or your cake will be rubbery.  I usually make this as a bundt cake but it is fairly versatile – it could also be made as a layer cake (2 thin 8-inch circle cakes with icing in between) or cupcakes.

Ingredients:

2 ripe, peeled bananas

½ cup canola oil

1 cup + 3 tbsp soy milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 ¼ cup sugar

2 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp ground flax seed

1/3 cup carob

Icing:

½ ripe banana

2 tbsp soy milk

½ cup + 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 tbsp melted margarine

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mash the bananas in a bowl.  Add the canola oil, 1 cup of soy milk, vanilla extract, and vinegar and use a fork or an egg beater to mix well so that the mixture is smooth and there are no huge banana chunks. 

3. Mix in the sugar and stir.  Then add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flax seed.  Stir to mix but don’t over stir.

3. Pour half of the batter into a different bowl.  Add carob and last 3 tbsp of soy milk to one half of the batter.  In a 10-inch bundt cake pan, marble the carob and the banana batter.  Bake for 50 – 60 minutes until lightly browned.

4. To make the icing, blend the banana with the soy milk.  Stir in the melted margarine and the sugar.  Icing will be somewhat thin like a glaze (add more sugar for a stiffer icing).  Once refrigerated, the icing will be somewhat thicker.  Pour or spread over cake.

Variation: This recipe can also make cupcakes.  Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly.

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