The cherry chocolate I used for decoration was a nice addition, and I’m thinking fresh cherries might work as well – although they’d have to be very ripe and sweet not to be overshadowed by the flavor of the mousse itself. I’d actually added a dash of cinnamon in my coffee before brewing it, and while not really noticeable, it might have added a hint of depth to the flavors.

The Chocolate Mousse (serves 4):

• 350 grams (one package Mori-Nu) firm silken tofu
• 3 tablespoons very strong and cold coffee (stove-top espresso with a bit of cinnamon)
• 3 tablespoons whole cane sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 150 grams nice semi-sweet chocolate
• chocolate shavings for decoration, optional

I mixed the tofu, coffee and sugars with our immersion blender until very very smooth, absolutely no lumps were visible. Meanwhile, Heikki melted the chocolate in a water bath. Then he ladled the chocolate in the tofu bowl and I whisked away until thoroughly combined.

We poured this mixture in 4 ramekins and refrigerated for an hour, and I decorated two portions with cherry chocolate shavings, which added a a bit of textural contrast as well. The two remaining ramekins were saved for the next day and were even better.

The agave syrup in the custard caramelized around the edges, which gave it a very nice burnt sweetness.

The Custard Topping:

• 175 g (half a package Mori-Nu) silken tofu
• 2 dl oat cream (or soy creamer, or any other vegan cream)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 4 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• pinch of salt

I combined all the ingredients and blended until completely smooth.

The Brownie Batter:

• 70 g vegan chocolate (semi dark)
• 60 g margarine
• 1 dl plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 2/3 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 and 1/2 dl raw cane sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy milk
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and melted the chocolate and the margarine in a water bath. Once melted, I let them cool down while preparing the other ingredients.

I mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Then I placed the soy yogurt, the soy milk, vanilla sugar, and raw cane sugar in another bowl, and whisked them for about 3 minutes. I wanted the sugar to dissolve, so at this point I took the time to prepare my baking dish.

I covered my baking dish (26 X 18 cm) with parchment paper. Then, I whisked the cooled down chocolate-margarine mixture together with the other wet ingredients, and then added the dry ingredients in the bowl. I stirred with a wooden fork to combine, and poured the batter to the baking pan, spreading it evenly.

Then I spread the custard topping over the brownie batter. The original recipe advices to swirl the brownie with a knife for a marbled effect, and that’s what I did. However, since these vegan brownies are leavened with baking powder, the end result is very different – well, if you look at the picture you see what I mean! But I think our brownies came out pretty too, especially after I decorated them with some cocoa powder, and this way you get nice custardy caves in the brownie layer.

I baked the brownies in 175 degrees Celsius, on the lower rack of the oven, for about 35 minutes, when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out cleanish (with only some custard topping stuck to it). Then we let the brownies come to room temperature and refrigerated them for a few hours before eating.

Well, actually we had a little bite before refrigerating, but I strongly suggest serving these fridge-cold – it improves the texture immensely!

I baked these for the birthday party of a niece, and a diabetic nephew was also present, so I replaced some of the sugar with fructose (which has a lower glycemic index, making it a better option). While I must admit that decorating free-style with my non-existent piping skills didn’t produce the most stylish cupcake, the birthday girl did turn 5, so I think the sprinkles were the main attraction for her anyway…

The Batter:

• 3 dl whole spelt flour
• 3/4 dl cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 and 1/2 dl plain soy yoghurt
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 1/2 dl fructose
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• oven-proof apricot preserves for the filling

I first preheated the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

To make the batter, I first mixed the dry ingredients together (flour through salt), then mixed the liquids in another bowl (soy yoghurt through canola oil), and then mixed the two together with a fork. Now, I added one tablespoon of batter in each cupcake liner, then placed a teaspoon of apricot preserves in the center, and covered the preserves with another tablespoon of batter. I think we got 12 cupcakes allthogether, but our cupcake liners were sort of large, so the batter might make a few more of regular-sized cupcakes.

Then I baked the cakes in 160 degrees Celsius for 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted came out clean.

Fructose can be replaced with another sugar – you just need to add a bit more since fructose is very sweet. Fructose also browns quickly, so when using a regular sugar, these can be baked in 175 degrees instead of the 160 indicated.

Cardamom Apricot Chocolate Mousse:

• 175 g (half a package) Mori-Nu silken tofu
• 110 g chocolate, melted
• 1 dl apricot preserves
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract plus confectioner’s sugar)
• crushed seeds from 2 cardamom pods
• pinch of salt
• grated chocolate and sprinkles for decoration

To make the mousse, I just melted the chocolate, and while it was cooling down a bit, I blended the tofu with our immersion blender until it was completely smooth. Then I added all the rest of the ingredients and mixed until combined.

I let the mousse settle in the fridge for an hour or so before piping it over the cupcakes, and decorated the cupcakes with grated chocolate and sprinkles.

I used semi-dark chocolate and didn’t even add cocoa powder, since we don’t have any at the moment (and I was too lazy to run to the grocery). This produced an almost milk chocolate-like chocolate flavor. I don’t see why a darker chocolate wouldn’t work as well – the flavor would probably just be more deep and not quite as sweet. This cake really doesn’t need any frosting, but I might drizzle some more chocolate over the top for a fancier presentation.

UPDATE: Alice from Veganland thinks this cake is totally cakey! And now that I’ve learnt that any cake can be cakey as long as it’s delicious, I have to admit that we were wrong – this is indeed a cakey cake!

The Chocolate Batter:

• 220 g semi-dark chocolate (40-50 % cocoa)
• 350 g firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu vacuum packed is what I use)
• 2 dl sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur
• 3 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

The first thing I did was to preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Then I melted the chocolate and set it aside.

Now, I prepared the batter: I placed the tofu, sugar, oil, vanilla sugar, salt, cinnamon, and coffee liqueur in a large mixing bowl and puréed them with our immersion blender until everything was smooth and there were absolutely no tofu pieces visible.

I mixed the flour with the baking soda in a smaller bowl. Then I poured the melted chocolate in the tofu bowl, stirred with a fork until completely combined, and then added the flour mixture in the bowl as well. I stirred with the fork until just combined – some tiny lumps remained  – and then poured the batter in a glass baking dish (15 cm X 23 cm) covered with parchment paper.

Now, I baked the cake in 175 degrees for 35 minutes, until it was firm to the touch but still a little jiggly in the center. A toothpick inserted in the center did not come out quite clean at this point, but it wasnt’t soaked in batter either.

I think this cake was best when still a little warm, but it does keep in the fridge for a few days at least (or until it’s all gone, most likely). I like to warm it up a little bit but Heikki prefers enjoying it straight out of the fridge – it’s delicious either way.

This recipe makes a pretty nice, smooth ice cream, and it wasn’t as much work as I thought it would be. Blueberries and lime are a match made in heaven, and matcha powder adds a nice green tea flavor in the mix – I like to make a smoothie with these three ingredients as well.

Here’s what I used:

• 350 g firm silken tofu (Mori-Nu)
• 200 g frozen blueberries
• about 2 dl confectioner’s sugar (depending on the sweetness of the blueberries)
• 3 and 1/2 teaspoons matcha green tea powder
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 2 dl oat cream (or other vegan cream)

Making the ice cream takes about 5 hours (in our tiny freezer compartment), and it’s best eaten on the day of making. This recipe fills one 750 ml (7,5 dl) container.

First, I reserved 1 dl of the blueberries for serving, and placed the rest in a mixing bowl. Then I added all the other ingredients: lime juice and zest, tofu, oat cream, sugar, and matcha powder. I blended everything with our immersion blender until completely smooth, poured the mixture in the container, and popped it in the freezer.

Now, I set our kitchen timer at 55 minutes (it can only be set to 1 hour or less), and when the alarm went off, I hurried into the kitchen to blend the ice cream. I moved it in a large mixing bowl, blended with our immersion blender, ladled right back in the container, and placed it in the freezer again.

Then I repeated the above step two more times, until 3 hours had elapsed. The fourth time I only let the ice cream freeze for 35 minutes, then stirred briskly with a fork to break the texture once again, and placed it in the freezer for about an hour more, until it was time for dessert.

If frozen overnight, this ice cream becomes very solid, and needs to thaw for about an hour in the fridge before it’s scoopable.

The crust I made was really nice too, and its crunchy texture was a great compliment to the smooth filling. We’d left the sides of our springform pan over at a friend’s house, so had to use a pie tray instead, but that didn’t really cause any problems.

The Crust:

• 1 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl potato starch
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 50 g margarine, cold
• 2 tablespoons soy milk, cold

I first mixed the dry ingredients together, then added the cold margarine, and mixed with a fork until crumbly. Then I added the soy milk and stirred until the mixture was sticky, and then pressed in the bottom our prepared pie tray with fingertips dipped in cold water. I baked the crust for about 17-20 minutes in 175 degrees Celsius, on the middle rack of the oven, until the sides were just lightly brown. Then I let the crust cool down before preparing the filling.

The crust puffed up quite a bit during the baking process, but settled once removed from the oven.

The Filling:

• 350 g silken tofu (we had Mori-Nu firm)
• 200 g vegan chocolate
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 dl coffee liqueur
• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier liqueur

First, I melted the chocolate in a water bath, and set it aside to cool down a little. Then I measured everything else in a mixing bowl, and blended with our immersion blender until smooth. Now, I added the melted chocolate in the mix, and stirred until combined.

When the crust had cooled, I brushed the sides of our pie tray with a little bit of canola oil. Then I poured the filling over the crust, spread it with a butter knife, and made wavy shapes on the surface with a fork. Now, we refrigerated the pie overnight to let the filling settle, but the original recipe said it would be good to eat after two hours.

I got this recipe from a friend, who had tried and liked the original non-vegan version. My filling has silken tofu and soy yogurt instead of eggs and cream, and I added some vanilla and rum extracts to compliment the coffee flavor. Our servings were decorated with a few shavings of my precious vegan white chocolate, a name day gift I got from Heikki on Sunday.

First, I set the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Crust:

• 3 and 1/4 dl wheat flour
• 1 dl dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 150 g vegan baking margarine
• 2 tablespoons cold water

I mixed everything together with my fingers, until a stiff dough appeared. I formed the dough in a ball shape, then wrapped it in plastic wrap, and refrigerated for an hour and a half.

Then I placed the dough on a lightly floured sheet of baking parchment, and rolled it in a circular form with a rolling pin, until it was a little larger than my pie dish. Now, I greased and floured my pie dish, and then placed the crust in the dish with the help of the baking parchment, removed the parchment, and leveled the sides along the upper rim of the dish.

I prebaked the crust in the lower part of the oven, preheated to 175 degrees Celsius, for 20 minutes. After baking the crust, I let it cool for about 10 minutes, while I was preparing the filling.

Filling:

• 350 g (1 package) silken tofu (we had Mori-Nu Firm)
• 1 dl plain soy yogurt
• 1 and 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 1 and 1/2 dl very strong coffee (brewed with a Moka Express)
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 2 tablespoons barley (or potato or corn) starch
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

To make the filling, I just mixed everything up with a hand held immersion mixer. It took about 5 minutes until the tofu had become completely smooth, and the sugar had melted. Now, I poured the filling in the prebaked crust, and baked the pie on the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes, until the filling had settled somewhat.

Topping:

• 100 g vegan chocolate

I shredded the chocolate and sprinkled it over the pie when it was still hot, so that the chocolate melted a little. Now I refrigerated the mocha pie for a few hours, and when chilled, the chocolate turned into a crunchy layer.