Rhubarb is very tart, hence the generous amount of sugar in the filling. I also recommend drinking a glass of calcium-enriched vegan milk with this pie, since rhubarb might steal the calcium from your body if you don’t. This recipe makes a lot of cake, enough for 10 helpings I’d say.

The Filling:

• 4 large rhubard stalks (about 6-7 dl sliced rhubarb)
• 4-5 dl (frozen) strawberries
• 2 dl sugar
• 3 and 1/2 tablespoons potato starch
• grated zest of 1 lemon

The Cake:

• 200 g margarine
• 2 dl sugar
• 2 and 1/2 dl soy yogurt
• 5 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

The Crumb Topping:

• 1 dl rolled oats
• 1 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl sugar
• 1/2 dl liquid margarine

First, I prepped the rhubarb: peeled the skin and sliced it very thinly. Then I mixed all the filling ingredients and set aside while making the cake and the batter.

For the cake, I first whisked together the soy yogurt, margarine, and sugar. The result will be grainy, but that’s okay. Then I mixed the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, added this to the wet, and stirred with a fork until combined. The batter is relatively stiff as far as cake batters go.

Then I proceeded to make the topping by mixing everything together with a fork.

Now, I covered our (20 X 30 cm) baking dish with parchment paper, making sure there was enough paper to cover the sides of the dish as well, because this cake will rise a lot in the oven. Then I spread the cake batter in the bottom of the pan, poured the fruit filling over it, and sprinkled the crumbles on top.

Then I baked in 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted came out clean, and the crumb topping had browned nicely. We served the cake with vanilla soy ice cream.

This sorbet melts really quickly, since its texture depends on the icy frozen berries, so it must be served immediately after making. We always use our immersion blender for this, but some blenders might not be sturdy enough for the job, so it’s important to proceed cautiously.

Instant Sorbet:

• 3 dl frozen strawberries (or raspberries, or blueberries)
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 dl soy yogurt (or soy milk, or fruit purée)
• 3 tablespoons agave (or other light) syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or lime zest, or a thin slice of ginger)

We just measure everything in a small bowl, and use our immersion blender to purée until smooth.

The basic version can be varied indefinitely – a sorbet made of strawberries with mango purée and a slice of fresh ginger is especially delicious!

The crust wasn’t actually as thick as it seems in the photo – that’s a really tiny slice of pie, since there wasn’t much left the next day…

Crust:

• 20 Digestive graham crackers (about 300 g)
• 5 tablespoons margarine, liquid or melted
• 2 tablespoons dark syrup

Filling:

• 3 dl frozen strawberries
• 1 and 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 2 dl vegan whippable vanilla sauce (or vegan whip cream)
• 1 dl plain unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• zest and juice of 2 limes (1/2 dl juice)
• 1 (and 1/2) teaspoon agar agar powder

Heikki made the crust while I was preparing the filling. He ground the digestives, and then mixed the crumbs with margarine and syrup until thoroughly combined. Then he covered the bottom of our spring form pan with a piece of parchment paper, and pressed the crust evenly in the bottom and up the sides of the pan with his fingers.

I didn’t have time to defreeze the strawberries, so I placed them in a bowl with the vanilla sauce, soy yogurt, lime zest, and sugar, and mixed the whole thing with an immersion blender until it was smooth and pink. Now, I filled our kitchen sink with hot water, and placed the bowl in the sink. This warmed up the mixture, so that the agar that I added later wouldn’t get shocked by the coldness.
Now, I heated the lime juice over medium heat in a small sauce pan until it was barely boiling, and sprinkled the agar powder in the pan while whisking vigorously. I kept on whisking until the agar had dissolved, for about a minute or two, and then removed the pan from heat. Then I spatulated the agar lime mixture in the strawberry bowl, and whisked the filling briskly for a minute or so. I poured the filling in the pie crust, levelled the surface of the pie, and refrigerated it until we were too impatient to wait any longer.

By the next day, what was left of the pie had firmed up the way it should. I still think it could have been a little firmer, so using a little extra agar would be a good idea in this recipe. I used 1 teaspoon, but I think that adding 1/2 teaspoon more would be just the perfect amount.