Cake Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 325F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round cake pan and dust it with cocoa powder.

2 Grate the bottlegourd/zucchini, if using. After grating I also coarsely chopped it with a knife. Measure 1 cup and transfer it to a bowl. Let the water secrete from the gratings. If using the water you may omit the 1/4 cup of milk later.

3 In a large bowl sift together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and sugar. Make a well.

4 Add all the wet ingredients one by one.

5 With an electric mixer, beat the mixture on low speed for 2-3 minutes until the dry and wet ingredients are well combined. Do not over beat it.

6 Add the grated bottle gourd/zucchini, if using. Mix together.

7 Pour the batter in the prepared pan. Tap the pan a couple of times so the batter is spread evenly and there are no air bubbles.

8 My cake was ready only around 38 minutes. I think it took longer because it was a dense batter with the whole wheat flour, applesauce and the bottle gourd. So start checking from about 20 minutes, depending upon the ingredients you are using. Toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake should come clean.

9 Once out of the oven, transfer the pan to a wiring rack to cool. After about an hour remove the cake from the pan and let the cake cool completely before frosting.

1 I think my cake had too much moisture content because of the milk, hot coffee and the water from the bottlegourd. I think that’s also one of the reasons it took so much time to bake. Also when I removed the cake from the pan I found that it was very wet. I had to use a couple of kitchen paper towels to blot the water. So I also refrigerated the cake for a couple of hours before frosting it. That’s the reason I have mentioned to omit milk if using grated bottle gourd or zucchini.

Frosting 1 In a medium size bowl add the margarine, ovaltine (powdered sugar) and cocoa powder. Start beating with an electric mixer on low speed. At this stage it may seem to be very dry. Don’t panic. Wait until you add the milk.

2 Add milk little by little and continue beating the mixture till you get a nice spreadable consistency. I used around 3 tablespoons of milk.

3 Now transfer the cake to a plate and start frosting it. I’m very lousy at it. Somehow managed to cover the cake with the frosting. But it was easier this time when compared to my first attempt. The frosting was in the correct consistency.

4 I saw this technique of using the back of a spoon to create swirls on the frosting. Tried it and I think it looked somewhat close. Create an indentation on the frosting with the back of a spoon close to each other.

1 The recipe for the frosting is from 1001 Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes. The original recipe requires margarine or butter. I didn’t have both. So I used the Promise blend which we have it on our toast. I was worried if it would work or not, but was so excited to see that the frosting came out beautifully.

2 There are 2 types of Ovaltine available. I used the Ovaltine which is fortified with 8 vitamins and minerals. I used Ovaltine because I didn’t have confectioner’s sugar at home, but in a way it worked out for the best. 4 tablespoons of Ovaltine (ie) 1/4 cup has 15gms sugar whereas the sugar content in 1/4 cup of confectioner’s sugar is 29gms. I checked it in the grocery store. So I think this frosting is even better and healthier than the original one. Even though Ovaltine has lesser sugar content than confectioner’s sugar, I found the frosting was a bit too sweet for my taste. Then imagine how it would have been had I used powdered sugar.

3 If you are going to try the ovaltine frosting, I would recommend decreasing the quantity of sugar in the cake to even 1/2 cup. I think this cake is a pretty healthy cake but for it’s sugar content.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 375F (see My Notes) for 15 minutes. Lightly
grease a muffin tin.

2 In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.

3 In a large bowl, combine the sugar, milk, oil, extract, and vinegar. Mix well.

4 Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Don’t over stir.

5 Gently fold in the berries using a rubber spatula.

6 Fill the muffin tins about 2/3rds full.

7 Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes.

8 Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. After that remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

My Notes 1 I didn’t want to bake 2 batches when I started. What happened was I didn’t read the recipe properly and poured the measured sugar on top of the flour instead of mixing it with the wet ingredients. I continued with it anyway and saw that the muffins began to brown very much around 12 minutes itself. The original recipe had mentioned to bake it at 400F. So I reduced the oven temperature to 375F. I thought that adding sugar to the flour was the reason and so I baked another batch following the instructions correctly. Even then the same thing happened. That’s when I realized that the oven temperature was the culprit. That’s the reason I have changed the temperature to 375F in the procedure. Later I was going through a whole wheat banana muffin recipe in The Joy of Baking website and there it was mentioned that baking that muffin directly in a muffin tin without the paper liner would yield a crusty and brownish muffins but it would soften later. The same thing happened in these blueberry muffins too. So you may also try lining the muffin tins with a paper liner, instead of pouring the batter in the greased molds.

2 Regarding sugar, the original recipe itself mentions 3/4-1 cup. For the first batch I used 3/4 cup because the vegan strawberry cupcakes which I tried earlier from the same book used 1 cup sugar and was very sweet. The sweetness of the blueberry muffins were perfect for us, but it may not be enough for everybody, especially if the blueberries are very sour. So for the second batch (I had already decided to give it to my neighbors, because I didn’t want to have it at home and gain weight) I decided to increase the quantity of sugar. I used little more than 3/4 cup and little less than 1 cup. That was good too.

3 I used frozen blueberries. Thawing is not necessary. Add it to the muffin batter directly from the freezer, but do not over mix, or else it would start bleeding.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Grease/line a muffin tin or grease a 9 inch loaf pan.

2 In a large bowl combine together the flour, baking soda and sugar.

3 In another bowl, mix the oil, vinegar and vanilla. I pureed the strawberries in a blender, because I was not sure if my son would like to bite of chunks of strawberry in the muffin. Add the pureed strawberry also to the oil mixture and stir to combine.

4 Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Stir together but do not overstir.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins. I got exactly 12 muffins.

6 Bake for about 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If baking a loaf bake it for 40-45 minutes and check for the doneness.

7 Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cool, frost the cupcakes and top each with a whole strawberry.

My Notes 1 The original recipe had 1 cup of sugar, but I felt that it was very sweet for us. So I have made it as 3/4 to 1 cup.

2 Also the time mentioned in the recipe for muffins was 30 minutes, but mine was done around 22 minutes itself. The time mentioned for the loaf was 1 hour, but I have reduced it to 40-45 minutes. I have tried a couple of recipes from this book, they all turn out good, but there is some difference in the time it bakes. Mine always bakes at least 8-10 minutes earlier than the time mentioned in the recipe. Maybe it’s my oven! Anyway just watch out.

3 The top of the cupcake was slightly crispy than soft. I think that’s because of the sugar. Since we are not creaming the sugar in this recipe, I think the sugar tends to be in a semi-crystal state, forming a crust like thing. But in the blueberry muffin recipe also I did not cream the sugar, but it did not have the crusty top. It was so good and light. I can’t wait to post that recipe here.

4 I used a food processor to puree the strawberries. It was a wide base 1 cup mini bowl. I didn’t have to add water at all. If you use a blender I think adding little water would be necessary and I’m sure that it would not affect the result in any way.

Cake Procedure 1 Preheat the oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Lightly oil the cake pan you are using.

2 Stir together all the dry ingredients (flour to cocoa powder) and create a well in the center.

3 To the well add all the wet ingredients one by one. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. It’s ok to have some lumps.

4 Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Mine was done by 24 minutes. If baking cupcakes, check around 13-15th minute.

5 Cool completely on a wire rack. I left it for an hour.

6 To remove the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake.

7 Cool completely before frosting. Actually frosting is not even necessary for this moist cake. You may simply dust with confectioner’s sugar and top with fresh raspberries.

My Notes 1 I read that apple cider vinegar is better than white distilled vinegar when it comes to baking, because you will not even have that very mild smell or after taste I was referring earlier.

Pudding Mix Frosting Ingredients:

Procedure:

1 Pour milk into a large bowl. Add the pudding mix. Beat until fluffy for 2 minutes.

2 Blend in the thawed Cool Whip thoroughly.

3 Frost the cake/cupcakes and refrigerate it at least for 3-4 hours before serving.

My Notes:

1 This frosting is not very sweet, but it was perfect with the cake and for us. We don’t like overly sweet cakes and frosting.

2 This measurement will be right for a 13×9 inch cake or a layer cake. I had at least a cup of frosting left over, which I intend to serve in ice cream cones for my son.

Procedure 1 In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Keep it aside.

2 In another large mixing bowl, beat together the oil and sugar. Then add the cocoa and beat once again until well blended.

3 In a blender, blend together the EnerG powder and warm water for 2-3 minutes until it’s foamy.

4 Add the EnerG mix and vanilla extract to the wet ingredients and beat it once again.

5 Add the flour mixture gradually to the cocoa mixture, beating well. At this stage the cookie dough becomes very thick. My electric hand beater stopped working and I had to mix the dough with my hand. It had the consistency of stiff chapathi dough.

6 Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 6 hours.

7 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Prepare cookie sheets by greasing or lining with parchment paper.

8 Shape the dough into balls (I used around 1/2 tablespoon of dough); roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.

9 Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly and tops are crackled. I baked mine for 11 minutes. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack and cool completely.

My Notes 1 The instructions in the EnerG pack suggests to use warm water while blending the powder. I didn’t do that in my earlier recipes but did this time and I think it foams up more while using warm water. Also the suggested ratio for the powder and water is 1 and 1/2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons water. So it is 6 teaspoons powder and 8 tablespoons water in this recipe. I did the same first and while mixing the dough I found that it did not come together. It was crumbly. So I added 1 tablespoon water at a time to the dough and felt the texture was right after adding 4 tablespoons of water in total.

1 I first test baked 2 cookies. When tasted I found that it was very sweet. So for the subsequent batches I rolled the cookies with very less powdered sugar. For the final batch, I rolled the shaped cookie dough in cocoa powder to balance the sweetness. With the first bite you can taste a very light bitterness but it gets sweeter and the cookies were a little sticky.

2 The next time I bake it I’m going to try reducing 1/4 cup of sugar.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven at 400F/200C for 15 minutes. Grease muffin cups with shortening.

2 In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3 In a blender/food processor add Ener-G, water, milk and oil. Blend it thoroughly, for about 3 minutes.

4 Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened.

5 Fill the muffin cups 2/3rds full.

6 Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

7 Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

My Notes 1 I don’t have any complaints with this recipe. The only thing I wish I had done was spreading the batter in the 8 muffin cups evenly in the first go itself. I had some batter remaining after filling the cups initially, so distributed it again among the 8 cups. So what happened was after baking there was this extra top on the muffins. Not a big deal, but the corn muffins would have looked perfect and smooth on the top (just like the picture in the magazine) if I had done it the other way.

2 Adding some fresh/frozen corn kernels to the batter would be nice too.

3 This is a general baking tip. I have found that greasing baking sheets/pans with shortening works better than using a non stick spray. Non stick spray leaves burn marks on the sheets while shortening does a clean job.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 360F/180c for 15 minutes.

2 Grease and flour a 9 inch spring-form pan. You can use cocoa instead of flour.

3 In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour,cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

4 In a small blender/processor blend together the Ener-G and water until it’s nice and fluffy like beaten eggs. I used my Magic Bullet blender. I pulsed it a couple of times.

5 In a medium bowl add oil, applesauce, sugars, vanilla extract and coffee powder. Using a hand mixer beat the mixture in medium speed for 3-5 minutes.

6 Add the egg replacer liquid in 3 additions beating it after every addition. Now also add the milk and beat until well combined.

7 Reserving half a cup of the flour mixture, add slowly the remaining flour to the wet ingredients, while beating it in low speed. Combine well the grated zucchini, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of flour. Add this to the batter and mix it well. Note that the batter is thick at this stage. So don’t worry.

8 Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and smooth it out using a spatula. While using a spring-form pan it’s advisable to place the pan on a baking sheet, so that the batter or baked cake does not fall down if the pan is not locked properly.

9 Prepare the topping by mixing the brown sugar and pistachios. Sprinkle this mixture evenly on the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Mine was done in 45 minutes.

My Notes 1 The key in using Ener-G is processing it with the water in a blender until it’s nice and fluffy. Simply whisking it with a fork does not give desirable results. If you pour this immediately in a liquid measuring cup, you will see that it measures exactly 3/4 th of a cup, which is perfect because we usually replace every egg with 1/4 cup of any egg substitute. But by the time I was ready to add this mixture to the rest of the wet ingredients, I saw that it had reduced to 1/2 a cup. So to replace the 1/4 cup of liquid missing I used unsweetened soy milk. You could use any milk or even some fruit juice which you think would go with the flavors you are baking.

2 You can also use an 8 inch or 9 inch round cake pan instead of a spring form pan. But I think you cannot do the topping because, while inverting the pan to unmould the cake the toppings may fall down.

3 Zucchini can be grated without peeling. After grating I felt that the strands were very big, so I chopped them coarsely.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven to 375F. Grease or line with paper liners 1 regular size muffin tin and 1 mini muffin tin.

2 Drain the black beans from the can, rinse it well under running water and puree it in a food processor/blender using approximately 1/4 cup of water. The puree should be very smooth without any lumps.

3 To this also add the sugar, prune puree, 2 tablespoons of water, canola oil and vanilla extract. Process/blend it again for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a large bowl.

4 In a small bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

5 Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 parts. That is, first add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the bean and prune puree, mix it well. Then add another 1/3rd and then the last 1/3rd of the flour mixture. Having some lumps is fine. I found that using a wire whisk to mix the batter worked well than using a spatula. The batter was in the consistency of pancake batter. Initially I felt that the quantity of the wet ingredients was way too much, but once I started mixing it to the flour I was relieved to find out that the proportions were getting right.

6 Fill the muffin wells 2/3rds full, around 3 tablespoons of the batter. For the mini muffin tin, just use 1 tablespoon. I placed both the muffin tins in the same rack. The mini muffins were done by 9 minutes and the regular size muffins around 14 minutes. Oven temperatures may vary so check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean.

7 Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcake and invert the tin slowly. The cupcakes will fall down, cool them on a rack. Frosting is optional.

My Notes 1 For the prune puree I used 2 jars (2.5oz each) of Beech Nut’s baby food. Applesauce can also be instead of prune puree. Use unsweetened organic applesauce, like Nature’s Promise.

2 Melted butter or any vegan butter substitute can be used in place of the canola oil. The original recipe called for soy margarine.

3 I didn’t have cupcake liners at home, so I used vegetable shortening to grease the pans instead of coating it with non-stick cooking spray. I have noticed in the past that while using the latter, pans get grease stains which are very difficult to clean.

4 I recently have found out that using 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for each egg replaced gives the light and airy texture to the baked product. In this recipe I used 1/2 cup of prune puree to substitute 2 eggs, so I used 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in total. The result was eggless chocolate cupcakes with the spongy texture of the usual cupcakes.

5 We can also control the sodium in the recipe by using low-sodium or no salt added canned beans. Or better soak dried beans and cook it ourselves without salt and add a pinch of salt to the flour mix, because salt enhances the flavor of any sweet dish.

Flour BlendIngredients

or

Procedure
Combine the flours and wheat germ in a bowl. Store it in an air-tight container or sealed bags and use it for baking anything from cakes, cookies, brownies etc.

Procedure 1 Preheat oven at 400F/200C and line/grease a baking sheet.

2 Coarsely crush the cereal either using a rolling pin or pulse it a couple of times in the food processor.

3 In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour combo, crushed cereal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

4 In another bowl, whisk together applesauce, brown sugar, oil, vanilla and ricotta cheese.

5 Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and combine gently.

6 Drop by tablespoonful onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch between cookies.

7 Flatten cookies with the back of a fork and sprinkle tops with sugar.

8 Bake about 18 to 20 minutes, or until nicely browned and crispy around the edges.

9 Leave it in the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool it completely. Serve it with blueberry milk or strawberry milk.

My Notes 1 For crushing the cereal: Put the cereal in a ziploc bag, seal it and then use a rolling pin to crush it.

2 The cookies baked in the aluminum pan were done in 18 minutes. But the batch baked in a dark colored pan became very brown around 17 minutes itself. So keep an eye. I think reducing the oven temperature to 375F/190C should be fine if using a dark colored pan.

3 I think the only mistake I did was not storing the cookies in the refrigerator. The cookies had a nice crunch on the day I baked. Like always I stored them in a cookie jar, because nothing was mentioned about the storage. In the following days it became more chewy and soft. I guess storing them in the fridge, once the cookies cool would retain it’s freshness.

Procedure 1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Also add the cranberries, sugar and nuts and combine it thoroughly. If using dried cranberries, add a tablespoon of flour to the dried berries and stir it well before adding it to the flour mixture. Otherwise all the berries will stick to
each other and settle at the bottom of the bread.

3. Whisk/blend together the flax seed meal and water until white and foamy. I used Magic Bullet to blend it.

4. In a small bowl, mix together the flax seed mixture, orange zest, orange juice, oil and applesauce (if using).

5. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. I felt that the batter was thick, so I added another 2 tablespoons of orange juice. You can also dilute it with water or any type of milk. Do not over-mix. Few lumps should be fine, it would dissolve while baking.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. I checked mine for doneness around 48 minutes and the toothpick came out clean. I removed the pan out of the oven after 50 minutes.

7. Cool the loaf for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.

8. Finish cooling the loaf on a wire rack.

My Notes 1. I’m not a patient person when it comes to tasting something I have baked. Also I did not notice the tip about slicing banana/zucchini and cranberry breads the day after baking it, so I sliced it anyway and it did crumble. So be patient because they slice and taste better the next day.

2. Everybody liked the taste of the bread, the sweetness was right but it did have a mild raw smell. I’m not sure whether the culprit was the whole wheat pastry flour or the baking time. Even though the time given in the original recipe was 60 minutes, the toothpick came out clean after 48 minutes itself. Maybe I should try using only all purpose flour the next time.