Ultimate Vegan Holiday Guide: New Food, New Traditions

Ultimate Vegan Holiday Guide

Ultimate Vegan Holiday Guide? First of all I never thought I’d be writing this type of post. Due to my husband’s heart attack and a his new quest for a vegan life, I am and here we go creating new foods, new traditions and a new mindset for the holidays.

Mind Set

I realized that in order to make a vegan holiday for others to follow along the first thing I needed to change was my mindset.

Getting rid of the negative:
Removing the word ‘can’t was my first step. I caught myself saying I can’t use butter, I can’t use milk and so on.

I began the mind set of

• “Let me see what I can use instead of .. “
• It will be fun experimenting with new foods, herb and spices.
• I love how I am exploring new ways to be creative.

Robert Rose Publisher comes to my rescue one more time! I was given this book to review. I am now excited to create a vegan holiday for my family and friends.
Experimenting with new recipes before the holiday is crucial!

Why I love this book

• The photos are gorgeous! I love getting preview of what my recipes will look like when I prepare them.
• Contents is easily found and divided into:
  Elegant Appetizers, Festive Party Dishes, A Feast of Sweets, Festive Cocktails and Gourmet Gifts
• There is a ‘Wonderful Menus’ section suggesting themed menus to set the perfect mood.
• Suggestions for these themes:
  Traditional
  Light and Sophisticated
  Buffet
  Last Minute
• This book has given me confidence that my Vegan Thanksgiving will be filled with fun moments, special memories and great food!

First of all, I do not want any disappointments on the menu for our holidays! Therefore I am beginning to try out the recipes in The Vegan Holiday Cookbook so our holiday is perfect with any of these delicious recipes.

We are dessert lovers

My philosophy of desserts is, “Why stop at one?”

It will come as no surprise then that I have already picked out one of our desserts from this cookbook.
Courtesy of The Vegan Holiday Cookbook: From Elegant Appetizers to Festive Mains and Delicious Sweets by Marie Laforêt © 2017

www.robertrose.ca Available where books are sold.

Image credit: Marie Laforêt

Print

Snow White Layer Cake

Makes 10 to 12 servings

• Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

• Kitchen scale

• Four 7-inch (18 cm) springform pans or round cake pans, greased or bottoms lined with parchment paper

Course Dessert

Author Marie Laforêt

Ingredients

• 10 oz plain soy yogurt 300 g
• 3 ⁄4 cup + 5 tsp neutral vegetable oil 200 mL
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 5 mL
• 1 cup + 6 tbsp raw cane sugar 270 g
• 3 ⁄4 cup ground almonds almond flour 75 g
• 1 tbsp baking powder 15 g
• 1 tsp vanilla powder 2 g
• A few drops almond extract
• 1 ⁄2 cup plain soy or other nondairy milk 125 mL
• 31 ⁄3 cups all-purpose flour 450 g
• Icing
• 2 cans each 14 oz/400 mL coconut milk, refrigerated overnight 2
• Pinch vanilla powder Pinch
• Confectioners’ icing sugar
• 22 ⁄3 cups shredded coconut 250 g

Instructions

1. Cakes: In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, oil and vinegar. Whisk in sugar and ground almonds. Whisk in baking powder, vanilla powder and almond extract until well combined. Whisk in milk, then gradually stir in flour. Stir well until batter is smooth.
2. Using a kitchen scale, divide batter into 4 equal portions by weight. Spread one portion of batter in each prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Unmold and let cool completely on a rack.
4. Icing: Open cans of chilled coconut milk and spoon solidified cream on top into a bowl (reserve thin liquid for another use). Whisk coconut cream with vanilla powder and confectioners’ sugar to taste.
5. If necessary, use a wire cake leveler or serrated knife to level tops of cakes so they are completely flat on top. Place one cake layer on a serving platter and spread a layer of icing on top. Repeat with the remaining layers. Spread icing over top and sides of cake and cover with shredded coconut. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

This cake, delicately flavored with almond, vanilla and coconut, is the perfect base to decorate with fruits, chocolate, caramel or your choice of coulis.

I’ll be sharing a main course and sides from this book in upcoming posts for my Ultimate Holiday ‘eating’ Guide.

I made a commitment this year that I would maintain the holiday spirit with my attitude thru the holiday season in a previous post. I am keeping my promise and my first gratitude expressed on this blog is for Robert Rose.