chewy cherry chocolate cookies

I woke up one Sunday in the mood for baking so ransacked the store cupboard to see what I could rustle up. After consulting with my favorite recipe book- Veganomican I had the perfect recipe- chewy cherry chocolate cookies.

measuring cups at the ready

First you mix the rapeseed oil with the jam ....

You separately mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa and sugar)

Oh I should probably mention here the recipe was for rasberry cookies but any jam works and the cherry was tasty! Slowly mix together the dry and wet ingredients.

Roll into balls, flatten and then bake...

Stick in the oven and take a few photos while they bake..

And...here they are. They tasted so good I made them again the following weekend.

The cherry cookies are lovely and small, two are perfect with a nice cup of tea when you crave something sweet. I love that they are vegan and the cherry and chocolate are a fantastic combination. They also score 'brownie' points as you can make this with ingredients from the store cupboard....

birthday tea at October Cafe

A friend spotted a vegan cafe had opened by Old Street, a place packed with cakes, tea and vegan treats all decked out like your Granny's front room. It sounded like a perfect location for a birthday bash and I was delighted when the owner could accomadate my 10 or so guests. We were all set for afternoon tea at the bargain price of £9 for sarnies, scones, jam, cakes and tea.

We promptly arrived on time and the tables were being set up. No bother, most of the gang were usually late anyway. We took our seats and waited, and waited. Even the late friends arrived and we finally took our orders. Now, I will say here that we waited quite a while, but we enjoyed chatting and no one was stressed. We did exchange a few looks to one another when a member of staff walked by with a loaf of ordinary white bread- they must have run out and she ducked to the shop. This was a bit surprising as we'd booked the tables, so the order was definitely not a surprise! Tempers were starting fray as we were rather parched for our tea, and many of us were hungry as we were saving ourselves for the tea.

So, about an hour and a half after we arrived, we were finally presented with some tea. It's just a shame there were no cups. Turns out they were being washed up. But we finally had cups too and were also given some afternoon tea which we scoffed rather fast. I managed to get a few snaps.

vegan afternoon tea

The crockery in October Cafe is super cute, all mismatched and just the I love. I really admire someone setting up a new business, especially a vegan one and I really hope October Cafe succeeds. 

I got some great ideas, like serving jam and cream in tea cups when I make scones.

Scrumptious vegan cream with scones and jam...delicious. Scones were a little flat though (sorry)

The top tier of the cake stand was stacked with specially ordered cakes. I ordered the vegan fruit tart below, but with the long wait, somehow I managed to eat one of the cupcakes. Luckily as it was my birthday all was forgiven.

The Victorian Sponge looked delicious. I'm hoping that there will be some comments in the section about what it tasted like R!

nice plate, let's wait to hear about the cake

another vegan treat

Now, I loved October Cafe and I would go back in a flash. We did have to wait a while but it was worth it. I really admire the owner for setting up a vegan cafe and I really hope it does well.

5 tea cups! I urge everyone to visit. I shall be !

my birthday cake, 6 weeks late

Six weeks ago (or thereabouts) I celebrated my 35 birthday at October Cafe..more on that later...but here's a quick entry to share the divine red velvet cake made for me by the owner of the cafe. I pre-ordered the cake and we all decided to go to the pub after our afternoon tea, to wash down the cake with something more 'substantial' than tea

red velvet cafe from October Cafe

So, we all strolled to the Pheasant, where one of my chums swiftly ordered me a gin and tonic. Perfect accompaniment to this soft, tasty and delicious cake.

The cake was totally vegan, and according to my friend R the colour usually comes from a type of beetles, getting squished. What I love about red velvet cake is that it is a complete mystery to me. I can't see anything on wikipedia about squished beetles though!

Anyway, I would definitely recommend the made to order cakes at October Cafe by Old Street. It's a cute little vegan business and deserves some support.

vegantastic rootmaster birthday

About a month ago, I had a wonderful birthday celebration with my nearest and dearest.

The Rootmaster http://www.root-master.co.uk is a unique vegan restaurant by Brick Lane. I reserved an area at the back of the bus and we squeezed about 12 people in the space. 

It was really cosy and intimate, I loved sharing vegan food with all my friends. The service was very friendly and the food was delicious. To start we all shared some vegan mezze plates. The food was tasty but a bit too much lettuce and we weren't given any plates to eat it with ...bit messy!

I didn't take any photos of the main dishes, but among us the tart proved the most popular when ordering but I saw some disappointed faces when it arrived! My other half ordered the kofta balls, which were yum. I had a tofu tower which was perfect- I really enjoyed having food that you can't order elsewhere. It was a huge tofu stack with a curry like sauce....

Then came the cake. The bus only allows vegan food so this was a surprise as M had ordered this for me. It was a little touch to cut so we all had to hold the plate together. I loved the cake and the bus staff gave me a container to take it home :)

All in all, a very happy birthday was had. The fact that you're eating on the bus makes the experience all the more fun, the food is fresh and tasty, the staff were fab and couldn't fault the service. The only downside is that there is no loo, so you have to use the pub next door (although I must say witnessing salsa class was amusing)