Festive vegan baking class online

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Do you need some baking inspiration for the festive season?

Join Made in Hackney Community Kitchen on Sunday December 13, 2020 between 10am and 1pm for a sensational vegan baking class online (will take place via Zoom with class details sent the day before).

The cost of joining the baking class is £25 (£12 concession) and all funds raised go towards the Made in Hackney community meal service, providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times.

So you’ve got the basic facts and now you want the finer details, right?

Join Bee Berrie (a twice published recipe book author, small business founder (@beesbakery) and expert plant-based baker) to learn how to create incredible plant-based Christmas bakes that look and taste stunning, to enjoy whenever you like during the festive season.

  • Learn how to make a gorgeous spiced vanilla chai cake
  • Techniques for making a dreamy vegan white (or dark) chocolate ganache to frost your cake
  • Make mouth-watering traditional mince pies
  • Learn how to make your own healthier homemade mince meat with apple and beetroot
  • You can freeze and enjoy your chai cake whenever during the festive season
  • Your mince pies will last up to a week in an airtight tin
  • Opportunity to ask Bee questions
  • Recipe handout
  • For ingredients and equipment needed see below

About Bee Berrie

Bee is a twice-published author (Bee’s Brilliant Biscuits and Bee’s Adventures in Cake Decorating), an ex-microbiologist, and the brains behind the best biscuits in London. Bee has supplied bakes to Selfridges and Harrods, become an expert plant-based baker, and transitioned her business to plant-based. She’s also a mother to a bouncy 3-year-old called Joey.

Click here to book a space and check out the ingredients/equipment you will need below.

INGREDIENTS LIST

Homemade mince pies

For the homemade fruit mincemeat:

200 g apples, chopped into small chunks
1 small raw beetroot, finely grated
50g sultanas, currants or raisins
50g dried cranberries
50g dried blueberries
30g chopped almonds
the zest and juice of 1 small orange
2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp seeds / nuts of your choice (e.g. chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, millet)
For the pastry:

72 g unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
160 g coconut oil (scoopable // not liquid)*
45-90 ml ice cold water
For the glaze:

50g vegan butter / other vegetable fat
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cinnamon
Spiced vanilla chai cake with chocolate ganache

The recipe works well as a layer cake (makes 2 x 8 inch rounds, OR 4 x 6 inch rounds (per image), as cupcakes (makes around 14 – 16) or muffins (10 or so), whatever takes your fancy.

HALVE FOR A SMALLER BATCH!

Ingredients:

300 ml soya or oat milk
3 tsp vinegar
200 g plain (not flavoured) soya yoghurt
380 g caster sugar
250 ml plant, nut or vegetable oil
480 g self raising flour (if GF, use 1/4 ground almonds and 2 tsp xanthan gum)
2 tsp vanilla extract
The contents of 2 high quality tea bags, decaf if you prefer
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cloves / allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tsp baking powder
Two ingredient chocolate ganache / icing (make ahead of class)

Makes enough to fill the middle and ice the top of 1 x 6 inch layer cake or 16+ cupcakes

Ingredients:

135 ml soya milk
200g dark chocolate OR 200g white, dairy free chocolate (available from health food shops or online)
Method:

Melt the ingredients together over a low / medium heat, stirring gently until you have a smooth glossy mixture, do not allow to boil.
Chill until needed, for a few hours or overnight for a firmer, spreadable texture.
EQUIPMENT LIST

For the cake:

Weighing scales
Large bowl
Wooden spoon / spatula
Whisk
Measuring jug
Smaller bowl (to mix milk / yoghurt / vinegar)
Tablespoon
Teaspoon
2 x 6 inch cake tins OR cupcake tray with cases
Parchment / oil / pastry brush (for oiling tins)
Small pan (for melting ganache)
Cooling rack (optional)
Cake board (6 in) or serving plate
Palette knife
For the mince pies:

Weighing scales
Large bowl
Medium sized pan
wooden spoon
chopping board
Knife
Tablespoons and teaspoons
Grater / zester
Cupcake tin (mini or small is fine)
Pastry brush (for oiling tins)

Vegan chocolates shaped like things!

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Wow! Chocolate lovers are going to love this post.

The friendly people of The Amazing Chocolate Workshop sent me a gift and I was blown away.

First up, the box housing the chocolates can be personalised and the UK company picked a photo of me for my box and included a sweet message.

And then I moved onto the INCREDIBLE life-like chocolates inside the box. I was speechless.

They were replicas of salami, cheese, and utensils!

Every single chocolate made by The Amazing Chocolate Workshop is vegan and you can select from a great range of shapes and re-creations.

Perfect for gift giving! Follow them on Instagram and order online.

Vegan roast dinner cooking class

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Get ready for a tasty-looking class!

Join Made In Hackney on Sunday November 29, 2020 from 11:30am until 1:30pm for a lesson in cooking that is arriving just in the nick of time.

The two-hour online class will showcase a parsnip and cranberry nut roast (plus all the trimmings) with a flavoursome miso gravy.

That’s Christmas dinner sorted!

The cost of joining the class is £20 (£10 concession). All funds raised go towards supporting the Made In Hackney community meal service providing free nutritious, tasty meals to households who need them during these challenging times.

The class will take place via Zoom with a link being sent prior to the class (recommended to check your junk folder).

Want a little more information about the event?

Join chef Steve Wilson to learn the skills to make a stunning vegan roast dinner with all the trimmings!

The class will include:

  • How to make a next-level Parsnip and Cranberry Nut-Free Nut Roast using roasted seeds and meaty puy lentils, bursting with umami flavours
  • Learn how to make fluffy and crispy yet healthier roast potatoes, using just the right amount of oil
  • Make delicious trimmings including roasted carrots, garlic & mustard sprouted broccoli, and flavoursome miso gravy
  • Opportunity to ask Steve questions
  • Recipe handout
  • For ingredients and equipment needed see below

About Steve

Chef Steve Wilson is an extremely popular Made In Hackney cookery teacher (he was also a hit with Jamie Oliver when he visited Made In Hackney!). Steve is the former Head Chef at The Russet, founder of People’s Kitchen community feasts and founder of The Dalston Cola Company.

Refunds: Made In Hackney require a minimum of 24 hours notice for any cancellations or transfers once you have booked onto a class.

Click here to book your ticket now.

INGREDIENTS LIST

Parsnip and Cranberry Nut-Free Nut Roast

Makes 1 very small roast loaf (2 slices)

80g Sunflower seeds
20g Sage and onion stuffing mix
60g Puy lentils (dried)
1 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
20g Miso paste
1 tsp Yeast extract (try to use a low salt version, e.g. Natex or Meridian) or otherwise Marmite
½ teaspoon veg stock powder
1 tablespoon Potato flour (or other thickener like cornflour or tapioca)
pinch Maldon salt (or any sea salt)
Topping (Bottom)

50g Cranberry sauce (try to get a low sugar version if possible e.g. Meridian which uses apple juice to sweeten)
1 Parsnips
Crispy Fluffy Roast Potatoes (serves 2)

500g Potatoes (use a fluffy rather than a waxy variety, like Maris piper)
50ml Cooking oil
Sea salt and pepper
Roast Carrots (serves 2)

2 Carrots
1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
Garlic & Mustard Greens (serves 2)

8 pieces Sprouting broccoli (or you can use regular broccoli)
1 clove Garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Extra virgin olive oil
Miso Gravy (serves 2)

300ml Vegetable stock
20g Miso paste
10g Dijon mustard
25g Cranberry sauce (try to get a low sugar version if possible e.g. Meridian which uses apple juice to sweeten). You can also use a heathlier raspberry jam (e.g. St Dalphour uses apple juice intsead of sugar)
5g Balsamic vinegar (or other vinegar)
½ Onion
1 clove Garlic
1 tablespoon Olive oil
EQUIPMENT LIST

● 1 baking tray
● 1 small Loaf tin (to use for nut roast) – note if you would like to make for more than 2 people you will need to scale the recipe, and the size of your loaf tin appropriately
● 2 frying pans (preferably non-stick)
● 2 mixing bowls
● 2 saucepans with lids (you can wash between uses)
● 1 colander
● 2 wooden spoons
● 1 blender
● 1 chopping board
● 1 knife
● 1 gravy jug

Vegan feast for Xmas delivered to your door

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For a merry meat-free Christmas opt for a cruelty-free festive spread thanks to Rudy’s. The vegan hotspot behind the cult Camden diner and the UK’s first Vegan Butcher is spreading Christmas cheer across the UK with deliciously different Christmas Vegan Feast Boxes.

Paving the way for plant-based innovation, Chef Matthew Foster has done all the hard work for you as each box is packed with all the classic Christmas dishes and a few extras thrown in because, well, it’s Rudy’s!

Customers are spoilt for choice with Rudy’s famous pastrami, seasonally spiced Christmas ham, marvellous meat-free meatballs, and not forgetting their American roots, the festive meatloaf en croute. This meatloaf, wrapped in crisp, flaky pastry, is a special nod to the USA with a virtuous vegan twist.

A spectacular plant-based centrepiece for festive tables across the UK, dine on the Christmas Turk’y roll with cranberries and hazelnuts – an impossibly succulent seitan Turk’y packed with soysage stuffing accompanied by a generous serving of Turk’y gravy with fresh rosemary, thyme and garlic. And of course, each feast comes with all the traditional trimmings for the ultimate Christmas dinner including King Edward potatoes, parsnips, carrots, Brussel sprouts with baycon bits, all perfectly seasoned and ready to roast.

Not forgetting seasonal snacking, each box is also packed with popped water lily seeds in three delicious flavours; dark chocolate and raspberry, paprika and Provençal herbs, or the Cheezy vegan – nutritional yeast and black pepper.

For £55, the festive feast will feed four people (or two hungry vegans). Limited stock available for delivery Wednesday – Friday across the UK, so catch ‘em while you can! Order yours online now.

Follow Rudy’s on Instagram.

New monthly vegan subscription box

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I love getting free gifts and I love it even more when those gifts are in the form of boxes filled with vegan treats!

Vegan Junk Box is a new monthly subscription box out of the UK focussed on plant-based sweets and treats that are sometimes difficult to locate in stores.

The company gifted me with a box in the hope that I would like it enough to share the news with you all… and guess what?

I’m sharing the news with you!

And you can even get a discount on your first box as an FGV reader.

The monthly box costs £13.99 but you can get £5 off your first box by using code ‘FATGAYVEGAN’ at checkout.

Visit the Vegan Junk Box website now to investigate now and decide if this monthly box is for you.

You can also follow Vegan Junk Box on Instagram.

Festive vegan beer delivered around UK

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I think you would be hard-pressed to find an industry struggling as much as independent brewing right now.

What an absolute sack of shit year it has been.

The bars and pubs that breweries rely on for moving most of their stock have been closed or are themselves on the verge of closing forever. Taprooms at breweries, normally a direct line of selling, have been closed on and off all year.

I decided to treat myself to a delivery from my favourite vegan beer producer as an act of solidarity during this unprecedented time… and I’d like to think of few people reading this will do the same thing!

Brass Castle is an independent brewery in Yorkshire.

If you ever attended any of my Vegan Beer Fest events around the UK, you’ll remember Brass Castle as a regular trader. They even ran the jumbo bar at the London outing of the event a few years running.

Every single beer produced and sold by Brass Castle is vegan, including all the gorgeous cans in their 12 Days of Christmas beer advent calendar!

This box is a 12-can selection pack of various Brass Castle faves, hidden behind advent calendar-style doors. All the beers are vegan-friendly and certified gluten-free.

The pack comprises:

  • Pilsen Thrills 3.9% Pilsner (440ml can)
  • Hoptical Illusion 4.3% Citra/Comet Pale Ale (330ml can)
  • Well Wisher 4.5% Citra/Columbus Golden Ale (440ml can)
  • Dune Bug 4.7% Lemon & Samphire Gose (440ml can)
  • Fruit Lupe 4.8% Mosaic/Blueberry Pale Ale (440ml can)
  • Brewtalism 5.2% Grapefruit Wit Beer (440ml can)
  • Bad Kitty 5.5% Vanilla Porter (330ml can)
  • Christmas Kitty 5.5% Festive-spiced Vanilla Porter (440ml can)
  • Sunshine 5.7% West Coast-style IPA ( 440ml can)
  • Hygge Figgy 5.7% Fig, Blueberry & Almond Porter (440ml can)
  • Burnout 5.8% Beechwood Smoked Porter (440ml can)
  • Wallop 7.4% wood-aged Yorkshire-style Stingo (440ml can)

This box is available for pre-order now and will begin to ship out of Brass Castle from November 26, 2020.

This is the perfect gift for yourself or any other beer lover in your life, as well as a great way to support an independent vegan business.

Click here to order the vegan beer advent calendar now.

Follow Brass Castle on Instagram.

Vegan cheeseboard for Christmas

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I have extremely fond memories of running Hackney Downs Vegan Market, especially when I think of all the wonderful independent traders we helped nurture and grow.

The market was a real hotbed of innovation and vegan advancement.

One brand that I particularly recall as both original and stunningly popular is Kinda Co.

Kinda Co took vegan cheese to another level and it has been exciting to watch their growth ever since. The company combines the familiarity of your favourite cheeses with plant-based innovation/vegan trickery to make products that are simply exceptional.

Think I’m overselling Kinda Co? Then find out for yourself by ordering one of their exclusive cheeseboards for Christmas.

The cheeseboards from Kinda Co are available in three sizes. Choose from The Mini, The Middle, and The Magnificent. Prices range from £27.50 to £68.50.

I was really taken by the look of The Magnificent (pictured above).

The Magnificent includes:

  • Farmhouse 120g
  • Cranberry 120g
  • Summer Truffle 120g
  • Garlic + Herb 120g
  • Smoked Farmhouse 120g
  • Paprika Chilli 120g
  • Red + Black Pepper 100g
  • Sour Creme + Chive Spread 130g
  • Nacho Dip 240g
  • Faux Lox + Dill Creamy Spread 130g
  • Rosebud Preserves Spiced Plum Chutney 198g
  • The Fine Cheese Co. Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sea Salt Crackers 125g

It’s a vegan cheese dream come to life!

All Christmas cheeseboards from Kinda Co will be delivered on December 22 and 23, 2020. Someone will have to be at the delivery address to take the parcel. They ship UK wide.

All Christmas cheeseboards are also available to collect in person from the Kinda Co kitchen in Hackney Wick between December 17 and 22 if you are in the area.

Extra note: all block cheeses can be frozen and all cheeses should be kept in the fridge until served.

Click here to order now. They will sell out quickly so don’t think about it for to long!

Follow Kinda Co on Instagram.

Vegan Christmas hamper from London independents

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Wanna put your money where your plant-eating mouth is and support independent business before this disastrous year comes to a close?

Mooshies London has launched a hamper filled with gorgeous vegan items and you can buy it for yourself, a friend, or an enemy. Hey, I don’t know how you get your kicks!

Each company involved in building the hamper is paid retail price for their item, so your money is directly helping these independent companies after what can be best described as an extremely tough year.

Launched from the Mooshies shop on Brick Lane, the hamper can be delivered nationwide. The hamper can currently be ordered via the Mooshies website with delivery scheduled for December 16 and 17, 2020.

Companies and products involved include:

Breakfast pot by @bexfast_
Jackfruit wings by @biffs_uk
Vegan chocolate by @darksugars
Kimchi by @eatchayclub
Cranberry cheese by @kindaco
Pesto sauce by @pickywops
Mochi balls by @vegan_yes
Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix by @vidabakery
Pick ‘N’ Mix by @sweetlifeldn @plantpoweredprince
Set of 5 sauces @mooshieslondon
Pick ‘N’ Mix by @mooshieslondon

Each company is a small independent business and local to Mooshies.

Instead of buying the products at cost price, Mooshies is purchasing them at retail to give each company a sale via their hamper. Mooshies takes no profit and does all the labor and dispatching themselves. It’s a way to keep all the small businesses in people’s mind while supporting each of these amazing companies.

Do it. Buy one!

The hamper can be bought via the Mooshies online shop at www.mooshieslondon.com/shop

Vegan things I was given for free this week

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PR gifts flowed through my front door this past week and I wanted to share them with you all.

Maybe there is something you like the look of in the selection below?

If you use Instagram, be sure to click through to the individual posts so you can follow the companies I mention.

Also, be sure to scroll through the posts to see all the photos included.

I was sent a few bags of granola and some granola bars from Keto Hana. I really don’t know what the keto food trend is about, but I do like granola!

Super fancy London restaurant Pied a Terre sent me their vegan feast for two box. It wasn’t exactly the five star experience I was expecting but it was tasty, especially the French onion soup.

The Cornish Sea Salt Co made my week with these gorgeous tubs. I’m very excited about the garlic while Gil has his eye on the chilli salt.

Planthood send vegan meals around the UK and I found this gift of three meals for two people to be pretty impressive.

Easy to follow instructions are included.

The Vurger Co carried on the trend of sending out DIY meal kits. This burger and fries for two was tasty, but a little on the strange side.

I got more lettuce than I needed and the fries needed cooking in a fryer, which I don’t have. Everything was tasty, though.

Anything in this week’s list catch your attention?

Toyota and Lexus helping drivers eat vegan

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This is super interesting and kinda huge news.

HappyCow is thrilled to announce that Toyota and Lexus are making vegan-options easier to find.

Huh? Big name car manufacturers and plant-based eating don’t go together, do they?

Toyota Connected North America has integrated HappyCow’s guide to vegan and vegan-friendly eating into the Destination Assist feature on select 2020 and newer Toyota and Lexus models.

USA-based Toyota and Lexus Destination Assist subscribers will now benefit from HappyCow’s dining guide by pressing the ‘Destination Button’ from the navigation menu.

When speaking with an agent, they simply mention that they’re looking for a vegan or vegetarian restaurant and HappyCow will be used to direct them to nearby vegan and vegan-friendly options.

If you are drawing a blank when reading the name HappyCow, let me fill you in.

HappyCow is the leading vegan guide on the planet. The user-driven platform helps vegan and vegan-curious people location cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, stores, salons, bakeries, markets, and bars that offer vegan and vegetarian goods and services.

I’d love to hear from any Destination Assist users who have used the feature successfully. The rest of the world will need to wait patiently for it to be rolled out globally.

Visit HappyCow online and follow the guide on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.