VeganMoFo 2017 #26: Showstopping Sweeties.

26th: Showstopper Dessert – Something that would earn a handshake from Paul Hollywood!

I've made a few impressive desserts in my time, and I've eaten a lot of them as well!

Like this beautiful Two Spiced Apple Cake I made for the Christmas Menu of Party Vegan a while back.



Or this gorgeous tower of mini tarts that my friend Leigh made for my 30th birthday. (Spot the sneaky Sahara!)



Or this best ever Strawberry Short Cake that I had three times from Chaya when I was in Japan. I still dream of this cake!!



I decided to make something decadent for MoFo!

Chocolate Chestnut Pie from Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin: I made a few changes to this recipe. First up, instead of making one big pie, I halved the recipe and used three mini cake tins (two were 10cm, one was 12cm). The chestnut in this recipe comes from both sweetened chestnut puree and sweetened chestnut spread. Chestnut products are extremely expensive in Australia, so I used a 500g packet of chestnut paste that I found in an Asian grocery store for only $4.50. Now, this isn't the same as what the recipe calls for. It also had some white bean powder in it and was quite thick, as it is meant to go into the middle of mochi. It is also not as sweet, which for me is a plus. Instead of melting the chocolate and adding it to the other ingredients (including the chestnut paste), I melted it and then mixed the other ingredients into the double boiler, because the heat helped the chestnut paste loosen up. This pie has a layer of chocolate digestive biscuit base, a layer of chocolate chestnut, a layer of chestnut spread, and another layer of chocolate chestnut. Because the paste I was using was much thicker than the spread would have been, I used a bit more of it so that I could get a good middle layer. This recipe says to set up overnight, but the way I made it it was ready within a few hours. However, it tastes even better if left overnight! This is a pretty amazing dessert. I didn't make the sweetened coconut cream, but I did top it with some Soyatoo rice whip from a can and some grated chocolate.
Rating: :D





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



Another toy photo. I brought this Panda With Cookie home with me from VVC in 2015, and both Sahara and Dim Sim loved it. It particularly tickled me seeing Sahara with it, given that they are both one-eyed carrots.