Blog-sitter: Naomi of The Gluttonous Vegan

Hello friends! My girl Diana has let me sit on her (virtual) couch to show you all today how to make a vegan chocolate candy cane log! LOOK AT IT:

omg it's delicious. It's a moist chocolate cake, rolled up and filled with chocolate mousse frosting with crushed candy canes, then smeared with even more chocolate mousse! Perfect for Christmas!

Now it's not as easy as making a batch of cupcakes but it's not that hard either, just set aside a few hours (maybe on Christmas eve to distract you from all those presents with their come hither eyes) and then you can impress everyone on the big day with your to die for dessert.

To make this log'o'love you'll need:

1 1/2 cups plain/all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sunflower/canola oil

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 cup warm water

and for the frosting:

1 pack of firm tofu

2 cups dark chocolate chips

3 candy canes (crushed)

2 tbsp agave syrup (or maple at a pinch)

Ok! so first of all you want to mix together all the fluids in a bowl (this is so the vinegar doesn't have a long time to react with the baking soda). Put the water, oil and vinegar into a bowl and mix around a bit. Then add the flour, the cocoa, the sugar, the salt and finally the baking soda and beat it until it's all smooth.

Then grab a shallow long baking tray and lay some greaseproof paper in it. Pour in your cake batter.

Now you want to bake this at around Gas mark 4/375F/190C for about 8-10 minutes. Maybe even less. You definitely don't want to overcook this or it won't roll, so as soon as it's firmed up on top and a fork stuck into it doesn't come out covered in batter, it's done.

Now we've got to work fast! You need to roll this way before it cools so it knows how to roll up. Spread some greaseproof paper out on your work surface and sprinkle a tbsp or so of sugar over it. Take your cooked cake and in one smooth move, flip it face down onto the sugared paper, then take away the baking sheet. Carefully peel off the greaseproof paper from the bottom of the cake. Some parts will stick but don't worry! All the mess is going to be covered up by the frosting. Here's mine after peeling the paper:

So now, grab another piece of greaseproof and place it over the cake. Then grab a tea towel, or another couple of sheets of greaseproof paper if you haven't got one, and started at one short edge, start rolling. Do it quickly and tightly and don't worry if you feel like it's breaking, it'll be ok.

Now you wait! You've got to wait until it's completely cooled, we're talking about maybe 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. So lets make the frosting while we're waiting! I made a candy cane flavour this time but you could also try a chocolate orange one (just replace the crushed candy cane with some orange zest and a squirt of juice)! For the candy cane, put the tofu and agave into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour half of this into a bowl and add the crushed candy canes.

Now melt HALF the chocolate either in a pan or the microwave and pour into the bowl and mix it up. Done! This is the filling! So once your cake is cooled, carefully unroll it and take off the top layers of paper. If it's cracked or broken, just match up the cracked parts and overlap them, the frosting'll stick them back together. Spread your filling evenly over the cake, leave a gap around the edge.

Now the tough bit! You only get one chance here so deep breath. Grab the end of the paper that's underneath the cake and start rolling from one end (remember not to roll the paper back into the cake!) Do it firmly and quickly and once it's all rolled up, tip it gently onto your preferred serving surface (it's not moving once you've put it here so choose wisely).

Yeah! You did it! Ok, now chop that messy end off, that's going to be your branch!

Now let's finish off the frosting, melt the other half of the chocolate and add it to the remaining tofu mix. Grab a palette knife or a spatula or something and start spreading evenly all over the cake, right down to the bottom. Then drag a fork all over to make it look like bark.

Dust with some icing sugar and you're all done, you did it, you made an amazing christmas chocolatey log!

It snowed today too, happy Christmas!

Naomi

xxx