The Gouda Life

Whenever I think about summer, I get this wonderful vision of leisurely lazy days filled with swimming and fizzy fruity drinks and friends and relaxation. 

And then summer gets here. And I remember that while there may be a few of the above mentioned wonderful things, there is also a ton of running around and busyness and stress. And perhaps the stressful busy things wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t so danged hot, but that tends to make it that much more exasperating. 



One of the most exciting and scary and stress-inducing items on my To-Do list this summer is a wedding I’m catering for a friend. While I’m no stranger to catering or wedding cake making, this wedding is much different than anything I’ve done before. Different in the most wonderful way, of course. The bride and groom have requested a doughnut cake. Yes, a DOUGHNUT CAKE! A three-tier doughnut cake! Isn’t that just the neatest thing you’ve ever heard of? I know if I were a guest at a wedding with doughnuts, I would leave a happy woman. To go along with the unique cake and round out the spread, we’ve decided to do some little cheesecake pots and a few pies. Another interesting and challenging piece of this task is that the couple are vegan. So I get to flex some vegan baking muscles which are, admittedly, quite weak. 

I’ve spent the last few days experimenting and tweaking and re-tweaking to make sure the desserts came out tasting as though they weren’t vegan at all. And for the most part, I think I’ve fared quite well if I do say so myself. The doughnuts, which I promise to post about sooner than later, were perfectly moist and dense inside with a sugary glaze that cracks ever so slightly when you bite into them. I, of course, couldn’t resist a colourful sprinkle topping and was thrilled when the couple said they wanted to have sprinkles for the big day. After all, what’s a doughnut without sprinkles? It’s nothing. That’s what. 



The cheesecake pots were another home run. Super lemony, light and creamy with a gingersnap crust and topped with a deep dreamy purple layer of blueberry compote. I have to say, my eyes have been opened to the wonders of vegan baking. In most cases, it’s no harder than non-vegan baking and really forces you to read labels and ingredients and be a little more conscious.  Which is something we could all benefit from every so often. 



Lastly, and also the reason I’m here right this second, is the pie. Ohhh, the pie. It was a first of many things yesterday, including my first vegan pie and my first vegan crumble. And they just happened to be smashed together into a crumble pie. Which, as you can imagine, is 100% as delicious as it sounds. The crust needs a little work and the filling was a little tart, but overall, it was a great learning experience. I’m going to share the pie recipe today with all of the little things I learned along the way. 



Vegan Raspberry Apricot Crumble Pie

Some of the photos won’t exactly look like the below recipes since there have been tweaks. Don’t get too worried if your pie doesn’t look exactly like mine. 

Pie Crust
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
1/2 cup frozen vegetable shortening (Earth Balance is great)
3 – 3 1/2 tbsp ice water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated Sugar, optional

Whisk flour, salt and sugar.
Using a food processor or a pastry cutter, add the shortening until pea-sized chunks remain. It will be a coarse looking crumb mixture. 
Add ice water, beginning with only 3 Tablespoons, mixing enough only to form a ball.

Pour dough onto a floured surface and pat into a ball. It should be soft and smooth and maybe a bit sticky at this point. Pat the ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Freeze for at least a half hour and up to overnight. Remove from freezer when ready to use and let thaw slightly until you’re able to roll out. 



Filling
1 1/2lbs fresh apricots (about 5-6)
1/2 pint raspberries
1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside. 



Crumble Topping 
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 stick vegan buttery sticks (again, Earth Balance works great!), cut into cubes

Preheat oven to 400 and put rack in lower third of oven. 

Combine everything but the butter cubes in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the butter to the bowl and rub into the dry mixture until you have a crumbly mixture. 

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to fit a 9” pie pan. 



Spoon filling into the pie crust and crumble the topping over. 



Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue cooking for 50-60 minutes until filling is cooked and crust is golden. If the topping is browning too quickly, feel free to cover the pie with foil. 

 

 

I don’t like cake.

So there. I said it. Just like that. I hope we can still be friends despite this obvious character flaw. It’s just one of those things I don’t care for. Perhaps too many boxed Betty Crocker birthday cakes at birthday parties growing up, or maybe I’m just extremely bizarre. Either way, if it’s in the room and offered to me, I will turn it down 9 times out of 10. And that one time I will reluctantly accept a slice, is likely because I feel like a terrible guest turning down cake (Who doesn’t like cake? Are you watching your weight? Oh, just have one little piece!).

All that being said, there are types of cake that I do enjoy. They are not the vanilla drenched, gritty and sickeningly sweet iced cakes of my childhood, no no, they are the simple everyday cakes, rustic in appearance, unglazed, un-iced and often thrown together in a matter of minutes. Those are the cakes I could get busy with. A slice of cake you could just as easily have for breakfast or an afternoon snack as you could for dessert, without feeling guilty, that is. One that is instantly made better by a leisurely dip in a cup of Earl Grey. And the type of cake that is there, waiting for you unassumingly at the end of a long and grueling day. That is the sort of cake I pine for. And if I’m pinning for it, I have a feeling you might be too. Afterall, I can’t be the only loon in the world who has a distaste for the rich and sugary.



I spotted this recipe on 101cookbooks, a blog which I have unapologetically professed my love for many times before, and knew right away that it would quickly move to the top of my list of unfussy favourites. The cake itself isn’t very sweet, but a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar and big icy looking salt crystals makes up for what the cake lacks in sweetness. A few raspberries, strewn about haphazardly, a little bit of lemon and tangy buttermilk, and you’ve got yourself a cake that will save your buns when you forgot you were supposed to bring dessert to your In-Law’s Sunday dinner. Or perhaps when you just need a little something to dip in your tea Sunday morning. Either way, I have no doubt it will make it’s way into your recipe collection the same way it did mine.



Salted Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
adapted from 101Cookbooks

As Heidi suggests, when you’re melting the butter, feel free to keep cooking it until it’s a deep golden brown. This brown butter will give the cake a completely different taste. Deeper and nuttier.

Heidi suggests using whole wheat pastry flour, but I didn’t have any on hand so I made some changes. If you can find it, feel free to use that instead.

Lastly, if raspberries aren’t available, use whatever berry you have on hand.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups pastry flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
zest of 2 lemons
1/2-1 cup of raspberries (depending on pan circumference)
3 tbsp large grain raw or turbinado sugar
1 tsp large grain flaky finishing salt

Grease and flour an 11-inch tart/quiche pan (I used a smaller and wasn’t able to get as many raspberries on it) or a 9x13-inch rectangular baking dish.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking power, brown sugar and salt. Whisk just to combine.



In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and lemon zest. Pour over the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Try not to over mix the batter.



Pour batter into prepared pan and spread from the centre outwards until evenly distributed. Give each raspberry a little squeeze before placing on top of the cake (helps the juices meld with the sugar…and looks prettier!). When you’re done arranging the raspberries, sprinkle the top of the cake evenly with both the large grain sugar and salt.



Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Pay careful attention to cooking time if you’re using the rectangle baking dish.

Serve all by itself, with a dollop of whipped cream or alongside a cup of tea.