Month: February 2025

A Chocolate Treat for a Snowy Day!

A thick blanket of snow fell overnight and as I write this blog, ice is decorating pine needles and branches of the trees. We made a decision to stay cozily inside with a warm fire in the woodstove.

All week long, I had been craving chocolate desserts, wanting to dive into a slab of fudgy rich chocolate cake slathered in ganache. I remembered an easy one dish vegan chocolate cake filled with chocolate pudding that I featured in a February 2022 post. It was easy to make, tasted completely decadent and best of all was made with stevia, coconut sugar and with no eggs or butter.

This is what I made today and we just finished big slices that were decorated with fresh raspberries and toasted pecans. It was fudgy, moist and tasted very rich. We enjoyed it with 2 mugs of frothy decaf Cafe au Lait- a perfect guilt free treat for a snowy day!

Snowy Day Chocolate Pudding Vegan Chocolate Cake

Cake Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour 
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • ¼ cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅓ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar*- see note
  • 1 cup water

To Make Cake:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease and line one 8×10 cake pan with greased wax or parchment paper.
  • Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water. Mix together until smooth.
  • Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 25-30 minutes. Do not overbake, the cake should remain soft and fudgy. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  • Remove cake from pan, peel off wax paper and place on rack to cool.

Chocolate Pudding Filling– adapted from Chocolate Cake by Michele Urvater

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/3 cup coconut sugar or monk fruit ( this makes a very bittersweet pudding, feel free to add up to 1/2 to 3/4 sweetener.)

1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond or soy milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

4 ounces dark chocolate chopped (I used Equal Exchange Extremely Dark chocolate, but you could semi or bittersweet chocolate for a sweeter taste)

To make the pudding:

In a small mixing bowl, with a fork or small whisk, combine the cornstarch with 1/2 cup of the milk.

In a small saucepan over low heat, bring the remaining 1 cup milk to a simmer with the sugar, stirring occasionally so the milk does not boil over. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Whisk the cornstarch and milk in the bowl again to make sure the cornstarch is dissolved, and add this to the hot milk and sugar mixture. Return the saucepan to the heat and bring to a simmer until the mixture thickens, whisking constantly. Remove from the hear and add chocolate, stirring until chocolate melts into the mixture. Stir in almond extract. Put pudding in a bowl and refrigerate until cold.

To fill the cake:

Carefully slice cake with a serrated bread knife in half and place one piece on a plate. Spread half of pudding mixture and place other half on top.

Spread remaining pudding on top and decorate with raspberries and toasted pecans. This would also be nice to decorate with sliced strawberries and chocolate chips.

* I was curious to find out why vinegar was called for in the recipe. For the kitchen science geeks, it turns out that vinegar reacts with baking soda to create a chemical reaction that makes the crumb of the cake light and tender!

ENJOY!

AND: Here is the “Tree of the Week”

“I could tell you a thing or two!”

STAY WARM!

“French Tapestry” at the Clark and Pesto Chicken Kale, White Bean and Tortellini Soup!”

Outside the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the hills in the distance were gray and foreboding and the wind chill was sharp and bitingly cold; what better time to be inside!

We were delighted to discover a special exhibition at the Clark: Wall Power! Modern French Tapestry from the Mobilier national, Paris. The exhibit displayed a wide range of tapestries created by contemporary artists from the 1920’s to today. Artists, weavers and dyers revived ancient techniques and created bold and daring new works of art. The room was full of brilliant colors and patterns; warming to the soul.

The beautifully curated exhibit included the following insightful commentary:

“Since the middle of the 20th century, the art of tapestry has continued to offer a vast field of expression to major artists, to the most varied trends and plastic research: Picasso, Matisse, Miró, Delaunay, but also to abstract artists (Hartung, Vasarely) non-figurative (Nemours, Bazaine), part of Minimal Art, new realism (Hains), narrative figuration (Erro, Aillaud) or the Supports-Surfaces group (Buraglio, Rouan, Pincemin). More recently, Louise Bourgeois, Bertrand Lavier, Sheila Hicks or Orlan have distinguished themselves with their woven creations. In perpetual evolution, the works created by the Manufactures nationales reflect the most diverse trends in contemporary art”.

“A Thousand Wildflowers” by Dom Robert, a Benedictine Monk, recalled wildflower fields that were popular in the Middle Ages.

“A Thousand Wildflowers”- Dom Roberts (1907-1997)

Several of the tapestries were designed from existing works of art and then woven. Designing a work and then weaving it with a team of weavers, can take up to 2 or 3 years.

“Swallow Love”- Joan Miro (1893-1983)

“Evening Music“-Pauline Peugniez-1890-1987

“The Woman with the Lute”- Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

“The Vines of Volnay”- Michel Tourliere (1925-2004)

The French artist Michel Tourliere who lived from 1925-2004, came from wine country in Burgundy and specialized in designing woven tapestries. His works often depict landscapes from Burgundy.

We also viewed stunning contemporary works by the American artist Kiki Smith and the French artist Jean Messagier.

“Seven Seas”- Kiki Smith (American-born Germany 1954)

“Red Flames”- Jean Messagier (1920-1999)

At the end of the exhibit, it was fascinating to see the back of “Red Flames”; a work of art in itself!

And then, back home for some hearty soup!

I had roasted a chicken with basil pesto slipped under the skin and was looking for a use for the leftover chicken. I decided to make a quick stock with the remaining chicken carcass. I threw the chicken bones along with a carrot, onion, celery, thyme, peppercorns, salt and bay leaf into a big pot, covered it with water and let it simmer on the stove for a few hours and then strained the stock and discarded the solids. The result was a delicate basil scented stock, just right for beans and kale! I defatted the stock and added chopped, onion and carrot, a can of white beans and a small bunch of chopped lacinato kale. Along with bay leaf, dried thyme, dried sage and dill, I simmered the soup until all of the vegetables were tender. I added leftover chopped chicken and a small package of cooked tortellini. Sprinkled with freshly ground pepper and grated pecorino cheese, this was truly a heartwarming winter soup! ENJOY!!

Pesto Chicken, Kale, White Bean and Tortellini Soup

Ingredients for Pesto Chicken Stock

Leftover chicken bones

3 quarts water

one onion cut in half

1 large carrot roughly chopped

1 stalk celery with leaves roughly chopped

1 clove garlic peeled and smashed

2 teaspoons salt

10-12 whole peppercorns

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 bay leaves

Ingredients for soup:

3 quarts defatted pesto chicken Stock (home made is best, but you can use store bought and add a tablespoon of pesto)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium carrot chopped

1 onion chopped

1 stalk celery chopped

leftover chicken cut into small pieces

8-10 lacinato kale leaves

1 can cannellini or great northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 bay leaf

1 small package tortellini (I used Kite Hill tortellini with almond milk ricotta)

To Make Soup:

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add chopped onion. Saute a few minutes until onion softens. Add chicken stock and all other ingredients, except tortellini and cut up chicken.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook covered about an hour until vegetables are very tender. Cook tortellini according to directions on package and add to soup along with the leftover cut up chicken.

Serve with freshly ground pepper and sprinkle with grated pecorino cheese!

ENJOY!!

AND: Here is the “Tree of the Week”!

“It is a bit cold out here”!

STAY WARM!