My Sweet Vegan Holiday

Just before the holidays, I was asked to review My Sweet Vegan, the new cookbook by Hannah Kaminsky. I was warned up front that the cookbook wasn't even close to fat-free, but since it was close to Christmas and I was looking for some decadent vegan recipes to bring to my family's celebration, I agreed to check it out with one caveat--that when I was finished looking it over, I'd give my review copy away. After all, there's just so much temptation I can take.

And it's definitely tempting. This is one of the few cookbooks that has a photo of every single recipe, and no food is more photogenic than dessert. If you're familiar with Hannah's blog, Bittersweet, you know the girl can wield a camera as well as she does a whisk. From Golden Glazed Doughnuts to Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie (one of my pre-vegan favorites), the recipes and their accompanying photos seem designed to seduce even the most hardcore fat-free eater into a life of sugary debauchery. What a way to go!



I chose two recipes to try. The first, Peanut Butter Bombs, appealed not only to my old love for peanut butter cups but also to my desire to keep the margarine to a minimum. Peanut butter makes up part of the fat in these cookies, and they came out rich and cake-like. Because I made them too big, I managed to get only 12 instead of the 18 the recipe advertised, so I recommend making them as small as you can; they are so flavorful and rich that you may need to cut them into halves or quarters otherwise, spoiling the surprise-inside effect.



I knew as soon as I saw the recipe that I'd have to attempt the Turtle Shortbread Wedges. My father is a lover of those Turtle chocolates, so I figured he'd love these, and though I had a little trouble with the recipe, I was right. It was hard slicing through the pecan halves, and as a result the shortbread base crumbled a bit and I had to cut them into squares (a good idea, as it turns out, because you will want to stretch these babies as far as possible). And my "caramel" topping came out more like "praline," even though I used a candy thermometer. It must be the mark of a good recipe that the cook can mess it up and still have it come out tasting divine. I'm going to be making these for my dad every Christmas, if he has anything to say about it.

My Sweet Vegan is a great source of recipes for when you really want to wow people with how good vegan desserts can be. You won't find any health food here--no whole wheat flour or fat substitutes--but there is a food allergy index so if you're looking for soy-, nut-, or gluten-free delicacies, this is the place to find them.

Even though I keep finding recipes I want to try (like Peanut-Plus Cookies, which use ground lentils instead of flour), I'm sticking to my promise to give the book away...to one of you! If you'd like my slightly-used copy of the book, just leave your contact info in the comments, sometime between now and Monday at midnight Central Time. After the clock strikes the new year, I'll have my daughter pick one lucky person at random to receive this sweet book. Happy New Year!

Update: The comments are now closed. Thanks to all 136 of you who took the time to leave your contact info. Tune in later today for the announcement of the winner.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Roasted Pecans

Pecans for Click*

Welcome new readers! If you're visiting this blog for the first time, either because of the mention in Vegetarian Times or because of the Food Blog Awards, you may be wondering, "What's a blog about 'fat-free' cooking doing with a post about pecans, which are almost all fat?" The truth is that the recipes on this blog are not really fat-free; what they are free of, for the most part, is refined oils (olive oil, canola oil, etc.), margarine (and butter, of course), shortening, and other "man-made," processed fats. Around the holidays I sometimes make exceptions to this rule, but even then I try to reduce the fat whenever possible. I try to keep the fat below 15% of the total calories in the dish, and when I exceed that, I label the recipe "higher-fat." I've never featured a recipe that's almost 100% fat--until now.

A long time ago, a friend's mother told me how she made the delicious roasted pecans she'd served at a party: You melt butter in a skillet, add the pecans, sauté them until they're fragrant, and sprinkle them with salt before cooling. For years that's how I made them, using high-quality margarine instead of butter. It's a treat so irresistible that it's possible for me to consume huge amounts of fat just by nibbling as I cook (each ounce contains over 21 grams of fat). This year I wanted to give roasted pecans as Christmas presents, and I got to thinking that there must be a way to roast them without the margarine and have them taste just as good.

I started doing some research, and I found a little-known trick to making pecans taste sweeter: Soaking and rinsing the shelled nuts in lukewarm water before roasting removes the tannins and pieces of corky material that can cause pecans to taste bitter. I was intrigued and decided to give it a try. The results were amazing! The pecans not only taste sweeter, but they seem to retain their moistness better during roasting, resulting in plumper roasted nuts.

While experimenting, I tried this technique two ways. One batch I roasted without added fat; to the other I added some margarine right at the end. Though the batch with the margarine did taste a little richer, mainly it tasted saltier because the margarine helps the salt adhere better. Both batches were delicious, and I doubt that most people would notice the missing margarine. I'm including the instructions for both methods, so you can do your own testing at home.

Roasted Pecans
(printer-friendly version)

I like to keep these simple, using only salt so that the rich, sweet taste of the pecans shines through. You can, of course, use other seasonings, if you choose. Creole seasoning is particularly tasty.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Begin with 12 ounces to 1 pound of shelled pecans. Put them in a rectangular baking dish big enough for them to spread out in a single layer. Check for any shriveled or black pecans and remove them. Then cover the pecans with lukewarm water and stir for a minute.



You'll see that the water immediately becomes dark with the impurities that you're removing. Let the pecans soak for 5 minutes, and then drain them in a colander. Return them to the dish and cover them again with lukewarm water. Repeat the 5 minute soaking and drain. The water should have been a little lighter in color that time. Repeat the process one more time and return the pecans to the pan.

Spread the pecans out in a single layer and sprinkle with salt (I used Kosher flake salt because it is more finely ground than regular salt). Put the pan in the preheated oven. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Watch them carefully and remove them if they begin to get too brown.

Remove from the oven and salt again if necessary. If you are not adding margarine, allow them to cool completely before serving or storing in a tightly sealed container.

If you want to add margarine, add about 1 tablespoon as soon as the pecans come out of the oven. Stir well, using a spatula to scrape up the dried salt from the dish and distribute it to all the nuts. Allow to cool completely before serving or storing in a tightly sealed container.

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I'll be taking the next week or so off to spend time with my family, but I'll be back before the new year to share some more delicious treats with you. Happy Holidays to all who celebrate!

*Don't forget to get your nut photographs posted and entered into Click, the monthly photo contest at Jugalbandi.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Thick and Hearty Split Pea Soup

If your days are as busy and rushed as mine have been lately, perhaps you won't mind if I give barely any introduction to this recipe. In a way, this is a soup that needs no introduction: it's your basic, all-purpose, down-to-earth split-pea soup. This is the one I whip up when I'm serving curry-haters (yes, they do exist!) or am just in the mood for a milder soup that gets its flavor from caramelized onions and vegetables, rather than spices. It's true comfort food--quick comfort food if you use the pressure cooker. In about half an hour, you can go from wondering what's for dinner to sitting down to eat. And in these busy days, who can resist that?



Thick and Hearty Split Pea Soup
(printer-friendly version)

2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, diced
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 cups dried split peas, checked carefully for debris and rinsed
6-8 cups water
2 medium potatoes, coarsely chopped
1 large bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1-2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Lightly spray the bottom of a pressure cooker or Dutch oven with canola oil. Sauté the onions for about 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan often, until they begin to caramelize. Add the garlic, carrots, and celery and cook for 2 more minutes.

Add the peas to the pot. If you're using a pressure cooker, add 6 cups of water; for regular cooking, add 8 cups water. Stir in the potatoes, bay leaf, celery seed, basil, and thyme.

For pressure cooking: Seal the cooker and bring to high pressure. Lower heat and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. If beans are not completely cooked, cover loosely and cook (without pressure) until they reach the desired tenderness.

For regular cooking: Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over very low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until peas are soft and disintegrate when stirred.

Add the liquid smoke, salt, and pepper. Check the seasoning and add more herbs if necessary. Cook several minutes uncovered to thicken (or add water to thin). Serve with warm whole-grain bread.

Makes about 8 servings, and tastes even better the next day!

Per serving: 216 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 13g Protein; 41g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 565mg Sodium; 15g Fiber.

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If curried split-pea soups are your thing, here are a couple of my favorites:

• Yellow Split-Pea Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Kale
• Curried Split-Pea Soup with Cauliflower

Or, if you prefer smoky, southwestern flavors, take a look at Southwestern Split-Pea Soup.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Food Blog Awards and Other News

I just got word that FatFree Vegan Kitchen has won the Food Blog Award for Best Theme. I'm stunned, I'm excited, but above all I am so grateful to all of you who voted for this blog. It's a joy to be recognized for something I love doing, but I wouldn't be doing it at all if not for you readers. Thank you, thank you, thank you! In the adapted words of Christine McVie, you make blogging fun!

And more big news: The vegan blog Bittersweet won in the Best Writing category--very well-deserved! If you haven't been reading Hannah's blog, you need to start right now. And buy her book, too! She's an incredibly talented writer, photographer, and cook, and she deserves all the recognition she gets and more.

Congratulations to all the other finalists. There is such a wealth of talent out there, and it's an honor for me to be included. Thank you to the Well Fed Network, for taking on the huge job of hosting the awards.

Finally, I heard via Chris that FatFree Vegan was mentioned along with his and Darlene's blog Eat Air in the latest edition of Vegetarian Times. Wow. I mean, wow. Way back when, before internet, the only other vegetarians I knew were the ones I "met" through Vegetarian Times; it was a source of comfort to me when I felt like the only vegetarian on Earth. To be mentioned there along with Eat Air, one of the groundbreaking vegan blogs, is a huge thrill.

Well, no one's going to need to get me anything for Christmas this year because I've gotten everything I could ever want... except maybe a copy of Vegetarian Times... and a hat big enough to fit my big head!

Tags: vegan Food Blog Awards

Fat-Free, Gluten-Free Gingerbread Biscotti

First the good news: Baking these biscotti made my house smell magical, like being inside a gingerbread house (without those nosy Hansel and Gretel or that mean old witch). Furthermore, my daughter loved them, which surprised me because I'd always considered biscotti a grownup cookie, hard and crunchy and meant for dipping into grownup drinks like coffee, tea, or wine. Who knew they'd taste great dipped in hot chocolate soymilk?

And now the bad: Just about everything that can go wrong did for my poor biscotti. I decided at the last minute to make two different versions, one using white whole wheat and one using gluten-free flour. Maybe that was too much change to ask of this recipe, which is based on one of my long-time favorites, but it's a miracle that they came out so good. More about all that later. First, the recipe:



Gingerbread Biscotti
(printer-friendly version)

2 cups flour (see note)
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon (packed) freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tablespoons Ener-G egg replacer
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, all spices, and baking soda. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg replacer powder and water. Add it to the flour mixture, along with the molasses and vanilla. Mix well to combine. If the mixture is too dry and still crumbly, add a little more water a tablespoon at a time, just until the dough will hold together in a sticky ball.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide in two. Shape each half into two logs about 2 inches wide. Place them on an oiled cookie sheet or silicone baking mat and flatten to about 1 inch high. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch slices on the diagonal. Place the slices cut-side down on the baking sheet and bake for 10 more minutes. Turn them over and bake for 8-10 more minutes. Remove from oven. Biscotti may seem soft at first but they will harden as they cool.

Note about flours: These turn out best with unbleached white flour. However, you can use a combination of white and white whole wheat, as I did in the ones pictured above. Use gluten-free flour at your own risk: mine, using Bob's Red Mill gluten-free baking mix, turned out gritty and, when dunked, mushy. I advise using another gluten-free flour.

Makes about 24 biscotti. Each one, using half whole wheat/half white flour, contains 54 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (1% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 40mg Sodium; 1g Fiber.

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So that's the official recipe. Here's what actually happened.

I don't know if it's because my flours were dryer than usual or if it's because of the change from using all unbleached white flour, but the amount of liquid in the recipe was not enough to moisten all the flour. I started adding water by the tablespoon and had to add about 4 of them to get a dough to form. I've made these several times before and never had that problem, so I'm assuming it was the flour. Don't be afraid to add more water if you have to, but don't make the dough too wet either.



This is what the rolls of biscotti looked like after they'd been flattened. (The gluten-free one is on the left.) Note that I actually flattened them too much or made them too wide. Here's what happened:



The dough grew so much in the oven that the rolls were actually touching. This is not supposed to happen, so be sure you put your rolls far enough apart and don't make them too wide.

Funny thing, at this point, I thought that the gluten-free one looked better than the whole wheat. It's smoother and prettier. Little did I know...



Here I am slicing the whole wheat biscotti. This went well. However, slicing the gluten-free one was a different story. First, a big chunk of it tore off as I removed it from the silicone mat. Then, I could hardly slice it for the crumbling. Here's how it looked after slicing:



I put it on the baking sheet as best I could and decided to just pile all the crumbs in the middle and use them in place of graham cracker crumbs later.



In this photo, the whole wheat biscotti are in the front, the g-f crumbs are in the middle, and the g-f biscotti are in the back. Only two of my g-f biscotti were completely intact.



Besides falling apart more than the wheat biscotti, the gluten-free ones, pictured above, also burned a little on the ends. I had high hopes that they would at least taste good, but no such luck. Dry, they're grittier than the wheat biscotti and dunked, they turn to mush--the kind of mush that seems to grow as you chew it so that it takes forever to get out of your mouth. Now, with some other kind of gluten-free flour, these might taste great. Also, using another egg replacer--one that will bring some stretchability to the dough--might help with the crumbiness. Maybe I should have included xanthan gum.

I know that an experienced gluten-free cook like Karina or Ellen could work wonders on these. But for now I'll have to be satisfied that at least my whole wheat ones came out wonderfully crunchy, sweet, and zingy with gingery-spice flavor.

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I don't make a lot of cookies. Let's face it, other than biscotti, most cookies depend on fat for their texture and flavor. Besides this recipe, the closest thing I make to a traditional Christmas cookie is Skinny Figgy Bars, created to imitate the fig bars my husband grew up eating every Christmas. But if you're looking for dozens of tasty cookie ideas, be sure to check out Food Blogga's Eat Christmas Cookies event. The entries look amazing--and some of them sound easily veganizable. I'm adding this one to the event so at least there'll be one fat-free entry!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Food Blog Awards

I have some great news: FatFree Vegan Kitchen is a finalist in the 2007 Food Blog Awards in the category of Best Food Blog-Theme! Thank you so much to the judges and especially to those of you who nominated FFVK.

I'm up against some tough competition, so please take a minute and vote. The polls close this Friday at 11:59 EST.

Congratulations to all the finalists, including fellow vegan blog Bittersweet, in the Best Writing category.

Thanks again for all of your support! Winning the VegNews award and now being nominated for this have made 2007 a terrific year for me.

Tags: food blog awards

Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Soup

I was afraid that this soup, like so many unworthy recipes I've made in the past week, might never make it to this blog. I'd fiddled with the seasonings so much, even adding a major ingredient, that I was sure right up until the time we sat down to eat that I'd created another dud. But then I had a bite...and another...and soon I was scraping the bowl clean. Somehow all my fussing with it had worked; it was smooth, creamy, lightly sweet, with hints of orange and curry and roasted garlic.

What worked: adding chickpeas after the photo below was taken. What probably wasn't necessary: coconut water (also called coconut juice). I wanted some of the sweetness and flavor of coconut without the fat of coconut milk, so I added a can of coconut water. In the end, it added a little to the soup's sweetness but very little coconut flavor. I'm leaving it in the ingredients list below, but you can substitute water or broth and a little sugar for it. Without it, the recipe uses ordinary pantry ingredients, except for the pumpkin--if you don't have one leftover from Halloween as I did, you will have to buy one. This soup just wouldn't be the same with canned pumpkin.



Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Soup
(printer-friendly version)

This recipe takes longer to cook on the front end than the back end. Allow about an hour and a half for the pumpkin to roast and more time for it to cool enough to handle. I roasted the pumpkin and garlic in the morning and made the soup later in the day, but you could do the roasting one day and the soup making the next.

1 3-4 pound pumpkin
1 head garlic, top 1/2-inch trimmed
canola oil spray
3-4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups coconut water (or water plus a little sugar)
1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons good, mild curry powder (I used Maharajah)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 - 2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (optional, but makes this a main dish soup rather than a starter)
1/2 cup orange juice
toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and strings. (Set them aside if you plan to make toasted pumpkin seeds.) Cut each half in half and place skin-side up in an oiled roasting pan. Place the head of garlic in the pan and spray the pumpkin and garlic lightly with canola oil. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and put in oven.

After an hour, remove the garlic and check the pumpkin. It should be approaching tender but will probably need more time. Check again after 15 minutes. When the pumpkin is completely soft and the flesh is beginning to come away from the skin, remove from the oven and allow it to cool.

Once the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, scrape it from the skin into a food processor (discard any bits that look charred). Squeeze the roasted garlic from its paper and add to the processor. Add about 1 cup of vegetable broth and puree until completely smooth.

Pour the pureed pumpkin into a large pot and add 2 cups of vegetable broth and all remaining ingredients, except the orange juice and pumpkin seeds. Cook over low heat for at least 1/2 hour, in order to give flavors time to develop. If the soup looks too thick, add more vegetable broth. Just before serving, add the orange juice and continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Serve in bowls garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Makes 6 servings; each contains (without garnish) 169 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (6% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 571mg Sodium; 4g Fiber.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Still Not Cooking, but Not Completely Unproductive Either

I'll be honest with you. I haven't cooked anything new worth writing about since the Chocolate-Orange Cake. Several days ago, I attempted baby eggplants stuffed with tofu ricotta, and they tasted good but not noteworthy. Besides, by the time they finished cooking, my family was too famished to wait for me to photograph them; we descended on them like a pack of wild dogs. Then last night, I made Okara "Crab" Cakes with tofu instead of okara, and if they hadn't fallen apart at the slightest touch, I might have written about them. Other than those two feeble attempts at innovation, it's been a week of Standby Suppers--you know, those quick and easy meals you turn to when you just want good food fast. I keep meaning to make a list of our favorites, pastas dishes like Mac and Cheeze and soups like Easy Bean and Vegetable Soup, but I haven't even had time for that.

So what have I been doing? Well, for the last 10 hours or so I've been putting together a calendar. It began as a Christmas present for my dad (good thing he never reads my blog!) but as time went on and I struggled with the crazy slow website where I was designing it, I thought maybe I should make it available to any readers who want to buy it. After all, the photos have all appeared in this blog. But guess what--it's not a food calendar! To see what I mean, click on the photo above to go to the website where you can preview it and order it. If you order it soon, there should still be plenty of time to get it before Christmas.

Here's my disclaimer: I haven't seen the printed calendar yet, but I used high-resolution photos, so it should turn out well. It had better--I just ordered seven of them myself. Yep, everybody on my Christmas list is getting one!

Now let me see if I still have time to cook something interesting for dinner. Otherwise, it's another baked potato night.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Get Clicking!

I've been asked by the multi-talented Bee and Jai to be a judge in this month's Click competition. If you're not familiar with Click, it's a photography contest that focuses on a particular theme each month. This month's theme is... {drumroll please} ...Show us your NUTS! Now, I know that there are a lot of vegan nuts out there...um, I mean, I know that nuts are naturally vegan, so this is a theme that's perfect for vegan photo enthusiasts. All the rules are here, so get out your cameras and go nuts! The deadline is December 30, so you've still got plenty of time.

Warning: Gratuitous Kitten Photos follow

I know at least one of you stops reading whenever cats are involved, so I've given you fair warning. Here's what I've been photographing instead of food lately:



It's the beast kitten that you thought was so cute, and that's my foot she's munching on. Do you know how hard it is to photograph a being that rarely stops moving? I had to provide first a string and then my foot as bait, and still most of the shots came out as headless blurs.



Here she is in a calmer mood, probably thinking about how much fun it'd be to jump up and grab the camera strap!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free

Chocolate-Orange Cake

It's citrus season in the Deep South. All along the highways of southern Louisiana and Mississippi, vendors are setting up stands selling local satsumas and oranges. I noticed them when D, E, and I were driving back from New Orleans at Thanksgiving, but I didn't need to stop because we were already en route to my parents' house, where we're fortunate enough to get to pick our fill of fruit off their trees. If this all seems familiar to you, it's because we did the same thing last Thanksgiving and I took photos of it. Invariably we take more fruit than we can actually use, so I'm constantly on the lookout for good citrus recipes.

And I found a great one, in an article all about citrus in a local magazine. The recipe that caught my eye was a decadent-looking dessert containing one of my favorite flavor combinations, chocolate and orange. I love creamy dark chocolate spiked with tangy bits of orange, though it's far from a fat-free food. But as I looked at the cake recipe, I thought, "I can do this--and make it fat-free and vegan!" So I took the basic idea for the cake--to add orange juice and peel to a chocolate cake--and used it with my standard chocolate cake recipe, the one I pull out for birthdays and celebrations. In order to keep the cake low-fat, I needed to substitute something for the 3/4 cup of oil that the recipe calls for. Lately I've had excellent results using soy yogurt instead of oil, so that's what I did.



The verdict? Best fat-free cake ever! While it's not as light as a normal cake, the denseness contributes to the dark chocolate feel. It sparkles throughout with the taste of orange, and because it's not a super-sweet cake, the icings provide just the right accent without being cloying. I served it to my daughter and her friend without mentioning the lack of fat (or the inclusion of whole wheat flour) and they both loved it. I wouldn't hesitate to serve this cake to guests.



Chocolate-Orange Cake
(printer-friendly version)

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soy yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons grated orange peel

Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
2 teaspoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/8 tsp. if double strength)
--plus extra orange juice as needed

Orange Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon orange juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1/8 tsp. if double strength)
--plus extra orange juice as needed

Spray a Bundt cake pan with non-stick spray and dust it lightly with unsweetened cocoa. Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the yogurt, vanilla, balsamic vinegar, water, and orange juice. Beat by hand or with a mixer on low speed just until well-combined, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the grated orange peel, and pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a serving platter and cool completely.

When the cake is cool, make the icings. For each icing, mix the ingredients in separate small bowls. One half teaspoon at a time, stir in enough extra orange juice to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle the chocolate icing over the cake, wait a few minutes for it to set, and then drizzle the orange icing.

Makes 16 servings. With icing, as shown: 198 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (3% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 47g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 294mg Sodium; 3g Fiber.

Cake without icing: 167 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (3% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 294mg Sodium; 2g Fiber.

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See those orange pieces in the first cake photo? I put them there just for decoration, but my daughter insisted on squeezing some over her cake. I didn't try it, but she says it tastes great that way. She and her friend ate a whole orange along with their cake. Now that's one way to get children to eat fruit!

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free