vegan lemon-poppy blueberry teacakes.

Babycakes in NYC is one of my favorite bakeries in the world. I bought their cookbook last year and have slowly converted a lot of my baking recipes to be vegan ( I have not fully abandoned the use of my butter and eggs, don’t you worry). So far, I have baked a dozen of these recipes and I have been more than satisfied and  overly impressed with the results of gluten free, dairy free and even sugar free baked goods. Shocking, I know. The ingredients are a bit pricey, but for every health reason possible, I have no problem spending the money. I have a huge sweet tooth so having a healthy alternative is a big bonus for me ( and my ass).

I love lemon poppy seed muffins so when I saw this cute cake in the book, I eagerly got my ingredients together ( and my sweet apron on) and got to work. Well, not too much work actually, it was quite easy to be honest. I also had a container of fresh blueberries in my fridge that I wanted to make something with this week so I decided to just throw them into the batter. The addition worked out well too!

Since I’m not allergic to wheat, I used Bob’s red mill whole wheat pastry flour instead of the gluten-free all purpose baking flour. It works just the same. Just don’t add the xanthan gum. 

So if you guys are big bakers, don’t be scurred to venture to the vegan side. It’s not so bad and actually quite delicious. 

Ingredients: 

• 2/3 cup rice milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds
• 3/4 cups bobs red mill gluten free all purpose baking flour ( I used 1 cup of the whole wheat pastry flour instead)
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour ( I used coconut flour instead)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum ( I omitted this)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/3 unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons pure lemon extract
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Lightly grease a 7 X 4 X 3- inch loaf pan. ( I opted to use a muffin pan)

Pour the rice milk, vinegar, and poppy seeds into a small bowl, but do not stir; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt. Add the oil, agave nectar, apple sauce, vanilla, lemon extract and zest to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the poppy seed mixture into the batter just until all ingredients are blended. The batter will expand slightly. Fold in the blueberries. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake the teacake on the center of the rack for 35 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees after 18 minutes. The finished teacakes will be golden brown and springy and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. 

Let the teacakes stand in the pan for 20 minutes, then gently run a knife around the edge of the cakes.  Carefully remove cakes onto wire rack and finish cooling or serve warm.

 With a cup of hot tea, of course. 

28 April 2010