More Blackberry Madness

Since moving to Seattle, I've been a broke ho. Therefore, I haven't gotten to explore many vegan restaurants in the city.

The good news is, though, that I have been to Cafe Flora! AKA: one of the most amazing vegetarian/super-vegan-friendly restaurants I've ever been to. No lie. :-]

The restaurant is located in Madison Valley and has a cute, comfortable atmosphere. The menu is diverse, featuring different plant-based foods, and only rarely a meat substitute. I went there with my friend Celia when she visited me from California in November! <3

So I bought their cookbook. :-]

It was rainy this afternoon. I was stuck inside. I got bored of playing the Sims, and I'd already been to the gym today. So in my boredom, I decided to make...

Cafe Flora Vegan Coffee Cake Pg 216

Now, this is a baking recipe (duh) so it requires a full pantry's worth of ingredients. Hahahahaha.

Firstly, you're going to prep the weird buttermilk mixture thing. I decided to go with coconut milk this time, because that's just my favorite. You mix a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with a cup of the 'milk' of your choice, and let it sit in the fridge.

Then, you're going to crumble up 1/4 cup of butter (chopped into pieces) into a mixture of 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar. You're going to freeze this for later. It will be the crumble topping! Yummmm.

So after that nonsense, you're going to use whatever fruit or berry you want to create a ____ coffee cake. I decided to make a blackberry coffee cake (because apparently I am obsessed with blackberries). You will chop up your fruit, and sprinkle 2 tbsp flour over it. (I still don't know why the flour-sprinkling is necessary, btw...if anyone can tell me, it would be highly appreciated).

So once again, I got to murder some blackberries. Their blood tastes so good! <3

Then you're going to mix together 2 cups of flour with 1 tsp of baking powder, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda.

So once you're done with THAT, you'll need your biggest bowl to cream 1/2 cup of butter (holy shit, a lot of butter!) with a cup of sugar.

Then you're going to put the flour mixture and buttermilk nonsense into the big bowl, mixing it all in, a little at a time.

 
Then you're gonna play with egg replacer. Now, I've never used egg replacer before. Apparently all you do is mix together 1 1/2 tsp of the powder with 2 tbsp of water, and there you have it - a vegan egg. Looked gross, but I guess it works.

 Finally, you're going to 'fold' this creepy crap into the dough. And then fold in your flour-covered berries. THEN THROW IT IN A BAKING DISH!

THEN SPRINKLE THE CRUMBLE MIXTURE ON TOP!

 Then throw it in the oven!

I'd also like to take this time to thank my little russian dolls.

The white ones, not the blue ones. The white ones are actually measuring cups. It says measurements on the bottom of each piece. AREN'T THEY ADORABLE?! I'm OBSESSED.

Ok enough of that. So when you are done baking this shit...

YOU EAT IT. YUM! <3

RATINGS:

Ease of Preparation: 2/5
It had a bunch of steps, it was a pain in the ass, it took a while, but I don't think I messed anything up. Yay!

Deliciousness: 4/5
Sweet, tasty coffee cake. Kind of wish I'd added lemon peel or nutmeg or something though. Felt like it was missing some special ingredient that could make it super-DUPER-amazing.

Prettiness: 5/5
A pretty little coffee cake full of berries and a delicate streusel crust on top! Adorable!