Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Tag: fudge

Vegan Chocolate Filler Bars
When I was little, I thought chocolate filler bars were awesome! I mean, what could be better than gooey fudgy chocolate sandwiched in between crumbly buttery cookie dough?! I think I first had them at my Mom’s friend’s house and we got the recipe from her, but I remember them being one of my favorite bar recipes. My Mom made a lot of bars, and I guess I can’t blame her, they are easier to make than cookies after all! I decided to make some Vegan Chocolate Filler Bars last weekend, because I don’t think I have had one since I was in high school and they just sounded good. Plus I had just picked up some vegan sweetened condensed milk to use in them, which is a main ingredient in the filling.

The bars I remember enjoying had a buttery oatmeal cookie like crust with crunchy walnuts, but I decided to skip the walnuts and just make it a sort of buttery oatmeal streusel. Streusel is one of my all time favorite things, on pie or muffins, and of course bars like this where the crust becomes the streusel. This recipe usually contains egg, but I replaced that with a flax egg, and I replaced the butter with melted coconut oil and it came out perfect!

If you wanted to make these gluten free, you could use gluten free all purpose flour instead of the flour, or gluten free oat flour. Also, I used maple sugar for these, but you could use brown if that is what you preferred/had on hand. Either way they will still be delicious! For the filling, I used Nature’s Charm vegan sweetened condensed milk, melted together with vegan dark chocolate and it was perfect! Honestly I could not stop sampling the filling, it was so good! But I needed to put most of it into the bars so that was motivation to not eat too much.

They baked up beautifully, and I could not wait to taste them! But since I was making them after work, I had to wait until the next day to cut them. They were so heavenly! Just as good as the ones I remember enjoying, with fudgy gooey chocolate filling, and buttery oat crunchy topping. If you are looking for something to bring to a potluck, these always are a hit, or of course just a delicious treat to have on hand at home. If you are a chocolate fan, definitely give these Vegan Chocolate Filler Bars a try!

Vegan Chocolate Filler Bars

Makes 16

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cups vegan whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 cup maple sugar or brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 Tbsp filtered water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 11 oz can Nature’s Charm vegan sweetened condensed coconut milk
- 1 1/2 cups vegan dark chocolate chips or chunks
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9×9 pan with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, sea salt, and set aside.
3. In another bowl, mix together the coconut oil, maple sugar, flax mixture and vanilla, then mix into the oat mixture until well combined. Set aside.
4. In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, dark chocolate, sea salt and vanilla and heat over medium until melted and smooth, stirring often.
5. Press 2/3 of the oat mixture into the 9×9 inch pan evenly, then pour the chocolate over it. Sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture and place in the oven.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool completely before cutting into 16 bars.
May 9, 2022
Salted Caramel Tahini Fudge
Back in the day when I was in high school, my Mom used to take me to this natural foods restaurant (you know, the type that had oats milk ice cream, carob cookies, and fresh squeezed juices) which I wasn’t used to back then because there wasn’t a lot of at the time. They had a famous tahini lemon salad dressing that my Mom used to always talk about. It was a really good dressing, but it made me think that the only way to use tahini was as a sauce or dressing. Little did I know that there were so many other things you can do with tahini. I thought it just made amazing dressing until I got more adventurous with food when I was in college and I discovered that it was an ingredient that made hummus amazing, and it could even be used in desserts like halva.

I now know that it is pretty versatile, and I actually love it in desserts. I have made salted caramel tahini brownies and chocolate drizzled tahini cookies and those were amazing. So when Raw Guru recently sent me some Dastony sesame tahini, I decided that some salted caramel tahini fudge sounded amazing. I have made many other nut butter based fudges before and they are always so easy and so good so I knew I could count on this turning out. I was also having kind of a busy week where I felt like I wasn’t getting everything done that I needed to, so this sort of dessert was perfect! I am sure you can relate, it is always nice to make something easy.

I combined the Dastony sesame tahini with some soft, pitted medjool dates to make this caramel, since dates are nature’s caramel. I mean seriously. If you are craving caramel but want to not eat straight refined sugar eat a date, they are so satisfying and about as natural as it gets when it comes to sweeteners. The dates blended up with the tahini, some water, vanilla, sea salt, and coconut butter to allow this fudge to firm up, made it super delicious. It tasted like caramel. Simply heavenly. I could not stop sampling it.

It just needed to set in the freezer for about an hour before it was ready. It turned out so good though! Gooey, delicious healthy caramel with a slightly nutty flavor thanks to the tahini. If you are a big caramel lover but are trying to stay away from the refined stuff, give this a try!

Salted Caramel Tahini Fudge
Makes 16 pieces

Ingredients:
- 1 cup Dastony sesame tahini
- 1 cup Dastony coconut butter, warmed to liquid
- ¾ cup filtered water
- 3/4 cup soft, pitted medjool dates (soak in water for 30 minutes first if not soft and drain very well)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt plus more for sprinkling
Instructions:
1. In a high speed blender or food processor, combine the tahini, coconut butter, water, dates, vanilla, and sea salt and process until smooth.
2. Spread out into a 1/2 inch thick square on a piece of parchment on a board or sheet pan (to make moving it easier).
3. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.
4. Place back in the freezer for about an hour or more until firm.
5. Cut into 16 squares and enjoy!
6. Store in the fridge in an airtight container up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to a few months.
January 24, 2019
Vegan Mocha Almond Chocolate Waffle Cake
When we get to the end of the year, sometimes I decide that I need to make a recipe that I have had in my head for a while, yet never got around to making. Well, this year it was a waffle cake. I have been wanting to make a waffle cake since last year around this time to be honest, but I either just decided on a standard cake, or for a while I was afraid to make Belgian waffles (the kind I would need for the cake) because every time I tried to make them in my old waffle iron they didn’t turn out. Then I finally ruined the waffle maker in the end when I messed up a recipe and added too much liquid (halving the rest of the recipe but forgot the liquid needed to be halved), and it ended up burning onto the iron so bad I had to toss it. It was about 30 years old because it was used when it was given to my Mom when I was little, so I didn’t feel too bad. But no chance for waffle cake without a maker.

Well, luckily my Dad gave me a Belgian waffle maker for Christmas so I could make my waffle cake! It is a nice Cuisinart waffle maker, and although the waffles are smaller than the ones my old maker made and are square instead of round, I like that I can make four at a time now. It is so much more efficient and they come out beautifully! No sticking! So I was super excited about the cake. I couldn’t decide between flavors for a while, because fruit sounded good, but I figured I would save that for next Summer when berries are at their best. So what I came up with was a mocha almond chocolate waffle cake!

Raw Guru had recently sent me some Dastony sprouted almond butter and I knew it would work perfect in my recipe to give it a lovely almond flavor, as well as make some almond butter fudge with to drizzle over the cake, and I had plenty of cacao powder, so it was perfect! Plus for some reason I have been making a lot of chocolate stuff lately. I know the name of my blog has “vanilla” in it but I don’t discriminate!

The waffles came out lovely, chocolate with a hint of coffee and almond and all they needed was some delicious things to layer them with for the cake. I made a mocha almond cream, and the fudge I mentioned earlier to sandwich them together with and the combination was heavenly! I also topped it all off with some crunchy toasted almonds and chocolate chips, because I love different textures! If you don’t feel like actually heating up the oven and baking, this is a great way to make a cake, or if you want a really decadent indulgent waffle treat for brunch this would be awesome as well! Hope you all are having a wonderful New Years eve, and I wish you all an amazing 2019!

Vegan Mocha Almond Chocolate Waffle Cake
makes 1 6 layer waffle cake

Ingredients:

Batter:
- 2 cups gluten free all purpose flour*
- 1/4 cup maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 Tbsp ground flax seed, whisked together with 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp filtered water
- 2 Tbsp melted avocado oil or coconut oil
- 1 cup freshly brewed coffee
- 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1/4 cup Dastony almond butter
Fudge:
- 1/2 cup Dastony almond butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup cacao powder
- pinch sea salt
- filtered water as needed
Mocha Almond Cream:
- 1 15 oz can full fat coconut milk
- 1/4 cup Dastony almond butter
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp cacao powder
- 2 tsp freshly ground espresso
- 2/3 cup Dastony coconut butter, warmed to liquid
Topping:
- toasted almonds
- chocolate chips
Instructions:
1. To make the waffles, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cayenne and cacao powder and sea salt in a large bowl.
2. Then whisk the flax mixture, coconut oil, and coconut milk until smooth.
3. Oil, and pre-heat waffle iron. Once it is heated, pour about 1/3 cup batter onto the waffle iron or until the iron is just covered (but not so much that it will ooze out) and close it. Cook according to waffle iron package directions. Remove from the waffle maker and let waffles cool completely on a wire rack. If you have a waffle maker the size of mine (regular belgian waffles), you may have more than 6 waffles. In that case, reserve 6 for the recipe, and enjoy the others!
4. To make the cream for in between the waffles, combine all ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into a bowl, place in the freezer, and whisk every 15 minutes until it is thick like whipped cream (it will probably take about 45 minutes). Once it is thick enough move it to the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the cake.
5. To make the fudge, whisk together all ingredients until smooth (adding a little filtered water if too thick. You want it to be pour-able).
6. To assemble, place a waffle on a plate, spoon
*If you do not wish to make a gluten free cake, whole wheat pastry flour will work as well!
December 30, 2018
Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream Sundae
My Mom brought me a bag of Spanish peanuts from Trader Joes, and asked me if I would make her a vegan Peanut Buster Parfait. Of course I couldn’t resist, because I love veganizing things. If you have never heard of a Peanut Buster Parfait, it is a sundae from Dairy Queen with vanilla soft serve, gooey fudge, and peanuts. It was something that my family used to love when I was younger. I mean, what’s not to like about all of those things?! It was pretty decadent and delicious. I did used to love going to Dairy Queen, up until I started eating healthier and giving up refined sugars and animal products. They do include a lot of both in their foods. The last time I ate it over 10 years ago, I was disappointed, and just missed my home made ice cream. Once you buy an ice cream maker it is really hard to go back to buying it. Just sayin’! I have made hundreds of flavors, and I I still get pretty excited about new ones.

This ice cream was going to be even better than a Peanut Buster Parfait. I decided that instead of just vanilla ice cream, I would make a peanut butter vanilla ice cream. Because I love peanut butter, and the more the better. I also sweetened the ice cream with dates which gave it a slight caramel flavor, and it was so incredibly delicious even just like that, before being turned into a sundae. If you don’t have any dates though, not to worry, you can substitute 1/4 cup maple syrup and it will still be delicious. To top the ice cream, going along with the Peanut Buster Parfait theme, I made a simple fudge, with a little more peanut butter, maple syrup and cacao butter, and it was crave worthy. This is something that you could bathe many different flavors of ice cream in, you could even make a big batch and keep it in the refrigerator for random ice cream cravings.

I topped it all off with those Spanish peanuts from Trader Joes, which were really good by the way, and I would buy them just to snack on. The sundae turned out beautiful, but more importantly it was delicious. When I served it to my Mom, she loved it as well! We both agreed that it was WAY better than any of those Peanut Buster Parfaits we used to eat. Not only that, no refined sugar or animal products included, so it is something you can feel better about eating. If you are in the mood for ice cream, definitely put this on your to make list!

Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream Sundae
Makes about 3 1/2 cups ice cream, enough for about 2-3 Sundaes

Ingredients:

Ice Cream Base:
- 1 15 oz can full fat organic coconut milk
- 1/2 cup organic peanut butter
- 1/2 cup soft, pitted medjool dates (if they are not soft, soak them in filtered water for 30 minutes before using)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Fudge:
- 1/2 cup organic peanut butter
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup filtered water (or as needed)
For assembly:
- 3/4 cup toasted organic Spanish peanuts
Directions:
1. Combine coconut milk, peanut butter, dates, and sea salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to directions. Alternatively, if you do not have an ice cream maker, pour it into a bowl, and whisk every half hour until it is to the consistency of a thick malt.
2. Pour the ice cream into a freezer safe container with a lid. Place in the freezer with the lid on, and continue to freeze until firm enough to scoop (at least 4 hours or overnight). If it becomes too firm, simply let it sit out for 15 minutes before serving.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together the fudge ingredients until smooth, adding a little more water if too thick.
4. When ready to serve, spoon some of the fudge into a dish, then scoop some of the ice cream over it, then a little more fudge, then more ice cream, then sprinkle the peanuts over that and enjoy!
March 24, 2017
Vegan Mini Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes
Sometimes it is hard to get motivated to go outside in the Winter. It used to be easy for me, I spent 3 of my Winters in high school outside for Nordic skiing every day after school, even if it was below zero. My coach said there is no such thing as bad weather if you dress right. I think he is right about that. I have done races in -15 degree weather and survived without being too cold once I got going. It is a little harder for me to get motivated to go out running in it though in recent years. I have all of the gear and I have run in sub -20 degree temps before. But you know how it goes…you wake up all cozy in your bed and you know you have to bundle up and go out the door and get blasted with cold. But I am proud of myself, I got out last weekend when it was sub zero and ran. I don’t mind 10 degrees and above so much but the sub zero thing is intimidating because it is hard to dress warm enough but not so warm that you get super hot and can’t drop your clothes somewhere. The best thing about running when it is that cold? nobody else is out, because all sane people are inside staying warm. I like to be a little crazy though, and feel so much more accomplished when I go out and run when it is not perfect conditions. Sure the wind stings your face at first, but when you get going you warm up and enjoy the beauty of Winter. If that doesn’t work, I like to start thinking about recipes. Like the peanut butter brownie cupcakes I made last weekend.

I use my running time to think up recipes among other things. Brownies sounded good, and I hadn’t made any in a while. I was in the mood for something chocolaty and decadent. The whole brownie making process makes me happy. The love that goes into them, being in a warm kitchen, licking the last bit of batter from the bowl, the amazing aroma that fills your home. I love it. It seemed like the perfect thing to do on the last of my days off. I was going to make a pan of brownies, but I decided to make them into cute little mini cupcakes instead. That way I could frost them with something luscious like a fudge frosting. Peanut butter brownies were what I ended up making, because I was craving peanut butter as well and the combination is always a hit among those that I share my desserts with. On a side note, I love peanut butter so much I go through about a jar a week. But luckily I make it myself, so it is less expensive. I highly recommend doing so, it is so much more tasty than the store bought! Just be sure to use organic peanuts (I buy the roasted).

They baked up beautifully, and I ended up making a super decadent peanut butter fudge frosting to top them off. They were sooo good! I couldn’t wait to share them with others so they could enjoy the deliciousness too! These are pretty easy to make, and their small size makes them perfect for sharing or serving at a gathering. They were the perfect baking project for a cold Winter day, and came together in less than an hour! Which is always good when you are hungry.

Vegan Mini Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes
Makes 24

Brownies:
- 1/2 cup avocado oil or olive oil
- 1/4 cup organic smooth peanut butter
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp reduced aquafaba or 2 flax eggs*
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup smooth organic peanut butter
- 1/2 cup cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp filtered water
- pinch sea salt
Directions:
1. Whisk together the sugar, oil and peanut butter until well combined and the sugar is starting to break down. Add the aquafaba and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour, cacao powder and sea salt and beat until smooth.
2. Spoon the batter into mini muffin tins.
3. Place in the oven, and Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until set (but do not over bake). Let cool at least 1/2 an hour before frosting.
4. To make the frosting, whisk together all ingredients until smooth (adding a little more water if too thick, or more cacao powder if too thin, since peanut butters may vary in texture).
5. Pipe (I like to put mine in a ziplock bag with the tip cut off and squeeze it out) or spread the frosting over the brownies, and enjoy!
*The aquafaba is the liquid from cooked or canned chickpeas. You want it to be thick like egg whites. If you are wanting to make flax eggs, simply mix together 2 Tbsp ground flax seeds, and 6 Tbsp filtered water and let sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before using in the recipe.
January 13, 2017
Vegan Toasted Almond Fudge Ripple Ice Cream
So, I ran my first race in a year last weekend. It was actually only my second in 4 years (after previously running about 20 a year), because I took a long time off of running in races after a string of injuries that had me feeling burnt out about it. I have still been running since then, but not competing at all. I love going out for a run, and not having to think about it. Not worrying about how fast I am going and whatnot. But I have finally gotten to the point where I am ready to race again and actually push myself to try and run a better time. The types of things going through my head when deciding to race or not were like… am I going to see people I know and embarrass myself? Is it going to be a lot harder than it used to be? I hope I don’t get injured. You see, I used to run something like a 16:30 or less 5k on the regular and I knocked that out like it was nothing, so now that I am nowhere near that speed I question myself. But hey, I am not a wimp, so I went for it. It was a small local race after all, and I had to start somewhere. By the way, none of the above problems I mentioned happened. It went really well. It was a rainy day, which some people might look at as a bummer but you know what? I like running in the rain, it is refreshing and cooling in the Summer. My goal was to break the time I ran last year, and I did that by 45 seconds. I pushed myself, but I think I can push myself harder next time and get an even better time. I wasn’t even sore the next day which was a plus. Sometimes you just have to face your fears and jump back into things. You would think after running in the rain the last thing I would want is ice cream. But not the case. I wanted some really good ice cream.

I don’t go out and buy ice cream, I make it. Not that there aren’t really good vegan ice creams out there now, but most of them have lots of refined sugar in them…and the flavors I want are not always available in stores. I wanted some toasted almond fudge ripple ice cream. Also, I did not want to go through a lot of work to make it. So, this was fast and easy to make. To be completely honest, start to finish including churning time (but not freezing time to firm it up after) was about 30 minutes. Just blend up, churn, whisk the fudge together and assemble. For the base I used only 5 ingredients, but it tasted amazing. Almond butter gave it an incredible richness. The fudge had an almond butter base as well, keeping with the theme.

I combined them with toasted almonds to complete the ice cream and it was amazing. It tasted as good as the ice creams I remember getting at those shops with about 50 flavors as a kid. You would not be able to tell this is vegan. It tastes sweet, rich and delicious. Just what I was going for. And it doesn’t have to be a super hot day for me to appreciate it. This stuff is darn addictive, I am just warning you!

Vegan Toasted Almond Fudge Ripple Ice Cream
Makes about 3 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

Ice Cream Base:
- 1 15 oz can full fat organic coconut milk
- 1/2 cup roasted almond butter
- 1/3 cup soft, pitted medjool dates (if they are not soft, soak them in filtered water for 30 minutes before using)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Fudge:
- 1/2 cup roasted almond butter
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup filtered water (or as needed)
For assembly:
- 3/4 cup chopped or sliced toasted almonds
Directions:
1. Combine coconut milk, almond butter, dates, and sea salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to directions. Alternatively, if you do not have an ice cream maker, pour it into a bowl, and whisk every half hour until it is to the consistency of a thick malt.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the fudge ingredients until smooth, adding a little more water if too thick.
3. Pour 1/3 of the ice cream base into a freezer safe container with a lid then drop some of the fudge over it and sprinkle with the toasted almonds. Repeat with another layer of ice cream, fudge and almonds, then another. Swirl with a knife to marble the fudge (just a few times, not too much). Place in the freezer with the lid on, and continue to freeze until firm enough to scoop (at least 4 hours or overnight). If it becomes too firm, simply let it sit out for 15 minutes before serving.
August 23, 2016
Raw Hemp Seed Cacao Fudge

Windy City Organics sent me some Dastony Hemp Seed Butter to create recipes with, and although I love it in savory applications, sweet is wonderful too. I love to include hemp seeds in my brownies sometimes, so I thought the butter might just make amazing fudge.

So, I created a simple fudge recipe with it. We are all busy, and some days have only a little bit of time to prepare things in the kitchen, but I can guarantee you have time to make this! It requires no special equipment either! So no excuses for you! After I mixed the ingredients together and tasted it…omg, simply heavenly. I could have sat there with a spoon and eaten it all in one sitting but we all know that would be gluttony and what would I look forward to then?

Once it set up the texture was perfect, way better than any other fudge I have had Side note, I used to love my fudge as a child…we would buy it from shops up north and I would polish off a pound in no time. This is better that that! I wasn’t selfish, I shared some with family members and they loved it as well. The best part about this recipe besides it being easy and delicious is that you get your healthy omega 3 oils too!

Raw Hemp Seed Cacao Fudge
Makes 12 pieces

3/4 cup melted coconut butter (not oil)

1 cup Dastony Raw Hemp Seed Butter

1/4 cup filtered water

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 Tbsp raw coconut nectar

a pinch sea salt

1/4 cup raw cacao powder

In a food processor, combine the coconut butter, hemp seed butter, water, vanilla, coconut nectar, sea salt and cacao powder and process until smooth. Spread out onto a pan lined with parchment in a 3/4 inch thick square. Sprinkle with hemp seeds. Place in the freezer for about an hour or more until firm. Cut into 12 squares and enjoy! Store in the fridge.

July 17, 2015