Vegan Sugar-free Gingerbread House

This Christmas I tried to make my own gingerbread house. Next time I promise I'll make it prettier, but altogether the experiment wasn't fruitless.
To be honest I didn't even bother to google how they are usually made, maybe there is a better way - I just drew a simple design and cut out walls, a base (house "floor" - a key element), and a roof from a thick paper, rolled the dough and cut the dough around the paper templates, chilled the cut-out pieces (to minimise spreading of thre dough) for 15 minutes and baked. The base was baked after the walls, which I tried on, lightly pushing them into the dough, making shallow grooves for them. It helped later to make the walls stay in place.
The roof took a bit more work - my husband made a triangle-shaped thingy from a cardboard, covered it with a piece of kitchen foil, and I placed the cut-out piece of dough on it, chilled in the fridge, and baked the whole construction, and it stayed intact.
Then I piped doors and windows with the vegan chocolate ganache, and glued everything together with the rice syrup. Then I piped little stars around seams with the ganache. As for the white cream, there was a bit of a disaster. It melted. Next time I'll use my vegan kinda perfect coconut icing, which will stay put! Finally, I dusted the roof with the powdered barley malt.

Anyway, I'm not entirely happy with this experiment, because I think the dough needs working on a bit, and the cream was not what I wanted it to be, so I won't give the recipe, because it needs further revising and practice.
Although I hope it will be ready before next Christmas :)

Vegan Cherry Clafoutis

 This is veganised version of a traditional French cherry pie. Michel Roux's Pastry book was an inspiration.

Ingredients for the crust:
1/3 cup of sunflower oil
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp water
2 cups of whole spelt flour (or any wheat flour)

1 cup of almond meal (ground almonds)
pinch of sea salt

Ingredients for the filling:
100 g silken tofu
1/4 cup soy (oat) milk
1/3 cup baking oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almont extract
1/2 cup white spelt flour
1 cup whole spelt flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of sea salt
200 g fresh cherries, pitted
2 tsp of barley malt powder to decorate


Method:
Preheat oven to 170C, brush a baking tin or flan ring with oil.
In a bowl mix oil, vanilla and  maple syrup. In a separate bowl, mix the flours and the salt, then add the liquid mixture little by little, maybe adding water if needed. Sometimes you'll need to add a bit of flour if it's too wet, but try not to do it too dry before it starts to hold together - it'll be almost impossible to fix. When the dough is stiff enough, mix it with your hands, trying not to press too much. When the dough is ready, roll it with a rolling pin and line your tin. It probably won't roll very well, so do your best, and the rest you can just add with your fingers and smooth together. Press the dough only lighlty. Once the tin is lined, put a piece of parchment paper on top and fill with baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes. Take the tin out of the oven, remove the beans and bake for 5 minutes more.

To make the filling, put the tofu, milk, oil, agave and extracts in the blender and mix till smooth. Put the mixture in a bowl and sift in the flours, salt and leavening agents. Mix with a spatula until smooth.  Put the pitted cherries inside the baked flan, and pour the mixture on top. Put the tart in the oven and bake for 45 min. It strangely takes more time than things like that usually do, but it surely needs it, probably because cherries add some moisture. Anyway it should be checked with a toothpick after 35 minutes onwards.
Dust your clafoutis with some barley malt powder just before serving.

Vegan Sugar-free Cherry Cake

A very simple cake with basic ingredients.

Makes one layer for 8" cake tin

Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/3 cup sunflower oil
1/2 cup agave syrup
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
2 cups spelt flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
generous pinch of sea salt
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup dried cherries, soaked in warm water

 Decoration:
approx 150g fresh cherries (one punnet)
barley malt powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C and oil your cake tin.
In a large mixing bowl, mix soy milk with the vinegar and leave for couple of minutes. Add oil, agave and extracts and mix everything together with a whisk. Sift in flour, leavening agents and salt and mix untik smooth. Drain the cherries and fold in the mixture alongside with the lemon zest. Pour in the cake tin, place it in the oven immediately and bake for 35-40 minutes, depending on the oven  - check with a wooden toothpick, placed in the middle of the cake - it should come out dry. I'd like to note that all ovens vary, so the aforementioned time and temperature are guidelines only.


When cooled down, smooth some barley malt or rice syrup on the top of the cake and arrange halved fresh cherries. Dust the cherries with some barley malt powder, sifted through a small fine sieve just before serving (otherwise it will melt and disappear).