Vegan Irish Soda Bread

Making Irish soda bread is a St. Patrick's Day tradition at our house but this year, I made it a little bit different to suit our family's new way of eating.

I "veganized" the soda bread and truly, it tastes just as good as the bread I made in years past.

There are lots of recipes and variations for soda bread out there. Some call for butter, raisins, currants and/or caraway seeds, but just about every recipe calls for buttermilk. My recipe, for the most basic soda bread, is just self-rising flour, baking soda and buttermilk.  The recipe comes from a booklet called "Step-By-Step Irish Farmhouse Cooking," that I purchased in 1993 while living in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

To make the bread vegan, all I did was substitute soy milk mixed with a bit of lemon juice for the buttermilk. The ratio is for every cup of buttermilk, use 1 cup of soy milk mixed with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. I've used this substitution many times and it works brilliantly. And, if you don't happen to have lemon juice, you can use white vinegar.

Here's the recipe:
Note: The recipe calls for self-rising wheat and self-rising white flour which you can purchase, but I always make my own. It's much more economical so I've also included that recipe below.

Irish Soda Bread
2 cups self-rising white flour
2 cups self-rising whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 to 3 cups soy milk
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
all-purpose flour for shaping the loaves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Measure out two cups of the soy milk and stir in two tablespoons of lemon juice. You might need to mix up to one more full cup of this vegan buttermilk substitute, but don't mix it up unless you have to. Wait to see if you need it.

In a large bowl, mix together the self-rising flour and baking soda. Pour in enough of the soymilk/lemon mixture to moisten the ingredients and form a soft dough. If two cups isn't enough, mix up some more, 1/2 cup at a time.

Turn half of the dough onto floured surface and pat into a round. Place the round on a parchment lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Use a knife to score the top of the rounds into sixth's. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped with the fingers.

Loaves ready for the oven.

All done!

 Self-Rising Flour
1 cup all-purpose white or whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Vegan Cherry Lime Cake

I had so much luck with my last vegan cake, that I had to go for it again.

This time, I baked a single 8-inch vanilla cake that I spiked lime juice. After baking, I split it into three layers and filled them with a homemade sour cherry conserve.

The frosting is a vegan "buttercream" made by whipping Earth Balance brand vegan "butter" with some soy milk, vanilla, almond extract and powdered sugar. It's delicious!

Once again, this is a winning cake that just happens to be vegan.

Here's the recipe:

Cake:
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons lime zest (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (Braggs is my preferred brand)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Grease and line the bottom of an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the water, lime juice, zest, vanilla, soy milk, apple cider vinegar, sugar and canola oil. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat together until no lumps remain.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Invert the cake onto a cooling rack and cool completely before filling and frosting.

The cake after baking.

Sour Cherry Conserve:
2 cups frozen sour cherries, thawed and pureed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon almond extract

In a medium saucepan combine all of the ingredients. Heat over medium high heat, whisking constantly until it comes to a simmer and thickens. Transfer conserve to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature before using.

Frozen sour cherries.

Vegan Buttercream:
1 1/3 cups vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Whip together all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Start the mixer on low at first because the soy milk will want to spray out of the bowl. Just know that this takes a good 7 to 10 minutes. The mixture will look terrible and lumpy at first but don't worry, it will come together. Just be patient, keep whipping, gradually increase the speed, and whip it good!

The vegan buttercream after 2 minutes of whipping. I know it looks terrible but you just have to keep whipping it.

After 5 minutes of whipping,  it's looking better but still needs more.

After 8 minutes, the buttercream came fully together and is smooth and light.

To Assemble:
Split the cooled cake into three layers. Place one layer cut side up and top with half of the cherry conserve, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the cake so it doesn't squish out too much. Place the second layer cut side up and top with the remaining conserve. Top with the final layer cut side down.

Frost the entire cake with the vegan buttercream. Keep the cake chilled and set it at room temperature about 30-minutes before you are ready to serve. Enjoy!

Adding half of the cherry conserve to the bottom layer.

The stacked and filled cake is ready to be iced.

All done! The cake looks pretty unassuming and your guests won't have an idea of what deliciousness awaits them until you start slicing.