Desserts

Unchartered Territory: Vegan Doughnuts

- Elspeth 1 Comment

Sounds like a damn horrible idea, right? Let’s be honest, most of our ideas about vegan food include the word horrible and often hit the metaphorical nail right on it’s head.

No eggs? Ridiculous.

No dairy? Blasphemous.

No animal, no FUN.

Prepare to be proven wrong, my flesh-eating readers. Enter stage right: Coconut doughnut delight, completely vegan and completely delicious.

When I was a small child, my aunt would go to this wonderful, amazing, over-the-top fabulous doughnut place called Meche’s.

It. Is. Amazing. Warm, soft, squishy, with the perfect amount of glaze and some sort of addictive substance that always keeps you coming back for more. I would power through about 4 of those bad boys and then start coveting my cousin’s remaining bites. Not being the pushy, confrontational type, I would distract her with some sort of toy apparatus and voila! More doughnut for me.

The point is, this place sets the bar extremely high. Krispy Kreme tastes like dust in comparison.

Suffices to say that I did not walk into Subrosa Cafe with high expectations, but my vegan friend Lindsey and I were hankering for this sweet treat and made the plunge.

We selected the most delicious items:

Coconut and cinnamon-sugar doughnuts, apple scone, and soy lattes.

The coffee was delicious because the barista actually took a little time to make it. I could feel the love she put into it, even though smiling was not her forte. Soy lattes always taste better to me than ones made with regular milk, because cafes almost always use full-fat vanilla soy. What’s better then a lot of fat and sugar? Um, nothing.

Subrosa itself is a tiny, tiny cafe that has enough room for about 4 moderately-sized people and some hanging plants. There are some tables and chairs outside, conveniently located next to a toilet store. You never know when you’ll be in the market for a new porcelain throne, so it’s good to map these things out.

It was a very pleasant sidewalk breakfast spot for a Sunday morning. We even got some nice spring flowers to keep us company:

The donuts were amazing, but don’t expect a glazed, fluffy doughnut here. These are basically cake donuts and they are fantastic. I would definitely recommend the coconut, it was sweet and had a very good crumb with a lovely crust of glaze one top. The cinnamon-sugar was a very close second, with big chunks of sugar brushed on top and just a hint of cinnamon. Noms.

The scone, in my humble opinion, was crap. Lindsey loved it, but that’s because she’s crazy. So we won’t listen to her in this case. Sorry, Lindsey.

Anywho, definitely give vegan donuts a try for a tasty treat. These particular cakey-delights were made by Pepples, a Bay-area establishment that delivers all over the place.

Major noms!

Lemon Curd

- Elspeth Leave a comment

I know, people. It’s been about six weeks since my last post, and I’m sure you’re all suffering from the loss of my witty diatribes. But try and put yourselves in my shoes– I haven’t eaten since that damn gumbo! It’s been rough. But what better way to wrangle myself out of this pity party than with a nice, comforting batch of….

Lemon curd?
Yes, by Jove! Lemon curd! For those of you without British grandmothers (apologies for what must have been a dull and love-less upbringing) or who are victims of just sheer ignorance, you should know that this curd, this lovely curd, is one of the most beloved treats of yours truly.
Why should you care? Because this is my blog and I say so, that’s why.

For those of you who think: this stuff is so good when I get it from a jar! Why should I bother?
Hmmm, with that logic, why cook at all? Go grab yourself some ground-up cow and a box of your new best friend, Hamburger Helps-you-Vomit, and you’ve got yourself a grand ole’ party for….well, just you, because no one will want to speak to you again.
This recipe, courtesy of Martha with a couple of tweaks by moi, is extremely easy and delicious. I use it for cake fillings (it’s nothing like those gross, grocery-store made lemon cake monstrosities with the corn-starch enriched sugar fest stuffed inside) or folded in with whipped cream for a mousse-like heaven. Perfect in Martha’s Stone-Fruit Trifle (recipe here) or on top of pancakes. Or on a spoon. Or your finger.
So let’s get crack-a-lackin’!
You will need:
1/4 c + 2T granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
2 T bourbon
2 t lemon zest (chopped fine!)
1/4 c + 2 T lemon juice
Pinch salt
6 T butter (embrace the fat, it is your friend)
In a small/medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the sugar, yolks, bourbon, juice, and salt over medium high heat.
Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and let cook for 3-5 minutes.
It will look like bubbling yellow lava. Pass through a strainer into a bowl (this may seem minor, but it makes for a much, much smoother final result).
Add zest and butter, stirring until butter has melted. Place in a shallow bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic onto the top of the curd.
Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Eat directly out of bowl with no utensils (I told you to make it a shallow bowl!)
Or, as I did, put it inside a yellow cupcake and top with lime cream cheese frosting and a candied lime peel:
To answer your question: yes, it was amazing.