Friday, January 11, 2008

Sweets

Andy doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so our sweets are not as sweet as most sweets. Sweet sweet sweet.
Coffee cake. Essentially the recipe for Blueberry Coffee Cake from VwaV. But, I cut it in half. I used half whole wheat flour (which I forgot was self-raising, hence the incredible leavening of the cake). I used blueberry yogurt and no actual fruit. And for the topping, I replaced walnuts with coconut. The result was fantastic.

More often than baked goods, we fulfill our sweet cravings with fruit. These mangos are called "Nam Doc Mai". They are a thai variety, and the flavour is very different to your standard Bowen mango. They have a milder mango-ness, and almost a hint of vanilla. They are juicy and fantastic.
Here's one, cut into. The photo doesn't really do it justice.

I've saved the prettiest for last. A dragon fruit (or, rather, two dragon fruits) from the Old Hippy at the market. I love the contrast of hot pink, white, and black. The texture is like a kiwi fruit, and the taste is mild, not quite as zingy as a kiwi. Fresh dragonfruit is completely different to it's bottled juice form which was trendy before I left the US. When I drank the juice, I thought dragonfruit tasted like cranberries. Now I'm pretty sure they just flavoured it with cranberry, because the fresh stuff is so different from cranberry. Try fresh dragon fruit!

8 comments:

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

yr cake looks wonderful!
the fruit is gorgeous too.

Monika K said...

Keep posting the fruit photos - I'm stranded in the land of ice and snow and love being reminded that fresh fruit really does exist!

Ashasarala said...

The cake looks fantastic. I really had no idea that whole wheat flower was self rising. That's a good thing to know, since I've decided to experiment with bread dough more often.

Someone who doesn't have much of a sweet tooth? I didn't know such a person existed! Wow... At least it keeps you healthier with all the exotic fruit. Dragon fruit IS gorgeous. And speaking of not knowing such things existed, isn't it crazy that 'hot pink' is a color that actually occurs in nature? (I get amazed easily.)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Andy doesn't like sweets?? oh no!! I'll take the leftovers of the desserts, then :0D

my goodness, that coffee cake really DID leaven quite a bit!! and your substitutions for the recipe sound divine - yum!!

oooh that mango and the artful-looking dragon fruit - I'm craving it!! I haven't had mango for just a few days, so good thing I'll be off to the store today, to buy some more :0)

Anonymous said...

that fruit is beautiful!!

Rose said...

I love mangoes but they tend to be pretty expensive here. I remember trying dragonfruit once but hated the taste of it. I felt that it didn't taste sweet at all but absolutely loved the colors!

vko said...

yum yum yum- that cake looks wonderfully moist, love the blueberry soy yogurt!

And just the mention of mangoes puts me into a Pavlovian drool...

I've seen dragonfruit but have yet to try- it's so strange looking!

Theresa said...

Glad I can spread the tropical cheer, everyone :)

Suzie, sorry for being confusing, but I'm pretty sure not all wheat flour is self raising. Just the one I bought. Really, I find self-raising flour annoying, because it's just flour with baking powder mixed through, really. But, this particular wheat flour was reduced to clear, so we bought it despite its self-raisingness. Good luck in your experimentations!