I love baking, and cooking too. But baking has a special place in my heart. The summer when I was 14 we moved to a new house and I didn’t have any friends. It was the summer holiday in between semesters and I just didn’t know anyone in this new place we lived. I spent the entire summer reading semi erotic fantasy novels (47 of them!) and baking cookies and cakes until we were all ready to burst from all the baked goods. I piled on the pounds but it was still nice. However, I didn’t bake this cake that summer, I know that for sure. It’s a very simple and incredibly tasty cardamom cake that requires little work but really delivers. I couldn’t get any good photos of it, when I last baked it the sun had already set and I am too tired to make a new one. Instead I give you this photoshopped version, it’s a cardamom girl cake!

This cake is really good just the way it is. Or you can slice it and serve it with some fruit salad and soy cream. Either way it’s absolutely delish! It’s an old fashioned Swedish recipe that doesn’t use eggs, so veganizing it was a no-brainer. It’s also not incredibly sweet but has fantastic flavour.

Cardamom cake:

• 125 g (½cup) vegan margarine
• 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar
• 2 tsp ground cardamom
• 250 ml (1 cup + 2 tsp) soy milk
• 500 ml (2 cups + 1 tbsp) flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Turn the oven on to 180 C. Melt margarine in a pot. Turn of the heat and add sugar, cardamom and milk into the margarine. Sift together the flour and the baking powder and add to the wet mix. Stir carefully with a whisk until the lumps are gone (but don’t overmix it).  Grease and flour a pan. It looks cuter in a bundt pan but a normal sponge cake pan will do just fine. Pour batter into a the cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes or until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted to the centre comes out clean. When the cake is done, let cool for about 5 minutes then flip onto a plate. Remove the pan while the cake is still warm and let it cool completely. Let mature in a bag for a day before eating, it tastes even better if you do!

It’s almost a week since the veggie fair (Vegomässan) now and I finally feel rested. Well… as much as I will get this winter. I had an awesome time. Every single one of my 110 bags of xmas sweets sold out and half an hour before we had to start packing our things up I was out of pretty much everything. I talked to lots of interesting people, got many compliments on the sweets and a few on our awesome tree. All in all, I’m happy about the day. It was very cramped in there, next time they need more space but other than that I have no complaints. Oh except for my ears! When they were sound testing on the stage I thought I was going to go mad.

Ok, have some pictures!

Before the fair we were supposed to be working hard but Phipps decided to sleep. Again!

We used so much chocolate, 4 kgs!

And here’s me at my table at the fair.

And our tree at the fair. We’d made xmas baubles out of perler beads.

It’s only two mre days until the fair! I have all of tomorrow and all of Friday and then it’s Saturday!

Tomorrow I’ll be making a couple of hundred pieces of fudge, marcipan and nougat balls from 2kg (or about 4lbs) of nougat and about 400 more shortbread cookies. Woah! Yesterday morning when my alarm went off I went to take a shower and then cried for 20 minutes. My cat is keeping me up all night and I am starting to get really cranky and stressed.

I went and had 200 copies of my one sheet zine done today. I’m going to be having them at the fair. I hope 200 is enough and I really hope I don’t have to take half of them back home with me. They’re only one sheet like I said, but what do I need 50 of them sitting at home for?

If anyone wants to know, I have a facebook. Here’s my profile! Add me, post funny things on my wall and.. I don’t know.

I’ll be back soon with a fantastic recipe for a cardamom cake.

<3

I’ve been away for what seems like ages, but I’m not actually back yet and I won’t be for real until after the 8th. (btw, you’re lovely bazu, i <3 you!).

I’ve been so stressed out lately, what with it being winter, me having SAD and a buttload of things to make/plan/do for the veggie fair on the 8th. I’m looking forwards to it so much but it’s a lot of work. I am so glad I’m not one of the people planning it, that would have been too much work. Anyway, what’s been up? I’ve not done much besides from eating unhealthy not very tasty food, making a million vegan xmas sweets and cookies, writing up a tiny zine for the fair and trying to sleep and work as well. If it wasn’t for my awesome friends and my perfect partner I wouldn’t have made it through these last two weeks.

Here we’re in the process of making 250 mozart balls, little chocolate covered balls of marzipan and nougat. In just two days we’re making 250 more! And also on Thursday we’re making 200 cookies more, lots of fudge and then wrapping things up and making things nice.

(That is a good looking man sleeping in my bed! Some girls get everything, I’m one of them ;p - that’s not my perfect partner btw, it’s my friend’s perfect partner!))

I have actually been eating and making food these two weeks, it’s just not been much at all. I’ve had several days where we’ve just had fries and ketchup for dinner, but what kind of foodie would I be if I made NO good food at all?

1. Crispy crunchy fried tofu from Kittee. I made my own filling of random things and had a cornflake crusting. It was delish!
2. Bountiful bannock, a jcd tester.
3. Avogolemono soup, a frecklefoot/chubby vegan tester. So good! Everyone adored it.
4. Spicy yoghurt tofu, frecklefoot/chubby vegan tester. Oh my god!

And right now I’m counting on a lovely cardamom cake to save my day. Recipe shall come in the future!