Due to the “severe” winter weather, Tom and I both got to stay home from work yesterday. Look how treacherous these roads were! Good thing almost every car out on the road has chained tires. (Sorry, having been brought up in Chicago, I have no respect for a 34°, no-wind, fluffy snow storm. And I fail to see how driving with chains on your tires helps you in this.)
That’s not to say there weren’t casualties. I found this little family at an intersection.
Because I felt ridiculously guilty staying home from work—even when my office was closed so I wasn’t allowed to go to work—I had to be somehow productive. After a walk to the grocery store, I whipped up a childhood favorite: poppy seed cake. If there is an ounce of European blood left in me, this cake (along with my love of garlic and onions) is proof of it.
This was my first time veganizing it, so I wasn’t so sure how it would turn out (perfect, by the way) and halved the recipe. But with a total investment of 3 hours, you may as well get all you can out of it.
The recipe:
•2 envelopes yeast, dissolved in ¼ c warm water
•¾ c lukewarm soymilk
•½ c sugar
•1 t salt
•½ c vegetable shortening
•2 egg replacer
•4½-5 c sifted A/P flour
•2 cans of poppy seed filling (According to Solo, theirs is vegan–see comment.)
•Add milk, sugar, and salt to the dissolved yeast
•Stir in shortening and egg replacer
•Add flour in stages, until doughy, then knead 5 minutes
•Rise 1½ hours in a greased bowl, covered, in a warm place
•Punch down and rise another ½ hour
•Divide in half. Roll each half out to a rectangle, ¼ inch thick
•Spread one can of filling on each, almost to the edges. Roll up and put on pan, seam down
•Cover and rise yet another ½ hour
•Bake at 375° for about 30 minutes
•Let cool and sit for at least a few hours so it’ll be all set up and yummy
It’s not very sweet, so it’s great any time of the day. I give it my “Sure, you can eat it for breakfast” stamp of approval, but that’s not saying much. My favorite breakfast, along with chocolate cake, used to be a waffle slathered with ice cream. I’m not proud of that, and I didn’t eat it every day, but when I did it made me super happy.
Hi Michele,
All of the sugar in our products comes from the sugar beet fields of Central Michigan.
I forwarded your question to Solo’s sugar supplier and Rich of Michigan Sugar wrote, “We do not use any animal by-products in our sugar process unlike cane sugar refiners who use animal bone char for whitening.”
So, I’m pleased to tell you that Solo’s Poppy Seed filling is safe to use in your ongoing voyage!
Also, in the future, please consider e-mailing us a picture of your finished dessert for use in our web site’s recipe section. If we use your photo, we’ll send you an assorted case of Solo filling as a thank you! We already have a picture for the poppy roll but there are a lot of recipes that still need pictures!
http://solofoods.com/promotions.aspx
Regards, Sydney
Awesome. Thanks so much for getting back to me (and with the right answer).
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