Living Dead Cakes

Emily Boo & my first YouTube review.

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 0 Comment

I have entered the world of YouTube and all the enchanting people that make videos & make up the YouTube community.

The delightful Emily Boo and her adorable little daughter have a made a fabulous review video of some yummy cakey delights, I sent Emily as a little thank you for her support.

I love Emily’s channel on YouTube and have watched her videos for over a year so I was truly honoured when she said she would make a video about the cakes I was going to send her.

Im not going to lie I was very scared I was worried she wouldn’t like the cakes or they would get trashed in the post but stepped up to the challenge and thought I would send her some of my favourite things I have made recently.

I had to think of things what would post well and hopefully wouldn’t get too squashed in the post & I wanted to try and send things that captured Emily’s bright personality & I knew from watching her videos that she was partial to a little chocolate.

So in the box i sent there was:

Fairy Jam, Mixed berries with edible sparkly glitter.
Peanut & chocolate Banana Cake,
(Recpie is part of my 5 things to do with ripe bananas so its coming soon)
Creme flowers, But i made them blue & green, click here for the recipe
Chocolate marshmallow cookies, click here for the recipe
Chocolate sparkly mermaid push cakes with edible purple glitter
Chocolate velvet cookies, click here for the recipe
Chocolate zombie Hello Kitty cupcakes
& a Living Dead Cakes mug.

All 100% vegan and gluten free.

Sadly zombie kitty got a little squished in the post but Emily’s daughter still had a little nibble.

Here is Emily’s wonderful video.
Do not forget to like & subscribe.

I really do love her channel on YouTube and she also like Maleficent and Disney villains so anyone who likes Maleficent is ok with me.

Her videos range from alternative shopping hauls, to new tattoos, & OOTD’s, Emily even documented her tattoo laser removal journey and the ups & downs and pain that it caused.

One of the reasons I love her channel and think Emily is lovely person all her videos are so honest and from the heart, You can see she really puts her all into her videos even though she has a little daughter a husband and a job she still finds time to upload good quality videos.

Some of my favourite Emily videos.

Random question tag. A great video to get to know the wonderful emily

Dear 14 Year Old Me. I love the honesty in this video, what would you tell your 14 year old self?

Here are all Emily’s links so go like and subscribe to her and show her some love. ❤️ ❤️

Emily’s links

Thank you Emily & little Violet for the amazing video you made. ❤️

General

Its just a bunch of Hocus Pocus!!

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 0 Comment

We all have that one film that send us shooting back to our childhood, the one film that you can quote with out even having to think about it, for me one of my films is Hocus Pocus.

I was 12 years old when it came out and it ticked all the right boxes for me, Witchy, funny, had a cute black cat and amazing costumes, my inner baby bat loved it. My little brother and i would watch it over and over and he even named his hamster Binx after the character Thackery Binx. Our VHS copy of the film was well watched & loved.
So this film holds a special place in my heart.

On my every growing list of cakes that i want to make Winifred Sanderson’s spell book was one of them. Its now one cake that i can happily tick off.

I started by making my dark rich vegan/gluten free chocolate cake, filling it & covering it with my vegan caramel chocolate ganache and carving it into the shape of Winifred’s beloved book. Then the fun part I decorated it with fondant too look like her book, eye ball, fingers and stitches.

So here is the finished cake & all its missing is a dead mans toe………..

I haven’t done this one as a tutorial but in the summer i will be trying to make some YouTube tutorials. In the mean time if people would like me to do the next big cakes I make as mini tutorials I can happily do that.
If you would like me to just click the link and send me a message.

Find us on social media:

A new giveaway will be coming soon………

Recipe

Blueberry custard muffins

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 1 Comment

These delicious muffins are perfect for breakfast with a cup of tea on lazy Sunday morning. I love having these in the garden on a sunny morning while reading a book & waiting for my children to wake up.

If you don’t like blueberries you can make them with any berry I have made them with sour cherries and almonds (i will post the recipe soon) and there were just as delicious.

The soya yogurt gives these muffins a delicate vanilla custard flavour.
Perfect for a weekend treat.

You do not need a fancy mixer to make these either, a good old wooden spoon will do the job just fine.

MY TIP: Add two spoonful’s of flour to the blueberries and toss them in the flour, this will help stop them sinking to the bottom when they bake.

Ingredients:

Makes 9-12 muffins

The muffins:

110g Dairy free butter
250g Caster sugar
25ml Almond milk
¼ Tsp Pink Himalayan salt
1 125g pot of Alpro Vanilla Soya Dessert
1 tsp of egg replacer made up with 2 tsp warm water OR 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 4 Tbsp warm water
300g Self raising gluten free flour
1 Tsp Baking powder
180g Blueberries

For the Jam:

75g Blueberries
65g Caster sugar
2 Tbsp. Water
1 Tbsp. Lemon juice

Method:

Pre heat your oven to 375°F/190°C or Gas mark 5

For the muffins:

In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugar and almond milk until light and fluffy.
Add the salt, Soya yoghurt, egg replacer or flax seed, flour and baking powder to your butter & sugar mix and mix well until you have a smooth batter.
Fold in the blueberries and share your batter between your muffin cases and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and a tooth pick comes out the centre clean.
Leave too cool while you make the jam topping

For the jam

In a saucepan add your blueberries, lemon juice and water and simmer for a few minutes to break up the berries,
Add the sugar and simmer on a medium heat until the mixture thickens and the blueberries soften & pop, you end up with a lovely sticky jam.
Once you are happy with your jam spoon a tea spoon of the warm jam on top of each muffin and leave them to cool.

You can eat these warm or cold they are lovely either way.

Recipe

Vampire slayer soup

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 0 Comment

I have had some requests for some more easy soup recipes. As many of you have really enjoyed my Butternut squash & chilli Soup. I thought i would add another family favourite soup and my son even named this one. He said it was so garlicky that it would kill vampires, so that is now what we call this one at home.

You can contact me via the contact form if you have any requests, I love getting messages from you all.

I find a bowl of this soup is just enough for a lunch or a small meal, dispute being vegan it is so creamy & rich.

You don’t have to use smoked garlic if you can’t find any but I have seen it in many supermarkets, I buy mine from my local farm shop.

If you love garlic, you can add an extra glove or two, or for an extra garlic hit serve with garlic bread, its delicious with cheesy garlic bread.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

850g Potatoes, peeled & chopped
3 medium leeks, washed & chopped
2 Tbsp. Garlic oil or Vegetable oil
5 large gloves smoked garlic, chopped
1 litre Vegetable stock*
1 Tsp dried Thyme
Salt & pepper

Method:

In a large pan heat your oil and sauté your leeks and garlic until the leeks are soft this will take a few minutes and while its cooking you can peel and chop your potatoes.
Add your potatoes to the pan and pour over the stock, add your thyme and leave to simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes and soft and cooked.
With a stick blender puree your soup and season with salt and pepper to taste.
When i serve this i add a few extra grinds of fresh black pepper.

* I like this soup thick but you can add more vegetable stock if you would it to have a thinner consistency.

I serve with lots of fresh ground black pepper and garlic bread.

?✅ key

?=Vegan

✅=Gluten Free

Recipe

Caramel apple crumble

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 1 Comment

At this time of year people are embracing the winter weather and are having roast dinners, casseroles and other warm filling dinners.

My delicious caramel apple crumble is a perfect winter pudding & of course its vegan & gluten free.

I use a mix of Bramley apples and what ever eating apples I have in my fruit bowl. In this crumble I had a few organic red Gala & some Organic Braeburn. I like to use a mix of apples as the normal eating apples will break down and create a lovely apple purée, while the Bramley will hold their shape and add some texture to the warm apple base.

I used about a 25/25/50 mix of varieties of apples but you can use what ever ratio you like.

In my crumble I use a little nutmeg and a touch of vanilla. As much as i love apples & cinnamon together they get paired in every traditional dessert so like any good couple they need a break at times. But trust me the apple, nutmeg & vanilla are a perfect match.

This recipe is a super easy recipe, even someone who can’t bake can make this, the hardest part of this recipe is peeling and coring the apples!

My tip: This recipe makes a very large crumble enough for 4-6 people, you can make one big dish or do like I do and make a few little ones and freeze the spare for another day.

Ingredients:

For the apple base.

1kg Apples (peeled/cored & chopped into wedges)
85g Soft brown sugar
30g Dairy free butter
2 Tsp Lemon juice
1 Tsp Nutmeg
2 Tsp. Vanilla extract

For the crumble

120g Plain Gluten Free flour
100g Gluten free oats
60g Soft brown sugar
80g Dairy free butter

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/400f/ or Gas mark 6

In a large saucepan stir all your ingredients for the base and leave to simmer for 5-7 minutes, until the eating apples have broken down a little and the natural juice from the apples have created a lovely caramel sauce to coat them.
In a bowl add all your crumble ingredients and with your finger tips rub in the butter until the mix looks like sandy breadcrumbs.
Add the apple mix to your dish and spoon over the crumble mix.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and serve.

You can serve with either dairy free custard, salted caramel ice-cream or my toffee sauce from my sticky toffee pudding recipe.

?✅ key

?=Vegan
✅=Gluten Free

Recipe

Crème Eggs (flowers)

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 4 Comments

I used to love crème eggs, Well I did before Cadbury’s changed their chocolate recipe & well I haven’t had a crème egg since being vegan.

I have made normal non vegan crème eggs before so I just had to change my normally recipe to a vegan one.

If you’re not vegan you can still make these, just use normal butter and whatever chocolate you like. My children like these made with galaxy or milky bar.

You can also add any flavour to the fondant in the middle. In the ones I made today I added some vanilla bean paste, but you can add a few drops of orange oil, rose water or peppermint oil.

I made mine today as flowers, using an ice cube tray from Ikea,
I do have an egg mould but it felt odd making vegan crème eggs as eggs, we don’t eat eggs!!
So I made flowers! You can make any shape you like, if you don’t have an ice cube tray or mould you can roll balls of fondant and dip them into melted chocolate.

All the ingredients I used are from supermarkets so you don’t need any fancy ingredients.

Makes about 32 little flowers

Ingredients:

25g Dairy free white chocolate (I used some buttons from tesco)

300g Dairy free chocolate (I used Moofree)

85g Liquid Glucose

30g dairy free butter (I used Pure sunflower)

200g icing sugar*

1 Tsp water

1 Tsp Vanilla or any other flavouring you like

Some vegan food colouring I used Wilton

My Tip
*if you are not using a mould and are rolling balls of fondant you will need to add an extra 100g of icing sugar to make it a little thicker.
**See the end of the method if your rolling balls.

Method:

First you need to get your ice cube trays ready.

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave in short 15 second bursts until its melted, once melted add a little food colouring with a toothpick and mix in until you get the colour you like.

Add little drops of the melted chocolate to the centre of the flower and place in the fridge to set.

Now melt your other chocolate in the same way 15/20 second bursts in the microwave until melted.

Add half a teaspoon of chocolate to each flower and using a small paint brush, brush the chocolate up the side of the mould and tap the mould to make sure there are no air bubbles.

Place in the fridge to set while you make the fondant centre.

The Fondant centre.

First add your butter and liquid glucose to your mixer and beat them together, you can do this with a stand mixer or a hand held mixer.

Once thick and creamy add your icing sugar, 1 teaspoon of water, your flavouring & colouring and mix together until all combined.

Take your mould out of the fridge and fill each flower with a little of the fondant make sure to leave a little gap so you can fill the top with more melted chocolate.

Once they are all filled place back into the fridge and re melt your chocolate

Fill the tops of the mould with extra chocolate and set in the fridge.

Once set tip carefully remove from the moulds

**If you are making without a mould

Chill your made fondant in the fridge for 15 minutes to make it easier to roll.

Once cold using damp fingers and a tea spoon roll your fondant into balls and place on a tray lined with non-stick parchment.

Chill for another 15/20 minutes.

Once cold melt your chocolate and using two forks dip your balls of fondant in the chocolate and place back on the lined tray.

You can sprinkle any sprinkles you like on them or even some grated chocolate when the chocolate is wet

Chill to set the chocolate

Recipe

Cottage pie potatoes

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 0 Comment

Cottage or shepherds pie was the one meal I hated as a child. We all have those meals that our parents used to make that we hated, the one meal that would instil dread when we heard that was what was for dinner. This meal was mine.

When i was little i wasn’t a fan of plain mashed potatoes i liked creamy rich cheesy mash, so i think thats why i didn’t like it, but we all know children can be fussy little things.

I can promise that you will love this, its absolutely delicious.
It is perfect served with some some tender steam broccoli on the side & some extra gravy poured all over.

Best of all this recipe is 100% vegan and gluten free.

Serves 4:

Ingredients:

4 Large baking potatoes
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 large carrots, peeled & diced
1 Medium white onion, peeled & diced
1 Red pepper, diced
1 Clove of garlic, crushed
250g Soya mince (or dehydrated soya chunks)
2 Tbsp. Tomato puree
450mls Gravy*
Salt & pepper
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (I used Tiger)
Knob of dairy free butter
Splash of almond milk
25g vegan cheese, grated (I used Violife)
Salt & pepper
Tender steam broccoli or green beans for serving

*My Tip, I use Free & Easy Vegetable Gravy Sauce Mix. As its vegan and gluten free, I do add an extra few spoons of the mix to make it a little richer.

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/400f/ or Gas mark 6

Prick your baking potatoes and microwave until they are cooked (time will vary depending on the size of your potato’s) and leave to one side to cool a little.
In a large saucepan sauté the onions, garlic, peppers and diced carrots in the oil until they are soft.
While the vegetables are cooking slice the top of the potato length ways & scoop out the potato in the middle, be careful not to rip the skin, once you have done all the potatoes you can turn the scooped out potato into the mash topping, add the butter, milk, salt & pepper, and vegan cheese and mix. Leave to one side.
When your vegetables are soft, add the soya mince, tomato puree, 350 mls of gravy, Worcestershire sauce and leave to simmer for 25 minutes on a low heat, you want it to reduce so there isn’t much gravy left and its all rich and dark.
If you would like your potato skins to be a little crunchy then bake them in the oven for 5 minutes while the filling is reducing
When your filling has reduced scoop the filling into the potato skins and top with mash, you can either pipe your mash on our just put in on with a spoon.
Bake in the oven for 25/30 minutes until the mash is golden brown and crispy
Serve with your green vegetables and a little extra gravy.

My tip, You can make these in advance and leave in the fridge & bake as step 7 just in time for dinner.

Recipe

The best chocolate chip cookies ever!

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 1 Comment

These cookies remind me of the Friends episode, The One with Phoebe’s Cookies.
Monica wants Phoebe’s grandmother’s secret chocolate chip cookie recipe so that she can make the best chocolate chip cookies ever for her future children.

This recipe didn’t take a million tests, batch 16 didn’t make anyone sick, & Nesele Toulouse didn’t give me the recipe, you just read that how Phoebe said it didn’t you? Don’t lie i know you did!. Its just my normal cookie recipe made vegan, but they do get called the best cookies ever when people try them.

They are soft, fluffy & a little gooey and you can top them with any chocolate you like, buttons, marshmallows even cut up chocolate bars.

Ingredients:

115g caster sugar
85g Dairy free butter
1 flax egg*
115g Self raising gluten free flour
30g Cocoa powder**
30g Vegan Dark chocolate chips
35ml Dairy free milk (soya, almond ect.)
Extra chocolate chips/Vegan marshmallows*** for the top

*Make your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp. of ground flax seed with 2 Tbsps. of water in a bowl and leave to the side for 5 minutes.

**I always use Green & Blacks Organic cocoa

***I used Freedom vegan marshmallows cut in half.

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/400f/ or Gas mark 6 and line a cookie sheet with non stick parchment paper

Makes approx. 8 cookies depending on size.

Cream your butter & sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the flax egg and mix until combined
Once combined add the rest of the ingredients & mix well, This cookie dough is very soft & sticky so don’t worry if your dough is looking too sticky
Place the mix in a bowl and chill in the fridge for 20/30 minutes
Once chilled roll the dough into golf ball size balls and place them on a cookie sheet about 1.5″ apart as they don’t spread much, but they do puff up.
With your fingers flatten the ball of dough and top with a few extra chocolate chips or some vegan marshmallows
Bake for 8-11 minutes and leave to cool completely on the tray before removing.

These are even yummier in a bowl with some ice cream.

My tip: When making your cookie dough balls damp/wet hands will stop the dough sticking to your hands

✅? key

?=Vegan

✅=Gluten Free

General/review

My favourite vegan & gluten free products

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 6 Comments

Since becoming vegan the way I shop hasn’t really changed as I’m a seasoned label reader, but when you first become vegan or gluten free it can be a scary and overwhelming time.

Food manufactures fill our food full of things that in my opinion don’t always need to be there & supermarkets take advantage of people with allergies and dietary requirements.

They pad out the free from shelfs with some items that are normally gluten free/vegan anyway, plus they then make us pay extra for it! For example Tesco free from ketchup £1.20 460g bottle vs Tesco ketchup £0.65 for the same size bottle! 55p more! Both are vegan & gluten free!!

My tip: Read labels and don’t always head straight to the free from section. Check your old favorite items first you might have a pleasant surprise.

For me with being vegan and gluten free the amount of ready made food products I can have are limited even more, while something might be vegan it may have gluten in it & then something might be gluten free but then contain egg/milk etc.

If you have been shopping with me, then you may have witnessed my “happy dance” when I find something I can eat. It’s like the dance Snoopy does but with a bit more style! And some jazz hands thrown in for good measure ?

It’s a happy day when I find something vegan and gluten free, so the moment needs to celebrated with a fitting dance.

So these are some of my favourite vegan & gluten free products,

I hope they help you when you are out shopping.

Vitalite Sunflower Spread 500g

Price £1.00

Availability: Most supermarkets (chiller with the butter)

I love this alternative to butter. I prefer cooking with Pure sunflower but both are just yummy on crackers. Plus Vitalite is cheaper!

Schar gluten free cream crackers:

Price: £2.50

Availability: Asda/Sainsbury’s (free from section)

Since being gluten free I have missed cream crackers so much and when I saw these in Sainsbury’s and saw they were vegan too, I did do my happy dance when i found these in Sainsbury’s & they taste amazing & come in little sealed packets of 6 X 5 crackers.

The only bad point is they are very fragile and can break into a million crumbs if you are not careful.

Amy’s Kitchen Mac & cheese: (Dairy & Gluten free)

Price: £2.99

Availability: Health food shops/Whole Foods.
(Tesco do sell a Gluten free version but not dairy free & gluten free)

There is only one word to describe this EPIC!

Perfect to keep in the freezer for a quick easy dinner.

My cons are its price! & its very high in calories.

Tesco Free From Battered Onion Rings

Price: £2.00

Availability: Tesco (freezer free from section)

Perfect treat to go with any veggie burger or with the mac & cheese.

Schar White Ciabatta Rolls

Price: £2.00

Availability: Most supermarkets (free from section)

Perfect for garlic bread & dipping in soup

Violife Cheese Alternative

Price: Around £2.30

Availability: Tesco/Asda/Waitrose

The block is perfect grated on pizza & the slices are good for toasted sandwiches,

Cons, It doesn’t melt completely & uncooked is a little rubbery, but is a nice cheese alternative.

Tesco Free From Coconut Milk Drink 1L

Price: £1.25

Availability: Tesco (Milk free from section)

I have tried every plant milk you can name, and this is the only one that doesn’t give me a sore throat after two cups of tea, I use it in all my baking.

Swedish Glace Vanilla Non Dairy Frozen Dessert

Price: £2.20

Availability: Most supermarkets (ice cream freezer section)

This alternative to ice cream is one of the best for taste and value, Its rich and creamy and they also do a raspberry flavour (i’ve only found that one in Waitrose) which is amazing too. Perfect with my apple crumble or my sticky toffee pudding.

Tesco Free From Strawberry And Vanilla Cones x4

Price: £2.00

Availability: Tesco (freezer free from section)

These are yummy! If the weather gets warm stock up if you see them in stock, they sell out very quickly.

Tesco Free From Penne Pasta 500G

Price: £1.40

Availability: Tesco (free from section)

To be honest I like all the free from pastas from Tesco, Asda & Sainsbury’s.

Vego Organic Hazelnut Chocolate Vegan

Price: Around £1.95

Availability: Health food shops & online

These are so good, very rich & very addictive.

I hope these help you when you are shopping & thinking of wanting to try something, feel free to share your favourites with us and if you have any questions as always message us on here or via our Facebook page or on twitter.

Recipe Key:

?✅ key

?=Vegan
✅=Gluten Free

General/review

I ❤️ vegan junk food!

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Living Dead Cakes / 2 Comments

Who doesn’t love a nice chunk of cake or a toasted cheese filled sandwich?
Being vegan these things don’t have to change as a lot of my recipes on here will show you, but to make some of these things you do need to find some vegan alternative ingredients.

While many vegans like to stick to a plant based no processed food diet, some of us do like to partake in a nibble of some scrumptious naughtiness at times, so to fulfil my craving of some yummy vegan cheese and other naughty treats we went to visit a new vegan shop in Bristol called VX Bristol. Situated on East Street in Bedminster, While its out of the main shopping area in Bristol its definitely worth the journey.

They have a shop in London but have now opened one in Bristol and the last few weeks they have been having some “soft openings” they are practice runs before the main opening event, so the staff can be trained up and get a feel of the shop before it opens properly.

I have looked at the shops website and online store in the past but have never got around to placing an order or visiting the London store, so I was familiar with the products they sold. I was looking forward to getting my hands on some of the infamous squirty soya cream in a can and some cheese for my home made nachos. Sadly, they didn’t have the cream or the cheese I wanted in stock but I did get some of the other bits that where on my wish list.
(If the items i bought are available on their online shop they will be linked.)

I bought the Jeezo parmesan block, perfect for my vegan risotto, i can’t wait to give this cheese a try (I will have the recipe up on here soon), & some Jeezo Bianco – Vegan Mozzarella. I also picked up some egg free omelette mix, I have a few ideas for this so playing around with it will be fun.

I’m very excited to try the cold cuts I bought, normally any form of vegan “meat” I have found has gluten/wheat in so I have never got to try them, but these ones are labelled gluten free & upon reading this i did do my little happy dance. The last item in my mini haul where some of my favourite sweets, Goody good stuffs, Summer peaches.

My little shop came to around £20.00 i can’t remember the exact price of all the items but the cheese and omelette mix where around £5.00 each, the cold cuts where under £3.00 & the sweets £1.99.

The thing I do like about the shops are they have a little seating area where you can have a cup of tea & some yummy vegan cake or something of the menu of hot food they serve, I wanted to try their nachos and compare them to my own but sadly we got there for when they opened at 10am & that was a little early for me. Next time I go I will go a bit later and maybe try them then. On their menus they do sell hot dogs, Vx burgers, Quesadillas. I do think only the nachos are gluten free and vegan, everything else is just vegan.

I will be going back, there are too many yummy things i want to try. I will follow this post up with a new post when i visit again and hopefully i will have some squirty cream next time.

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