June 2018

One thing that always surprises me when I visit health stores its the cost of fermented foods and drinks. It’s incredible the difference in cost between the homemade and store bought, particularly because the ingredients use to make fermented foods are veeeeeery cheap and, let’s be honest, the labor is almost nonexistent. Fermented drinks are a good way to keep the gut flora balanced, incorporating beneficial bacteria while also being very pleasant to drink. The taste of kefir reminds me of that of a slightly sparkly lemonade and kombucha, another popular fermented drink, has a mild tea taste (I usually make it with white tea as its the milder caffeinated tea taste wise). Making water kefir is so easy that it made me laugh when I first made it and realised I could always have it in the fridge ready to drink. It ferments rather quickly, usually 24-36 hours for the first part and 24 hours for the second part, so I always have a bottle at hand. One very important tip when making water kefir is to remember that its best to use glass or plastic utensils. I always use glass jars for both fermenting or keeping in the…

I am really starting to enjoy decorating cupcakes and cakes using my piping tips and vegan buttercream- it is so easy to make that is really no excuse not to… I have also started making colours using natural pigments the same way I make colorful aquafaba royal icing to decorate cookies and the like. I certainly won’t say that vegan buttercream is super healthy, but there are some measures you can take to make sure it’s at least healthier than the ones used widely in commercial establishments. Sometimes its all about the best available option, rather than not having something at all… We sometimes use our homemade vegan butter to make this, but most of the time we simply buy a vegan butter alternative, free of palm oil whenever possible or at least those made with sustainable palm oil. It is more cost effective this way and also, the butter we make at home it’s so delicious that always feels like a shame when we use it for anything else than spreading it on toast 😉 So, back to how to make vegan buttercream… I have tried many times to follow recipes on how to make it from other people…

One thing I really love making is cakes. I make them for no reason at all, just to enjoy a nice and healthier treat than I could get out there in the shops, but I also love making them for friends and family to celebrate birthdays and other occasions. Last weekend was my sister’s birthday and Laura came to London for a few days and I could not resist to make her a beautiful vegan vanilla birthday cake. I’d like to share the recipe for the vegan vanilla cake I made her because it was delicious and very easy while still being quite a good looking cake. Lately I started using shop bought vegan royal icing to cover the cakes. The reasons for using the commercial version is that we do never actually eat the icing, we simply use it for decoration purposes so I found it be quite a waste of good ingredients to make my own. I do make my own royal icing for cookie decoration as we use small amounts and we do eat that 😉 we need to choose our battles to fit our pockets I say! So, back to the recipe. The cake itself its…