Introducing "Mud" - a vegan chocolate dessert

Mud, mud, I love mud.

I'm absolutely, positively, wild about mud!

I can't go around it, I've gotta go through it.

Beautiful, fabulous, super-duper mud!



If you're not familiar with the above little ditty you've probably never been camping nor were a member of a "scouting" organisation as a child. The song has been sung around many a campground fire and repeated with glee after numerous strong rainstorms.

I love mud. I love what can be done with mud... facial masks, pore cleansing, house building, children entertaining. Take some earth, simply add some water and it's amazing what you can accomplish with the resulting product.

Did you ever make MudPies as a child? Dirt in a pail, water added and served to loving, patient family members willing to pretend it's the yummiest dish they've ever consumed - what could be better?

How about serving them "mud" they'll actually want to eat?

Introducing "Mud" - a vegan chocolate dessert (free recipe!) from Mrs B bakes! It's a rich, velvety, sweet dish that's nothing like a mousse (no air), thicker than a custard or pudding and absolutely delicious!

Mud

1 (12.3 ounce/349 grams) package extra-firm silken tofu (I used an aseptic pack of long-life tofu called Blue Dragon) drained of excess liquid

1/4 plan milk replacement (I used oat milk but soya, almond, rice... would all work)

1 tbsp Simple Sugar Syrup (recipe follows) or 2 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

300 grams (about a cup and a half) semisweet chocolate chips

Break up tofu into a food processor. Add the milk, sweetening syrup and vanilla. Puree until completely smooth.

Bring a small saucepan half-filled with water to a boil and reduce heat to low. Place a metal bowl over the saucepan while it's simmering (not a rolling boil). Put chocolate chips in warming bowl and stir with a spatula while it melts. Once completely melted (no solid chips left) remove from heat (don't forget to turn off burner).

Scrape down the sides of your food processor, replace lid and turn on. Using the feeder tube, pour melted chocolate into the running food processor and blend until fully incorporated.

Using your spatula, transfer the mud into a bowl (or an airtight container) and cover with plastic wrap (see photos for a handy tip!) and chill. Mud is ready to eat after just an hour!

(Caution: Mud is not a pudding; it's much richer. Please keep that in mind when serving Mud as too much could overwhelm the palate.)

Instead of placing the plastic wrap over the rim of the bowl/container - lay it flat directly on top of the mud, creating an airless space between the mud and the plastic.

Push the plastic wrap to the outer edges of the mud and smooth to ensure no air is trapped between the mud and the plastic.

Curl/fold edges on top of centre inside the bowl, again to ensure no air contacts your mud.

These simple steps can help keep your puddings, custards and muds from getting a strange film across the top or simply drying out!

Simple Sugar Syrup

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water

Bring both to a boil in a saucepan (you may need to stir a bit to ensure sugar is completely dissolved) then remove from heat and allow to cool.

Store in refrigerator.

That's it! It's that simple (hence the name) and can be used to sweeten any number of things. Works especially well in cold beverages such as iced lattes, iced teas... it dissolves a lot faster/more easily than solid sugar granules so now that you've discovered it I'm sure you'll turn to it again and again!

Prepping for our photo shoot...

YES soup for you!

Being unable to eat milk products has left me with a wanting for certain foods such as pizza, mac'n'cheese, cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches...

Thankfully, the list is small and I've stopped craving cheese so I'm able to find easy substitutes for these comforting foods.

Pizza is easy for me; I just use a yeast-free base and don't add cheese to my toppings. Problem solved.

Mac'n'cheese used to be an issue when I really wanted cheese but now it's OK. I sort of miss it but not enough to even take a bite of someone else's.

When it came to cream of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches I was really stuck. I can't have the cream in the cream of tomato soup; can't have the cheese in the grilled cheese sandwich and even finding the right bread for me can be tricky. Nightmare.

That is until last week when I decided to just wing it. Thankfully, for the first time I started writing down what I was throwing into the pot instead of guessing afterwards. This also allowed me to take accurate measurements so, if the experiment worked; I could share it with confidence that what I told you wouldn't result in something horrid!

Well, it definitely worked. It worked so well I decided that night was officially Date Night and (pardon the pun) made a real meal out of it!

Thick and Creamy Tomato Soup

In a large pot add the following:

1/4c Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 400g (14.5 oz) cans of chopped tomatoes (please approximate if your can size is different)

1 cup chopped spinach (mine was frozen)

2 bags of Steam-Fresh type mixed vegetables (I used Broccoli, Sweetcorn and Carrots by Birds Eye)

1tsp mix dried Italian herbs

1tsp Oregano

1/2tsp onion powder

1tbsp minced garlic (I use Very Lazy Garlic)

1.5L (about 6.5 cups) vegetable stock

Set aside 1 - 1.5 cups soya cream (I used reduced fat to great effect)

Bring this all to a boil allow to do so for about 10 minutes. Reduce to low heat and leave to simmer for about an hour (I left mine for about two hours and simply added some more stock later to thin it a bit but I like heavy soups).

Use food processor to blend the soup (make sure not to over-fill the food processor, this may mean you have to do two batches) and return it to the pot over low heat.

Just prior to serving add soya cream and stir to blend well.

I served this with garlic bread and it was a hearty meal that I intend to make a lot this winter. YUM!

Our backyard/garden/behind-the-flat/house-area is coming along nicely, the ground work is all completed and all that's left is to finish the decking!

I've been baking a bit lately:

Basic Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Mousse topping

Almond Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese frosting...

...and a surprise Chocolate Mousse filling

(Why do I feel the need to add the word "Vegan" when I say "cream cheese" considering the entire dessert is Vegan? I only bake Vegan but I worry that people will see "Cream Cheese" and get the wrong idea, I guess, so it's a little added emphasis that it's still OK even though it's called "cheese". I worry, though, that stressing the Vegan bit only there will lead to people to think that that's the only part that is Vegan. Oh, well. Can't please them all, as they say!)

See you soon!