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Vegan chocolate cream

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This is a very simple and straightforward recipe for chocolate cream. You can use it as topping for cupcakes, on top of pies, or in smaller portions as a dessert on its own. And it’s without refined sugar, you can choose between maple syrup or agave syrup, whichever you like best!

chocolate muffins with chocolate cream topping

chocolate muffins with chocolate cream topping

Important though is that it requires advance preparation. That is, it needs some time in the fridge to set. At least half an hour, but better still an hour is best to make it stiff, espcially if you want to use it for cupcake topping.
Silken tofu is very smooth tofu. It is much softer and ‘creamy’ than regular tofu. You can easily cut regular tofu into cubes, this doesn’t work with silken tofu. In Belgium, I’ve only seen it available in organic shops.

Ingredients vegan chocolate cream

  • 1 package silken tofu (400g), drained of excess liquid
  • 1/4 cup soy milk
  • 2 tbs agave or maple syrup
  • 1 ts vanille extract
  • 12 ounce (370g) vegan black chocolate chips
Ingredients vegan chocolate cream

Ingredients vegan chocolate cream (+ soy milk not in picture)

Preparation

Crumble the silken tofu in a blender. Add soy milk, syrup and vanille and mix untill smooth.
Melt the chocolate chips au bain marie. Or if you feel this is too much work and takes too long, melt them – oh blasphemy! – in the microwave.
Add the melted chocolate to the tofu mixture and blend until well combined.
Fill the glasses with chocolate cream and put in fridge for an hour before serving.
Or if you are making this cream to decorate your muffins or pie, put it in a sealed container in the fridge. Once it is stiff, you can put it in the pastry bag to decorate the pie or muffins.

heating the chocolate chips au bain marie

heating the chocolate chips au bain marie

Here are several ways in which we have used the chocolate cream:

chocolatemousse with raspberry
chocolatemousse take away
coffee chocolate pie, with chocolate cream dots
Chocolate cream, with pears and raspberry sauce
mini chocolate muffins with chocolate cream topping

The ingredients for vegan chocolate cream is inspired by the recipe for chocolate mousse topping in the baking book Vegan Cupcakes take over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

 

 

Our blog The Bruges Vegan is one year old!

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A year ago, between Christmas and New Year at the end of 2013 we started this blog The Bruges Vegan. Wow, already a year, it’s a cliché, but yes, time flies.

one year

–

– Since the start at the end of 2013, we published 72 blogposts. Nearly half of those posts are restaurant reviews. Wow! Didn’t think that in one year time I would have written 32 restaurant reviews! I hope to write at least as many in 2015, cause that means we would discover lost of new places to eat out! 🙂
Luckily our lists of restaurants where vegans are welcome in Bruges and around Bruges is still growing, and we are gradually adding new entries (suggestions are always welcome!).

– We got to meet many other (vegan) bloggers, from all around the world! A great community, so much things to discover, so many recipes to try! I also found many lovely blogposts showing tourists’ impressions from their visit to Bruges. It’s nice to discover the city through the lens of visitors.
We also get positive feedback from visitors through e-mails, telling us they found our blog usefull in planning their trip to Bruges/Belgium. And that’s preciesely one of the reasons why we started this blog, so very happy with that 🙂 Unfortunately we also got hate mail, instigated by our short, but apparently provoking blogpost about the horse-drawn carriages in Bruges (which we would rather see disappear!).

– Our blog attracted visitors from nearly 100 different countries!

Visitors from 98 countries, The Bruges Vegan

Visitors from 98 countries, The Bruges Vegan

– These were, on a year base, the most popular posts. It’s not suprising that our blogs about restaurant Réliva in Bruges are up there, since our blog is mentioned on the home page of the restaurant. Yeah! 🙂
The most active day was November 16th 2014, when we published the blog about vegan shop SHAVT in Louvain (Leuven).

2014popularposts

– The Bruges Vegan also got around on the internet. We did a guestblog on Discovering Belgium and a travel guide for Bruges on Stay.com and. You can see an overview on this page: The Bruges Vegan in other media.

– In 2014, I also got a vegan tattoo (well the other half of the Bruges Vegan did, the tattoo is not on both our arms, but we are both very happy with it ;-). See the blogpost here.

The Bruges Vegan in the future

As we do go out for dinner quite a lot, restaurant reviews will always be a large part of The Bruges Vegan. I also want to have more shops listed and reviewed on the blog, especially shops in Bruges where you can get vegan chocolates. I hope I can try out a lot of those 😉 I also plan on sharing more photos of our vegetable garden.
I’m thinking of doing some theme inspired series of blogposts, but I’m still thinking of which theme to choose. Any which way, I do want to pay more attention to animal rights inspired matters, situated in or around Bruges.
And – although it’s still a long way ahead – I definitely want to participate in the vegan MoFo in 2015 (vegan Month of Food).

No shortage of inspiration! So I hope you will drop by again in 2015!
happy New Year!

#32 Vegan dining at restaurant Mykene, Leuven ***

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Restaurant review #32 Mykene is a traditional restaurant in the city center of Leuven (Louvain). But unlike most other traditional restaurants, it has several vegan options standardly available! Leuven is about 15 minutes away from Europe’s capital. Mykene is a very large restaurant, with a terrace in front on the street and a spacious private terrace at the back. The photos below give you an impression of the interior.
We had been at restaurant Mykene a couple of years ago, but at that time their vegan options were still rather limited (adjusting the vegetarian options, e.g. by leaving out the cheese), but now they have a seperate vegan category on the menu card (and yes, the “Belgian cheese” mentioned in one of the vegan dishes is vegan cheese, we asked 😉 ).

vegan options on menu card, Mykene, Leuven

vegan options on menu card, Mykene, Leuven

mykene3

vegan options are clearly indicated on the menu card

Our vegan lunch at Mykene

It’s nice they have freshly squeezed orange juice, although it was quite expensive for this little glass: 6€.
For starters we had the soup of the day (leek soup, 5€) and the vegan salad caprese, with mozzarella and rucola (11,50€). Both were very enjoyable. The vegan mozzarella was a pleasant surprise.

Fresh orange juice, 6€

Fresh orange juice, 6€

vegan sald caprese, with mozarella (vegan) & rucola, 11,50€

vegan salad caprese, with mozzarella (vegan) & rucola, 11,50€

Soup of the day: leeks (vegan); 5€

Soup of the day: leeks (vegan); 5€

Although we are not really into vegan meat or fish substitutes (the vegan scampis or vegan bacon type things), we were intrigued to see such things on the menu at Mykene. So we decided to give it a try. We had the vegan fishfilet with wakame, soy beans, nori and ponzu (a citrus based sauce) with rice (18€) and the smoked seitan with carrots and sjalots (17,5€).
The vegan fishfilet was way too big portion for me, covered with too many (rather tasteless and hardly cooked) soy beans. We didn’t really know what to make of the chunks of vegan ‘fish’ (we both tasted them). ‘Weird’ would probably be the most fitting description. Ther dish mainly got its ‘fish’ or sea taste from the little piles of seaweed. The seitan dish was rather unusual too, because you don’t get to taste seitan ‘smoked’ style that often. A nice variation to the grilled or baked seitan we are more used too. We both definitely preferred the seitan dish to the vegan fish dish.

vegan fishfilet with wakame, soy beans & ponzu, 18€

vegan fishfilet with wakame, soy beans, nori, ponzu and rice, 18€

Smoked seitan with carrots and sjalots, 17,5€

Smoked seitan with carrots and sjalots, 17,5€

There is one vegan dessert available at Mykene, and I was very eager to try it out: Pannacotta with coconut, pandan (palm leaves) & ponzu (a citrus based sauce), 8€. This was very nice and the waiter also specifically mentioned that the chocolate piece was a homemade – and vegan! – creation of the chef.

Pannacotta, coconut, pandan & ponzu, 8€

Pannacotta, coconut, pandan & ponzu, 8€

Our overall impressions

Overall we thought our lunch at Mykene was on the expensive side. Especially 11,5€ for the starter – the vegan salad caprese – was way overpriced. It’s nice they have several vegan options mentioned seperately on their menu card, and we are eager to try out the other options when we are in Leuven again. The fish substitute thing was not really to our liking, but I can understand there are many people who do like these substitutes and it can lower the treshold for people to give vegan food a try.
More vegan options for dessert would be nice, although the pannacotta (and the mozzarella) was surely one of the best things of our lunch.
One suggestion for the waiter is to have some more eye for detail. When people order everything vegan, and ask questions about the ingredients, you can assume they don’t want the butter dish on the table. Take it away please 😉 And although you were friendly and correct, it wouldn’t hurt to smile every once in while 😉

Mykene, location

Muntstraat 44
3000 Leuven
016/23.75.23

When visisting Leuven, you can also considering dropping by at vegan restaurants Loving Hut or Vegaverso, and shop at vegan store SHAVT. All within walking distance of restaurant Mykene.

See our lists of restaurants where vegans are welcome in the menu section of The Bruges vegan! List restaurants in Bruges and around Bruges

restaurant Mykene, Leuven

restaurant Mykene, Leuven

Mykene4

Mykene5

Frangipane muffins (almond) with apricot jam

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These are definitely one of my favourite muffins, and I have yet to encounter the first person who doesn’t like them (except for the odd person here and there who doesn’t like jam filling)!

frangipanemuffins with icing and chopped almonds

frangipanemuffins with icing and chopped almonds

Frangipane cakes are available in practically every bakery in Belgium, so the almond cake is very well known around here. Most often, they are also filled with apricot jam. These vegan frangipane muffins have a lighter texture than the traditional (non-vegan) frangipane cakes sold in Belgian bakeries. A perfect muffin to convince those that remain skeptic of vegan baking and insist that you need eggs or dairy for traditional baking recipes. Not!

You can easily replace the traditional sugar with the same amount of coconut sugar, giving you a dark brown coloured muffin.

Frangipanemuffins with coconut sugar

Frangipanemuffins with coconut sugar

Ingredients frangipane muffins with apricot jam (vegan)

  • 1 cup + 2 tbs all-purpose flower
  • 1 + 1/2 ts baking powder
  • 1/2 ts salt
  • 1/3 cup almond meal
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 3/4 cup (coconut) sugar
  • 1/4 cup yofu (soy yoghurt)
  • 2/3 cup almond (or soy) milk
  • 1 ts vanille extract
  • 2 ts almond extract
  • 12 ts apricot jam
  • optional: flower sugar + water (for icing on top)
  • optional: ground almonds or almond slices (for in the icing on top)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180° (350°).
Put paper liners in a muffin tin (12 muffins).

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt and almond meal.
In another bowl, mix the sugar with wet ingredients: canola oil, yofu, almond milk, vanilla extract and almond extract.
Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and mingle.

Put a drop of batter in each paper liner, so the bottom is covered (about a large tablespoon).
Put a teaspoon of apricot jam in the middle of the batter in each hole.
Cover each hole with the remaing batter (the muffin holes will be filled 2/3).
Bake for 24-26 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.
Optional: Once cooled, mix flower sugar with some drops of water and put the icing on top. Put some ground or sliced almons in the icing.

The recipe for these vegan frangipane muffins is inspired by one I found in the baking book Vegan Cupcakes take over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, and also inspired by this recipe on Fieke’s blog.

Frangipanemuffins

Frangipanemuffins

Frangipanemuffins with icing and sliced almonds

Frangipanemuffins with icing and sliced almonds

 

#31 Restaurant Buddhasia, Bruges **

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Restaurant review #31 – Buddhasia is a new Vietnamese restaurant in the city center of Bruges (opened Fall 2014). It is located at the back of the Sint-Salvator Cathedral and near the main shopping street (a 5 min walk from ‘t Zand). NOTE: see update below. 

restaurant Buddhasia, Bruges

restaurant Buddhasia, Bruges

Thai or Vietnamese restaurants often have a selection of vegetarian dishes that seem to be vegan (sometimes seperately listed as vegetarian or vegetable dishes on the menu), But restaurant Buddhasia takes it up to the next level and has a seperate vegan category on their menu card! Yeah! The vegan section lists five main dishes, ranging from 9€ to 14€.

vegan items on menu card

vegan items on menu card

Upon ordering, we got an appetizer with noodles and bean sprouts (taugé). Our drinks followed quickly: a mango juice (4€) and a freshly squeezed orange juice (4,5€).

appetizer

appetizer

juices

mango juice (4€) and fresh orange juice (4,5€)

We asked whether they also could suggest us some vegan entrees, and were suggested the Pho – noodlesoup (9€) (unfortunately no other vegan entrees possible). As a main dish, I asked the tofu with morning glory (water spinach) and garlic 14€) and my partner went for the noodles with vegetables (12€). Although the dishes are marked as ‘vegan’ on the menu card, given our debacle at Fanny Thai a week previously in Brussels (see our blog), we specifically verified and asked if no oyster sauce or other animal ingredients were used in any of the dishes. The waiter confirmed that everything was vegan, and reassured us that they had done their homework (also knowing that vegans don’t wear leather and such).

Pho - noodlesoup, 9€

Pho – noodlesoup, 9€

sauces on the side

the soup came with sauces on the side (soy & chilli)

Tofu with morning glory (water spinach) and garlic, 14€

Tofu with morning glory (water spinach) and garlic, 14€

Noodles with vegetables, 12€

Noodles with vegetables, 12€

Although you can’t really tell from the photo, the noodle soup was a HUGE portion. It also had some chunks of vegan squid, something which we had never eaten before (and certainly have never encountered in a restaurant!). I liked them. The quantity of the soup stood in contrast to its flavour though, meaning, it didn’t taste like much really. Lucklily, we did get some sauces on the side (soy sauce and chili) to spice things up a bit.
A bit of the same story for the main dishes: large portions, but not much flavour. The tofu dish did come in a garlic sauce, but the tofu seemed like it had come straight out of the package (not marinated nor baked or anything). So it tasted just like tofu (and anyone who has eaten tofu, can tell you that unmarinated tofu tastes like … nothing really 😉 ). To add some flavour to the dish, I asked if I could get the sauces back on the table to spice it up. The noodles dish was ok, although again – as with the soup – it contained a huge portion of noodles, and not that much vegetables. So that was a lot of noodles for my partner that night: the appetizer, the soup and the main dish!

We were already more than full, but I wanted to try this tropical sounding vegan dessert anyway Che bap (tapioca pearls with coconut, 9€). Mixed opinions at the table: I loved this dessert, although my partner was not so thrilled by it (yes, we both spooned away on this one dessert ;-).

Che bap (tapioca pearls with coconut), 9€

Che bap (tapioca pearls with coconut), 9€

General impression

All in all, we did enjoy our dining experience at Buddhasia, although the dishes can surely use some more flavouring and spicing up. Very happy to see vegan dishes mentioned seperately on the menu card.
Prices for the main dishes seem fair, although we did find the entree (soup, 9€) and the dessert (che bap, 9€) expensive.
Friendly waiter, who also gave us a reassuring feeling about the vegan aspect.
Buddhasia is not a big restaurant, if I recall about 10 tables or so. With a rather flashy, modern style interior. And dito music (I have no idea what style, but it sure had a uptempo beat, I would call it modern lounge music 😉 ). Which was beginning to get to on our nerves. Nonetheless, I’m sure we will visit Buddhasia again over the years, to try out their other vegan dishes!

Buddhasia, location
Sint-Salvatorskerkhof 14
8000 Brugge / Bruges
050/34.16.91
Update: CLOSED? We recently (Summer 2015) passed the resto, and it seemed closed. Website no longer works neither.

See our lists of restaurants where vegans are welcome in the menu section of The Bruges vegan! List restaurants in Bruges and around Bruges

 

Interior, Buddhasia Bruges

Interior, Buddhasia Bruges

Coconut lime muffins

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These are my new favourites! I’ve only made these coconut lime muffins once so far, but I’m sure I will be making them many more times again!

A pretty straightforward classic muffin recipe, with a tropical twist. Close your eyes and think lime cocktails, beaches with coconut trees, and enjoy your muffin 🙂

coconutlimemuffins1

Ingredients coconut lime muffins (vegan)

  • 1 cup all-purpose flower
  • 1/2 ts baking powder
  • 1/2 ts baking soda
  • 1/4 ts salt
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup soy milk
  • 1 ts vanille extract
  • 1 ts coconut extract
  • 1 tbs or more grated lime zest
  • 1 cup dried shredded coconut

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180° (350°).
Put paper liners in a muffin tin (12 muffins).

In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan.
In a large bowl, mix the sugar with the melted coconut oil. Add the wet ingredients: coconut milk, soy milk, vanilla extract, coconut extract and lime zest.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Add the shredded coconut and mingle.

Divide the batter equally over the holes of the mufffin tin.
Bake for 23-25 minutes (untill tops are golden brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean).
Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

coconutlimemuffins2

 

The recipe for these vegan coconut lime muffins is based on one I found in the baking book Vegan Cupcakes take over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. It also has a recipe for lime butternut icing if you want to turn these into lavish cupcakes!

Cranberry orange muffins

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Cranberry time! Lots of fresh cranberries in the shops available now (tip: freeze some so you have them available later as well).  We have plenty of walnuts from a walnut tree in our garden, so I like adding chopped walnuts to baking goods. I wish I could say the cranberries are also home grown, but unfortunately our cranberries only produced a handfull of small berries.

cranberries, walnuts and orange

cranberries, orange and walnuts

Ingredients cranberry orange muffins (vegan)

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flower
  • 1 1/4 ts baking powder
  • 1 ts baking soda
  • 1/2 ts salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 ts orange zest
  • 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1 ts vanille extract
  • 1 1/4 cup chopped cranberries
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  • some sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190° (375°).
Slightly grease the holes of a muffin tin (12 muffins) with some canola oil.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, mix the ‘wet’ ingredients: sugar, zest, orange juice, oil and vanilla extract.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Fold in the chopped walnuts and cranberries.
Divide the batter equally over the holes of the mufffin tin. Sprinkle a little bit of sugar on top of each pile of batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (untill tops are golden brown and inserted toothpick comes out clean).
Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

The recipe is based on one I found in the baking book 150 Best Vegan Muffin Recipes, by Camilla V. Saulsbury. It’s a pretty straightforward baking book, and although this is the first recipe I’m making from this book, I’m sure plenty will follow!

Bruges Cookie tin

I got this nice cookie tin with scenes from Bruges (the swans, the canals and the Belfry) from my mother in law. Perfect for storing muffins or other baked goodies! It can only contain 9-10 muffins, but by the time I store them for the next day, we have already eaten some muffins anyway 😉
I am not a experienced photographer and my photos are generally very basic, but I did experiment a bit with these. There’s room for improvement, I know, but I was already happy with these 😉

Cranberry orange muffins, and Bruges souvenier cookie tin

Cranberry orange muffins, and Bruges souvenir cookie tin

cranberrymuffins3

 

Lemon corn waffles

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These waffles have a nice light texture, and a subtle touch of corn. I made them with the heart shaped waffle iron.

Corn lemon heart waffles

Corn lemon heart waffles

Ingredients vegan lemon corn waffles

Makes 10 waffles (like in the photo, totalling 50 heart waffles).
Feel free to replace the sugar with another sweetener (or you could also try leaving it out altogether).

  • 3/4cup (165g) all purpose flour
  • 2 ts baking powder
  • 1 ts baking soda
  • 1/2 ts salt
  • 2/3 cup (75g) cornmeal
  • +++++++++++++
  • 3 tbs canola oil (or corn oil if you have that)
  • 2 cups (475 ml) soy milk
  • 4 tbs soy yoghurt
  • zest and juice from 2 lemons
  • 4 tbs sugar

Making vegan lemon corn waffles

Grease the waffle iron with a little bit of canola oil. Preheat the waffle iron.
In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cornmeal.
In another large bowl, mix the wet ingredients: oil, soy milk, soy yoghurt, lemon juice and lemon zest and sugar.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.
Bake the waffles according to the instructions of your waffle iron (in our case, being 5 to 6 minutes on level 7).

The recipe for these vegan lemon corn waffles is based on one in Vegan with a Vengeance, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.
In this cookbook, it says this recipe makes 14 regular waffles (or 4-6 Belgian waffles). However, We could make 10 waffles with these ingredients (like the one in the photo, totalling 50 small heart shaped waffles).
I wouldn’t make Belgian sized waffles with this recipe, since Belgian waffles (which are actually called Brussels waffles in Belgium) normally have a very light bubbly texture, which these waffles don’t have.

Our city guide for vegan spots in Bruges on Stay.com

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We were recently contacted by stay.com to add our favourite vegan spots in Bruges. Stay.com is a travel app and travel website for city trips all over the world.
You can see our guide for Bruges here!

StaycomBruges

 

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles

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Umeboshi paste is a salty, tangy Japanese condiment made from dried, pickled ume fruits. It is used to enhance the taste of sauces, pickles, vinaigrettes, veganaise, cooked vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, etc), rice, noodles, …

This noodles dish takes about half an hour to prepare. The recipe serves 2, or you could use it for 4 starters.

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles – vegan

Ingredients

  • 1 red onion, chopped in chunks
  • 3 cloves grated garlic
  • 1 tbs grated ginger
  • 1/4 cup umeboshi paste (up to 1/3 cup if you want it to taste more salty)
  • 200 to 250g fresh shiitake
  • 300 to 400g fresh green vegetables (large leaved chicory; spinach, chard, kale, …), cut in large pieces
  • 1/4 cup mirin
  • 1/4 cup shoyu (or tamari if you like it more salty)
  • 200 to 250g soba or udon noodles (1 pack)
  • 0,5 l vegetable stock
  • peanut oil or sesame oil, to bake

Preparation

Boil the noodles as indicated on the pack, rince them with boiling water and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan (wok style).
Bake the onions, make sure they don’t turn brown. Add the garlic and ginger and bake for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the shiitakes (cut the large ones in half) and bake for another 2 minutes.
Add the vegetable stock, mirin, shoyu and umeboshi, and mix well.
Bring to a boil.
Cut the green vegetables in large pieces (you can remove the stems and ribs if you don’t like these) and add these to the broth.
Let it boil for 15 minutes (if necessary, add some more vegetable stock if it evaporates too fast), untill the shiitakes (and the vegetables) are al dente.

Put some noodles in a bowl, add vegetables and mushrooms on top, add broth and serve.

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles, ingredients

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles, ingredients

Umeboshi broth with soba noodles, preparation

Umiboshi broth with soba noodles, preparation