Pizza + Cake

My good friend, Sarah, had her birthday this week. This was a very good excuse to make some cake! And pizza!

 

Pizza is one of my favourite things to eat and it was probably the main reason that I hadn't already become vegan. I've never been a great fan of cheese, but I wouldn't turn down a slice of mozzarella pizza. However, I have been experimenting with cheeseless pizzas in the past and I really haven't been missing the cheese.

So, preparing a meal for 5 is fairly easy to do with pizza. I premade the dough the night before and let it rise overnight and throughout the day. I knocked the dough back and rolled out the bases to sit for a further 20mins. I mostly use wholemeal flour but made a 50/50 with plain white flour too. The sauce was made the night before too with plum tomatoes, garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, oregano and pepper. I let this reduce down for about an hour.

Unfortunately I have no photos of the pizza because, in a hunger-crazed frenzy, I forgot. The guests had some mozzarella and mixed vegetables and I used thinly sliced courgette to cover the top of mine.

 

The cake was a bit of an experiment. I'd been looking up recipes for inspiration and found a few with parsnips. Normally carrot cake is one of my favourites, especially when dairy and egg free, because the carrot keeps the mix moist and never seems to be too stodgy. So I made a parsnip and coconut cake with raspberry jam in the centre and a coconut oil butter icing for the top. Yum yum!