Vegan Mofo: Iron Chef Challenge

this week: pears and nuts.



i went with the fairly obvious this week, having nothing exciting going on for breakfast. one of my favorite things to make is the sour cream coffee cake from la dolce vegan, so this was kind of a no-brainer for me.

i veganized this recipe as follows:

Pear Walnut Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Topping
1 c. walnuts, chopped
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Filling
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. earth balance, chilled and cut into bits

Pears
2 medium pears, chopped
2 t. lemon juice

Cake
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. earth balance, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. tofutti better than sour cream

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. oil a 9" square pan and set aside.

mix the topping ingredients together and set aside.

for the filling, cut the margarine into the flour until coarse crumbs form. set aside.

mix the pears and lemon juice. set aside.

mix together the dry ingredients for the cake. set aside.

combine the room temp earth balance with the sugar and mix until smooth. you can do this any number of ways. using a mixer is easiest, but today i just used a whisk. it's a little annoying at first, but once you've gotten the earth balance beaten down, everything comes together. add the vanilla and sour cream. mix until smooth. pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with your favorite wooden spoon until just combined.

spread 2/3 of the batter into the pan. this stuff is sticky so good luck with this part. it seems thin, but it will puff up considerably while baking. sprinkle the filling over the batter. sprinkle the pears over the filling. spread the remaining batter over the pears. like i said, this stuff is sticky and really hard to spread around. you might just want to dollop the batter around. sprinkle the whole thing with the topping and bake for 40 minutes or until it's done. cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.



i'm bringing this as dessert tonight. my grandma is in town and i spent all day yesterday putting together a lasagna for dinner tonight. so stay tuned for tomorrow's lasagna post!