Ice-Cream and Giggles

Ah, the lamington. The sponge cake, sandwiched with cream and jam, rolled in chocolate and sprinkled with coconut. The ultimate Australian classic perfect for Australia day.

I decided to take this traditional dessert up a notch by combining it with my favourite treat: donuts. I made a baked gluten free donut, sliced and filled it with whipped coconut cream, raspberries and jam, topped it with a chocolate ganache and, the finishing touch, coconut. Yum doesn't quite cover it!

Serves 6-8.

Prep: 20 minutes, baking: 12 minutes. Cooling: 30 minutes. Total time: roughly 1 hour.

You will need:

For the donuts:
 
1 tbsp ground flax seeds soaked in 2.5 tbsp water
2 tbsp melted vegan margarine
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the filling and assemblage:

Approximately 4 tbsp berry jam of choice
1 x 400 ml coconut cream, refrigerated overnight
80 g sugar free vegan chocolate
12-18 raspberries
Coconut shreds

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. For the donuts, mix the flax egg, vegan margarine, sugar, almond milk, vanilla and baking powder and soda in a bowl. Sift in the flour. Mix.
2. Pour mix into a piping bag, and pipe into a donut tin. Makes 6-8 donuts. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
3. Let the donuts cool for at least 30 minutes, then slice horizontally.
4. Meanwhile, spoon out the coconut cream into a bowl, discarding water. Whip.
5. In a saucepan, melt 80 g of the chocolate with 6 tbsp of the coconut cream (keep the rest of the cream for the filling). Whisk until combined. Let cool to room temperature (the fridge helps to speed up this process).
6. Fill each donut with whipped coconut cream, jam, and 2 raspberries sliced in half. Pour the ganache on top of the donut, and sprinkle shredded coconut on top. Serve!

Donuts are one of my obsessions. Nothing can quite compare to a hot cinnamon donut from a bakery, slightly oily, sweet and fluffy. Ah, those were the days when I could eat 6 donuts and wake up with a flat stomach the next morning. Alas, those times are gone, but at least I can still make vegan donuts that taste like nutella, are gluten free and refined sugar free!

Prep: 12 minutes, baking, 10 minutes. Cooling: 15 minutes: Total Time: 35-50 minutes.


Makes around 9 donuts.


You will need:

1 tbsp ground flax seeds soaked in 2.5 tbsp water
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 tbsp melted vegan margarine
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup melted loving earth hazelnut chocolate butter or a vegan nutella option
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp gf baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cacao powder

Plus around 50 g of chocolate for icing (I used salted caramel and dark)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In a bowl, add to the flax egg the coconut sugar, margarine, almond milk and chocolate hazelnut butter. Whisk.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and soda, then add cacao powder. Mix.
4. Pour into a piping bag, and pipe into a lightly greased donut tin.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
6. Let cool for around 10-15 minutes, then dip into some melted chocolate!