I know that Mother’s Day has come and gone, but I just had to share this perfect everyday, great with tea or Coffee Cake.

One of the many things that I’ve learned through my Nana and her baking is that men love coffee cake. It’s a crazy notion, but you can go ahead and quote me on this. So with all my motherly advice aside for now, I’d been eying this recipe handed down from my Nana. Originally called Sour Cream Coffee Cake, it’s moist and satisfying and it’ll wrangle afternoon peckishness like the dickens.

Seeing that I have a habit of buying up anything organic or that I’d want to see in stock at my local grocery store just to send a message, I was the new owner of some soy yogurt. I’m good with tofu but I won’t be eating the “soygurt” à la carte again. However, as an equal replacement for the original sour cream in this recipe, I know I’d buy it again.

Although a nice bundt pan would be pretty, my Nana is of the depression generation so you can put it in what ever pan fits. I used a square 8×8 and it worked out really well, just could have been bigger since, even with all the birthdays lately, this is about the fastest I’ve seen cake go around here in a long time.

NANA’S COFFEE CAKE

1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Margarine, softened
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Cup Soy Vanilla Yogurt, plain is o.k. in a pinch, just add 1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Cup Plain Soy Milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

TOPPING
1 Cup Walnuts, broken
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Toss the walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream the sugar with the margarine, then add the baking powder and continue to mix until fluffy.
In a measuring cup, combine the yogurt, soy milk and baking soda.
Add half of the yogurt mixture to the creamed sugar, then half of the flour, mixing until each is combined, repeating with the remainder.
Lightly spray and dust an 8×8 cake or bundt pan with flour.
Add half of the cake batter to the pan. Add half of the walnut topping. Finish with the remaining batter, then evenly sprinkle over the last of the topping.
Bake in the center of the oven for 45 – 50 minutes.
Cool completely in the pan before turning it out to a serving plate.

Not like there is any mystery that I love chocolate, but I’d realized that I hadn’t yet created a torte recipe.
What better than Valentine’s week to do the dessert cart?

Generally, a torte is a flourless cake, often using bread crumbs or ground nuts in it’s place, resulting in a dense and intensely rich cake.

I love the contrast of a tart, red raspberry with the intense chocolate, and not only because it’s Valentine’s Day. Raspberries perfectly balance the richness with a bit of pucker making this a pretty sexy end to any meal.

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TORTE

1 Cup Almonds, finely ground
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder, sifted
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
2 Tablespoons Safflower Oil
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 oz Broken Chocolate Pieces, 70+% Dark, Semi Sweet or mixed
1/2 Package Firm Silken Tofu
3/4 Cups Frozen Raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Lightly spray or grease an 8″ cake or spring form pan, dusting it lightly with cocoa and removing any excess.
Finely grind the almonds in a food processor, adding a spoonful of the sugar, as necessary to keep it from clumping.
Transfer the ground almonds to a bowl.
Purée the tofu in the food processor, until very smooth, add the remaining sugar, cocoa, vanilla, oil and salt.
Using a glass bowl or a double boiler, heat water to a simmer in the lower pan to gently melt the chocolate above.
Pour the melted chocolate into the tofu, mixing to incorporate.
Add the ground almonds, pulsing just to combine.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan then evenly sprinkle the raspberries over the top.
Cover the raspberries with the remaining batter.
Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until the sides have crackled and the center is firm.
Cool the cake completely in the pan or refrigerate until serving.
Run a knife around the edge and release the sides of the pan.
Dust with confectioners sugar and serve with a raspberry emulsion, if desired.