Apricot-Glazed Cauliflower for One

Do you ever have a hankering for barbecue sauce and you’re allergic to tomatoes (on which most such sauces are based)? Try sloshing this sweet and tangy sauce on tofu, slabs of seitan, steamed veggies, or, as seen here, on cauliflower florets. Yum!

2 cups cauliflower florets

3 TBLSP apricot preserves

2 TBLSP miso (yellow or white)

2 TBLSP rice vinegar

2 TBLSP soy sauce or tamari

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (for quick clean-up).

1. Place the florets on the baking sheet and heave it in the oven while you mix up the sauce, about 5 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients (preserves, miso, vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic and ginger powders.
3. Pull the baking sheet from the oven and slather the florets on all sides with the sauce.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
5. Pull the baking sheet out again, flip everyone over, and bake for another 10-12 minutes. The florets should be fork tender and the sauce should be golden brown and bubbly.

Serve with a refreshing salad. Seen here is a purple rice and zucchini salad, recipe coming soon! 

White Chocolate Cake with Apricots for One

Are you in the mood for something fabulous? Well hold onto your girdle, Mabel, because this cake will knock off more than just your socks!

For the Cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch salt

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup canola oil

¾ cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ TBLSP apple cider vinegar

6 ½ TBLSP white chocolate, melted (about 3 ½ ounces)

For the Frosting:

12 TBLSP vegan butter (3/4 cup)

2 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar  

Large slosh of vanilla extract

9 ½ TBLSP white chocolate, melted (5-6 ounces)

For the Assembly:

2 TBLSP water

1 TBLSP granulated sugar

2 apricots, pitted and thinly sliced

¼ cup walnuts, finely chopped

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray two single-serving cake pans with baking spray or line with parchment and spray (preferred). My baking pans are really two casserole-for-one-sized pans, about 5-inches across.

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Add in the oil, milk, vanilla, vinegar, and melted white chocolate. Beat this combination until it’s quite smooth. No lumps!
3. Divide the mixture between the two prepared cake pans.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back when touched.
5. Cool on a rack until completely room temperature (or colder—setting it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes after they’re mostly cooled will speed this process up). Remove them from the pans to speed things up, but wait 30 minutes after taking ‘em out of the oven or they will be too fragile and will shatter into several pieces.

Make the Frosting:

1. In a small bowl, combine the butter and sugar until completely smooth.
2. Add in the vanilla extract and melted white chocolate and beat the whole mishegas until it’s fluffy and unctuous.
3. Refrigerate until spreadable. Be careful not to leave it in there too long or you’ll have to beat the daylights out of it to get it spreadable again.

Make the Assembly Components:

1. Boil the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Set aside to cool a bit.

Assemble the Cake:

I like to do this on a plate resting on top of an overturned mug so it’s at a more comfortable height.

1. Using a serrated knife, slice each cake layer horizontally in half so that you have four layers of approximately the same thickness. (You may have to trim any bulging tops, too.)
2. First Layer: I like to do this on a plate resting on top of an overturned mug so it’s at a more comfortable height.Place one layer, cut side up, on the serving dish. Brush the syrup you made in the Assembly Layer step on top of the cake.
• Spread a thin layer of the frosting on top of the syrup and dot the frosting with sliced apricots. 
3. Second Layer: Spread a thin layer of frosting on the uncut side of the next layer and turn it upside-down on top of the previous layer so that the frosting touches the apricots.
• Repeat the syrup, frosting, apricot treatment on the uncut top of that second layer, and then repeat the whole “underside” frosting of the third layer, setting it on top of the second layer.
4. Third Layer: Repeat the syrup, frosting, apricot treatment on top of that third layer, slather the underside of the fourth layer (which should be the cut side) and set it on top of the third layer.
5. Fourth Layer: Spread some more syrup and then the frosting on the top and down the sides of the cake. It should be a very thin layer—the crumb coat.
6. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
7. Spread the remaining frosting luxuriously all over the rest of the cake. It doesn’t have to be too tidy on the sides because you’re going to cover it with walnuts.
8. Press chopped walnuts into the sides of the cake.
9. Cover the top with the sliced apricots in an artful way, and slather them with the remaining syrup. (You may have extra syrup.)
10. Refrigerate for one hour.
11. Let it come to room temperature for 2-3 hours before devouring like a bear just awakened from a winter nap.

You might want to share this one with friends—It’s not large in diameter, but it’s super rich and it’s HUGE!