a dairy-free dinner

We had a friend around for dinner who can't eat dairy. The meal I made got rave reviews, so I thought I would share the recipes. I can't take full credit, as I followed the recipes pretty much exactly. For the main meal I made Braised Chicken with Prunes from the Healthy Food Guide cookbook. The link will take you to the full recipe on their website. All of their recipes are great actually. Healthy but still tasty. I'm slowly working my way through the cookbook.

For dessert I made a dairy-free chocolate cake with chocolate marshmallow frosting. The ingredients seemed a little strange to me, but it turned out moist just like any other cake. It was quick to throw together too, straight into the baking dish.


Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 tablespoons oil
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 175C.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into the cake pan. Make a well and pour in the oil, vinegar and vanilla. Then pour the water over top. Mix together with a fork (be careful with a non-stick pan!).

3. Bake in the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Recipe originally from All Recipes.

Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting

This icing didn't turn out the best. It was way too runny, so I ended up piling in icing sugar to make it thick enough, which took away it's marshmallowiness (is that a word?). I think I over-beat the egg white perhaps? See the original lemon marshmallow frosting recipe at the clean plate club. I left out the lemon juice and added some cocoa powder. Next time I would also halve the recipe as I had enough to ice about three cakes! Post a comment if you have better luck than me!