Eggless Dessert Café, Adelaide

From time to time one comes across a café or restaurant that makes you sit up and take notice for one reason or another. I had one of these moments during a recent trip to Adelaide. I was googling restaurant and café options in the city when I came across Eggless. The concept intrigued me, and I knew I'd have to pay it a visit. I was curious about this place because I know there are so many people out there who don't eat eggs out of preference or due to allergy. Eggless also had a great range of vegan desserts - great for people looking for dairy free dessert.

I headed to Eggless Dessert Café late last Sunday night, and luckily got a seat inside straight away (good thing too - it was very cold outside!). A friend and I wanted to sample a few of the eggless creations on offer, so we ordered the tasting plate for two ($18) with four small portions of desserts from the menu.

 Tasting Plate for Two $18

We ate our way from one end of the plate to the other.. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it! :P We started with the ice cream.

 Sweetcorn Ice Cream

I was doubtful as to how the ice cream would be creamy without eggs or dairy, but it was quite creamy. It was quite light, and was lightly flavoured with the sweet corn and coconut milk/cream (not sure which). Delicious and refreshing on the palate. 

 

 Lychee and Passionfruit Pana Cotta

  This was a wonderfully refreshing and flavoursome dessert. I can imagine it would be wonderful on a hot summer evening. The pana cotta was a bit runny to be a pana cotta but it was gelatine free after all.

 Sticky date and raspberry pudding

I'm not normally one for anything with dates, but this dessert was great. Delicious and moist with a warm pouring sauce.

 Blackforest tiramisu

  So good, and my friend's dessert highlight for the evening. Yum :)

After dessert I asked owner and dessert creator Eelin a couple of questions...

Tell me a little about the concept behind Eggless

My parents were lacto-vegetarians (now vegan) and we've had a lot of trouble looking for desserts they could eat whenever we go out. So we then make our own food and desserts and have been doing that for many many years. I am also very passionate about desserts and understand  how difficult for people with dietary restrictions to find decent desserts so we thought that it would be nice to be able to provide a place for people to have nice desserts.

You have a wide range of desserts on your menu. What's your personal favourite?

 That's a really hard question...I do love lots of desserts but so far the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie is my favourite...can't really go wrong with the chocolate and peanut butter combination...it's also decadently rich but so lip smacking delicious!! It appeared a couple of times on our menu and it's also very popular with our customers.

So what's the secret? How do you create egg-free desserts without compromising on flavour or quality?

Lots of trial and error really...it's about knowing the ingredients and what they can do. I spend my spare time reading food magazines and recipe books for ideas and tips. I also try to use natural and fresh ingredients in my food to give the best flavours.

Do you have any tips for people wanting to create eggless desserts at home?

The internet is a fantastic source of heaps and heaps of egg free dessert recipes and has lots of good tips too. 

Eggless Dessert Café

162 Goodwood Rd

Goodwood, SA

(02) 8272 0777

http://www.eggless.com.au/

Cardamom and Rosewater Scented Cupcakes

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice, and all things nice 
(including rosewater)

Just like these cupcakes...

It's been a little while since the first instalment of Cupcakes for Charity, and it was that time again in my office today. For today's sale I made Cardamom and Rosewater scented cupcakes. The proceeds of today's sale went to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Australia (MS Australia). MS is a debilitating disease that affects the central nervous system. It affects thousands of Australians, yet its cure remains elusive. In short - a worthy cause.

These delicate cupcakes were scented with two of my favourite flavourings - cardamom and rosewater. For me, the heavenly scents of these ingredients are luxurious, and reminiscent of beautiful sweets from South Asian and the Middle East. These ingredients have been used for centuries, and not just in cooking. During the days of the Mughal empire, palaces were filled with such aromas. Rosewater flowed in fountains and was used to cool sleeping chambers - now that's decadence!

These cupcakes were made using a classic vanilla cupcake recipe with a quarter teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom added along with the vanilla extract. If you're trying this recipe, don't be tempted to buy ground cardamom - it is a waste of money. Buy green cardamom pods, pop them open and grind the seeds in a mortar and pestle just before you start baking. The result is well and truly worth the little extra effort :)

To top the cupcakes I made a Rosewater Glacé Icing and topped them with little rosebuds and silver cachous. You can get dried rosebuds safe for cooking purposes at tea stores like T2.


Ingredients
320g icing sugar
1 tsp butter (or vegetable oil)
approx 2 tbsp boiling water
2 to 3 tsp rosewater
red food colouring
Plus - silver cachous and 12 dried rosebud

Method
1. Sift icing sugar into a heatproof bowl; stir in butter (or oil) and enough hot water to form a thick paste.
2. Place bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water and stir until spreadable.
3. Add the food colouring a drop at a time, as well as 2 teaspoons of the rosewater. Add a further teaspoon if you want a stronger flavour, but bear in mind it should be delicate (we're not making potpourri here).
4. Spoon carefully over cooled cupcakes, then top with rosebuds and cachous. The icing will set firm to touch.


Happy baking, readers! Till next time...

Ladybird x

A History of Meals, Adelaide

On Sunday I visited the Unley Museum to check out the Dig In, Don't Wait and Just My Cup of Tea exhibitions. These exhibitions were about the history of Australian meals, as well as what comes in between. The plaque on the entrance of the exhibition aptly explained the premise of the exhibitions to be viewed by visitors:

What, when and how we eat all reflect our cultural and family traditions as well as our personal taste. They are also influenced by changes in the food industry, new attitudes to health and cultural changes in our society. This exhibition is a look at the history of meals, at what's changed, and what's stayed the same.

The exhibitions offered lots of opportunities for community participation - flaps to be opened, puzzles, blackboards and play dough - lots of things for curious and South Australian foodies, young and old. There were old cookbooks, serving ware and stories from South Australian residents. So here are some highlights from my visit to the Unley Museum, as well as some of the interesting facts I learnt about Australian meals over the last 150 years and the foods' origins.

A table manners themed snakes and ladders board

 

From reading about our culinary past, the British influence was evident. However, there was also stories about native Australian cuisine.

The humble sandwich - named after the Earl of Sandwich in the mid 1700s

Old cookbooks, magazine articles and print advertisements...

I love this old Kellogg's ad :)

Mmm.. yes please!

And nowadays rice is such an important staple in the Australian pantry

Some old work from Women's Weekly

Hrmmm, I'll pass... but recipes like this were common during the Great Depression when everyday Australians simply had to make do and make a meal out of next to nothing. Forget the array of fruit and vegetables we have today! Can you imagine life without peaches? without capsicum? without zucchini?!

Excerpts from the wall of manners with visitors' reflections about table manners written on doilies...

I agree!

Old tea pots and tea caddies. Interestingly, the size of teapots became larger as tea became cheaper. Buying a teapot was a difficult decision for families - it was an important household item and it had to last.

Beautiful antique crockery. It was uncommon to own a complete matching set of fine teacups and saucers - the cost was simply too great. An eclectic mix of cups and saucers was far more common and, interestingly, this is very much in fashion today.

Antique hand-embroidered napery and fine serving ware

Antique silver sugarcube tongs. White sugar cubes were for the elite whereas raw sugar was considered the sweetener for the working class.

 
The Dig In, Don't Wait and Just My Cup of Tea exhibitions offered such an interesting insight into what Australians have been eating over the past 150 years. It was an eye-opening experience, and I couldn't help but walk away feeling very grateful for modern-day Australian cuisine. We are truly blessed with a tremendous variety of quality, readily-available ingredients. And with that, I sat down to a simple cup of tea upon return to my hotel room... and I savoured every drop.

If you have the chance, check out the Unley Museum in Adelaide, South Australia. It's worth a visit!

Unley Museum

80 Edmund Ave, Unley

Mon to Wed, 10am - 4pm

Sun 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Website

Ladybird x