I watched a swatch of the sky turn red.
The red spread like blood in the sea: red, red, red, and then less and less red, until there was only blue left.
I squinted as the sun rose.
― Kira-Kira
I feel as though I could copy-paste much of my writing from last March and April and paste it here.
Though even our innermost lizard brains are dimly aware that history repeats itself, it remains extraordinarily discomfiting to watch this pandemic surge anew.
I start on the medicine wards this Monday and will be there for the next 2 months. I am nervous but eager to be starting at a time like this, when Delta is so convincingly threatening our progress.
I hope that you are safe and your families are safe. I ask anyone who is reading this, as someone who works full time in a hospital, to do your duty and get a vaccine. It’s easy, safe, and very effective, but the longer we all wait, the more likely we are to have to start all over again. So I counsel my patients and so I counsel anyone who will listen to me.
No HIPAA violations here, obviously, but I am proud to say that I’ve had a few patients who actually did get the vaccine after seeing me. I’m proud, because that feels like such an accomplishment and, when I’m in a dark mood, seems like paddling against a tide.
Desperate for distraction from the news and my work, I have been buying and consuming the absolute plumpest, juiciest dark, sweet cherries I can remember having for a long time. I have not had a disappointing bag yet, and I mean it when I say I’ve been eating my way through a lot of bags, à la Eric Carle’s hungriest protagonist.
So, about 2 weeks ago, while making peanut-sesame noodles for our dinner and snacking on the aforementioned fruit, I started thinking about what the combination of miso and cherries would taste like. The sumptuous tart fruitiness with a blast of umami saltiness was appealing enough to at least deserve a try.
Since Nati was here, I wanted to make it friendly for his lactose intolerance, and I decided to go the whole way and forgo animal products to make it since, well, why not.
This is a vegan pound cake, made with fragrant coconut oil and vegan sour cream that give it delightful richness, studded with sweet cherries and braced with a large dollop of miso that replaces the salt.
It’s quite moist and just a slice with a cup of tea or almond milk is extremely satisfying.
One note: this will make extra batter for an exactly 6-cup bundt pan. You can make some muffins/cupcakes or a mini cake after your tin is filled 3/4 of the way up to avoid spillage. And bake it on a baking sheet, regardless (I do this with EVERY bundt cake I ever bake, because chipping burnt batter off the bottom of an oven is not something I relish).
Vegan cakes, previously:
Raw Matcha “Cheesecake”
Raw Blood Orange and Cranberry Cheesecake
Raw Vegan Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Vegan Coconut and Chocolate Cake
Vegan Coconut Cake
Coconut, Miso, and Cherry Vegan Pound Cake
makes 1 6-cup bundt cake
ingredients:
for the pound cake:
300 grams (1 1/2 cups) sugar
150 grams (2/3 cup) melted coconut oil
40 grams (2 tablespoons) shiro miso
3 tablespoons egg replacer, prepared with water
375 grams (1 1/2 cups, 13 ounces), vegan sour cream (I used Tofutti)
180 grams (1 1/2 cups) flour
75 grams (3/4 cup) almond meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 cherries, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoon flour
for the coconut glaze:
1 tablespoon coconut milk (canned or refrigerated)
1 teaspoon vegan sour cream (I used Tofutti)
115 grams (1 cup) powdered sugar
generous pinch salt
to assemble:
8 similar shape and size cherries
1 teaspoon olive oil
directions:
Make the cake: grease and flour a 6-cup capacity pan; use a mini bundt, or an 8 x 3-inch or 9 x 2-inch pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk coconut oil, sugar and miso together in a large bowl until fully incorporated.
Whisk the egg replacer in, making sure to whisk out any lumps.
Add the vegan sour cream and stir until it is halfway incorporated.
Add the flour, almond meal, baking powder, and baking soda on top of the batter, and stir to fully incorporate.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth top: you will have extra batter, so you can make some mini cupcakes with this.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour for a mini bundt, and 35 minutes to 45 minutes for a round pan.
A tester should come out with a few moist crumbs and the internal temperature should register at 210 degrees F (begin checking at 45 minutes for a bundt, and 35 minutes for a round pan).
Allow cake to cool.
Make glaze: whisk coconut milk and vegan sour cream until smooth.
Whisk in powdered sugar and salt; it will be thick.
If it is too thick, thin the glaze until it is of pourable consistency using 1/4 teaspoon of milk at a time.
Place cake on a wire rack with parchment paper beneath it.
Pour glaze over the cake.
To assemble, take your 8 perfect cherries and carefully rub them with olive oil (I used a small paintbrush) to give them a lovely sheen.