Vegan cakes, pudding and treats at the Vegetarian Cookery School

For reasons I'm not entirely sure of, despite heading up to the Vegetarian Cookery School in Bath for the Vegan Cakes, Puddings and Treats day course back in May, it's taken me til now to actually get around to telling you about it.

I've been to the Vegetarian Cookery School twice before and really enjoyed it, and was massively looking forward to another return trip. You spend a whole day cooking interesting dishes - the school does a range of courses and although not many of them are all-vegan, they can all be adapted to be vegan-friendly - being taught new recipes by clever chefs in a kitchen with a gorgeous view over Bath Abbey. What's not to love?

As a say, why I haven't written about my most recent trip for so long is a complete mystery. Blame my changing jobs. Still, luckily, you didn't know the amazing-ness of the treats I've been keeping from you. Forgive me, dear reader.

In an effort to make it up to you, I present to you the first thing we cooked, this almost comically mouth watering stack of Canadian pancakes with fresh fruit.

Normally when I make pancakes, it's the lemon and sugar types that you eat on Shrove Tuesday, not the fat stacks you get stateside. Well, check out these pillowy bad boys:

Also on the menu, cinnamon buns. I was particularly pleased to get stuck into these as a friend of mine had been enquiring about whether I could make some vegan versions, so now I'll be able to say yes. Two types, in fact - cinnamon-orange and chocolate-almond. A vegan chef who was also doing the course brought along some Stevia, and we made some sugarless ones too.

There was some savoury food too, in the form of these empanadas and some dainty salad, when we sat down to lunch. After all those pancakes and fruit, I really didn't need any more food, but got stuck in anyway, because it all looked so damn pretty.

Our sejourn in savoury land wasn't a long one, and next up was rice pudding with rhubarb. While I was expecting to enjoy the pancakes, and indeed I did, this was a real surprise - just divine, the tart rhubarb offsetting the richly, comforting rice.

While the rice pudding - that wonderous, wonderous rice pudding - was more show than do, the tart below was the work of our own fair hands. They weren't half pretty, were they?

The last thing we made - which sadly, because it came out of the oven just as we were dashing off to catch our respective trains  - was an almond and orange cake that was my absolute favourite cake of the whole day.

It was moist and dense and fragrant, and came with the handy suggestions of making it at home with other citrus fruits and the idea of a cake run through with grapefruit has been keeping me going for weeks.


The Vegetarian Cookery School
http://www.vegetariancookeryschool.com/
6 Terrace Walk
Bath
BA1 1LN
01225 427938