Sunday 10 August 2014

Vegetables in Desserts

Before you grimace in disgust, think - you've got carrot cake, you've got courgette cake, you've got beet cake (at least these are all quite common to me).  Now open up more doors, there are no boundaries.  Why should some ingredients remain in savory dishes?  Why must we be so close-minded?  After a thorough brainstorm and online research, I present to you a couple of ingredients that feature themselves in a perhaps rather odd context.  These recipes are not tested, I merely chose them for you as inspiration and if you would like to try them out, be my guest, but if they turn out to be disastrous, I am not responsible for your waste of time and ingredients. 

Tomatoes
There is no controversy, we all know that it is actually a fruit and it's time to just treat it as what it is.  My Chinese mother used to make this sweet snack for me --- she chopped up those big beef tomatoes and tossed them with sugar and it was the most refreshing dessert for a hot summer day.  See, you can kind of see how it'd work right?  It's naturally sweet and so obviously there's a place for it in desserts.

Tomato Tarte Tatin from In Sweet Treatment
Tomato, Olive oil and Cinnamon cake from Love Food Eat

Peas
They are sweet, just like tomatoes.  It's often paired with mint in a soup or a sauce and so why not in desserts as well.

Pea and Ricotta Cupcakes from Cupcake Project
Spring Pea Cake from Butter Sugar Flowers
Cucumbers
Eat them alone and they're quite boring and neutral-tasting.  Think of it in a sweet gin and tonic.  Now think of it in a cake.

Cucumber and Mint Sorbet from Milliemirepoix
Cucumber and Mint Cupcakes from Veggie Desserts
Aubergines (eggplants)
Yes, this may sound a bit weird, but really, when cooked and smothered in chocolate and sugar all you get is its soft texture.  At least that's what I think.

An (apparently classic) Italian recipe of Aubergine, Ricotta and Chocolate Pie from Cooking with Rosetta.  It's like a parmigiana but... sweet.
Aubergine Tarte Tatin with Black Pepper from Gourmet
Cauliflower
This is seriously adventurous now.  Cauliflower cheesecake and pudding.  There's more, I've found a lot of cauliflower chocolate recipes as well.  Again, neutral tasting, I suppose?

Cauliflower Lemon Cheesecake from Fresh 4 Five
Indian Spiced Cauliflower Pudding from Everyday Musing
And there's so much more.  I've heard of red pepper upside down cakes, sweet asparagus beignets and spinach chocolate chip cookies! It's a whole other world.  Just fascinating, isn't it?

9 comments:

  1. Your blog is beautiful, and I'm honored to be included in this collection. I am a firm believer in vegetable desserts! In addition to my pea cake you featured, I've used fresh tomato, fennel bulb, sunchoke, black olives, and sorrel in different desserts -- and my upcoming post is a jicama lime cake recipe I created. I love the idea of using cauliflower and cucumber -- thank you for sharing those! -- and have plans to use eggplant after seeing Rosetta's recipe awhile back. Thanks again, happy belly!

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    1. ahh thank you for your kind words! I just looked through your blog in search of something olive-y and chocolatey and found it! Ive heard so much about black olives and chocolate but never tried, I'll try out the cake recipe for sure :) you've got such inventive recipes!!

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  2. How cool is this?! I agree with the above! Your blog is beautiful and so creative! I can't wait to keep reading more from you :)

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    1. aw thank you so much Tashiana! both comments made my day :)

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  3. ooh never thought of using cauliflower in a dessert before! what a great idea.. curious to know what it tastes like!

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  4. Hey Maria, I just wanted to let you know that I love reading your blog (even though I have never commented before!), and I am nominating you for the Liebster Award, head over to my blog to see what it’s all about http://www.incrediblyedible.org/2014/08/liebster-award.html. I hope you choose to participate as I would love to learn a little more about you! Laura :)

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  5. I love reading your post , it is clear and covered all the points.

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