So, to help develop your repertoire of fabulous vegan deserts, I thought I’d highlight my six favourite go-to recipes, all involving important techniques or ingredients that will help you improve your vegan baking.

Mastering these vegan dessert basics will make all the difference when creating sweet treats for your friends and family. These basics–from a simple raw chocolate brownie to a vegan lemon curd–are well worth the time to whip up, and play an important supporting role in adding a fancy finish to many a luxurious dinner party.

Best-ever raw cheesecake–Skip the traditional dairy-laden ingredients and instead make use of raw nuts, coconut and lemon to create this stunning and sophisticated raw cheesecake. The secret to success? Use soaked cashews and fresh lemon juice and puree in your blender until you obtain a silky smooth texture.

Lovely lemon curd–Fill jars or tart shells with this lemon filling to create a simple yet luscious dessert. Agar flakes used to set the curd are vegan bakers’ gelatin of choice.

Easy vegan caramel–No time or interest in making traditional caramel with sugar and butter and cream? This super simple raw caramel makes use of only three ingredients: macadamia nuts, maple syrup and agave. Since macadamia nuts are soft enough to blend smoothly without pre-soaking them, your prep is less than 10 minutes.

No-bake apple tart–No time to make a pie crust? Whip up this easy, no-bake version with nuts and dates in your food processor and fill the crust with fresh apples and spices for an irresistibly homey fall dessert, or any of filling of your liking.

Raw chocolate brownies–This simple yet sophisticated chocolate dessert is one you’ll want to make over and over again. These brownies can’t be compared to the traditional baked version, but you’ll love how easily they come together in your food processor…and the smooth chocolatey frosting can’t be beat!

Flourless cookies–It is possible to make delicious, healthy cookies without flour! These almond ginger cookies are soft and chewy and full of goodness. The almond meal is the flour substitute in this recipe. I also recently created a flourless mocha bean cookie made with black beans and chickpease that are also a must try.

If you’ve never attended the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival (the world’s largest veg fest) then this video created by the Toronto Vegetarian Association is a great sneak peak.

This fantastic festival is a great opportunity to catch up with friends in the vegan community, sample all the new vegan products and hear inspiring speakers from around the world.

As part of the festival presentations this year, Lisa and I collaborated on a food demo. Instead of begging Lisa’s food processor to make banana soft serve for 200 again, we thought we’d focus on sharing some tips and tricks that make eating vegan easier for us. Since Lisa has been following a vegan diet for 28 years and I have been for 12, we’ve learned a few shortcuts along the way to save time and money, without sacrificing flavour and fun.

Just in case you weren’t able to make it down to join the enthusiastic crowd that filled the Lakeside Terrace, we thought we’d post our recipes and tips here too.

1. Get Down With DIY–Celebrate your pioneer spirit and learn to make your own milks, flours and nut butters.

2. Value Versatility–Unleash your creativity with versatile pantry staples like almonds, cashews, oats, avocados and bananas.

3. Pass Over Packages–Don’t waste your money on plastic or cardboard; seek out farmers markets, CSAs and bulk bins. Save your dollars for those awesome ingredients.

4. Trust Technology–Invest in good quality appliances like a food processor and/or blender. The one-time investment will save you time and money every day.

5. Buy in Bulk–Use your negotiation skills to get great deals on produce, dry ingredients and hard-to-find favourites.

6. Grow Your Own–Make a hobby out of growing your own vegetables, sprouts or potted herbs. Use them in delicious recipes like tahini herb dressing.

7. Embrace Cultural Cuisine–The kitchen is an excellent platform to unleash your creativity. Try vegetarian Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Mediterranean or South East Asian recipes to keep your meals diverse and delicious.

8. Stock Snacks–Be prepared. Stop worrying about finding fantastic food while on the go–travel with treats!

9. Double the Fun–Make big batches of beans, grains, dressings and dips to save time all week.

10. Feed Your Friends–Nourish your friends and your soul with delicious, health-promoting fare. Nothing says love like feeding people.

Along with these helpful tips, we showed the crowd how to make your own nut butters, instant almond milk, tahini, tahini herb dressing and snack bars with frosting. Here are two of the recipes!

A couple of years ago, I gave up packaged peanut butter when I discovered the joys of sunflower seed butter. Back then, this specialty nut butter was only available at select health food stores, and it didn’t come cheap. I would buy a small container every few months and savour every last bit of the creamy, seedy goodness. These days, I often make my own nut and seed butters. I’m currently on a tahini (sesame seed butter) kick. Today I thought: Why not try something new?

By that, I mean add chocolate.

The result: creamy, homemade goodness that takes only 10 minutes. And it’ll knock your socks off.

Wondering what to do with this chocolatey spread? Eat it on toast, add it to your morning smoothie, drizzle it on cake, or warm it up and serve it as a fondue with fruit and bread!

Oops…did I just spoil the surprise?

Yes, that means there are beans in these cookies. What’s not to love about that?

After being captivated by these chocolate black bean power cookies a few days ago, I immediately decided I needed to make my own. In order to create flourless cookies, I incorporated black beans as well as chickpeas to get the soft, fudgy consistency I wanted. I also bought some organic coffee extract during a recent visit to the states, and it makes a wonderful addition here, moving the fudgy chocolate flavour to a whole new level. My husband is currently on a hazelnut coffee kick, so I thought, Why not add some hazelnuts and dark chocolate, too?

It turns out my spontaneous experiments were a success. Everyone who tried these had no idea they were made of beans! Seriously, they were completely fooled. If you make them, I promise you will be, too.

I originally called these flourless cappuccino cookies when I revealed by experiments on Facebook the other day, but I decided that because of the flavour pairing, the mocha bean name makes more sense. Enjoy!

On my way home from work earlier today, I was thinking of ways to use up the soft avocado that was sitting in my fridge. At first, I thought about making avocado pasta, avocado salad, chocolate avocado pudding or maybe ice cream sandwich cookies but I wanted to challenge myself, and that almost always involves a little baking chemistry. (I admit it: I’m a nerd.)

And then I remembered I had started working on a new cupcake recipe a few months ago but gave up after several attempts because it wasn’t quite right. I wanted to use avocado in place of oil and a gluten-free flour mix that didn’t leave an aftertaste like so many gluten-free baked goods do. And I wanted the perfect cupcake crumb—not one that was heavy or gritty or crumbled in your hand when you touched it.

These are the challenges that often come with gluten-free baking and I was ready to conquer them, so I flipped through my recipe notebook until I found the chicken scratch of my previous tests. And then I got to work.

The result? I am so glad I decided to give this cupcake challenge another try. Because this, my friends, is the ultimate avocado cupcake. It is rich and light and has a phenomenal fudgy flavour. It is so good I decided it doesn’t even need frosting. This is the kind of cupcake that can stand alone.

Straight from the oven, I sprinkled the cupcakes with a mix of coconut sugar and cocoa powder and placed a tiny piece of dark chocolate on top. I then returned the cupake pans to the still-warm oven for a few seconds to soften the chocolate, just enough so that it melts in your mouth when you bite into the cupcake.

Perfection.

If you’re looking for a treat with a healthy hidden gem that will knock the socks off your friends and family, your search can stop here. Enjoy!

It all started with a request to bring dessert to my father-in-law’s birthday celebration at the family cottage last weekend. When I know I’m going to be with people who make it worth a four-hour car ride north of the city, I feel inspired to fill a cake pan with something very special.

Without a doubt, raw vegan cheesecake is the ultimate dessert for milestone celebrations. Of course, I love cashew-based cheesecakes as much as the next person. Cashews hold a wonderful balance of sweet and savoury flavours, as well as being creamy and white in colour, making a perfect imitation of a creamy white cheese. But since my hubby is allergic to that reliable off-white nut, I knew I had to revise my plan of attack.

Early last year, you might remember my experiments to create a raw cheesecake sans cashews and coconut, which resulted in my cute, single-serving strawberry dreamcakes. That recipe made use of macadamia nuts, which are no doubt pricey but are like the Rolls-Royce of nuts in the world of raw desserts (taste one spoonful of my easy macadamia caramel and you’ll see).

Using a similar macnut base, my new family-approved raspberry lemon dreamcake is a real winner—the cream (cheese) of the crop, if you will. The crust, made up of ground almonds, coconut and date paste, adds a satisfying crunch. The “cheese,” comprised of fresh lemon juice, macadamia nuts, agave nectar and coconut oil, lends the creamiest, smoothest texture. And the topping, a simple swirl of raspberries and agave combined with the remaining 1/2 cup of filling, takes the presentation of this beloved dessert to a professional level.

The fact that this so-called cheesecake is made almost entirely of nuts will completely fade from memory upon first bite, which literally melts in your mouth. Your friends and family will be utterly baffled, and when you mention it is made with raw, whole foods instead of artery-clogging cream cheese, you will become a healthy-cake magician.

Start spreading the word that vegans can make magic happen.

Also, did I mention how easy it is to make? Just put everything in a blender, pour it into a springform pan and then chill. I wish I had a better photo to show you of the swirl design on top. I’ve included directions on how to master the swirl in the recipe below, but also check out this video for a live demo.

Enjoy!