At the weekend I went to one of my favourite places in the UK, and indeed in the world:  York.  Traditionally a trip to York has been synonymous with a trip to Betty’s Tearooms, but now that I’m vegan that is no longer an option.  But the lack of Betty’s in no way dampened my weekend.  Instead I had a tasty burger and divine chocolate and hazelnut cake at Goji, and an evening feast at El Piano that started off with the worst tempura ever (I don’t want to talk about it) and then improved dramatically with some delicious meatballs and falafel.  I was full, but determined to plough on with dessert.

The woman at the next table was clearly not as optimistic about the dessert as I was.  When the waitress arrived to take her order, she asked anxiously:  “Do you use dairy products in the desserts?”  The waitress assumed this was the usual cautious vegan, and reassured her, “No, everything is completely dairy free.”  However, that was not the answer she wanted:  “In that case, I won’t have anything.”  What?!  Why take that kind of attitude into a vegan restaurant?  I’m finding that there are very few things that can’t be admirably veganised (although my experiments with vegan cheese are not particularly enjoyable, I have to say – I’m only exploring it for pizzas, where it needs to function as the glue that keeps the toppings in place).  Anyway, it was clearly her loss, as this was the dessert I opted for, and it was intensely chocolatey:

I suspect that woman would also turn her nose up at these vegan pancakes.  Good – more for me!  Finally, instructions on how to legitimately eat carrot cake for breakfast.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Serves 2 greedy people, from Isa Does It

Ingredients:

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/ cup maple syrup (plus more for serving)

2 tbsp canola oil (plus more for frying)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.25 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp each ground cinnamon and ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup peeled and grated carrot

To serve:  extra maple syrup, handful walnuts and raisins

Method:

1.  In a small bowl whisk together the milk and flaxseed with a fork for one minute.

2.  Add the vinegar, water, maple syrup, oil and vanilla and beat again.

3.   Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices into a bowl.

4.  Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquids and mix well.  Add the carrot.  Rest the batter for 10 minutes, while you put a frying pan over a medium heat to warm up.

5.  Lightly coat the pan with oil, carefully tipping out any excess.  Add a half-cup of batter to the centre of the pan and cook for about 3 minutes.

6.  Carefully flip the pancake and cook for another 3 minutes on the other side.

7.  Wrap the cooked pancake in tin foil to keep it warm, and repeat the process with the remaining batter.  Serve in stacks with maple syrup, walnuts and raisins.