Afro Lifestyle Contest - Closed

Thank you to everyone who took part!

The contest is now closed and the winner is Cynthia E.

There will always be great opportunities to win cool stuff, so be sure to follow me on social media (links in the sidebar) and subscribe to my blog to stay up to date.

Easy Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Vegan chocolate buttercream frosting may seem like a daunting thing to make from scratch, but it really is as easy as ABC. In this week's post and video, I've broken it all the way down for you so you can feel confident about making your own chocolate buttercream for cakes, cupcakes and other bakes.

It was my sister's birthday last week and chocolate buttercream was one of the elements of the two-layer cake I ended up making. This year's cake was a far cry from the Exploding Popcorn Cake I made her previously, but special in its own way.

So let's get into it!

Ingredients

- 6 cups icing sugar

- 1 cup cocoa powder

- 1 3/4 cups room temperature vegan margarine (I use a brand called 'Pure')

- 1/2 cup vegan milk (coconut/oat/almond.. etc.), plus extra just in case

Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer or by hand. 

If you're combining by hand, be sure to sift the flour and cocoa powder first. You'll need to be patient with the mixture as it takes a while for it to look anything like buttercream. Mix vigorously for a few minutes and soon enough, you'll be left with a glossy, smooth frosting. If it is too thick, add a little splash of vegan milk. You can adjust the consistency by adding more cocoa powder or more vegan milk, as required.

I recommend making the frosting on the same day that you need it. If you absolutely have to make it in advance, store it in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to two days. Before using it, you may need to loosen the mixture with a bit more vegan milk so that it spreads easily. 

Love Moin Moin | GIVEAWAY

Hello! Are you having a wonderful week so far? Hope so! If not, perhaps this giveaway will bring some cheer. 

The season of giving continues and I am very excited to be partnering up with The Real African Food Co. to give one lucky winner the chance to win 8 boxes of their Love Moin Moin mix. The perfect addition to your Christmas spread this year, and then some!

If you're new to Nigerian/West African cuisine, Moin Moin is a delicious steamed bean cake made using brown beans or black-eyed beans. I have a whole post on how to make it the traditional way from scratch, which you can check out here.

To be in with a chance to win all 8 boxes, simply watch the video below and follow the instructions:

The giveaway is open internationally and all applicants must be 18+.

The winner will be contacted on 08/12/18. Good luck!

Afro Lifestyle Giveaway

We're getting into gift season and I am so excited to share this giveaway featuring 5 black-owned home decor brands.

We all know African art is beautiful. And with retail brands catching onto its appeal in the
marketplace, it's so important to shine the spotlight on some amazing African artisans
and makers by giving you the chance to grab some of their incredible creations. For free!

The Prizes

Ayok’a is giving away a framed art print and the winner can choose from over 200 different designs.

Onua will be giving away one of their African print lampshades with a matching set of coasters. 

Djilene Creations will be offering the 'Tuuti Tank' chair.

Opouko will be giving away a kita cloth cushion 

Puzzle of Nature will be offering a set of handmade saggar fired tealight holders and a jewellery box.

How to Enter

For your chance to win all these beautiful items, simply follow this link and enter your email address: https://huge-afro-lifestyle-giveaway.kickoffpages.com/ 

The giveaway ends on Friday 23 November 2018.

Rice and Vegan Chicken Stew | My Brother Reacts

Yes, you read the title right - vegan chicken stew!

My brother came to visit me a couple of weeks ago, and like the good little sister that I am, I shoved a camera in his face and asked him what he thought of the Fry's chicken-style pieces that I'd so generously added to our lunch. He's not vegan, you see, and once in a while I try to overly impress him with scarily similar versions of the food he's used to, just to show that being vegan doesn't mean missing out on anything - chicken included.

If you ask me what I think, I adore the Fry's range. I've written reviews about their products in the past and they are largely my go-to for the times I want to use meat substitutes. It's the fact that they are non-GM and contain no artificial preservatives or colours - all the stuff you should watch out for when indulging in mock meats.

The dish itself is simple: fluffy golden basmati rice; stew made from a seasoned blend of tomatoes, red pepper and onions; served with some fried plantain. It doesn't get more Nigerian-classic than that, whipped up in under 30 minutes.

If you like this post, you'll probably also like my recipes for Vegan Beef Stew, Veggie Buka Stew and Caramelised Onion Stew. So many stews, so little time, or something like that...

Cooking for Gina Yashere / London VegFest 2018

October somehow always ends up being the busiest month of the year for me, and it was no different this time around. Between a 9-5 job and a million personal projects related to 'The Vegan Nigerian', I had to remind myself to breathe and take each day as it came. Don't get me wrong, everything I had to do was either fun, exciting or wonderfully challenging, but as someone who isn't much of a planner, seeing my calendar packed out a month in advance made me feel queasy at times. The anticipation builds and builds, but then the satisfaction of getting through each event is unlike anything I can adequately describe, so I suppose it's always worth it!

Aside from the launch of my Plantain Cookbook (have you bought your copy yet?) I also had to prepare for another stint on the London VegFest cooking demo stage. This year's concept was simple: to showcase a couple of recipes from the cookbook. It was an absolute blast. From feeding off the energy of an engaged audience to getting to talk about something I'm passionate about to sharing recipes that I'm proud of, it was simply great to be there again. So much so that I'm now sniffing out more opportunities to organise or participate in workshops and presentations - watch this space.

The day after the buzz of VegFest, I hosted a dinner for comedian extraordinaire Gina Yashere and her amazing friends. If you've been living under a rock and haven't watched any of her stand-up specials or seen her killing it on the likes of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, then you need to get it together! Browse through her tour dates and grab yourself a ticket to one of her shows - you won't regret it. The few clips in this week's video really don't do the experience justice, and in many ways it was far better to enjoy the fun moments in real time rather than worrying about capturing every single detail of it on camera. Gina and her friends were lovely, welcoming and encouraging in so many ways. At the end of that whole weekend, I was on complete and absolute cloud nine.