Jessica Kruger | Ethos Foods

My name is Jessica Kruger and in September 2014 I opened ETHOS - a fast casual dining concept just off Oxford Street, London. Since I became vegan in 2012, I found myself increasingly frustrated with the lack of exciting, interesting options when eating out, and so wanted to launch a meat-free restaurant that gave diners real choice. At ETHOS we strive to create vibrant and deliciously different food, taking inspiration from across the

world, and operating a pay-by-weight system giving customers real flexibility on what, and how much, they eat. Of course, to make sure our dishes look and taste as good as they can it’s important that we work around the seasons and this is something the chefs at the restaurant and I are always considering. For the next six months I’ll be sharing some of our favourite recipes in this blog, using a star seasonal ingredient, from the delightfully crisp and crunchy baby gem in the summer to heartier leeks, swedes & turnips in the colder months.

October's star ingredient:

Time really does fly and I can’t believe Ethos has now been open one year! We’ve already welcomed our 100,000^th customer to the restaurant and have watched as more and more people have heard about what we do and come to visit.

Throughout next week, from the 12th to the 18th October, we’re celebrating our birthday in the restaurant with a whole range of secret surprises and social media giveaways. It’s going to be a brilliant week, but what would a birthday be without a cake? It’s really important to us that our birthday cake represents us as a restaurant, so we needed to think of something that would be different, delicious and strike the balance between indulgence and well being. After much discussion we decided on an incredible Cacao & Kale birthday cake!

>>> Read more blogs from Jessica here

We’ll be selling the cake all week in the restaurant, so do pop in, try a slice and wish us a happy birthday. Or, if you can’t make it why not make your own using the recipe below – be sure to tweet us a picture of your creation! #Ethosturns1 For the cake: Ingredients

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C
Grease a 500ml volume cake tin
Mix the cacao and melted butter into a smooth paste
Into the paste add the maple syrup, kale juice and bicarbonate of soda
Mix again until smooth then put aside
With an electric hand mixer beat the eggs until they make stiff peaks
Incorporate the cacao mix into the eggs, add the flour and beat until mixed
Pour the mixture into the greased cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes

For the icing: Ingredients

50g margarine
40g cacao powder
175ml milk
1tsp vanilla extract
425g icing sugar

Method

Melt the butter and cacao powder over a low heat then set aside to cool a little
In a bowl, mix the vanilla into the milk. Then, using an electric mixer, beat in the butter and cacao mix until combined
Carry on beating and slowly add in the icing sugar until the icing has reached the right consistency. It should be spreadable but not to thin.

Use a wide blunt knife to spread the icing on top of the cake and then serve. A cake like this is perfect for surprising dinner party guests or as a treat after a hard day’s work. For more information on our birthday follow us @ethosfoods.

The idea for ETHOS came about in 2012, when Australian born Jessica became a vegan and, despite her love of trying new foods and eating out, found herself increasingly frustrated with the lack of options available when dining out, especially in comparison to the rest of the world. Seeing a gap in the market, and at just 26 years old, Jessica was inspired to create a new all-day dining experience focused around a meat-free global menu that gives customers real choice in what they eat, how much they eat and how they pick and mix it. ETHOS opened in September 2014 and is a fast-casual dining concept, which focuses on deliciously different meat-free food from around the world, served in a sophisticated and contemporary setting. For more information visit www.ethosfoods.com

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