Puppy Dog Cake, Superhero Transformation Cake and JK's 7th Birthday!

Hello!  I thought before too much more time has passed I should put up the cakes for JK's birthday that was over the summer.  Since JK's actual birthday was on a Friday, I asked him what kind of cake he would want, and he asked for a puppy cake.  His party was the next day on Saturday, so I made him a cake that is supposed to represent the moment of transformation from an ordinary man to a superhero.  People thought I either just went crazy with the frosting and ended up with an abstract design, or politely nodded when I tried to explain what I did and that it was on purpose.  I think it looks good!  What do you think?  :-)

Both of these cakes use my White Cake with White Butter Cream Frosting  as their base, and then built from there.  They are easy and fun to make, and taste good too!

 Puppy Cake

 

  Side view of Puppy Cake - notice how the ears go down to the bottom layer

 Slice of that cute puppy!

 Superhero Transformation Cake - you see it, right?

 A slice of that transformation

Both cakes start with the batter for my...

White Cake:

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan or raw sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups soy milk 
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two round cake pans with an oil spray, and lightly flour their bottoms. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl or mug, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate the flour mixture and the milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. With the last addition of milk, add the Egg Replacer mixture and the vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. Divide between the two cake pans, and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for fifteen minutes in their pans on a cooling rack. Then carefully invert the cakes out onto the rack to finish cooling.

The Frosting for both starts out as my White Butter Cream Frosting and is tweaked for each cake.  Here's the basic frosting recipe:

Frosting:

1/2 cup vegan margarine, room temperature
1/8 tsp. salt
3 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbs. soy milk

Directions:

When the cakes have completely cooled, prepare the frosting. In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and salt. Starting on low speed and working up to medium, beat in the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the soy milk, and beat on medium speed for three to five minutes, until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Makes enough frosting for one double layer cake. 

For the Puppy Cake:

Extra Ingredients:

2 Tbs. cocoa
2 vegan chocolate chips
1 freeze-dried raspberry or fresh berry

Extra Directions:

Divide the frosting in half.  Mix in cocoa in one of the halves.  Spread about half the chocolate frosting onto the top of what will be the bottom layer of cake.  Add the top half.  Spread the vanilla frosting on the sides of the cake and the top, leaving space for the puppy's ears.  Spread the chocolate into two large floppy ears that extend down to the bottom layer of the cake.  Add a couple of cute eyebrows and a little dot nose.  Place the two chocolate chips as eyes and the raspberry as a tongue.  Now, you've got an adorable puppy cake!

For the Superhero Transformation Cake:

Extra Ingredients:  NOTE:  I've misplaced my actual recipe, where I noted precise measurements.  I'll guesstimate here and update when I've found the recipe, but this is pretty close.

1/4 cup freshly pureed blueberries
1 Tbs. turmeric

Extra Directions:

Divide the frosting into 2/3 and 1/3.  Leave the 2/3 vanilla, and spread the cakes as normal.  Divide the remaining third into another 2/3 and 1/3.  Mix the blueberry puree in with the smaller amount and the turmeric in with the larger.  Spread the turmeric-based frosting in creative angles and segments to represent the explosion of a person becoming a superhero; don't forget the center of the blast.  Flick the blueberry-based frosting on the cake with a fork to add to the sheer excitement of the transformation.  Behold, the blinding blast of man to hero!  Eat up.

Both cakes feed five hungry vegans for a couple of days or several babbling children at a birthday party.  Yummers!

Easter, 2013 and my Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake!

We had a busy but wonderful Easter celebration.  On Saturday, we went once again to Animal Place like last year, where JK participated in an animal-friendly egg hunt, we all went on a self-guided tour of the pigs, chickens and bunnies, and we enjoyed a lovely picnic afterwards.  The egg hunt is for children two years to seven years old, so JK has only one year left of this event.

We joined a small group for dinner at my parents' home.  I brought my Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad , and we enjoyed burgers, a fruit salad and a green salad.  We also had vegan desserts as well: chocolate chip cookies, fruit cake, and a new cake I introduced to everyone, which I call my Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake.  It's Easter right?  It has to be something special!  I kept the frosting on the thin side, much to G's utter disappointment, because I thought it was rich enough already.  I'm not a fan of coffee by itself, but I occasionally  like a slight flavor of it in ice cream, and it turned out nicely here, too.  I like the bumpiness of the end result and the bits of brown cake peeking through the frosting.  I could have evened out the tops to make them lay flatter, but I like this look.  It reminds me of old-fashioned times, for some reason, before there were specialty frosting spreaders and electric mixers. This was a  humongous cake, but it was enjoyed by all.  Hope you all had a great holiday, too.

Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake!

My Easter feast: Boca burger, Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad, Green Salad, Fruit Salad

Our dessert choices: chocolate chip cookies, fruit cake, and my cake.  The licorice that snuck in the picture is from Grandma to little JK.  Artificial flavors and colors are sometimes allowed on holidays, especially if they're from Grandma.  :-)

 

To make the four layers, place each layer on a cake stand.  With a serrated knife, cut through the cake horizontally, while slowly turning the cake stand.

Here's a slice of that tasty treat!

Four-layered - Coffee frosted - Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Cake!

Ingredients:

Cake:

4 and 1/2 cups flour
2 cups vegan sugar
1 and 1/3 cups cocoa
1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. baking soda
3 cups Vanilla Almond milk
3 Tbs. white vinegar
3/4 cup canola oil
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
2 cups vegan chocolate chips

Non-stick spray
Extra flour for dusting

Frosting:

1/2 cup (stick) vegan margarine, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
1/3 cup brewed French Roast coffee, cooled completely

Directions:

For the cake:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two round cake pans with the non-stick spray and sprinkle with flour.  Tap out any extra flour, and set pans aside.  In a very large bowl or even a large pot, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar and almond milk and set aside to curdle for about five minutes.  Add the oil and vanilla extract to the milk mixture and whisk.  Pour into the flour mixture.  With an electric mixer on low, blend until the ingredients are somewhat mixed.  Turn up the speed to medium and mix for about another minute until completely blended.  Pour into waiting pans.  Pour one cup of chocolate chips over each of the pans of batter.  Take a fork and gently press the chocolate chips down a bit into the batter.  (When baked, the tops of the cakes will be bumpy.  When sliced in half, most of the chips will be in the top half of each cake.  This will make the end result: chippy, not chippy, chippy, not chippy.)  Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool in pans on cooling rack for fifteen minutes.  Remove cakes from pans and finish cooling completely.  When cooled down, chill cakes in refrigerator for at least a half an hour, preparing them for slicing.  When cakes are chilled, place one on a cake stand.  Position a large serrated knife in the middle horizontally.  Slice a couple of inches into the cake, then turn the cake stand, repeating the process.  The cake should be sliced all the way through by the time the stand makes a complete revolution.  If not, just carefully slice through whatever little piece is hanging on in the middle.  Repeat process with second cake.

For the frosting:  In a medium bowl, beat the margarine on low speed until creamed.  Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat on low speed until combined.  Add the vanilla and coffee.  Starting on low speed, mix until blended, then work up to medium speed and mix for another four minutes to thicken.  Place the first bottom layer on the cake stand.  Take about four tablespoons of frosting and put a dollop in the center of the layer.  Spread out the frosting, kind of like spider legs, then smooth out over the layer.  Top with the first top layer of cake and repeat process until you reach the last layer.  Use the same method with the top of the cake.  Frost the sides as usual, just trying to cover as much as you can.  If there's any frosting left over, take turns with the sides and top, frosting away and smoothing out, until there is just enough in the bowl to justify finishing it off yourself.  Because this is so large, it can be sliced rather thinly to serve a lot of people.  Feeds five hungry vegans and family and friends for a few days!

Royal Platter (with soy)

When my girls were much littler, I loved to make snacks for them on divided plates that were full of a variety of goodies. (And, I still do!)  What I quickly found out was that G appreciated these snacks as much as they did.  So, one night I was struck by a unique idea for dinner: to have a large platter of a variety of foods requiring no utensils, save for a couple of toothpicks for spearing.  Dipping sauces and plenty of napkins were always nearby.  Because at that time we only had daughters, I named these dinners Princess Platters.  And, they were a huge hit with all of us.  The combination of foods were endless.  Just like when we have nachos family-style, I put the platter on a tray or ottoman, and we would watch a movie in the living room.  What was also nice was that the girls would eat things that they normally would turn their noses up at because it was in the fun presentation of the Princess Platter.  So, I could sneak in healthy foods that way, too.  When JK came along, I changed the name to the Royal Platter.  This version is called "with soy" because sometimes I use baked tofu for the main protein.  I love making the platters as much as they love eating from them, and no two are ever the same.  Here is just our latest version.

Royal Platter (with soy)

Ingredients:

Possibilities are limited only to what you can think of.  This is what we had one night:

Gimme Lean, sausage style, cut into rounds and sauteed
8 - 10 red potatoes, quartered and roasted, seasoned with salt and pepper
Celery, sliced into strips
Carrots, cut into sticks
Marinated artichoke hearts
Pickles
Olives with peppers and garlic
Walnuts
Chocolate Chunks
Ketchup, BBQ sauce, and vegan Worcestershire sauce for dipping

Directions:

Once all the food has been prepared, put it into a large divided dish.  Pair up similar foods with each other, or ones that will go well with a partner or two.  Skewer a few items with toothpicks.  Keep dipping sauces and napkins handy. Feeds five hungry vegans.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Thanksgiving, 2011

We had another great Thanksgiving this year.  We filled our bellies and finished off the night playing Twister and the Five Little Monkeys board game.  As usual, everyone got to pick a dish that they wanted for the meal - dinner or dessert, their choice.  And, my job is always to fill in the blank (usually the vegetable).  This year, JK picked chocolate chip cookies.  When I went shopping, I saw a stash of chocolate chunks, which I haven't seen for about ten years!  I pointed them out to him, and thankfully, he agreed to the chunk version, yay!  Cookies are usually my sweet downfall, rather than cakes or pies.  They are so easy to pick up, and in a few bites they are gone.  I've got to figure out how to get control of that.  Anyhow, I simply veganized the recipe on the bag by Bakers and reworded the directions to suit my taste.  They were delicioso.  Between all of us, about half made it to the Thanksgiving table.  Serves me right for making them early in the day.

Here's our complete menu:

Tofurky - always picked by G
Gravy - Me
Cranberry sauce, smooth and chunky - SR
Waffle Fries - SR
Steamed Broccoli - Me

Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cake - made completely by GR, no recipe for the cake or frosting, and she wrote Thanksgiving across the top
Pumpkin Pie - GR, who made this too, and we bought Rice Whip for the top
Roasted Chestnuts - Me
Chocolate Chunk Cookies - JK

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Our Thanksgiving Spread

My Thanksgiving Plate

Our Dessert Spread

My Dessert Plate

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup vegan or raw sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
2 Tbs. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pkg. chocolate chunks

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugars.  Add the Egg Replacer, water and vanilla extract, and beat on low speed until well mixed.  Add the flour mixture in two halves to the sugar mix, and continue blending until well mixed.  Stir in the chocolate chunks.  Take a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough - I found I had to mold it into balls in  my hands - and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for twelve minutes.  Cool for a couple minutes on cookie sheet on cooling rack, then place cookies directly on cooling rack to finish cooling.  Makes about three dozen.  Feeds five hungry vegans.

Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Frosting

For this recipe, I simply veganized Hershey's chocolate cake recipe and turned it into scrumptious mini cupcakes.  Yummers!  Here's the easy recipe, along with their veganized frosting.

Dark Chocolate Mini Cupcakes with Frosting

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
Non-stick spray
A little flour for dusting
2 cups vegan or raw sugar
1 and 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Frosting:
1/2 cup vegan margarine
2/3 cup dark cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
For the cupcakes: Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the mini cupcake wells with non-stick spray.  Sprinkle a little flour in each well and swoosh around to cover the spray.  Pat out the extra flour into your sink.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a mug, whisk together the egg replacer and the water.  Pour that mixture and the soy milk, oil, and vanilla extract into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.  Mix with an electric blender on medium speed for two minutes.  Pour in the boiling water and mix on low, until the water is blended in.  Batter will be thinner than you might expect, but it's okay.  Fill each cupcake well about 3/4 full.  Bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into one of the middle cupcakes comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a cooling rack for ten minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan and put directly on rack to finish cooling.  Repeat with the rest of the batter.  Makes six dozen cupcakes!

For the frosting: Melt the margarine either in the microwave or on the stove top.  Put melted margarine in a medium mixing bowl.  Whisk the cocoa into the margarine.  Alternate adding the powdered sugar and the soy milk into the cocoa mixture, mixing on medium low speed with an electric blender.  Add vanilla and beat for at least two minutes on medium speed, until the frosting has a creamy consistency.  Spoon by dollops onto cooled cupcakes.  Eat and enjoy.  Feeds five hungry vegans for several desserts.

Black Tie Cheesecake

I call this Black Tie Cheesecake because it looks like it's all dressed up to go to a black tie event. I've made this cake about once a year for around the last ten years, and I love it every time. Whenever I am going to make it, I always think it's a big job, but then when I'm done, I always remember how easy it actually is. Then, I think, I should make this more often but never do. So now, perhaps by putting this all down here, maybe I'll actually make this delicious cheesecake more often. I first got the idea for the recipe off a free recipe card that was mailed to me, trying to get me to subscribe to recipe cards. I've veganized the recipe, changed the name, altered the amounts of the ingredients, and also tweaked some of the procedures of the recipe, as well, over the years. I'm confident that I can call it mine now.

I brought this as our contribution to Easter with all the relatives, along with my Tropical Seitan Pasta Salad, which has become pretty much the dish that everyone expects me to bring now: they love it so much. My mom provided Gardenburger riblets for us, and I also brought rolls. I once made the salad with something else for dinner for my parents, along with this cheesecake for dessert, and my dad told my mom later that that was one of the best meals he had ever had. From my dad, that's a huge compliment. I hope you enjoy this basically easy, but beautiful dessert, as well.

Black Tie Cheesecake

Cookie Crust

White layer of the cheesecake

Getting ready to mix in the chocolate into the second half of the white cream cheese blend

Chocolate layer of the cheesecake

Here the baked cheesecake has been cooling for about twenty minutes. You can see that the edges are already starting to pull away from the pan. When it's completely cool, you will gently run a butter knife around the edge to ensure that it's separated all the way.

Preparing to mix in the sour cream into the melted chocolate to make the frosting

Here is the cheesecake with the sides of the springform pan removed. The frosting is patiently waiting to be spread.

The frosted cheesecake - ready to be chilled in the fridge

What was left of the Black Tie Cheesecake after the relatives got ahold of it

Black Tie Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 pkg. Newman O's chocolate sandwich cookies
1/2 cup of vegan margarine

Cheesecake:

3 pkgs. of Tofutti cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup of vegan sugar
3 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
10 Tbs. water
1 8oz. box of Bakers semi-sweet chocolate, divided (2 oz.)

Frosting:

The remainder of the Bakers chocolate (6oz.)
1/2 cup of Tofutti sour cream

Directions:

For the crust: Scrape all the cream centers out of each cookie and set aside for a later meal or for present gluttony. Grind the chocolate cookie "jackets" in a food processor. Melt the margarine. Combine them both in a bowl and mix well. Press into the bottom of a nine-inch springform pan. Smooth out with the back of a spoon.

For the cheesecake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a mug or measuring cup, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water with a fork or small whisk. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and Egg Replacer and water mixture. Beat on medium speed until well blended, two to three minutes. Pour half of the mixture over the cookie crumb crust. Melt two wrapped squares of the chocolate. Stir into the rest of the cheesecake mixture in the bowl. Pour evenly over the white bottom layer in the pan. Place pan on cookie sheet, and bake for one hour. Remove from oven. You don't want any cracks in the top of the cake: that could mean that it is too dry. If it's a little jiggly in the center, that should be okay; it will probably continue to set up while cooling on the rack and chilling in the fridge. But, most likely, it will appear pretty solid with the one hour baking time. Cool completely on cooling rack, then continue to chill for a few hours in the refrigerator.

For the frosting: When the cake is completely cold, remove from the refrigerator, and place the pan on a serving platter. Take a butter knife and gently run it along the edge of the cake to loosen any last parts of the cake from the pan. Remove the sides of the springform pan. Now, it's time to prepare the frosting. Melt the rest of the chocolate squares (6 oz.). Put in a small mixing bowl and add the sour cream. Mix well. Use a spatula or a non-serrated butter knife to spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. The sour cream adds just enough softness to the chocolate to spread it but leaves the chocolate firmer than regular cake frosting. Place back in the refrigerator and continue to chill for at least an hour before serving. Can be served cold from the fridge or after setting out for about twenty minutes. Longer than that can make the cake too soft. If you find that the crust is wanting to stick to the bottom of the pan, gently run a butter knife under the crust all the way around, to loosen it from the pan. This has only happened to me once, though. This is so good. Feeds five hungry vegans and several relatives.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes

First off, I have to start this post by saying that something has gone strangely wrong with blogger for me. It no longer recognizes my html codes; they completely disappear no matter how many times I enter them in, so all spacing is messed up. Any spacing between lines you see, are lines that I've forced there. I also can no longer post my ingredients list single-spaced, only double-spaced. I've bolded different headings, to make it easier to read. I hope this is not going to be a problem for readers. This is highly frustrating for me.

Anyway, on with the recipe.
So good. That's what you'll think when you have one of these treasures. We had two birthday parties to go to recently, so I made these to bring along for us. When my children are invited to a birthday party, I always make a dessert for them to have, and I try to make it as yummy as possible, so they never feel left out. These were so good, I had a few, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. There are chocolate chips inside the cupcake, as well, so you are not left feeling as if you been chocolate-shortchanged.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Batter:

2 and 1/4 cups soy milk

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 cups vegan sugar

1 cup vegan margarine, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer

4 Tbs. water

2 and 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pound bag of vegan chocolate chips (approx. 2 cups), divided

Frosting:

6 Tbs. vegan margarine, softened

2 and 2/3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup soy milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the batter: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and lemon juice, and set aside - this is your "buttermilk." In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Add the Egg Replacer and water and beat with a mixer, until blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Alternate beating in the dry ingredients and the soured soy milk into the sugared mixture on medium speed. With the last addition of your 'buttermilk," add in the vanilla.  Beat until thoroughly mixed. Add all but a half cup of the chocolate chips to the batter, and stir well with a spoon. Scoop out batter into paper liners, and fill at least two-thirds full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into a couple of them comes out clean. Cool completely on cooling racks.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, mash margarine really well, or beat it with a mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and cocoa together. Alternate beating in the sugared mixture and soy milk with the margarine. Start on slow speed and work your way up to medium. When completely mixed, add the vanilla, and beat for one minute longer. Spread on cupcakes. Top each cupcake with several chocolate chips. Makes about two dozen cupcakes. Feeds five hungry vegans for a few days. Yummers.

Trust Me Cake with Gaggy Frosting, and Christmas 2010

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year in our home, and I hope you did too! I was trying to think of which dish I made that I should post, when I realized that I had forgotten to take any pictures of the ones I brought to the family potluck dinner. So, by default, here's another cake! We all love cake, don't we? Every year I make a Happy Birthday, Jesus, Cake, but what kind of cake it is changes year by year. I call this year's cake Trust Me Cake because it doesn't have any margarine or oil in it. But, it does have a cup of Vegenaise, kind of like the old mayonnaise cakes. Now, trust me! It tasted good! I have to thank G for the inspiration for the frosting's title. I tried to make a glaze, but it came out very stiff and unforgivingly thick. However, it screamed chocolate, and you have to swallow hard to get this frosting down. So, as only a kind husband would do, that's now permanently spoiled by good vegan food, he said, "This is gaggy." The children loved it, though, and I'm not an objective judge of chocolate because it's all good to me. I think this frosting reminds me of a firm piece of fudge being forcibly spread on cake. So, depending on how that sounds to you, this will be an enormous failure, or an incredible success. So be it. Here it is, along with some other food pics, pictures of GR's room (which I'll explain below), and of some firefighters. My apologies for the absolutely terrible lighting of the food shots. They were either blue, orange or totally blinding with light. Use your imagination, please.

Here's our menu for this year:

Breakfast:

Trust Me Cake with Gaggy Frosting
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies made by ten-year-old GR!
Tiger Balls
Pecan Pie Cookie Cups
Chocolate Chip Pecan Bars
A variation on my Scrambled Tofu - this year I made it with asparagus and mushrooms
Molasses Touched Pancakes with Homemade Maple Syrup
Homemade Breakfast Links - I've come up with a mind-blowing recipe, I must say!
Fried Red Potatoes with Red Bell Peppers from my mom
A Fruit Platter from my mom
Coffee
Yum Berry Juice
Apple Cider

Dinner and Dessert with the extended family:

Manicotti Lasagna - was supposed to manicotti, but transformed into lasagna
Tofurky with gravy
Gorgeous Round Rolls, which I forgot at home
Pecan Pie Cookie Cups

Trust Me Cake. That frosting hardened so fast and so firm, I could probably have set a cup of water on it, and it wouldn't have given way. The nice thing is, I was able to make some pretty swirls. Do you like my pretty swirls???

Here's a slice of that cake. Again, I didn't trust the amount of my frosting. I had way too much on top and barely anything in the middle. I was actually going to call it Trust Me Frosting, as well, until G said it was gaggy. Then it was a no brainer; I had to use that. Anyhow, feel free to put way more in the middle than I did. G said he would prefer much more in the middle and would even sacrifice the frosting on the sides of the cake to ensure he would have enough in the middle. He's very helpful like that. Did I ever tell you that before he met me, he only lived on peanut butter sandwiches and oatmeal? Now, he's full of very helpful suggestions - I can't thank him enough. Do you have helpful husbands, as well, that offer advice but never pick up a spatula?

Our Christmas Cookies: GR made the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip ones all by herself, on top are Tiger Balls, and the Chocolate Chip Pecan Bars and Pecan Pie Cookie Cups are on the bottom.

Christmas Breakfast Table: Cookies and Trust Me Cake with Gaggy Frosting, Scrambled Tofu, Homemade Breakfast Links, Molasses Touched Pancakes, Homemade Maple Syrup (in blue pitcher), my mom's Fried Red Potatoes with Red Bell Peppers, a Fruit Platter, we had Yum Berry Juice, Coffee, and my mom brought Apple Cider. It was good!

I couldn't fit everything on my plate, so I had the fruit, fried potatoes, my homemade breakfast links and tofu scramble.

Now, for GR. My girl loves Christmas v e r y m u c h !! She allowed me to take pictures of her bedroom, which is decorated for Christmas all year round. Except for a Patrick Starfish picture and her soccer trophies, these are her only decorations. All year round. Did I tell you she likes Christmas? I didn't even take a picture of everything, there is so much more! Welcome to her room... Here she is on her bed with her snowman and her penguin friend next to her. And, of course, she's wearing her Christmas peace symbol necklace. Various strings of lights surround her room. By the way, her room is painted shades of Christmas colors. Her windowsill is decorated with fluff, presents, there's a Grinch there and a snowman. On her little lamp table is a reindeer. She has a snowman rug on the floor, stockings and wreaths are on all the walls, and snowflakes line every wall and hang from the ceiling. You can see the new icicle lights that we bought her for Christmas to add to her decorations.


This is the top of her dresser. I like how she mixes religious items in her decorations, as well, because in our home we remember the spiritual aspect of the holiday. Just to the right of this, is a small, decorative sleigh hanging on the wall.

Here's a decorated wall, with candy canes lining the floor. You can barely see the Christmas tree night light. To the left of this shot, she has decorated her closet doors with the message "Merry Christmas" with hand-made snowflakes falling into a waiting snowdrift below.


I tried and tried to turn this picture, but it wouldn't cooperate for me. GR has hung massive amounts of garland from her doorway that you have to walk through before you can even enter her room. It's Christmas all the time in there, and you can't help but cheer up when you go in! Thank you, GR, for sharing!


We also deliver Christmas cookies every year to the firefighters on Christmas Day. SR stayed home to watch a new video, but GR and JK came along. They both got helmets afterwards.

Trust Me Cake with Gaggy Frosting

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups of flour
2/3 cup of cocoa
1 and 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 and 2/3 cups of vegan or raw sugar
1 and 1/2 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
6 Tbs. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup Vegenaise
1 and 1/3 cups of water

Frosting:

2 - 4 oz. pkgs. of Baker's German Sweet Chocolate
2 Tbs. vegan margarine
6 Tbs. water
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two round cake pans with non-stick spray and flour the bottom and sides, shaking away the excess flour. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. In a large bowl, mix with an electric mixer on medium speed the sugar, Egg Replacer, the six tablespoons of water and vanilla extract. Beat until well creamed together, perhaps three minutes. Add the Vegenaise and mix on medium-low speed, until there are no lumps. Alternately add the flour mixture and the one and one-third cups of water and continue to mix on medium speed, until well blended. Divide batter between the two pans and bake for 30 minutes, until a skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans on cooling rack for fifteen minutes, then invert cakes onto rack to finish cooling.

For the frosting:

When the cakes are completely cool, put the chocolate, margarine and water in a small pot and heat over medium heat, until all is melted. Stir frequently. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and salt. Add the chocolate mixture little by little, whisking after each addition. Add the vanilla, and whisk thoroughly. Makes enough frosting for a two-layer cake. Feeds five hungry vegans for a few days.

A Deviously Huge Devil's Food Cake

Yesterday, I made six loaves of bread, two batches of corn muffins, and a very big cake. I started before church, and when I came back, I didn't take off my apron until 7pm. I was tired, but I felt very productive and happy. I hadn't planned on making a cake, but I really wanted something sweet, so I started looking around my cupboards for ideas. I adapted recipes for the cake and frosting and ended up with a moist, delectable devil's food cake that SR says was good enough for angels. I decided to use my biggest springform pan, three inches high and nearly eleven inches across, for a super-sized cake. The end result filled the pan and rose even higher! I'll post about the muffins next, but for now, here's a look at our Deviously Huge Devil's Food Cake!

A Deviously Huge Devil's Food Cake on a platter, not a plate!

A moist, delicious slice of said cake - mmm!

A Deviously Huge Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups vegan sugar
1 cup vegan margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water
2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 and 1/4 cups soy milk
2 Tbs. lemon juice

Frosting:

6 Tbs. vegan margarine, softened
2 and 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a large springform pan (about 11 inches) or a large cake pan. You can use either a spray or a napkin with margarine on the end. Cream together the sugar, margarine and vanilla together in a large bowl on medium speed. Add the Egg Replacer and the water, and beat until mixed in. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy milk and lemon juice, and let sit for a minute to ferment. Alternate beating in the dry ingredients and the soy milk mixture into the sugared mixture on medium speed. Beat until thoroughly mixed and pour into prepared pan. Bake for one hour. Check with toothpick or skewer to make sure cake is cooked all the way through. Set pan on cooling rack for fifteen minutes, then carefully remove sides of springform pan from cake. Peel bottom of pan off of the bottom of the cake. Let cake finish cooling on rack.

For the frosting: Set cake on serving platter. In large bowl, beat margarine. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and cocoa together. Alternate beating in sugared mixture and soy milk with the margarine. Start off on slow speed and work way up to medium. When completely mixed, add the vanilla, and beat for one minute longer. Spread on cake. Feeds five hungry vegan for a few days. Delicious and moist!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

This is a very rich recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. It takes only two ingredients, so it's super simple to make. And, they take just about an hour to set up, so they'll be ready for dessert the same night you make them! My girls can make these on their own now, and those are the best kinds of recipes, I think. :-)

Behold the beautiful Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup!

Filling the cups.

What you look and feel like after eating a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup - JK at three years old.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

2 - 1 lb. bags of vegan chocolate chips
12 tsp. creamy peanut butter

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. To do this, take a small pot filled half-way with water. Put it over high heat. Put either a medium pot or a medium mixing bowl on top of the smaller pot. Add the chips in to the top pot/bowl. You don't want the water to boil, so when it gets pretty hot, just turn it down to medium. Stir the chocolate chips until they melt, just a few minutes. Set aside. Fill a cupcake tray with paper cupcake liners. Spoon 1 and 1/2 tablespoons to 2 tablespoons of melted chocolate into the bottom of each liner. You mainly want to be sure that the bottom of the liner is completely covered. Spoon one teaspoon of peanut butter onto the center of each chocolate bottom. Finish covering with the remaining chocolate. Chill for about an hour, until firm to the touch. These actually are easier to eat if they come out of the fridge for at least five minutes first. Before that, they are a bit too hard. But don't let them warm up too much! Makes one dozen, which feeds five hungry vegans for a couple of days.

Birthday Bonanza and Devil's Food Cake with Super Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting

My oldest and youngest blessings, SR and JK, have their birthdays just six days apart. SR turned thirteen, and JK turned four, so we had a long Saturday with two birthday parties. Also, I always make a special dessert and a kid-picked dinner for their actual birthdays. I've included a recipe for one of the desserts below.


This was SR's birthday dinner pick: make-your-own-burritos and homemade fries.

SR requested a four-layer birthday cake - two vanilla layers, two strawberry layers and chocolate frosting.

I apparently sliced my layers a little unevenly. I also added fresh strawberries with each layer. Cake is served with soy strawberry ice cream.

This is JK's Batmobile cake that I made for his party.

I used a toothpick and a lipstick brush for the detail work.

These are SR's cookies 'n' cream cupcakes for her party. We love the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World; we've made these often. Some have chocolate cream cookies, and some have vanilla.

Here's a close-up of those cupcakes!

This is the post-parties birthday dinner courtesy of Papa Murphy's Pizza. GR likes hers with artichoke hearts, olives and mushrooms. SR likes her with olives and pineapple. G and I had the gourmet veggie, and JK ate off of all three. Red pepper flakes and vegan Parmesan cheese are the toppings in the background.

This is JK's birthday dinner: Tofu with ketchup on the side, rice, and artichoke hearts. I thought it appropriate to show the dinner on his plate.

This is JK's birthday cake: Devil's Food with Super Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting.

Here's a slice of that yummy cake. I made so much frosting that I actually could have stuffed the middle with more of it.

I thought this would be a great picture to add this post. This is GR, who about a month ago made a "Parents' Cake" - that what she called it. She is my budding baker. She pulled out my Hershey's Chocolate Cookbook and made the Chocolatetown Special Cake with the Quick Chocolate Frosting and veganized it all by herself! She was disappointed that it cracked when taken out of the pan, but I assured her cracked cake tastes just as good as uncracked cake, and it did! I'm very proud of her.

Happy Birthday, SR and JK!

Devil's Food Cake with Super Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

Cake:

3 squares Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate
2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
1 and 3/4 cups vegan sugar
1 and 3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 and 1/3 cups soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbs. Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

Frosting:

1 - 8 oz. pkg. of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 Tbs. soy milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pinch of salt
5 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Chocolate Sprinkles

Directions:

For the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two round cake pans with Pam. Put about a tablespoon or so of regular flour in each pan and shake it around, coating the pan. Shake off the excess flour, and set pans aside. Melt the chocolate squares in a small bowl in the microwave, stirring every twenty seconds or so. Set aside to cool. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: cake flour through salt. Add the remaining ingredients to the flour mixture and beat for three to five minutes, slowly working your way to the highest speed. The end result will look amazingly like frosting and taste unbelievable. GR asked, "Why does this taste so good?!" Spread half in each cake pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on cooling racks.

For the frosting: In a medium bowl on slow speed beat the all the ingredients except the powdered sugar. Add the sugar a cup at a time, finishing with the half cup, and continue beating at medium low speed. Beat for at least two minutes; my beaters get a little overworked with this thick frosting, but if yours can do it okay, go for it. This makes ample frosting to frost a two-layer cake. Make sure you put a nice, thick layer of frosting in the middle. Sprinkle the top liberally with chocolate sprinkles!

This is a yummy, moist cake that feeds five hungry vegans for a couple of days.