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!

Patriotic Salad and Fourth of July, 2013

I know, I know, I know, I said I was going to get all my reviews and award out first...but, this is a timely recipe, and I just had to squeeze this one in.  On the Fourth of July, my mom and I decided to just serve up four salads.  She made three bean salad and coleslaw, and I made my Kids Love It! Potato Salad, which will be featured in my next review (hint, hint) and a fruit salad.  The fruit salad was going to have tons of different kinds of fruits in it, but I started putting berries in the bowl first, and then I added a few bananas, and then something struck my eye.  No, it wasn't a wayward blueberry; it was the look of the salad: it was red, white, and blue.  Hello?!  This was the Fourth of July, by golly, so I just to had leave it as is.  And, yes, I can tell you, that I made a big deal of it at my parents'.  "Hey, did anybody notice the colors?"  "Isn't it great that this salad is red, white, and blue?"  I ignored JK's comments that the blackberries were black; they look dark blue to me, humph.  "I know what!  I'm going to call this my Patriotic Salad, yes!"  Yes, indeed, I was very proud of myself, and you should be too.  Er, I mean, it's pretty, isn't it?

Patriotic Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries
1 and 1/2 cups blueberries
2 and 1/2 cups strawberries, halved or quartered
3 bananas, sliced

Directions:

Make sure all the berries are rinsed and drained well.  Put all the fruit in a large bowl and gently toss.  Refrigerate for at least one hour.  Try to finish in one evening; it does not save well.  Feeds five hungry vegans and a Grannyma and a Poppy.

Big and Little Pink Strawberry Cakes, Naturally

GR turned eleven years old last month, officially making her a tweener. She requested a pink colored, strawberry flavored birthday cake. When we cut out artificial colors and flavors and petroleum-based preservatives last Fall, I hadn't really encountered a need to improvise on colors and flavors until now. I knew it would be coming with the children's birthdays, so I was mentally prepared. GR was very specific: she wanted strawberry flavor, not strawberry chunks. I had thought of using strawberry extract because I think it's okay, but I'll have to check to be sure. But, I really wanted to see if I could do this without extracts. I had also heard of using beet juice for the color, but since I was already using real strawberries for the flavor, I thought I'd see what color they'd make as well. What turned out was a sweet pink hue with a gentle strawberry flavor. GR was very pleased with it. She had a slumber party a few days later, and wanted the same thing in cupcake form, and we ended up with perfect little pink mini-cupcakes.

I used my White Cake with White Butter Cream Frosting as a base to start with. I thought by adding strawberry puree, I wouldn't need the soy milk, but I actually ended up using the same amount of soy milk as in the original recipe. Also, since my dear husband, G, has been complaining so much lately about the lack of frosting in between cake layers, I decided to double the butter cream frosting. Eh, don't do that, unless you have a limitless ability to eat sweets. I am a salt girl, myself, but even my sugar-lovin' family said that frosting version was too sweet. So, stick to the original. I'll repeat the recipe below. The photo of the cake below is with the doubled frosting recipe, and you can see I had abundant frosting. GR wanted both her cake and cupcakes topped with fresh raspberries, and they complete her beautiful desserts. She wanted to do the honors of topping them herself, and she did a great job, deepening my belief that she's going to be a fantastic cook someday.

Pink Strawberry Cake

You can kind of make out the pink cake here

Gorgeous strawberry puree!



Pink cake batter


Our cute little, pink mini-cupcakes

Mini-cupcakes all dressed up and ready to be devoured

Big and Little Pink Strawberry Cakes, Naturally

Ingredients:

Cakes:
(The same for both a double-layer cake or mini-cupcakes)

2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups vegan or raw sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup soy milk
2 and 1/2 cups of chopped strawberries, pureed in blender
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water

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

Fresh raspberries for garnish

Directions:

For the cakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For a double-layer cake, spray two round cake pans with an oil spray, and lightly flour their bottoms. For mini-cupcakes: I did not need to prepare the mini-cupcake pan - the cupcakes came right out. If you need to spray yours, feel free to do so. Set pans aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream the shortening to soften it completely. In a small bowl, whisk together the Egg Replacer and water. Alternate beating the flour mixture and the soy milk into the shortening, beating with a mixer on medium speed. At the end, add the strawberry puree, Egg Replacer mixture, and vanilla extract. Beat for three minutes, until completely smooth. For the two-layer cake: divide the batter between the two cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. For the mini-cupcakes: fill each cupcake well almost to the top with batter, leaving a bit of room. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in a couple of them comes out clean. Cool both types of pans on cooling racks for fifteen minutes. Remove cakes from their pans and finish cooling on racks. Makes one double layer cake or four and half dozen mini cupcakes.

For the frosting: 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 or four and half dozen mini cupcakes. For the double cake - rim the top layer with the raspberries, and for the mini-cupcakes - top each one with a raspberry. Feeds five hungry vegans and some giggling little girls!