Chocolate Cake & Sleepless Nights

Between my goofy husband and suddenly hyper-sensitive daughter, I’ll be lucky to get a full night’s sleep tonight!

Let me set the stage for you:

Aaron’s a bit of a light snorer at times.  Usually he’ll stop if I shake his arm and tell him to turn on his side.  Two nights ago, he was lightly snoring, so I did my obligatory shake.

Nothing.

Shake again.

Nothing.

Shove the arm!  He sits up in bed and says “What”.  I tell him he’s snoring.  He says (in a drawl I’ve never heard before), “Nooooo……I was just a lying here” and proceeds to lay back down.  All I could do was laugh which made him laugh, and in the morning, he had no idea what had happened!

Move to last night:

3:00 in the morning.  Pitter-patter of feet.  Zoe—”Is mom leaving for work?”

“No, it’s the middle of the night, go back to bed.”

4:30 in the morning.  Pitter-patter of feet.  Zoe—“Is mom leaving for work?”

“No.  Still middle of the night.  Go back to bed.”

5:45 in the morning.  Zoe is crawling around the top bunk, making noise.  Me—“Zoe, what are you doing?”

Zoe—“I gotta make sure I don’t miss you leaving.”  (insert broken heart here 😦 )

After we all get some good sleep, I think that Zoe and I need to have some 1:1 time together this weekend!  She’s always wanting to help in the kitchen, so we’ll have to create something scrumptious together—maybe some cupcakes or cookies?!?!?!

In the meantime, here’s the chocolate cake from my sister’s baby shower.  This one is taken from the Vegan Table cookbook and was a big hit (and as a bonus, it’s super easy 😉 ).  There’s the right amount of chocolate flavor without it being a fake flavor, and there’s a little chocolate boldness at the end of your bite—like the chocolate is saying “Hey man…I’m gooood!”  As an FYI, the original recipe says that you can use whatever non-dairy milk you prefer (soy, almond, hemp, etc), but I highly recommend using almond milk.  My mom made the same recipe with soymilk, and she said it was a disaster—the only difference was the type of milk we used.  When using milk in a recipe, I’ve been using almond milk for years, and it hasn’t failed me yet!

So, go get your bake on, and let that chocolate tell you who’s boss!  (That’s the mom-to-be about to put the smack down on some chocolate cake…and a cute little photo bomber!)

Scrumptious Chocolate Cake (taken from The Vegan Table)

**This recipe makes one round cake—double it for a layered cake

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup almond milk
½ cup black coffee (the darker the better)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 TBSP white distilled vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Lightly oil an 8- or 9-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl until thoroughly mixed.  It may be necessary to sift the cocoa powder to make sure it is fine.
3. Combine the milk, coffee, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Pour the wet mixture into the well and stir until thoroughly mixed.
5. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool completely.