Praline Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Whipped Cream

Just in time for Thanksgiving, I bring you an iced double-decker vegan praline pumpkin cake.  Say that three times fast!  😉

I made this cake a few weeks back to take to a friend’s house, and it was a hit!  At the end of the night, we only had two slices left…whether it was because there were that many people eating cake or because it was that good…you’re guess is as good as mine! 😉 Either way, we were the lucky ones and brought the extra cake home!

Originally, I was going to just make pumpkin cake with the icing, but that seemed a little boring.  I’ve been snacking on praline almonds, so my wheels started turning.  Praline almonds?  Not for this cake.  Praline pecans?  Perfect!  There’s something about butter, brown sugar, and pecans that just seems oh so right.

While pulling out spices for making the cake batter, I remembered that I had just received a shipment of new oils in the mail.  I got a little excited and pulled out some of my new “spicy” essential oils, using a combo of cinnamon bark, clove, and ginger.  The smells—oh the smells!  This is my absolute favorite time of year to whip up fall scented treats, and this cake did not disappoint.  And let’s not forget about the icing—pumpkin whipped cream?  Absolutely!

 

• Difficulty: medium
• Print

For the Praline:
½ cup Earth Balance Butter
¼ cup almond milk
1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup chopped pecans

For the cake:
4 cups flour
3 ½ TBSP baking powder
1 ¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ cup brown sugar
¾ cup cane sugar
1 ¾ cup canned pumpkin
1 cup almond milk
1 cup water
1 ½ TBSP vegetable oil
3 ¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 ½ tsp caramel extract
6 drops Young Living Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil
3 drops Young Living Nutmeg Essential Oil
2 drop Young Living Ginger Essential Oil
1 drop Young Living Clove Essential Oil
2 TBSP Ener-G Egg Replacer plus 3 TBSP water to fold into the batter

For the icing:
2 cans full fat coconut milk (chilled in the fridge overnight)
8 oz pumpkin puree
¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
2-3 droppers vanilla stevia drops
Pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Cut two round pieces of parchment paper to fit into two ungreased 9 inch round cake pans with parchment paper (this will make it easier for the cakes to come out of the pans).
2. In a heavy saucepan, combine the Earth Balance butter, almond milk, and brown sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, just until the butter is melted.  Pour evenly into the two round cake pans.  Sprinkle evenly with pecans.
3. Combine the dry cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Toss well.
4. Combine the wet ingredients, except the Ener-G egg replacer, and fold into the dry ingredients.
5. Fold the Ener-G egg replacer into the cake ingredients.
6. Spread the batter into the two prepared cake pans, smoothing out the top. The batter is a bit thick, so be sure to smooth it out.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes, or until the edges start to brown.
8. Cool the cakes completely before turning out on racks or cake plate.
9. Prepare the Pumpkin Whipped Cream: Without shaking or disturbing, remove the chilled cans of coconut milk from the fridge.  Using a small can opener (the “old school” kind that is a pointed triangle) to puncture a drainage hole in the bottom of the can.  Do this over a separate bowl!  Allow the coconut water to drain out of the bottom of the can.  Once all of the water is drained, flip the can over, open and scoop out the thick coconut cream to a large bowl.  Repeat with the second can.
10. Whip the coconut cream until it starts to firm up. Add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, sweetener, and salt.  Whip until you have soft fluffy peaks.
11. If you haven’t already, place one cake round onto your cake plate. Layer half of your pumpkin whipped cream on top of the first cake round, and then place the second cake round on top of the cream.

We loved this cake so much that I’ll be making it to bring to Thanksgiving this year!  We do have some allergies in the family, so I’m working on a nut-free cinnamon swirl version…spoiler alert family members!  🙂

What are you making for dessert?

Strawberry “Cream” Cookies

Babies, babies, babies! We’ve got new babies all around us! Our dear friends had a brand new baby girl a few weeks ago, and my sister had her baby girl this past week! We’ve been swimming in a sea of pink lately! The kids have been craft creating machines, drawing and painting pictures, making cards, and making books—all baby girl related!

With all of this pink on the brain, I needed an outlet—so I had my own little creation! Welcome to my Strawberry “Cream” Cookies! With all of the busi-ness I opted for something that would be…hopefully…quick and easy to make while still offering up something scrumptious, so the base of my cookie is actually a cake mix! Quick and easy these cookies are! (uhh…hello Yoda?)

Once you make up the cookie mix and bake them for a bit, you pop them out of the oven to top them with a half of a marshmallow—I used vegan marshmallows (for the first time). After you pop the marshmallow on top, put those babies back in the oven for a few more minutes to bake. The vegan marshmallows taste good but they don’t melt and spread out like I had hoped that they would. After all of the baking is done, you let the cookies cool and then frost to your heart’s content!

It’s really fun to just give people a cookie, thinking it’s just a regular ol’ strawberry cookie, and then watching the surprised delight as they bite into it and discover the hidden gem inside! 🙂

• Servings: 24
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Cookie Ingredients:
1 Strawberry Cake Mix
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 Ener-G Egg Replacer Eggs
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 TSP Vanilla
12 vegan marshmallows, cut in half (spray your kitchen shears with cooking spray to easily cut)

Frosting Ingredients:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 TBSP Earth Balance butter
2 TBSP strawberry syrup
5-7 TBSP almond milk
¾ tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a Baking Sheet with Parchment Paper
2. In a small bowl whisk together the Ener-G eggs and set aside for a few minutes. Add the oil and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl mix together the cake mix and baking powder.
4. Add the egg mixture to the cake mixture and stir all together until all the dry cake mix lumps disappear.
5. Refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and drop round (about 1 Tablespoon) balls onto baking sheet. You will want your balls to be taller and less wide. Bake for 8 minutes.
6. Remove the cookies from the oven and place half of a marshmallow on top of each cookie. Return to the oven and bake for 2 more minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool and then transfer to a wire rack.
8. While the cookies are cooling make your frosting. Put the confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl. Melt the butter on the stove over low heat and add the strawberry syrup. Do not allow to boil.
9. Add the butter mixture to the confectioners’ sugar. Whisk in the almond milk and vanilla.
10. Spread about a tablespoon of frosting on each cookie to cover the marshmallow and let stand for 10 minutes to allow the frosting to set.

I hope you enjoy my pink creation–and they don’t have to be used just for new baby girls!  They’re great for any occassion, especially as we enter into summer and want something scrumptious and fruity!!

What’s your favorite “pink” recipe?

Lemon Blueberry Cake Donuts with Lemon Glaze Icing

I got some! Donut pans that is! 😉 Now I’m in the big leagues baby—no more mini bundt cakes or mini heart shaped donuts. It’s my b-day weekend, so of course, I had to ask for some donut pans (amongst other things), and of course, I had to put them to use immediately! As soon as I opened the gift, I knew what I’d be doing the next morning and I instantly started thinking about what was in the pantry and what I could make—because let’s face it—I wasn’t going to be running out to the grocery store first thing in the morning.

I was also fortunate to get a kit of Young Living Essential Oils for my b-day. I’m in the very beginning stages of learning about all of the great uses and benefits to using the oils, and we’ve already seen some pretty neat results! Aaron has been a snorer (I’ve talked about that before), and a few months ago, a friend told us about an oil for him to put on his big toe. Weird, right? Well we tried it—and it worked! No more snoring! I was pretty much sold at that point! We did some more research, and since b-day time was coming, we waited to make any purchases. We’ve experimented with a few other things—I’m super prone to migraines…felt one coming on…put oil on my temples and back of the neck…within 5 minutes it was gone! Say what?!?! We diffused some oil during the kids “crazy” time of night, and I kid you not, without being prompted, they were calm, laying on pillows in the living room reading books. Pure magic, I tell ya!

My next “big” thing I wanted to try out was baking…could I bake something, incorporating the oils, that would be super scrumptious? Well, yes—yes I could—and did!

Enter the Lemon Blueberry Cake Donuts with Lemon Glaze Icing! I had no lemons in the house, so I opted for the Lemon Oil from Young Living Essential Oils. A few drops goes a long way, and they gave the right amount of lemony deliciousness while boosting the immune and digestive systems. Bonus!

The donuts and glaze are simple to make—another bonus! Since Jax says he doesn’t like blueberries, I opted to blend them with some sugar and melt them on the stove a bit to make a slight syrup to mix into the batter. When he realized that I was baking with blueberries, he started to get a bit sad. I explained that he wouldn’t be able to see them and that I baked them in. He was skeptical, but—drumroll—he loved them! Point for mommy! The others…well…they literally in-haled them! I barely had time to shoot any pics!

 

Lemon Blueberry Cake Donuts with Lemon Glaze

• Servings: 18
• Print

For the Donuts:
2 cups flour
2 TBSP baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup blueberries (frozen are fine)
¼ cup sugar
½ cup maple syrup
4 TBSP Earth Balance butter, melted
½ cup vegan sour cream
2 flax eggs (2 TBSP ground flax meal mixed with 6 TBSP warm water)
½ cup almond milk
½ tsp vanilla
4-6 drop Young Living Lemon Essential Oil*

For the Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 TBSP almond milk**
2-3 drops Young Living Lemon Essential Oil**

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly grease your donut pans and set aside.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
3. In a small food processor or blender, combine the blueberries and sugar until fully incorporated and some small chunks/pieces remain. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and stir on low heat until the sugar melts, creating a syrup of sorts.
4. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, melted butter, sour cream, flax eggs, vanilla, almond milk, blueberry syrup mixture, and lemon oil drops.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir to thoroughly combine.
6. Fill the wells of the donut pan half full. The fuller the wells, the poofier the donuts, and the more likely the hole in the center will be filled in.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a donut comes out clean. Allow to cool in the donut pan for 7 minutes and then turn out on a cooling rack to completely cool.
8. While the donuts are cooling, mix the powdered sugar, almond milk, and lemon oil to make your glaze.
9. Once the donuts are cool, dip one side in the glaze and set aside to let the glaze set.
10. Eat and enjoy! 

*If you don’t have the Lemon Oil for the donuts, you could try decreasing the almond milk to ¼ cup, and add in ¼ cup fresh lemon juice and 1 tsp lemon zest.
**If you don’t have Lemon Oil for the glaze, you could use fresh lemon juice in place of the almond milk.

I hope to keep experimenting with the oils and seeing what I can create to share with you. If you have questions about or are interested in Young Living Essential Oils, shoot me a message. In the meantime, have you baked with Essential Oils? What are your favorite recipes?

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Vegan Chocolate Cake Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

Oh Divine-ness!!! This morning, as Mads and I lay snuggling in bed, we began scheming about all of the deliciousness we could make for breakfast. We thought of flavored pancakes, waffles, oatmeals, breads—but none of them seemed quite right. Mads, defeated, finally said, “Mom, why don’t we just go to the store and get some donuts?” Uhhh…say what??? Did my own child JUST say that? Well, I’ve got one better for you dear innocent child of mine—we will make those beloved donuts!!!

I admit that I didn’t have a donut recipe readily available, but thanks to Pinterest, we were able to piece together a pretty great recipe (if I do say so myself!). Also, admittedly, I don’t have a donut pan…so long live the improvisation! We indulged in “heart” shaped donuts (they looked more like giant misshaped donut holes) and mini bundt cake donuts—but they got the job done!

When Mads and I started out baking, we thought that we’d have regular, plain cake donuts with chocolate glaze, but then we got crazy mid-mix and opted for chocolate cake donuts—and we are so glad that we did! Given my cinnamon addiction, we had to add in some cinnamon, and it is such a great combo. I also loooove browned butter, but I realized that I’m not sure if I’ve really actually browned vegan butter. It does brown up, but it’s much different than regular butter. For one, it takes a bit longer, and the vegan butter seems to separate a bit more. I think that I probably could have browned it a bit more, but I got nervous and pulled the butter off of the stove, so next time, I’ll push it a little further, trying to get more of the yummy browned flavor.

While the donuts were baking, we just had to make a scrumptious chocolate glaze (would you judge me if I said I ate the glaze by the spoonful? If you would judge…then I didn’t… 😉 ). Since no donut is complete without sprinkles, we added a bunch for funzies!

 

Chocolate Cake Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

• Servings: 12
• Print

Donut Ingredients

2 cup all-purpose flour
2 TBSP almond flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBSP cocoa powder
3 TBSP Earth Balance butter
2 flax eggs (2 TBSP ground flax meal mixed with 6 TBSP warm water)
1 cup almond milk mixed with 1 TBSP vinegar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
3 to 4 TBSP almond milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Lightly grease your doughnut pan with butter and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, sugar, and cocoa powder.
3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. It will begin to crackle and froth up as it melts and releases its water. The butter will start to separate a bit and will start to calm down. You will get a brown/darker layer on the bottom of the pan, remove the pan from heat and immediately transfer the browned butter (brown bits and all) to a small bowl.
4. In another bowl whisk together the flax eggs, almond milk/vinegar mix, vanilla extract, and browned butter.
5. Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir together until no flour bits remain and all of the ingredients are well combined. Try not to overmix the batter to avoid creating rubbery doughnuts.
6. Use a small spoon to dollop batter into the pan. Fill each doughnut in the pan three-quarters full with batter. Place in the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so you don’t over-bake. They should feel springy to the touch when ready.
7. Remove from the oven and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. While the doughnuts cool, make the glaze.
8. To make the glaze, sift together powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of almond milk and vanilla extract. Add more milk as necessary to create a thick but still just pourable glaze. (Though you’re not going to pour it; you’re going to dunk the donuts)
9. Once the doughnuts are completely cool, dip top-side-down into the chocolate glaze. Return to the wire rack and sprinkle with toppings.

 

We all loved these donuts so much, and now I can’t wait to try making more! I may have to invest in a donut pan…or just keep improvising…

Do you have a favorite donut recipe to share? You just may entice me to get that donut pan afterall! 😉

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

 

We survived—the birthday weekend that is! It was a fun-filled weekend with family, friends, and lots of laughter. The kids made out like bandits with a family birthday party one night and a friends party another day. In an attempt to keep stress levels down, we went super low-key this year—no theme…no crazy decorations…heck…we didn’t even have games! We lived on the wild side—and wild it was! I may actually be traumatized by the whole event.

All of the girls were so sweet, asking to be excused from the table after eating and saying that lunch looked “delightful” (yes—a 7 year old girl said it looked delightful—she was delightful—I could have put her in my pocket, but well, you know—I’m sure her mom would have been a bit upset come pick up time). The boys…well…the boys. Trauma. That’s all I can say about that.

To help celebrate and keep with the low keyness, I opted out of making crazy individual cakes, but I’m no animal…we had cupcakes instead! There’s something so satisfying about swirling the scrumptious frosting on top of the springy, moist cupcakes and then sprinkling some sparkly colored sugar on top.

Since I’ve had lemon on my mind lately, and we were in party mode, I opted for some pink lemonade cupcakes with pink lemonade frosting. Even though they were all pink, no one seemed to mind…

The cupcakes are moist and the frosting is just sweet enough…with a teeny bit of tang. It may have been the two glasses of wine, but my mom was pretty adamant that these cupcakes are her new favorite!  (Insert picture of mom with a glass of wine and a BIIIIIG smile on her face 🙂 –opted for you to use your imagination–didn’t think she’d appreciate that much!)

While it may have been the wine talking with my mom, these cupcakes really were good! The cupcakes themselves were actually made from a recipe I adapted from a cake recipe and they were moist, springy, and can definitely support the weight of that frosting swirl. In the cupcake I used lemonade concentrate, while I used pink lemonade concentrate in the frosting. Next time I might try using the pink lemonade in both, but I had both concentrates defrosted, so I thought, “What the heck?”

• Servings: 24
• Print

Cupcake Ingredients

• 1 cup Earth Balance vegan butter
• 1 cup applesauce
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• Red food coloring—I only wanted a pink color so I just put a small bit in
• 1 1/3 cups almond milk
• 1/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Pink Lemonade Buttercream

• 3 sticks Earth Balance vegan butter, at room temperature
• 4 ounces vegan cream cheese at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons pink lemonade concentrate, from frozen concentrate
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• Almond milk, as needed

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners.
2. In medium bowl stir together 3-1/3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. In an extra-large mixing bowl beat butter with mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium until well combined. Scrape sides of bowl; beat 2 minutes more. Add a few drops of red food coloring; beat to combine. Add applesauce ¼ cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In another bowl stir together almond milk, lemonade concentrate, and extract (mixture will look curdled). Alternately add flour mixture and almond milk mixture to butter mixture, beating on low after each addition just until combined.
5. Bake about 20-25 minutes, until tops spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack. Cool completely, and while cooling, prepare Pink Lemonade Butter Frosting.

For buttercream:

1. Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.
2. Reduce the speed to low and add the pink lemonade concentrate, vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat on lowest speed until all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, then increase to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 more minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. If the icing is too thick add a bit of almond milk, if too thin add a bit more powdered sugar

So, really, if you’re in the mood for something not too sweet, with the perfect amount of tang, these cupcakes are your thing. You could totally leave out the red food coloring in order to “man them up” a bit if you needed, but we’re all secure around here! 😉

Now, I’m working on the finishing touches on what just may be my new favorite cake that we’ll be making for mother’s day! If I get done in time, I’ll be sure to post it well before so you can make it too…or do you have your own favorite cake to share for the upcoming holiday?

Two Thumbs Up Heart Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Running. I enjoy running. I enjoy building up stamina, beating goals, and the feeling of accomplishment when you’re done. Don’t let me fool you though—I am by no means a good runner! In fact it’s been almost two years since I’ve really gone for a true run (and the size of my pants is a testament to that). This weekend, I got it in my head that I would pick up running again, and to make it even better, I decided it would be a family affair.

So, Saturday morning, I donned my running gear, laced up my shoes, put the leash on the dog, and…told the kids to grab their bikes or scooters. This would be fun right? I would get to run, the dog would get out for exercise, and the kids would get to ride. Well, if you know where we live, you’d know that no matter what direction you go from our house, you’re basically going uphill. So—peptalk time!

“Guys you know we’ve gotta go uphill for a bit, but we’re tough, right?!?!”

“RIGHT!!!!”

“Great! So, there’s no fussing on the way up cause remember then we get the sweet, sweet downhill!”

“YEAH!!! We loooove the downhill! Can we go fast?”

“You bet!”

So, out we go…around the corner…and uphill. Ten minutes in, I was carrying a scooter while Jax was trailing behind, “MOOOOMMMM!!! WAIT FOR ME!!!!” Two minutes later Jax was balanced on his scooter as I tried pulling it while running. One minute later, huffing and puffing, I caved. “Guys, can we do this? Can we keep going? Or should we turn around and go downhill?”

“Let’s go DOWNHILL!!!”

So much for my first run in two years…it can only go uphill from here, right (hee, hee, hee)!

Even though my first run-run was a flop, my first run on these cookies wasn’t! J Luckily I had all (well, almost all) of the ingredients on hand—I love it when that happens! I didn’t have actual oat flour, but if you grind your oats in a food processor for several minutes, you can easily—and for a fraction of the cost—make your own oat flour. I also love that you can talk yourself into saying that these cookies are “healthy”, they are scrumptious, and Connor gave me two thumbs up…lots of two thumbs up!!

Because my batter was still a bit warm when I mixed in the chocolate, some of it melted into the batter making a chocolate chocolate chip cookie—mmm..mmm! If you want a less chocolately batter, let your mix completely cool, but good luck waiting that long! The cookies bake up nicely, but be sure to let them cool on your pan before transferring or else they’ll flop apart…not that I would know or anything… 😉 Once the cookies are cooled, they are chewy and break apart easily. The kids loved that!

Heart Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups walnuts
3 TBSP canola oil
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cup oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. In a food processor, blend the walnuts until they are ground into a fine meal. Add the oil, and blend for 2-3 minutes, until the consistency of natural peanut butter. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Whisk together the brown sugar and ½ cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil.
4. Pour the brown sugar mixture over the walnut butter. Add the vanilla, and stir until there are no lumps.
5. Whisk together the oat flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
6. Stir the oat flour mix into the walnut mix. Cool the dough for at least 10 minutes.
7. Fold the oats and then the chocolate chips into the dough.
8. Shape the dough into 2-inch balls and placed onto parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten the cookies with the bottom of a glass sprayed with cooking spray.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies begin to brown.
10. Cool for several minutes and transfer to wire racks.

 

Enjoy the cookies, and in the meantime, I hope that with more practice, the uphills won’t be so daunting…for the kids…or for me!  So, what pointers do you have for getting back into the swing of things?

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.

Vegan Vanilla Cake

As I told you in my last post, this past weekend we had my little sister’s baby shower, and I got to make three different kinds of cakes.  I’ve given you the recipe for the delicious strawberry cake, and today, I’m giving you the vanilla one!

This cake is so simple to make and really turns out well.  I’ve made it a few times as the non-vegan version, making a strawberry layer cake, with fresh strawberries and whipped cream…mmm…strawberries must be on my mind lately.  I think I made the original version for a jewelry party, and if memory serves, I was much more interested in the cake than I was the jewelry…layers of cake with strawberry jam, fresh cut strawberries, sweet cream…my mouth is watering.  I am definitely going to make that again and figure out an option for the cream.  I saw online a vegan version of whipping cream, or maybe I’ll use coconut whipped cream.  Oh my!  Stop my beating heart.

Ahem…now that I’ve got you all excited for something else…sorry.

Back to the purpose of this post!  Because the cake itself has always turned out so scrumptiously, I thought I’d try a vegan version of it as my vanilla cake with “butter”cream frosting.  I love flavored cakes (can I get a holla for some chocolate!), but sometimes it’s nice to just have a simple vanilla.  I made two round cakes, layered with buttercream and decorated with peace signs and hearts (hippie girl, remember?).  I had the cake looking pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I was in the final stages of frosting the third, chocolate, cake when I heard a little thump and an “Ohhhh noooo….” from behind me (there may have been an expletive in there 😉 ).  I turned around, and bless Aaron’s heart, he was trying to put the cake and cake stand into a box for me to transport it to the baby shower when he dropped the cake into the side of the box!!!  All I can say is thank goodness for frosting and some creative covering!  I don’t think anyone was the wiser! 😉

Vanilla Cake

(adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

2 sticks Earth Balance butter, softened to room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
4 Ener-G eggs (6 tsp egg replacer mixed with 8 TBSP warm water)
1 1/3 cup almond milk
1 TBSP vinegar
1 TBSP vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Spray two 9 inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper on the bottom.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. Combine the almond milk and vinegar and set aside.
4. Beat the Earth Balance butter and the sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, for about 2 minutes.  Reduce the speed and slowly pour in the egg replacer, beating well.  Beat in one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the almond milk, one-third of the flour mixture, the other half of the almond milk, and ending with the final third of the flour mixture.  Beat in the vanilla.
5. Divide the batter between the two pans.  Bake, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks and cool in the pans for 20 minutes.  Invert onto wire racks, remove the parchment paper, and allow to cool completely.

Strawberry Cake and a Baby Shower

We’ll be welcoming another little girl into the family in a few months (well…not us!), and today was a great day to celebrate.  My little sister is having a baby, and today was her baby shower!  My mom and I co-hosted the shower, and I had the super fun job of making the cakes.  Yes, I said cakes!  We were expecting about 30 ladies to come, so I took the opportunity to make three kinds of cakes.  Luckily for Aaron and the kids, I had to try the recipes out beforehand, so they were able to sample the goods a few weeks in advance.  At the shower, we had a chocolate cake, a vanilla cake, and a strawberry cake.

My sister is our free spirit, and she loves hearts and peace signs.  Little Baby Shea is going to be a cute, decked out hippie girl!  Since I was going to be making a strawberry cake, I decided to make it into a heart.  I mean…pink…heart…they go together, right?  Now, I’m not usually one for strawberry flavored things, but mmm-mmm, this cake was goo-ood!  It is so nice and moist and has a fresh strawberry taste.    Using pureed strawberries had my mouth watering from the get-go.  To avoid having the batter be too wet, I strained the berries over a bowl, turning and pushing them to get some of the juice out.   I think that this freshness makes the cake stand out from other artificially flavored cakes.

When I first popped the cakes out of the pan, I thought that they were going to be too dense and moist, but after being layered with buttercream, everything seemed to just fit together…pure scrumptiousness!  The buttercream isn’t overly sweet and serves as a nice compliment to the fresh sweetness of the cake.  At the end of the shower, this cake was the one that was mostly gone!  I had to hide a slice or two to take home for my boys 🙂 I hope that you enjoy the cake as much as we did!

Vegan Strawberry Cake

3 cups cake flour
4 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 packages strawberries, pureed and strained *
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Ener-G egg replacer equivalent of 4 large eggs, beaten (6 tsp dry powder mixed with 8 TBSP warm water)
Red or pink food coloring if you want the cake to look pinker

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Puree the strawberries in a food processor.  Pour the pureed strawberries into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl, allowing the juice to drain.
4. Stir the sugar, oil, pureed strawberries, vanilla and beaten egg replacer into the flour mixture.
5. Add in a few drops of food coloring if you want.
6. Divide batter evenly among oiled pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans periodically to ensure they bake evenly. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the middle of the cakes, and the top should spring back when gently pressed.
7. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, and then remove pans, allowing the cakes to completely cool.
8. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

2 cups Earth Balance vegan butter (4 sticks), softened
6 cups powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 TBSP almond milk

1.  In your blender, whip the Earth Balance butter sticks until creamy
2. Slowly whip in 1 cup of powder sugar
3. Slowly whip in the vanilla and 1-2 TBSP of almond milk.  The frosting may begin to look clumpy or curdly, but don’t worry!
4. Slowly whip in the remaining powder sugar.  If the buttercream is too thick, slowly add bits of more almond milk.  If you get the buttercream too runny, slowly add in more powder sugar.

Once your cakes are cooled, spread approximately one cup of frosting on your bottom layer.  Put the second layer on top.  Use the remaining buttercream to frost the top and sides of the cake.

*I had originally said 2 pints of strawberries, but I realized that is not the size of the package.  I meant the regular sized packs of strawberries that you buy in the produce section, and admittedly, I don’t know how big they are!