Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan)

Last weekend I made these cinnamon rolls for my 4 year old, he is currently obsessed with cinnamon rolls. This recipe is one I stumbled upon at The Gay Vegans and given my son's current obsession with cinnamon rolls I just knew I had to try this recipe. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed these cinnamon rolls but to be honest my son was a little indifferent to them as they aren't like the ones he gets at Panera (kids can really get stuck on the most random things).

I won't lie, these took me quite a while to make, but of course I also had a few difficulties with various things like getting the yeast mixed into the water to become creamy as mine looked creamy in color but was still very watery. Maybe another time I will get this recipe to work a little better for me, but regardless these were yummy and it was nice to get to enjoy a cinnamon roll again.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (Vegan)

Yesterday I made these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups as well as the fudge I posted earlier. This recipe was also fairly easy to make, a little more work and effort than the fudge but still not bad.

I was so excited when I stumbled across this recipe in Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet" because I have always loved Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and I get a little sad when I buy them for my husband and son and I can't eat any, but now I can have these and let me tell you I have a feeling these are going to kick Reece's butt.

This is one of the treats I made to take with me on my upcoming cruise. Hopefully one of these days the cruise line at least adds sorbet to their menu, thankfully I can always get some fresh fruit at dessert time but being surrounded by all those desserts all week I find it helpful to bring something along that I can enjoy to satisfy that sweet tooth that inevitably surfaces on a week long cruise. 

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Vegan Fudge with Walnuts

Today I whipped up a batch of fudge. I adapted a recipe I found at GoDairyFree.org to use walnuts (which I had on hand) instead of coconut (my husband isn't a fan of coconut. This fudge was quite easy to make, the only cooking/baking necessary was to heat the coconut milk and margarine so you could probably even make this in a dorm room using a microwave if you wanted to.

This is one of the dairy-free treats I made to take with me on my upcoming cruise, sadly they didn't even have sorbet in the dining room when we went last year so all I could get for dessert was a fruit plate. Of course it isn't a huge deal to pack a few treats to enjoy for the week to make my trip that much more enjoyable, besides my treats are probably better than most of their desserts anyhow.  :-)

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Let there be chocolate cake

My four year old was very insistent that we he had to have chocolate cake, he said it was International Chocolate Cake Day (Friday) so we had to have chocolate cake. How do you argue with that?

I whipped this cake up last minute using the chocolate cupcake and chocolate buttercream frosting recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. I split the batter evenly between 2 round cake pans and since the layers were very thin it baked in the same times the cupcakes take to bake. This was a very decadent cake that everyone was happy to enjoy (yes we shared with neighbors and friends). 

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Perry the Platypus Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a very special little birthday boy. The cupcake on the left is chocolate, the one on the right is vanilla. Both cupcakes themselves are vegan and both have vegan buttercream frosting (recipes were from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World).

The eyes are made from white candy melts with melted semi-sweet chocolate for the pupils. The duckbills and tails are made from circus peanuts (rolled out with a rolling pin and then I used a knife to cut the marks into the tail), both versions of Perry have the same tail but it is hard to see it on the version on the left. The body of Perry on the left is made using a blue AirHead candy piece and the body on the left is just buttercream frosting with teal food coloring added to get the color.

All the kids faces lit up when they saw the cupcakes. 

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Dragonfly Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes as an end of year gift for my sons teachers. They are very easy to decorate. Each cupcakes gets 4 Swedish Fish (red or orange) a 2" piece of blue Sour Punch Stick and 1 brown M&M.

The cupcakes itself is vanilla and the frosting is vanilla buttercream.

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The Birthday Bakery

Today is my son's 4th birthday party and we have lots of his friends and classmates coming over to help us celebrate so I baked up my usual storm for his birthday. This years theme is centered around a moon cake, my son's request, complete with a space shuttle and astronauts an American flag and even star shaped candles. 

  The moon cake. Pin It The cake itself is red velvet with a buttercream frosting. The cake was made using the Wilton baking pan for making a soccer ball (or baseball, basketball, etc) cake pan. 

I also made dozens of these moon cupcakes as we have too many people coming to the party to only serve the moon cake. I thought the flags were a nice, simple touch.

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Pin It I also made my first ever sugar-free cupcakes and frosting. A nice golden cake with a chocolate fudge frosting. I did taste the frosting and it is so yummy I could have eaten it till I was sick and my neighbor was my first taste tester of the cupcakes and couldn't believe these were sugar free. They absolutely were as I cleaned the mixer, stand and all, in between making the other cakes and these just to be sure there was no sugar added to these. 

I will say there are so many good Vegan recipes out there that I really don't miss the milk products much and these cupcakes (well the frosting at least) has convinced me that I could give up sugar if I needed too as well. Part of the trick to not missing out on all the stuff you think you will miss is really just learning to cook and bake, that way you have more control over what you eat and know that you aren't getting added things. 

The red velvet and buttercream recipes are from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. The sugar-free cupcakes and frosting are from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, there are also gluten-free recipes in there.