Sand castle cake

Well my little man is celebrating his 6th birthday so it was time to get a little crazy in the kitchen and make him a truly awesome cake. Since we decided on a pool party a sand castle cake seemed very fitting along with ice cream cone cupcakes. This is definitely not a small cake, I made a triple batch of vanilla cake (vegan cupcakes take over the world) to make the tiers of the sand castle. There was some extra cake left over after I cut out the 2 smaller circles, but still a lot of cake. Once it was fully assembled it was also very tall so I really just have to leave it sit out on the tray which is why I made it pretty last minute.

I made a 8-inch round cake and a 9 by 13-inch cake as this was what I had on hand (the directions actually suggested a 9-inch square be made to cut the smaller circles out of. Once both cakes were baked and had cooled I cut out the 2 smaller circles, one 3 1/2-inches and one 5 1/2-inches. Once all the layers were cut out it was time to make some vanilla buttercream frosting (vegan cupcakes take over the world) to put the cakes together. After the cakes were frosted and stacked it was time to put graham cracker crumbs on top of the frosting as the sand. Then I put the ice cream cone cupcakes on the cake, I used toothpicks to hold them steady on the cake (you don't have to bake cupcakes in them, they probably wouldn't need to be steadied with toothpicks if they weren't cupcakes). Then I topped the ice cream cones with sugar cones to finish the towers of the sand castle. Now I put 2 full height graham cracker sticks on the front of the cake as the doors and then put half height graham cracker sticks around the rest of the 3 tiers and then put some more graham cracker crumbs on top of the cake to make sure all the frosting was covered up. After I added all the candles I showed my son his cake and he told me it was the best cake ever. I am so very happy that he really loves his birthday cake.

Banana Split Cupcakes AND Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Banana Split Cupcakes AND Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Today was trial run day for the little man's birthday party next weekend. I did actually forget to add the bananas to the cupcake batter, but then I thought why not add the bananas to the chocolate fudge frosting then which sounds pretty amazing to me. I have to admit I haven't made these cupcakes in a few years, I think the last time I made these was for the little man's 3rd birthday and this is now his 6th birthday. They were a hit then and I hope they will be a hit here in our new area with his new friends.

Now on to how I made pans for the ice cream cones so they wouldn't tip over in the oven, or more likely getting in and out of the oven. Yes, I am clumsy. I took an aluminum foil baking pan that was about 9 x 13 and I cut 12 holes into the pan using a pair of scissors. I cut one line all the way across and then cut another to make an x, then repeated to make a total of 4 cuts all the way across (or 8 points from the middle). Once I did that I folded each piece back to make a circle (no, not the roundest circle but round enough to accomodate my ice cream cones). 

Here you can see how I placed the ice cream cones in the pan and placed the pan on a cookie sheet to make it easier to get in and out of the oven. It worked like a charm, but I did find I didn't fill the ice cream cones high enough to get the effect I was hoping for. I guess we can say that is why I like to do a trial run. Next time I will leave a gap about the same as I like to leave with regular cupcakes, this time I went a little shallow so I would not have them overflowing out of the ice cream cones and all over the cookie sheet or possibly even my new oven. I got 1 dozen ice cream cones and 3 jumbo cupcakes out of a single cupcake recipe, I would guess if I had added the banana and filled them a little more I still would have gotten the same number of cupcakes out of a single cupcake recipe. 

Doubles (Trinidad and Tobago street food)

The joy of a new cookbook is one we know well in this house. I recently got "Caribbean Vegan" and the Trinidadian Doubles were my the first dish I decided to make out of the newest addition to my cookbook collection. This dish was very yummy and very filling, my husband and I both had leftovers for lunch today and we still have enough left for another lunch. 

The dish consists of Bara, a fried bread that isn't too difficult to make. I can say that because I actually didn't even burn myself once and the bread came out good on the first try, these are not normal things for me to have happen. The filling has chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) and onions and garlic along with some spices to make a nice stew-like filling. 

I also made one of the Spanish Rice recipes in the cookbook as a side dish but that was not necessary as the doubles were so filling on their own. The spanish rice had spinach and onion in it and was also rather tasty. My husband said the doubles were definitely one to repeat, that is high praise in this house.

Below is a picture of the bara without the filling on top. 

Strawberry Scones

This morning I whipped up some fresh strawberry scones for breakfast. I can't resist a good sale on strawberries and I have been craving scones lately so I thought I would give scones a try this weekend. I am happy to report that they weren't too difficult to make and they were very delicious to eat.

Of course I did make a few adjustments to the recipe. I substituted my Earth Balance for butter and coconut milk for the light cream. Since I was substituting the coconut milk for light cream instead of heavy cream I didn't refrigerate it and separate it as one would do for heavy cream, I just grabbed the can from the cupboard and shook it up and poured the desired amount into a measuring cup.

The recipe made 8 scones so we are having leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.   

It's a Birthday! Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Frosting

The other day was my birthday and well what else would someone who loves to bake do for their own birthday cake... I spotted a picture of a cake that I just knew I had to have and I made it for myself. I adore strawberries, they are one of my favorite things in the world so of course I love to have a lot of strawberries with my birthday cake and this year there was no exception. I made a four layer cake with strawberry preserves and strawberries between every layer (there was also frosting between the layers, but for me that isn't the important part). 

This vanilla cake was covered in a strawberry cream cheese frosting, it was supposed to be whipped but I had a little trouble with that. Yes, even those of us who have been baking for ages still have our mishaps in the kitchen. 

To make this cake dairy-free I substituted Toffuti cream cheese, Toffuti sour cream, Earth's Balance (for the butter), and coconut milk for the heavy whipping cream (I forgot and shook the can though, you are supposed to chill it and then take the top layer of the coconut milk... the heavy cream layer). Even though the frosting was drippy it was still really good and it made for a beautiful cake, and of course truly delicious (that is the most important part in our house).

We were very happy to have some good friends join us for cake and a bottle of wine, from Cupcake Vineyards of course because what else would a baker pick for her birthday wine. 

The cake recipe is available online at Perry's Plate and includes how to make it as the round like I did or a small sheet style cake (3 layers).

Bacon-and-Egg Muffins (Dairy-Free)

This morning for breakfast I made these bacon-and-egg muffins that I saw in the new Better Homes and Gardens magazine (don't worry the recipe is also available online and I put in a link to it just above). These muffins are really tasty, especially with some maple syrup on the side. They do take a bit of effort to make, but given you make 12 muffins at once it's not bad. We have enough leftovers for two more breakfasts, helps to not have to do much more than warm something up in order to have a nice weekday breakfast. I do highly recommend making these and if you have the magazine check it out because there were three more yummy looking breakfasts in there too, of course I do plan to make the other three in the coming weeks so I will let you know how they turn out as well.

The only substitutions I made was using soy milk in place of milk and using a cheddar cheese substitute (I would probably add more next time or try using a different cheese substitute as the rice cheese really wasn't able to be tasted). 

Lemon Streusel Muffins (gluten-free, dairy-free)

Today was an exciting day for me, and many others with restrictive diets in the area we live. Sprouts finally opened, well actually it opened yesterday but I made it to the store today... twice to be specific. I was impressed enough that I took the boys after dinner tonight so they could see it as well. We even ran into a friend of ours who also has a restrictive diet, he was equally excited to hear Sprouts had finally opened. I had been looking forward to this store for a really long time, it seems like it has been about 2 years since it was first announced but that could just be my anticipation clouding my judgement. Anyhow, let me stop going on and on about this and tell you it was worth the wait. They have lots of dairy-free products. 

I spotted these muffins among the many yummy looking dairy-free (yes they are also gluten-free) items and just had to try them, lets hope they are as good as my lemon almond bling muffins. I am really looking forward to breakfast tomorrow and I am also really looking forward to trying many more of the enticing items they had. 

Strawberry Cake (Dairy-Free)

I was traveling and then was very sick, but I did still manage to make this a few days ago. This strawberry cake was easy to make and delicious. My husband bought me a bunch of strawberries at our local farmer's market so they were nice and fresh and ripe and cull of flavor, yes to me this is the best way to buy strawberries and I have yet to have enough success with growing my own to have enough to make a cake out of them.

I found this recipe through Pintrest from another blog called Two Peas & Their Pod. Here is a link to Two Peas & Their Pod's blog post with the recipe for this yummy cake. For the record we had some for dessert and also for breakfast, a very tasty and versatile cake in my opinion.

To make this cake dairy-free I substituted Earth's Balance Buttery Spread for the butter. For the buttermilk I set out 1/2 a cup of soy milk with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar while I was mixing up everything else (at least 10 minutes) and then used that as my buttermilk (fresh lemon juice also works). 

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.

Moon Birthday Cake - Trial Run

As a pair of geeks I think my husband and I are pretty lucky to have a child going on 4 years old who is so completely obsessed with all things space and NASA so of course I wasn't surprised that he really wants an astronaut birthday party and wanted a moon cake complete with a space shuttle and astronauts on the surface of his moon cake. For the trial run I did not decorate it with the space shuttle and astronauts as I knew I would never be able to retrieve the toys from him once he saw them.

The trick to making the craters in the frosting was to let the cake sit for a while so the frosting would harden a bit and then I took a flat bottomed measuring spoon and dug it into the frosting until when I pulled it out of the frosting I got a nice crater, I used a tablespoon for all of the craters and wasn't too particular about how the craters came out as I know they don't need to look perfect to really look perfect as things that happen in nature never appear as perfect as we assume they would appear.

I used the Wilton cake pan for making soccer balls, baseballs, basketballs, etc and made a double batch of vegan red velvet cupcake mix and a single batch of the vegan buttercream frosting recipe from The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes. We did dig into the cake after dinner tonight and I will say that this pan leaves a bit of a tough area around the rim of the cake, but nothing I see a bunch of 4 year olds complaining about as my own almost 4 year old said he liked the cake and later asked for more of the cake.

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Lemon Pancakes with Raspberry Sauce (vegan)

This morning I made one of my favorite breakfasts, lemon pancakes with raspberry sauce. This vegan version of a dish I had at a restaurant once is so nice and light and refreshing and yet satisfying. I first found this particular recipe when our lemon tree had so much fruit on it that I had to go theme for a week or two and make everything I could to use up all of those nice lemons. I made lemonade, learned to make lemon Italian soda and found a bunch of other fun recipes like the lemon drop cookies that I posted earlier.

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Lemon Drop Cookies (vegan) and Mexican Mocha Brownies (gluten-free)

Pin It The other week we hosted a little Mexican food party at our house so I made these lovely vegan Lemon Drop Cookies (found in The 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes), my husband's favorite cookies these days. They are like a little tea cookie coated in powdered sugar, the powdered sugar makes a nice contrast with the tartness of the lemon cookie. The cookies are quite tart without being coated in the powdered sugar, at least my lemon drop cookies are quite tart without the powdered sugar but that may just be because I have quite tart lemons on my lemon tree.


Pin It I also made these gluten-free Mexican Mocha Brownies for the party as a friend of ours is gluten-free so the cookies my husband wanted me to make would not be appropriate for her to eat, as someone with a food allergy myself I try to accommodate others with food allergies and dietary concerns as I want to enjoy the food and want everyone else to be able to enjoy the food as well. These brownies were quite nice although the coffee in the brownies meant they were not really for kids or those who are pregnant. This was only my second gluten-free dairy-free recipe and I thoroughly  enjoyed these brownies, but look forward to trying them again when I can make the raspberry sauce to go along with them (maybe I will try the main recipe as opposed to the Mexican Mocha variation) and maybe I will open that bottle of chocolate raspberry mead to go with the brownies, it was something my husband picked up on a business trip.

Star Wars cookies

On a recent trip to Williams Sonoma my son just had to have the Star Wars cookie cutters, so of course my husband and I obliged and bought them for him. Well, I finally got around to making him those Star Wars cookies and even frosting and decorating them, well all except the Boba Fett cookies as my 3 year old doesn't yet recognize him. He does recognize the Stormtroopers, Darth Vader and Yoda so I took my time and practiced a little patience doing my best to make these cookies for my little man.

Here are the cookies before and after being baked, for those of you who want to know how well you can distinguish the details from these cookie cutters. I will say I did really put a little effort into getting the details to come out on the cookies. I really put some amount of force into pushing the little knob at the top of the cookie cutter and even rolled it from side to side and up and down while putting pressure on the knob to ensure all the details would be visible. 

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School Bake Sale

Thursday my son's school is having a bake sale and I have to drop my goodies off at the office tomorrow so I decided to make some red velvet cupcakes and wrap each cupcake individually. I put each cupcake in a 9 ounce party cup and then put each cup in a cellophane bag and then tied each bag with some ribbon. Hopefully these little gems do well at the bake sale.

Of course I had more than the 20 cupcakes that I packed up individually so we have some treats for ourselves and our neighbors as well. I even tried making some mini cupcakes. I only had silicon cupcake sleeves for the minis though and the one I helped my son with kind of got stuck to the liner. I'm sure I will figure out how to make these liners work better for me in the future.

Here are the mini cupcakes that I topped with a little dollop of buttercream frosting. It got late though so I didn't indulge in one of these cute little cupcakes yet. I can hardly wait to try one of these minis. By the way this is the first time I have tried making mini cupcakes other than in the toaster oven which my son and I use as an easy bake oven when we feel like baking a little treat. 

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