As I previously mentioned, my baby boy will be turning one in just under three months, and I've been quite busy planning his birthday party. Let me tell you two things I've decided we must have at this party: balloons and cake. The challenge here is that I can't very well make a cake that Guav can't eat with Brixton on his first birthday, so the cake will have to be vegan. Oh, and I should probably mention that I've never baked a cake before. Well, there's a first time for everything, and today's the day for my very first cake.I did some internet digging and found some vegan cake recipes I'd like to try out in advance so that I don't ruin his cake the night before his first birthday. I wanted to start with something simple so I decided on this cake recipe and used this for the frosting, because I recognized and had most of the ingredients on hand.
It's amazing how such a straight forward recipe can really be quite complicated to a first time cake baker.
Step one: Preheat at 350.
Did it. Good for me. I'm awesome.
Step two: Line pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour pan.
Umm wait... what?
So after watching a video on how to line a round cake pan with parchment paper and reading tutorials on how to grease and flour a pan and also invert a cake, I made it happen.
I was pretty proud of myself after I inverted the cake and spread the frosting on top. I was like, wow, my first cake and it doesn't look half bad. Then I went to slice a piece for Guav. Resistance. Oh ya. I forgot to remove the parchment paper. Asshole. I blame it on the distractions:
Guav and I laughed about it, I took off the paper and re-iced the cake. Delicious. I can't wait to make another.
I know there are a ton of tried and truly amazing vegan cake recipes out there so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! Happy Makeday people! I think tomorrow I'll post about my very first Mother's Day.
xxoo.
Yay for vegan cakes!
ReplyDeleteyes yes post about your mamas day and your brixtons birth story! you have readers i swear!
ReplyDeletelauren
i'm expecting next month and love reading your updates about being a mom :)
ReplyDelete(i have your husband on my lj friendslist but i love reading you, too)
ReplyDeleteyou should check out "vegan cupcakes take over the world". they have a ridiculously good chocolate recipe, really rich and fudgey. the trick is to let the vinegar sit in the soy milk for at least 5 minutes after whisking it, otherwise your rise is all wonky and as cupcakes they spread like whoa (most people get impatient and think that step isn't that important). one of the other recipes i've tried from them is their coconut lime cupcake. to die for. i make both of those for my husband's office, and we don't tell them that they're vegan (you know how some people can be, plus i live in the south so it's extra weird here), and people can't get enough of them.
i know this is all too late for brixton's birthday, but i imagine it's not like that's the only time you need to make a cake. seriously, that cookbook is awesome. if i were local i would just bring you a copy, that's how much i think people should have and use it. oh! but i have a better tasting chocolate frosting than the one they list. it's 1 cup room temperature smart balance light (VERY important you get the light and that it's at the coldest maybe 60 degrees, the regular makes a very dense and completely unspreadable frosting and smart balance straight out of the fridge gets you a similar result. you want it to be soft enough that if you spread it on bread it wouldn't tear), 3.5 cups powdered sugar and 1 c of sifted cocoa. mix it all together and it should be a delicious almost ganache. if it's too loose, add more sugar, about a quarter cup at a time. hope you found some of this helpful! i'm a professional baker, in case you were wondering :-)
~heather (gadget_girl on lj)