I didn't hit goal. I hoped to have a post up every week for you in October, but only managed one. Well, I suppose if I get this published today, that will make 2, so I'm batting .500, in sports not bad.
My friend turned 50. I have been so pressed for time I couldn't do what I would've liked, but I managed a chocolate fudge cake with American Meringue buttercream. To decorate, I made 50 chocolate caramel hearts, and homemade Twix bars. It's the Twix that are the star on the cake, the recipe is at the end so scroll down. I stopped caking after Irma and essentially mostly only bake for friends and fun. I truly wish I had more time to do things for friends when there's a memorable occasion. This cake was decorated very quickly. I stuck all the vegan Twix bars all over the top at random angles and spaces. There was a lot of them, they covered the top. The Twix bar cookies shattered when I took them out of the pan, but the components tasted so great on their own I still wanted to use them. I was right... once they were all assembled and coated, they were fabulous. This is a "decorate and run" cake, which has basically been my theme for the last year. The goal is just get it done. We were headed out of town for a few days, so I had to deliver the cake 2 days before the party. I have no idea how the cake tasted, what it looked like after 2 days, nor what it looked like when sliced. I was long gone by the time the celebration was on. I hoped for a photo, but nothing has come through yet, so here's what you get:
9" double layer chocolate fudge cake
AMBC frosting
50 chocolate caramel hearts
homemade twix bars
vegan sprinkles
drizzled in salted caramel
Once again my kitchen counter looked like an autopsy
had occured after I was done with the cake.
I am not known for being neat while baking.
This sad bit of avocado was leftover from breakfast service.
I'm no fan of avo, but still had plans to use it in my lunch.
I never had lunch, and the avo was in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
RIP avo.
I jammed all the twix bars of random sizes all over into the top of the cake after icing. I had no plans for how to fit 50 chocolate caramel hearts on this cake, so I just started sticking them anywhere. I had just enough space for 50. When all was said and done with the vegan sprinkles from Sweetopolita, I filled a pastry bag with quick salted caramel, and drizzled the entire batch over the cake. I figured if a little salted caramel is good, more is even better.
Vegan Twix Bar link: https://mayihavethatrecipe.com/vegan-twix-bars/
For what it's worth, the finished ones on the link above looked a bit fatter or fuller. Perhaps it was my pan size, I used an 8" square pan. Mine also baked way faster, check them at 15 minutes and then every 5 minutes there after. My caramel was soft, but firmed up enough after chilling.
The salted caramel sauce I made for the drizzle was at this link: https://www.yumsome.com/simple-4-ingredient-vegan-salted-caramel-sauce/
I thought this was a great recipe, very simple. Don't "force" this recipe and try to cook it faster, your sugar will scorch and you'll need to start over. Be patient, your sugar will melt and soon enough you'll have a great caramel sauce.
I used Chef Chloe's chocoalte celebration cake from her dessert book (I think that's the one it's from).
I used Meggan Leal's American Meringue Buttercream for the frosting, I love working with this recipe. It's not too sweet. When it's hot, go for at least a 50/50 split of shortening vs. vegan butter. At least where I live, the vegan butter is way too soft to hold up to piping and transport in the warm weather. We're still in the 80s here temperature wise. I actually did a full vegan butter recipe, so the piping was much softer than I wished (but the flavor was far superior doing it this way). When time is not on your side, you just do the best you can with your cake and do it with love.
Sprinkles are from the vegan offerings at Sweetopolita, as well as some of the special vegan sprinkles my friend who passed away sent me before she died. My supply of them is dwindling.
I have a few other things I hope to post about, I'll do what I can to get a few posts up in the next few weeks.
Go vegan, stay vegan.
xo
No comments:
Post a Comment