VeganMoFo 2019 Day 7: Allergen Free Cake!

Allergen free vegan cake
No nuts, no soy, no wheat, no gluten
FULL OF FLAVOR!

Cake had a nice crumb
a little denser than I would've liked
Probably due to the millet flour I used since I didn't have superfine rice on hand

Every bit as lovely as any other vegan cake!

If you're vegan, likely you've seen the meme which is a bowl of ice with the caption "my vegan, gluten free, soy free, raw, non-GMO, organic, fat free, low carb dinner  meal is ready." I use the words "you've likely seen" because some dolt probably sent it to you in an email or posted it on your social media page, oh yeah, isn't "that guy" hilarious. I've unfollowed and unfriended people on social media for mocking vegans, I mean why would I want to be your friend if that's what you think of me?

Shown above is a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting which is vegan without the allergens of soy, nuts, gluten and wheat. It's even mostly organic (that's a bad thing meme-guy?) I have a good amount of allergen free recipes under my belt at this point, but I always want more. Right before Irma I had purchased a book called "Learning to Bake Allergen Free" (see photo below) as I hoped to improve my skill set for research and development when I create my own new allergen free recipes. Generally speaking, if someone is suddenly thrust in to the brave new world of food allergens, this book is a good one because it has chapters containing comprehensive information on the allergens themselves, and then options for replacements. Of course there are the recipes, a little over half the book is recipes. I never did anything with the book until around last week, I used the recipe for triple play chocolate cake, and creamy vanilla frosting. All that being said, I'm impressed with the cake recipe. It was a little denser than my go to allergen free chocolate cake, but this one provided a totally different flavor of chocolate cake, almost like a red velvet. The texture was not gritty at all. The flours I used were sorghum and millet. Normally I work with a combo that includes superfine rice flour, but didn't have that on hand. Trust me when I say it's to my advantage to work with as much as I have on hand when making 31 cakes just for the heck of it. I haven't a clue why that millet flour was lurking in the fridge, but there it was. I think had I used superfine rice flour the structure would have been a little lighter, less dense. I firmly believe anyone who has those food restrictions would be elated with this cake. Actually, the other happy vegan (who has no food allergies) had TWO SLICES of this cake, which floored me. He says he's not anti-GF baked goods, but I think he is. Back in my volume baking days, he'd always ask "is that gluten free" and then pass on any extras I might set aside for friends. Lately though, the gluten free baked goods I've been making he has been devouring. He's got such a massive sweet tooth I think he is a good barometer for what the John Q. Public will like, or not. This one passed the test big time. The frosting was a full shortening recipe, meaning you'll want to work with the finest flavorings possible to counter that issue. I always use organic extracts, but here I double whammied it by using organic vanilla extract, and organic vanilla powder. That powder is something I ration. I bought a pound quite a while ago, and since then vanilla has skyrocketed. I got a heads up a while ago from my account rep at one of the places I buy from that there was strife on the Ivory Coast and vanilla was predicted to far more than double (which it has done) so I invested and stockpiled at the time, which I'm still working off of. I shudder to think what I face when I have to buy again. I cannot imagine had I lost that in Irma, so thankful it made it through.

I have noticed that this book uses hemp milk. I'm in the habit of not using hemp products for anything that goes out the door for anyone else. I personally use a fair amount of hemp seeds, and of course have nothing against hemp products, in fact I'm exceptionally pro hemp. The issue is others, and this was reinforced by my time working at the natural foods cafe, people who are subject to drug testing for employment always made sure to indicate "make sure there's no hemp products in there." It might not trigger a false positive drug test anyway, but why should they have the concern of the risk when they specifically request no hemp. So, in my world, no hemp unless it's only for home use. Obviously this cake was going out the door (actually to that natural foods cafe for them to enjoy and give away to anyone as they pleased, yay!)

Another something to watch when baking for special needs are hidden allergens and cross contamination. For example, my pan spray is gluten free, but contains soy. I have to swap out to an allergen free choice for pan prep. Further, I also wash down all my counter first, and use small wares that have gone through the Sani-cycle on the dishwasher. I don't use hand towels (even fresh ones) when baking gluten free, in an overabundance of caution I use single use paper towels for this work. My point is, extra precautions are necessary and appropriate.

Overall, the book seems ok. I'll have at least one more cake from the book, maybe even 2, for you before the month is out.

You can be the one laughing at the ice cube meme, it's all fun and games until its one of your own loved ones, or even you yourself, diagnosed with food allergies so severe you land in the hospital gravely ill, or worse.

Pass on the memes, but never on the cake. 

xo

This is the book I pulled today's cake recipes from
the glare on the bottom right obscures the words
"soy & nuts"

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 6: 31 Cakes in 31 Days... Lemon Up!

Vegan Lemon Cake
w/lemon glaze

Lemon cake is very popular with many people. I love lemons and eat them sliced up. Some people find it annoying especially when I eat the rind (the other happy vegan gets so totally grossed out that I sometimes make extra effort to chase him around the house purposefully eating lemons). I love lemons so much I named one of my cats Lemon. I used to make lemon cake for Summer Solstice, but I don't recall baking for Litha since Irma. I did make a really delicious lemon cake for a training recently conducted out here for those of us who needed to obtain or renew our permits for the stranding and salvage network regarding sea turtles. SSTN is those of us in the State of Florida who are called upon to either document dead sea turtles, or rescue injured sea turtles. Sea turtles are threatened and/or endangered species, so we need to be trained and permitted by the appropriate agency. The person in charge of the marine turtle program was kind enough to come out to our place and train a nicely sized group of about 13 of us. Of course I made food, including this lemon cake (recipe below). This is a good recipe, and I can recommend it. Don't skimp on your lemon zest. Also noteworthy for me is that this is the first time I ever made a cake with olive oil, which I've wanted to try for years. This cake had an extra delicate crumb, I have no idea if that's usual for olive oil cakes or not. I had one piece cut that I set aside as a taste test. While still warm, the flavor was decent. When completely cool it was even better. When I added the glaze it of course was sweeter, but it was a good sweet because the glaze is lemon, not just a sugar glaze. And, the cake was at it's best (in my opinion) when the glaze was completely firmed up. That's a lot of taste testing for a little piece of cake, but as I said this was my first olive oil cake and I wanted to check differences.

Vegan Lemon Cake

(recipe from sofiavonporat.com)

2 cups flour

1t baking powder

1t baking soda

1/2 t sea salt

1/2 cup sugar

1t vanilla powder (use extract if that's what you have... have you seen the price of vanilla lately?!)

zest of a lemon (I zested 2, use organic when you zest if you are able)

1/2 cup olive oil (use the real deal, not fake)

1.5 T water

1 cup soy yogurt (I think any non-dairy will work well, even better if you can find a lemon one)

1/4 cup lemon juice (I used fresh, do so if you are able)

50g vegan butter melted (IDK why this one ingredient is in grams, but I weighed it)

Lemon Glaze

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1.5T lemon juice (again, fresh is best)

1T water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prep a loaf pan, I used Vegelene.

Sift the flour with your baking powder, baking soda, vanilla powder (if using extract add it to liquids, not dry), salt and sugar. Whisk in zest.

This is where I differ on the recipe, I used a separate bowl to mix the wet ingredients, the main recipe calls for it to be dumped into the dry, do as you please....

In a separate bowl, whisk the water, olive oil, vegan yogurt, lemon juice and melted vegan butter. Combine all the ingredients with the dry and whisk to incorporate, do not over mix.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan, bake 40-45 minutes (toothpick test please). My cakes have been baking a lot faster lately, no clue why. At 30 minutes I turned the heat down to 300 degrees (I bake with convection) and put some foil over the top to bake the last 10 minutes.

When baked, remove from oven, set on wire rack 10 minutes to cool, carefully remove from pan, and cool completely on wire rack. Be careful so you don't crack your cake, mine was delicate!

Prepare your glaze when the cake is cool and pour over. I poured the glaze over the sliced cake as you see in the picture, not before slicing. Do as you please. Although you're baking in a loaf pan, this is in no way close to a bread. It's truly a beautiful cake texture and taste.

If you're still reading.... I ate 6 Tofurky deli slices while I was writing this, and broke up 3 cat fights. I just thought you should know. 

This was my boy Lemon.
On a day we went for a stroller ride.
He was among the most loyal cats I've ever known, always by my side.

xo

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 5: 31 Cakes in 31 Days - SAVORY!

For those not living in a climate so hot your hair melts, you likely have zucchini, tomatoes and basil coming out your ears by now. Consider yourself darn lucky, I so miss fresh summer vegetables. I wanted to make a cake including summer ingredients that many are growing, and for me where I'm from we were all about the zucchini, tomatoes and basil. Today's cake: savory, tomato, zucchini, basil cake w/scallions, I kid you not. 

From this...

to this....

To this...

To this...

to this...

Finally resulted in this!
I put a filter on this picture so you can see all the bright colored flecks.
This is a really pretty cake when sliced.

This looks like a bread, for today's purposes it's a cake especially since I'm baking other loaf style cakes this month for you. The recipe is below, and is riffing off one from namelymarly.com  I have made changes, the recipe as published was disappointing in my opinion. I made this twice, first exactly as published, second with my changes which are published below. This cake screamed for sugar when I taste tested the first version being that the namelymarly version had none. Sometimes we might forget that sugar is not only a sweetener, but it's a binder, preservative and a texturizer. I felt sugar was especially needed for texture, it was gummy without. With my changes in version two, it was much better. What I think this would be super to do with this cake is lightly toast a slice, spread some of Miyoko's artisan wheel cheese (flavor of choice but I'd be all over the sundried tomato garlic on this) and dive in. Another option would be to sprinkle with Violife and send it under a broiler for a minute or 2. Pizza bread!

If you choose to make this, don't freak about the scallions in there... you'll barely taste them, in fact you may want to add more to the recipe (I did on the second round). Surely it needs more basil as well (I did on the second round). I think omitting the tomatoes on top is important, they detract from the cake appearance after baking as they get all gnarly and gross looking. I should've, but didn't.

Here's the recipe, and see ya tomorrow!

Savory zucchini cake (inspired by namelymarly.com)

3 cups flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1T baking powder

1t baking soda

1t sea salt

1 medium zucchini

1 medium tomato (I did half fresh, half reconstituted sundried tomatoes for flavor... do it)

1/2 heaping packed cup fresh basil

1/2 cup scallions

1 cup soymilk

1T apple cider vinegar

3T veg oil

3 thin slices tomato (or diced, or omit)

Prep a loaf pan by spraying with veg spray (I used Vegelene)

Preheat your oven to 350 (325 for convection)

In a bowl sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix in sugar insure there's no clumps, set aside.

Cut the top off your zucchini, discard (I save in my freezer for broth), rough chop and place in food processor. Pulse a few seconds.

Rough chop the tomato/reconstituted sundried tomatoes, basil and scallions. Add to food processor. Pulse for a few seconds. Scrape the bowl down, pulse a few seconds again (don't over process, you want it fine but not pulverized or mushy. Add the soymilk, ACV and oil. Pulse again to combine (yup, make sure that top is on tight!)

Pour the contents from the food processor to the flour bowl, mix til just combined. Pour into your prepared pan, top with your sliced or diced tomatoes if using.

Bake up to 40(ish) minutes depending on your oven and your pan. Toothpick test for doneness.

Oh, I chose to publish this one today because the prompt is "savory," how lucky for me!

I heart vegans! xo

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 4: Party Cake!

Double layer chocolate velvet cake
filled with peanut butter buttercream
enrobed with peanut butter buttercream
frosted with chocolate fudge buttercream
piled high with chocolate chip cookies and
salted caramel popcorn
vegan sprinkles (not a party w/o sprinkles)
and finished with shaved chocolate

After the cake was cut, it looked a bit like cauliflower in there
trust me, it's not!

The birthday boy prepping to cut that mo'fo

Day 4, 31 cakes in 31 days.

J. Geils comes to mind on this cake:

They're dancin' on the ceilin'

They're dancin' on the floor

People everywhere comin' through the door

They know there's a party goin' on

My post fits the prompt for today, even though I'm not following prompts; it's bake a spectacular cake. Spectacular is relative, more like a party on that cake.

Todd works at Food for Thought in the cafe. I worked there for about 16 months through our Irma recovery and I know that no one appreciates food more than Todd. He's a great person, fun to be around, almost always even tempered (you have to be a HUGE you-know-what to get under his skin), has a twisted sense of humor (which this world needs far more of), and made my time there far better than had he not been there. Todd is one of those people that is genuine in his good naturedness, oh my goodness he sure knows how to make me laugh. It was his birthday, so I made a cake. That's it above in the pictures, and yes, that's Todd.

This cake was quite large, I think I  used 10" layers of my non-published recipe for chocolate velvet cake, enrobed and filled with peanut butter frosting (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World recipe, PRO TIP: do not use all natural peanut butter in peanut butter frosting, use one with added oil. I used a creamy vegan brand, still organic but with added oil), frosted with fudge icing (oh no, I forget what recipe I used...), topped with salted caramel corn (I used the caramel sauce recipe from Modern Vegan Baking and simply added a generous amount of Fleur de sel when stacking the decorations), vegan chocolate sprinkles from Sweetopolita, chocolate chip cookies (my non-published recipe), and shaved vegan dark chocolate (I think I used a ChocoLove bar). I made this cake several weeks ago, I should've written notes. I thought I'd remember everything, obviously not, my apologies. I chose this combination because Todd blisses out over peanut butter (we used enough of it in the Cafe making peanut butter bliss smoothies), and is constantly snacking, I mean CONSTANTLY. I figured a cake with snacks on the cake would be perfect for Todd.

It may seem like a lot of components to make, but they're all simple so the cake comes together reasonably quickly. It is attention grabbing for sure, it ain't nothin' but a party.

Every time you feel that groove

Ain't nothin' but a party

Ain't nothin' but a party

Ain't nothin' but a party

xo

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 3: HUMMUS CAKE!

Day 3, 31 cakes in 31 days. Hummus cake!

It looks ok from the outside....

but all the frosting squished out. Insert sad face here, but then...

insert happy face here because you can scrape the extra frosting and jam it on the plate!

Many people know me through my hummus, I used to sell it.  I've heard about dessert hummus, but haven't tasted any yet. It got me to thinking about using hummus in a cake. The magic of the internet told me this was not an original idea, and offered up a few recipes. I chose one and veganized it. Since the main recipe wasn't vegan, I obviously had to make changes. You'll find the recipe by scrolling down, there's no copyright infringement concerns on my part. I used the marshmallow frosting recipe by Gretchen Price published in Modern Vegan Baking. That recipe IS copyrighted, so you won't find it here. I finally got this book and have been playing with it, I recommend it.

Since I've never worked with marshmallow frosting, I wondered how firm it would be, if it would hold up as it's made with aquafaba. This was my frosting of choice as I was completely out of Miyoko's butter, Earth Balance and shortening. I had plenty of confectioner's sugar and aquafaba, which is what you'll need for her recipe. Moving on.... frosting is firm, VERY firm. It holds up well too. Most unfortunately for frosting issues I live tropical. I also am experimenting this month, so things did go a little off the rails. First, I made a 3 layer cake, not 2. Extra weight. Too lazy to consider how to stake and support the cake without stakes and supports having lost all that in the storm. Mistake. Big mistake. I delivered this cake on a day when it was over 90 degrees and the transport took over a half hour. Insert my sad face here. The frosting would've supported 2 of the layers, not 3. I didn't realize while I was frosting the cake the frosting had squished out (see photos). One good thing is look how nicely I leveled the layers, yay! Another good thing is, Gretchen's recipe makes a ridiculous amount of frosting so with that extra huge leftover amount, pack it up in a container and slather it over when serving. The cake itself? Interesting for sure. On day 1 there surely was a faint hummus flavor, sounds gross but it was not unpleasant. My choice for frosting worked really well with this cake. On day 2, the cake became more of a spice cake. No one tasting it from day 2 on could taste the hummus, some people even thought it was carrot cake, which actually brought evil genius to my mind because hummus and carrots. Maybe shred some carrots or zucchini in if you make this. Oh, one other thing with this cake, I had to make my own yogurt in a hurry so I used soy milk, vinegar and agave. You can use store bought non-dairy yogurt, So Delicious makes an unsweetened plain and an unsweetened vanilla, for cake purposes I don't think which one you choose will matter. I say this as once again it's incredibly awesome to see how much things have changed since my first year's participating in VeganMoFo. I used to have to drive to Key West for vegan yogurt, hoping against hope one of the 2 health food stores down there had it in stock. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. Now the shelves everywhere are full of brilliant vegan choices, and even if you cannot find it, you'll google how to make quick instant "yogurt" and in 5 minutes, you've solved that problem too. One other thought, so many people already are using eggless mayo (I love Vegenaise, others use JustMayo or whatever) I'm guessing you can sub the vegan mayo for the vegan yogurt in a pinch too.

Here's the recipe:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1.5 tsp baking soda

.5 tsp baking soda

6 tablespoons unsalted aquafaba, whisked slightly

2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk

2T vegan unflavored yogurt

1T vanilla

1/2 cup hummus (PRO TIP: make your own to save $, or if using store bought make sure you choose one with lots of garlic flavor.... baking will tamp the flavor down immensely)

Use 2 cake pans of 8 or 9" (I used 3 6" pans)

Preheat to 350, 325 for convection. Prep your pans with non-stick spray (I use Vegelene) and a bit of parchment on the bottom.

Sift the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk your aquafaba til it begins to lightly froth, add your hummus, extract, yogurt and sugar, whisking to insure everything is combined and there's no sugar lumps.

Add 1/3 of the wet mix to the dry, stir lightly to combine, then another third, stir, then the last 3rd, stir. Don't overmix you don't want the gluten to begin to develop. Pour into your pans, bake and check for doneness in 15 minutes (yup, 15 minutes). Toothpick test at 15, mine was done in 16 minutes. When done, remove from oven, cool in pans 5 minutes, invert on wire rack to cool completely.  Frost as desired.

I think using a vegan dessert hummus in this cake would be really good, in fact if you used a chocolate hummus, maybe add a pop of cayenne to the batter with the cinnamon for a Mexican twist. If you do make a chocolate hummus cake, consider using chocolate soy milk, and chocolate vegan yogurt. This is cake, not brain surgery, let loose, have fun, be vegan.

Day 3 in the books.

xo

VeganMoFo2019 Day 2: DAY #2 CAKE (31 cakes in 31 days!)

Day 2, 31 cakes in 31 days! LOOK!

Mini-chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting
tinted with natural food coloring by Watkins brand
Lieber's Kosher sprinkles which are vegan

Vegan has hit the big time, Watkins natural vegan food coloring is in Winn Dixie!
Vegan sprinkles from a Kosher market

There is NO shame in working from cookbooks. The quality of the recipes coming forth from today's vegan chefs very often blends well with much of the world's lifestyle of "fast & easy" when it comes to food, there's no compromise on quality when you look to the right authors. There's so many vegan baking books on the market it can be confusing for a new vegan to decide which ones to take the plunge on.  Pro tip: I have a few baking books that I've sworn by for years including The Joy of Vegan Baking and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. What I love about these books is that they explain how to bake vegan with proper technique and pantry items, are both budget friendly, both are still in print, and they make me look good in a jiffy (jiffy?)

My friend's daughter had a birthday recently, but I didn't know it ahead of time. I adore her daughter which says a lot since I am not really big on humans in general. Fact is, I don't look at her as a "kid" I look at her as a contemporary which is almost unbelievable considering there is about 40 years difference in our ages. So, on a day when she and her mom were swinging by to pick something up, while we were on the phone mom offhandedly remarked it was Kassie's birthday. I had VERY little time to come up with something. Kassie is doing her best to go vegan, and I so want to support her in this endeavor. It's hard when there's peer pressure and at times conflict about this from those closest to us. Simply put, she NEEDED vegan cake in her life that day for sure!  The chocolate cake recipe I used is from The Joy of Vegan Baking, and the frosting was from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Pro tip: I almost always use coffee in my chocolate cakes, it brings out a fuller and richer flavor. If you want the best flavor for icings, you have to skip the shortening, which means losing some stability in the heat. But remember now... I did tell you when all this started that my specialty this month was going to be "melting cakes, sliding cakes, broken cakes" and so forth. Baking smaller cakes is one way to get around this problem, baking cupcakes is even better, baking mini cupcakes is the best solution! I used Miyoko's Vegan Butter for the frosting, also (incredibly!) available in all the supermarkets down here, I got it at Winn Dixie. It's hands down the best butter out there. It does produce a softer frosting, but it is superior in flavor. Another plus is there's no palm oil in there for those who seek to avoid. Earth Balance buttery sticks are available in the markets here too, they produce a superb flavor (also not as stable as shortening), however it does contain palm oil, again if you seek to avoid, stick with Miyoko's. Ethical note: Miyoko's products are superior, the company is superior and so is Miyoko herself. She's an ethical vegan, an advocate, and her company isn't seeking just to produce superior plant foods, she and her company seek to shift how we think about food and change the world by doing so. I respect her so much.

I know vegan has hit the big time when I can go into my local Winn Dixie on the tiny island of Big Pine Key, find the natural foods section (which also did not exist when I moved here) and pick up a box of that food coloring shown above, which is what I used for Kassie's mini cupcakes. All natural coloring in a box, instead of me dragging out the juicer, juicing beets for pink frosting. See what I mean, things have changed so much, easy peasy! Last of all, do not forget the sprinkles, it's not a party without sprinkles. What DOES bring a party down faster than anything is something non-vegan. Most sprinkles are either colored with dead bugs (pinks & red) as well as being covered in confectioner's glaze (also dead bugs). Totally NOT my jam! It's imperative to read labels. If you cannot find them in your local market, you can order them online. Those Lieber's sprinkles are Kosher, you can clearly see they have no confectioner's glaze it says so on the front. A friend of mine who passed away last year kept Kosher. She sent me an entire box of those rainbow sprinkles. I have a lot of sprinkles in my collection, but those are my most important, she is always with me when I use them. I only use them for really special people, it might not seem important to anyone else, but it's very important to me. I miss Carin terribly, using her sprinkles always makes me smile. I kept the note she wrote when she shipped them to me, but Irma ate it. Thankfully the sprinkles made it through.

One last thing; as a tip to the "prompt" for today (kitchen tour), I offer one Pro Tip: ORGANIZATION! Even post Irma, I still have my bins for baking That first one is a giant NSF roll out bin that will hold over 100 pounds of raw material depending on what I fill it with. I used to store my rolled oats in there, once we reopen I'm shifting that storage unit to be my flour. The bins below it are NSF stacking models which will hold up to about 25 pounds of stored raw material, depending on how they're filled. Right now I have 2 dedicated to sugar, one for Sucanat, 1 for chick peas (empty), another for black beans, one for my chocolate chips, 2 for flour and one for shredded unsweetened coconut. You can do mini versions of all this kind of storage if you don't need such large volumes of ingredients. They're invaluable both for the food safety protection they offer, as well as function and organization. That's my contribution to kitchen tour.  

Vegan love to you all! xo

VeganMoFo2019 Day 1: Intro & CAKE!

Hi, welcome to Vegan Month of Food for 2019, it's DAY ONE!

I am not following the prompts this year, I've gone rogue and created my own theme of "31 cakes in 31 days." I do have an intro video up which IS today's prompt, mostly it's to update you on our Hurricane Irma recovery (closing in on TWO years now... our house is nothing but an empty lot, but our beautiful vegan bed and breakfast, Deer Run, has risen from the ashes, and is BEAUTIFUL. We planned on reopening the booking page tomorrow, but .... as usual something else happened. Looks like it's Monday for us. Here's my video explaining it all, including why I had to shoot my own video today.

So, now that I've explained things, here's the bonus video I mentioned:

And, last but certainly not least.... today's cake! We have two!

Vegan carrot cake from The Cafe, Key West
THEIR CARROT CAKE IS FIRE!

Vegan "birthday cake" from The Cafe, Key West
(no it was nobodies birthday, it's just called "birthday cake" on their menu
Pro Tip: stick with the carrot cake

We went out to eat with friends a couple weeks ago, and ordered everything on the menu from The Cafe in Key West (kidding) but yeah, we ordered a crap ton of food. It was our friends first visit to the Cafe, which is an absolutely MUST go to when in Key West. So, these friends of ours are going vegan, and we wanted to take them to the Cafe for their first visit. Happy to report they loved it, I mean seriously you cannot go to the Cafe and leave disappointed, we are so lucky to have them local. It's exceptionally vegan friendly, and lately almost ALL their desserts are vegan which says a lot because they have a pretty big dessert menu too. The carrot cake is a staple on the menu, the birthday cake was new. The other happy vegan loves all things vanilla, and since essentially it's a vanilla cake, he wanted to try it. It looked pretty, but it needs some improvement. It was pretty much the only dessert we've ever had there that we felt didn't live up to potential. We appreciate that it's on the menu though. You cannot see the backside of the cake, but it was covered in beautiful hot pink sanding sugar. It really did look pretty. What we both wanted to order for our friends was the Cafe's banana cake with chocolate chips and peanut butter frosting, holy kale is that cake worth every damn calorie... sold out that night. 

See you tomorrow. Vegan cake for the win, day #1 in the books.

xo