Not VeganMoFo 2020: Birthday Cake

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

(Not) VeganMoFo Day 1 2020 - Latex Food Allergy

Completely in line with the dumpster fire that 2020 has become, there doesn't seem to be an "official" Vegan Month of Food blogging/vlogging event this year. I still hope to get at least four posts up this month. I meant to do one every week, but we're already on the edge of the third week, while this is my first MoFo post.

I recently learned about latex food allergy syndrome, never heard of it before but had to ramp up quickly as a guest arrived with this, and I had no advance notice. After speaking with the person and taking some onotes, I felt a bit overwhelmed. I immediately got to researching and started a safe meal plan for them. I should point out that not every person has the same level of sensitivity to every "no" item for any allergy syndrome, and this was the situation I was faced with too. My writing here by no means represents a "one size fits all" when dealing with latex food allergy, but what I'm talking about today worked for the person I cooked for.

Right after she checked in, I immediately set to making plenty of unsweetened almond milk as soy was off the list (simply almonds and water, try it!) Next I set to making "Better Butter" from the Gentle Chef's Non Dairy Evolution Cookbook with the almond milk. These are 2 fast and easy items to make, but I am unable to share any of Chef's recipes as they are copyrighted. I'll share what I can at the end (none of his recipes).

Today is a rainy, windy and gray day. I saw the forecast and knew comfort food would be a good choice. I settled on "Bangers & Mash" with a side of marinated kale salad for one of the breakfasts. Here's a picture, and afterwards is what I did:

Vegan Bangers & Mash with crusty bread

Marinated Kale Salad on the Side

I made the "bangers" using the Gentle Chef's recipe from The Gentle Chef cookbook. Prep ahead, these come together quickly, but after steaming they need overnight to set up. I used the Chef's spuds recipe from the same book, as well as his savory onion gravy... same book. For the spuds and gravy, I used the almond milk and Better Butter I had prepped previously. The night before I also made a marinated kale salad. Apparently peas are a very traditional side dish for bangers and mash, but I have a big aversion to peas, and sometimes my preferences slip through to the public menu. I went with the kale salad because I had 3 beautiful bunches of organic red and green curly kale plus it's a solid recipe. I did, however have to make my own fast vegan "parm" because the commercial one I had on hand had an ingredient contrary to the latex food allergy concerns. All I did was process almonds, nutritional yeast and sea salt in my food processor. No, it's not parm, but it's good enough as an ingredient for the recipe, as you'll see below.

Marinated Kale Salad (my recipe is veganized, original non vegan recipe published by Katherine Martinelli)

1-2 bunches kale (I prefer curly

juice of 2 lemons

1/3 cup olive oil (I'm out, I used non GM safflower)

2T dijon mustard

1/4 cup grated vegan parm*

salt & pepper to taste.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Wash and chop your kale into small pieces, place in bowl. Pour dressing over the kale and massage well. Do your own add ins if desired, I like dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds. Sometimes I add chopped pecans, not this time

*vegan parm (recipe from Forks Over Knives)

1 cup almonds, cashews or walnuts (I used almonds, cashews were a no go w/latex food allergy)

1/2 cup nutritional yeas

1T salt free seasoning (I used scant amount of sea salt as I did not have salt free seasoning)

Process in food processor with the "s" blade til powdery.

I also baked a loaf of artisan overnight bread to sop up the extra gravy. The little picture above shows a small plating I made for the other happy vegan, but for guests their food was tucked into the most eco-concious takeaway packing I can currently source.

For this particular situation, I was still able to use gluten and nuts. Cashews are off the list, but remember technically cashews are a fruit so that does make sense to me. I also used flours made from legumes to replace any eggs. Being able to work with nuts gave me lots of latitude to create, including a sunflower seed based "cheeze" which I used in place of cashew cream.

For me, I took advantage of being in a position to challenge myself again when faced with yet another food allergy syndrome someone else is living with.  It's almost like when someone is a new vegan, we just need to discover new ways of doing old habits.

Pick up any of the Gentle Chef's books, or at the very least make the kale salad, it's delicious.

Vegan love!

xo

I'm Still Here and We're Going to Celebrate Vegan Food!

Hi. It's been a while. How have you been? I'm ok, but like the supermajority of people around the world, I have concerns about Covid, social justice reforms, politics, the economy, healthcare and so much more. Since we last talked on this blog, we reopened our business for a total of 5 1/2 months after being closed for 2 years due to Hurricane Irma, and then had to shut it down because of Covid. In fact, the entire Florida Keys shut down, there was a checkpoint in place at the top of the Keys where apparently you had to prove your residency or if you were doing business, had to prove you were essential. I cannot say I did anything of merit during the months the Keys were all closed, rather I stayed home with the other happy vegan and worked very hard on all the loose ends we didn't get to finish when we were reopening from the 2 year Irma closure. I reimagined a vintage armoire into our new coffee bar (that was a much larger undertaking than I thought it would be). I painted some dressers for our own personal use. I organized piles of things to donate to different places. I did the biggest deep cleaning of the kitchen and whole back of the house since my post Irma death cleaning. Not once did I go out for months. It was an odd time in our lives to say the least.

I've been wondering what happened to VeganMoFo for 2020, I know I'm not the only one. I sent an email to the administrator weeks ago, but it went unanswered. There's no clues at all on line as to the status, and the website is not working either. I cannot help but have concern for her under the circumstances, and I have been channeling positive energy for her. Tomorrow marks October 1, and I've decided to at least do a weekly post celebrating vegan food. Although it seems like we will not have an international organized event this year, I feel like even after all these years, I still have so much to offer. Last year I did not follow the suggested prompts, you may recall instead I did 31 cakes in 31 days. I'm not sure what I will do this year, but it will be food, and there will at least be 4 posts for October, maybe more. I don't think I'll be doing videos this time around, they take a lot out of me and I'm never comfortable in front of the camera. I will have pictures, recipes and tips for you, likely with a few shenanigans tossed in for good measure.

If there's anything you're interested in, feel free to comment below and I'll do my best to address your ideas in a post.

Thanks so much!

Vegan love, 

Jen xo

2019, Over & Out

"Keep on smilin' through the rain, laughin' at the pain
Rollin' with the changes til the sun comes out again
Keep on smilin' through the rain, laughin' at the pain
Rollin' with the changes, singin' this refrain"

Hoo boy, if anyone puts into words what I need to hear it's just under 4 minutes of Wet Willie circa 1974, thanks boys!

If you've been with me for any length of time here on the blog, or in my life, you know that December and I just don't get along. We'll never be friends again, those days are long gone and I accept it with as much grace as possible. Not to mention that the whole end of the year countdowns that seem to be an obsession with so many all over the place are just depressing to me. Everything is amplified this time of year, and as someone who has endured catastrophic loss this time of year the simplest tasks are so challenging for me some days. However, that said, when I do look back at where I was this time last year and consider my mental health and attitude now the progress has been positive and immense. It hasn't come easy.

When I had my final make or break moment last year, one of the things I decided was allow myself the true power of the word "no." And with that has come the complete scaling back of almost all peripheral activities in my life that I used to participate in, some of which I enjoyed, many of which I did not. And, as I've begun to rebuild my life and my business I have found that the things I do choose to "yes" now more often than not have glimmers of happiness and genuine enjoyment. Those have been some really good moments.

This year I've bid farewell to more friends, some expected, some not expected. This is something that has always been a way of life living in a "destination" area (read: tourist area), but I never really adjusted to. Irma accelerated the goodbyes in my life, and I continue to struggle with that part of this recovery every day. But, for the first time ever, there was a friend of mine from many years ago who moved TO here! And when I say "here" I mean HERE! Like 15 minutes away from me. No matter how different our lives will be, we are friends and it's really refreshing to look through the lens of someone new here, excited about the differences here from where we come from, and desiring to embrace a way of life that perhaps is simpler at least in some ways. I'm super excited for my friend and her family, and that's the truth. This one thing actually HAS come easy, at least for me since I'm not the one who uprooted and moved. ;)

I recently picked up a new-to-me hobby (metal hand stamping) and as someone brand new at the stamps, I have discovered this is one thing I think will be around for a long time in my world. I've also finally fulfilled a long ago promise to myself and have started going to the photography club meetings at the Refuge down here. The few meetings I've already been to have been immensely educational, there's all levels of photographers in the group and right now I sit, listen and absorb. You know I love to look through life through a lens, but never seemed to have the time I wanted to learn more about the craft. When my camera was stolen a few years ago while I was out, I was deflated and angry. The camera that was gifted to me as a replacement has been one that I've struggled with... way too much technology and just not my style... but I've set a goal to learn as much as I can to trade it in and then choose the one I really want. This has been solidified by the trips to the Dry Tortugas that I've been taken on this year for the first time as well. Yup, after around 16 years here I finally saw in person the Dry Tortugas National Park not once but THREE times this year. My friend who goes out there quite often has sponsored every trip for me and it's changed my life. I still am in awe that there's a place like that in this country, actually even on this planet. I can run around like crazy taking hundreds of pictures of just one bird, or sitting there doing nothing. No pressure on me, none. It's sublime to be there! I find the history very interesting, the engineering and "trivia" of the actual building of the fort a never ending source of fascination, and the serenity second to none (at least until the ferry comes in, LOL). I've studied up on the birds that migrate there, and those who live there year round. Looking back, honestly those trips are true highlights of 2019 for me, indelible, unforgettable. Such a privilege to have been able to go, and have someone who has been willing and able to share that with me.

The nature has begun to spring back down here since the storm, although the landscape is very different now. The deer are still here, and despite a push by the Feds to delist them, so far that has not happened. I hear and see a lot of people living with an attitude of privilege instead of gratitude, I suppose that's just human nature and I'm sure I have my own moments that way despite making a constant effort to be mindful and understand people "where they are" not where I am so to speak. Through it all, I think I am as prepared as possible for whatever 2020 may throw my way. Many days I have felt like my life is a "duck and cover" mode of survival, but thankfully not as much of that anymore. I clearly know what I do want in my life, and what I do not want in my life. I predict more change in 2020 for me, not sure why that seems so surprising to say (at least to me) since really the only constant is change.

I appreciate all of you who take time to read my posts, and hope that 2020 brings more writing as well, something I have long enjoyed but long neglected. I'll be around for VeganMoFo (at least that's the plan as of now) and I hope to share as much as I am able with you about the miracles in the Florida Keys. Once I settled in here, I thought I'd never leave. Then Irma hit and I thought I couldn't get out of here fast enough. Since it's taking so long to get through our recovery, I am now at a place where I allow myself the thought that anything is possible, I may stay, I may go... I have no clue and I'm comfortable enough right now having no idea what to do beyond my immediate future. For someone who likes schedules a lot (read that as A LOT) it's pretty liberating to not know what comes next.

Happy New Year to you and yours. Go vegan, stay vegan. 

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 32 (or 31a) ... Cake: The PS

"Love is spending the rest of your life with someone
you want to kill....

but you don't, because you'd miss them."

I simply cannot help myself, I need to share this cake. It was the best cake of 31 cakes in 31 days, falling slightly outside the parameters of the time, but close enough to the month of cakes... can we call this one #32 perhaps? Maybe 31a?

The other happy vegan saw to it that I would have a birthday cake that I didn't have to make myself. Not that I was planning on making a cake for myself, perhaps he just wanted a chocolate cake and knew that it's going to be a long time before I'm inspired to cake again after the past month. Waking up at 4:30am (according to him, I have no idea, I'm still with the foster kitties in the pet room most of the time) he found himself in hostile territory in the kitchen. The man that raised our business from the ashes post Irma... built innumerable homes... can go toe-to-toe with most engineers on even their best day... is an incredible mechanic, and so much more....  he took on the ultimate challenge, taking his restless soul into the hostile territory known as MY kitchen. Rummaging around for egg replacers and other items that don't require a hammer or power tool in pre-dawn hours, the poor guy was lost. He explained he wanted to make me a gluten free cake, so he bought a boxed cake and set out to veganize it. In solidarity for him, all I will say about that effort is that at some point I did accidentally witness that aftermath in the compost. Impressive even by my epic failure standards. After that first effort went down in flames, he explained that he next ventured into the REALLY hostile territory of my cookbook collection. I can only imagine what went on as he went through book after book as I was busy doing my best sleeping in the (by then) morning hours. He tells me he settled on a Chef Chloe recipe and got to work on a from scratch cake. If you catch sight of him anytime soon, and you have about an hour or so to hear the story, you can ask him about the making of the cake(s). I call this one the "Taj MahCake" indeed the cake gift truly is "the journey," not "the destination." He really scored a lot of brownie points on this one folks, I mean after all these years he sometimes still continues to surprise me in very sweet ways; I must admit I was quite taken when I saw this. I bought the Hello Kitty pan many years ago because I always wanted a Hello Kitty cake, never used it. Ironically she made it through Irma, only to continue to remain unused. I said to him that night "well, she got used at least once!" and he immediately corrected me saying "twice, you forgot my compost walk." Yes, yes I did forget. The pan has officially been used twice.

I knew I saved some of Gretchen's minty frosting for a reason, who knew it would be for a Hello Kitty cake with strawberry eyes and nose. That night we lit her crazy whisker candles up, I made my wish. I cut the cake, served her with a side of NadaMoo and thus ends cake #32 in my very complete quest for a month of cakes.

I always look for the postscript at the end of every story. Now you have mine, vegan style of course.

xo

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 31: Kombucha Cake and a Wrap Up

"All my life I've been searching for somethin' Somethin' never comes, never leads to nuthin' Nothin' satisfies, but I'm gettin' close Closer to the prize at the end of the rope"

"Done, done, and I'm on to the next one Done, done, and I'm on to the next one Done, done, and I'm on the next one Done, I'm done, and I'm on to the next"

"One by one, Hidden up my sleeve"
You needed to see yesterday's offering again. Look at her! She's magnificent! The texture set up overnight, it's perfect.

Today I made a Kombucha cake for you "soda cake" style. Not my best work. These were the ingredients:

That's my  home-brew there... grapefruit!

I used my own home brew grapefruit kombucha. Something is definitely off with this combo. The texture is not right, it's not dense but it is chewy. The flavor isn't bad at all though. Perhaps my home brew has too much sugar? Too little sugar? I have no clue. My frosting is an on the fly cream cheese using only Tofutti cream cheese, powdered sugar and kombucha. Way too soft and almost runny. I used those sprinkles because I had purchased them especially for the month and never got to the cake they were for. I made this cake "naked cake" style because the icing is so soft, no way I was getting any swirls on this cake. I tinted it ever so slightly with the Watson brand of natural food coloring you saw way back earlier this month. Then I warmed up some of that tequila icing and drizzled it over the sides. I think the tequila frosting is a very good compliment to this cake, the cake itself has a very faint citrus flavor. Remember, that tequila icing has lime in it. The tequila icing really takes over this entire combo, I have zero problem with that, this frosting is fire.

This box cake mixed with 12 ounces of grapefruit kombucha filled 3 6" layers. Not only do I still have tequila frosting left, now I have this super soft cream cheese icing left too.

This month flew by faster than I expected. I didn't miss a day for you, despite many challenges around here. The last prompt for us today is who inspired us through the month as far as other bloggers. I checked in with every single participant that posted (some registered but didn't post, not many but I checked back on them a few times hoping to see content). I enjoyed Herbivore's Heaven, Kittens Gone Lentil, Amber Eats Veg, My Apologies for the Novel, AfroVeganChick, and so many more. Truly the one that blew me away the most was the angel food cake post from Gonna Go Walk the Dogs, I'm still marveling over that cake, or rather it's more appropriate for me to say that cake will haunt me until I nail it too. I will not give up on my efforts, I'm on a mission, I will get it done. I was truly inspired by that cake.

I hope you enjoyed my content and made a point to read other bloggers offerings as well. So many of us pour a lot of effort into our daily posts. Even I am surprised how much work these cakes took on some days, and I actually had a jump on things with a few cakes "in the can" before the month started. I didn't share a cake that I meant to, so here's one more:

This one of my "leftovers" cake.
I had the frosting, salted maple pecans, and caramel sauce left from other cakes.
I baked another version (half recipe) of Gretchen Price's banana layer cake.
I found this recipe in particular needed more liquid;
I think I added up to 1/4 cup more non-dairy  milk.
The cake was not dense, and way better when I made it that way.

At this point in my life, I have no idea what tomorrow brings (literally and figuratively) but surely it is my hope I'll be back here blogging for Vegan Month of Food in 2020. I feel very fortunate to be back working in my kitchen, being back at the burners preparing breakfasts for our guests for the first time in 2 years, playing with cakes for you, dodging a major hurricane this week, working hard to reclaim my health (physical and mental), and looking forward to our first event here at the bed and breakfast, it's coming up quick, there's going to be a ThanksLiving celebration here catered by Chef Gail Patak. I cannot even believe that is happening, after all we've been through, so many days I thought I'd never see the sun again. It's been such a long road for me and so many others, still not through it all, but we're getting there. Speaking of the hurricane, it's still anyone's guess where she'll hit if she comes ashore, but here in the Keys we are clearly out of the cone. Last night I slept in the dedicated "pet room" that we now have for travelers as that is where our 2 fosters are for the time being until they relax a little. Perhaps they felt my own stress, they didn't come out from under the bed at all. I didn't realize just how hard this Dorian storm was weighing on me until today. I stayed in bed til after 10 (all reservations we had on tap cancelled with the impending storm so I had the morning and the place to myself) and put zero demands on my time today except for the cake. Not too shabby a recovery day I'd say.

Thank you to all the bloggers who worked so hard with your content, I've read dozens and dozens and dozens of your posts. You've had to deal with hard and heavy things in your life, including even a mass shooting in your town (I'm so so very sorry). Through it all, you persevered, and I so appreciate you all.

My blog will continue of course, but for now I'll be switching back to regular life. See you in JULY 2020 for VeganMoFo, if the Universe allows me.

Go vegan, stay vegan.

#31... "I'm done, I'm done, I'm done."

xo

VeganMoFo 2019 Day 30: Italian Ricotta Cheezecake, Dorian and 2 New Faces

"Cheesecake Will Always Taste Like Love"
AS LONG AS IT'S VEGAN

This is a vegan version of an Italian Ricotta Cheesecake. It is from a recipe published today (or perhaps last night) by Gretchen Price of Gretchen's Vegan Bakery (online) and author of Modern Vegan Baking.  Since this recipe was only published less than 24 hours ago, if you're thinking I wasn't planning on this today, you're correct. Since basically I'm a bottom line kind of gal, I'm going to edit out about 10 hours of my day's story and tell you this much. I planned a different cake, it had multiple components. A lot of things are happening around here right now to interfere with plans and routine, especially Hurricane Dorian spinning in the Atlantic. I was having time management issues with the planned cake to say the least, and then I got a call from the local animal shelter explaining in an abundance of caution, they were emptying the shelter with storm fosters. Since I'd previously signed up, they asked if I would be able to honor the commitment. Of course the answer was yes, all I needed to do was get there before closing tonight. With that, I tossed out the planned cake, stumbling with what to do instead. Like magic a post came up in my social media from Gretchen with her vegan recipe for Italian Ricotta Cheesecake. Editing almost everything out as I said I would... I made the cake. It's not fully chilled yet, but I sliced it for the photo. You'll probably see a better picture of it here tomorrow (if plans go ok). I tasted it. I've never had Italian Ricotta Cheesecake, but when you read Gretchen's post or watch her video, you'll understand when I say it came out exactly as she said, a little more wet which is not a bad way, it's perfect. The flavor is excellent, the texture is beautiful. I'm not even really a fan of cheesecake (another "plus" in the column, or so I thought, since I simply do not want to eat my stress today). I say "or so I thought" because this cake is so good, I'm not sure I'm going to refuse a slice tomorrow at some point. There was only 1 ingredient which I didn't have and didn't have access to; I posted a question on Gretchen's page and in less than 20 minutes she had responded and coached me on substitutes. So, her recipe was followed EXACTLY (I weighed the ingredients) but instead of the special egg replacer, I added 1 tablespoon extra of cornstarch per Gretchen's advice. I cannot imagine this cake being even better than it already is, but come tomorrow we shall see.

Now, for the hurricane and the fosters. Looks like we're out of the cone at the moment, but we are expected to receive some "weather." We hightailed it up to the shelter for 1 foster, but came home with 2... siblings. We could not separate siblings especially in such a time of need. These terrified little kitty cats are named Trixie and Gracie. They're all set up in quiet space, have eaten and had water. They need some time to adjust to this huge upset in their lives, we will be there for them. Here they are in the car ride home:

Trixie sitting on Gracie.
They are sisters.

There you have it for today's cake. Tomorrow is my last cake day, as I keep mentioning I have so many more cakes I want to bring you. Not sure what tomorrow will bring, if I have time I hope to take a crack at what was supposed to be today's cake, but it's anyone's guess at this point. I'm off to be a presence with Trixie and Gracie for the rest of the evening. For anyone reading this in faraway places, I have to ask you to please hold good thoughts for all in the path of Dorian.  I've been doing my best channeling for her to just stay far at sea there are so many in harm's way.

Cake #30 over and out, vegan style of course.

xo