Almond & Vanilla Pound Cake

Sometimes when I stop and think about it I can see myself slowly becoming an adult. When I get a bonus at work or have a friend ask me to make a birthday cake, my first though isn't "oh great, I can go buy new shoes" anymore. Now it's "oh I can put a little extra money on the principal of my car loan this month". I have a budget (that I actually follow?!) and renter's insurance and have resisted from adopting a dog because I couldn't even keep a terrarium alive for a year. I am adult enough to know that I am not yet ready to be relied on by another life, no matter how badly I might want a Bernese puppy to run up to me when I get home from work.
Pound cake is not something I ever would have found myself craving a few years ago. But somehow when I came home with a few containers of fresh strawberries I knew it was what I wanted to bake. I decided to make Isa's almond pound cakes since I had a can of almond paste sitting around as well as a regular vanilla version for comparison.



Vanilla Pound Cake
6 oz extra firm silken tofu
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbl vanilla extract
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
one pinch sea salt Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5″ or several mini loaf pans. Puree silken tofu with almond milk and vanilla extract. Cream together butter and sugar with a mixer for several minutes, until fluffy. Add tofu puree and mix until combined. Add first cup of of flour and mix fold in gently. Add remaining cup of flour and baking powder. Mix until uniform. Pour batter in pan and bake 50-55 minutes for a full loaf or 35-45 minutes for mini loaves.


As far as looks go, there wasn't much difference between the two. The cake on the chartreuse plate (see look at that adult word) is the almond, while the others are the vanilla. The almond cakes were a tiny bit more golden on the crust and cracked a little bit more too. The vanilla cake really allowed the whip cream & ripe strawberries to shine, but I love almond everything so it didn't surprise me that I liked the flavor of Isa's recipe a bit more. If you don't have any almond paste around, you could probably replace half the vanilla extract in my recipe with almond to get a little extra oomph.
Are you a pound cake kind of person? Is your favorite ice cream flavor vanilla? I understand that we need these classics. They are like a little black dress. But I just need more flavor than that normally. I'm not really the girl to just wear a little black dress. You can bet I will pair that with bright red lip stick or floral patterned tights or studded sandals. After all, I did just find a way to use potato chips, sprinkles, pretzels, and malt powder as base ingredients in a few of my favorite sweets. I may be an adult, but I'm not boring.

Strawberry Blood Orange Popsicles

I know technically it's still a week and a half away, but that summer feeling is in the air. Maybe it's just because I live in an attic that is already sweltering, but I can't get summer off my mind. I am craving popsicles, fresh squeezed lemonade, & pitchers of iced tea. I just want to wake up in the cool of the morning and go to a farmer's market and head home with a basket overflowing with local produce.
Since I haven't been quite able to do all of that, I took a little shortcut with these popsicles. I used a pound of frozen strawberries and a bottle of pre-squeezed blood orange juice. Because my strawberries were already frozen, it only took an hour for my popsicles to re-freeze after blending. If you use fresh strawberries, it will take a few hours. As I made the mixture, I realized that I put away my popsicle molds at the end of last summer and can't remember where I stored them. In a moment of desperation I decided to use a set of silicone cupcake liners and wooden spoons to improvise. I see a lot of people use paper cups, so this is even a little more eco-friendly. It also doesn't hurt that it made the popsicles look like little flowers.


Strawberry Blood Orange Popsicles
variable yield, depending on popsicle mold

1 pound strawberries, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cup blood orange juice
1-2 tbl agave, depending on desired sweetness
Add all ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth. If using frozen strawberries, this will immediately result in an amazing smoothie (only half of my puree ended up in popsicle molds, the other half ended up in a mason jar with a straw). Pour into popsicle molds and allow to freeze until firm.

This morning I got to sleep in, and tonight I get to sell lemonade and cupcakes at an event for the store. Tomorrow I am heading to Six Flags for a day in the sun with several of my friends. I will ride most of the roller coasters at least twice. And probably be on the drop tower at least 4 times. I even get an extra day off this week since I worked so much the last few weeks, so this weekend we are sneaking off to Philadelphia again. All sorts of wonderful things happen in warmer weather. I'm sure there will be ice cream. I'm so happy to have a few days to recover from the craziness that has been this spring. It's important to take time to let yourself rest and enjoy life. Sometimes I forget just how crucial that is to maintain my sanity.

Spring Fever Cake

I remember my junior high history teacher very distinctly. His name was Mr. Cecil. He was a crotchety old man with a strong appreciation for Tennessee history and high water trousers. He also happened to be my basketball coach during the same years. Which means I had the distinct pleasure of frequently witnessing him jog around the court in his above the knee, white linen shorts. Starting in March, I got to hear the same lecture twice every Friday in both class and basketball practice. It was about the perils of spring fever. How it warps the mind of many a dedicated scholar and/or athlete. One stops focusing on what is truly important and yields to the desire to frolic in warmer weather. I am currently a victim of spring fever. All I can think about is iced tea, bike rides, sunshine, & fresh produce. I have even succumbed to purchasing several pints of over-priced berries. I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted those bright, sweet & tart little bursts of pure happiness, and I wanted them now. I was even reckless enough to forego folding the berries into my standard morning fare of granola or oatmeal and instead piled them on top of cake. That I ate it for breakfast! I wonder what sort of lecture this would merit if Mr. Cecil could see me now.

Vanilla Cake
Makes one 6" cake, approximately 3 inches deep

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned coconut milk
2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup oil
1 tbl vanilla extract
1 Ener-G egg

Make Ener-G egg. While resting, curdle coconut milk and vinegar in a bowl. Add sugar, oil, and vanilla to bowl. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined. Pour into a lightly oiled & floured 6" cake pan. If your pan is not 3 inches deep, then split the batter and bake in two pans. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. If you are baking the cake in two pans, you should reduced the baking time by ten minutes and check every few minutes until done.
Top with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream and layer on fresh fruit. I used blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. After I cut the slices I served them with additional berries and slices of kiwi.


Spring fever has never looked so good. Is everyone else suffering too?! I keep trying to wear clothing that isn't quite seasonally appropriate yet too. I will don a cardigan, leave my coat on the couch, and then shiver running to my car, darting snow flurries. I am just so ready for warm weather and longer days. I feel infinitely better in every season that isn't winter.

Neapolitan Cupcakes

I'm not afraid to admit that I love Valentine's Day. I could care less about actually "celebrating" it, but I love the saturation of lace and hearts. Everything in shades of pink and red. The rampant abundance of chocolate covered strawberries & fancy boxes of sweets wrapped in gold ribbons. I revel in the whimsy and femme-ness of Valentine's Day. So if you are a Valentine's humbug, you are just going to have to skip the next few weeks around here.
I came home from work one Saturday to find a light box Greg had built for me! It was such a great surprise. I am still learning a lot about photography, so I have been playing with it when I got a chance. The first round of pictures I took were total rubbish. But I got it figured out in time to photograph these cupcakes at least semi-successfully. For the back drop I ended up just using a large piece of white paper, but I am interested in playing with a few other options.
These cupcakes are inspired by the neapoliton bon bon cupcakes I saw on Sprinkles Bakes. I tried them a few other ways too. Since Greg had already built me a light box, I knew I had to find a way to incorporate the only kind of cake he really enjoys, vanilla with chocolate frosting. So I ended up making vanilla, chocolate, and swirled cupcakes and vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate buttercream. I also broke out my chocolate molds to make the toppers. I used white and dark chocolate and painted many of them with pink and gold luster dust. If you mix luster dust with a small amount of vodka, you can paint it on in layers to achieve a lot of different effects. This was sort of a trial and error process, but I had a lot of fun making the chocolates. You only see a handful of them in the photographs, but I made around 40 chocolates in 6 different sizes. Also, the vodka evaporates really quickly, so you don't have to worry about it soaking into the chocolate or tasting boozy!



Vanilla Cupcakes
makes 10 cupcakes
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned coconut milk
2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup oil
1 tbl vanilla extract
1 Ener-G egg

Make Ener-G egg. While resting, curdle coconut milk and vinegar in a bowl. Add sugar, oil, and vanilla to bowl. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.


Strawberry Frosting
1/2 cup Earth Balance
1/2 cup shortening
3 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 bag Trader Joe's freeze dried strawberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-5 tablespoons milk of preference

Cream Earth Balance and shortening. Add half of powdered sugar and mix until combined. In a food processor or blender, pulvarize strawberries until their form a fine dust. Pour this into frosting with the remaining sugar, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of milk. Beat until fluffy. Add additional milk by tablespoon as needed for consistency.


Just to keep things on the up and up, the strawberry frosting in the pictures is different from the recipe above. I made the a frosting using the same proportions as above but without the freeze dried strawberries and added a few drops of LorAnn strawberry flavoring and some pink food coloring. It tasted like chemically kool-aid, and I wouldn't make it again. I have made frosting using the dried strawberries and think it tastes much better, even if it's a little more faint. I have also tried using fresh strawberry puree, but it always curdles my frosting so I tend to avoid it when it is going to be visible.
Is anyone else a Valentine's Day lover? Do you have anything fun planned to bake or surprise some people you care about with? I have a few tricks up my sleeve this year! And I have already been working on hundreds of pink sparkly sugar cookies for the bakery. There are so many hearts and arrows and X's & O's!

Strawberry Lavender Gelato

Last week I saw a quart of early season strawberries in my local organic market, and I knew I needed to turn them into ice cream. Last summer I had a strawberry lavender gelato at the restaurant Cafe Green here in DC. While I have really mixed feelings about the food and service at Cafe Green, it was one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. This was my first attempt to replicate it.


Strawberry Lavender Gelato
2 tbsp arrowroot
2 tbsp lavender blossoms
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
3/4 C sugar
1 C soy creamer
1 C almond milk
3 C strawberries

Wash & hull the strawberries. Puree and set aside. In small bowl, mix 1/3 cup almond milk with arrowroot and set aside. In medium sauce pan combine sugar, creamer, lavender, and remaining almond milk. Bring to a boil. Stir in slurry until slightly thickened, around 2 minutes. Remove from heat and seive to remove lavender blossoms. Add the strawberry puree to the ice cream base through the sieve to remove seeds, or simply stir in if the seeds are desired. Add lemon juice and coconut oil. Refrigerate until chilled and process according to ice cream machine directions.


For a first attempt I think this was a decent ice cream. However, it is not as creamy as I desired it to be. When I make it again, I think I will slightly reduce the amount of strawberries added and use only creamer.
Are you a fan of lavender? It seems to be one of those controversial flavors that people either love or hate. I have a few more lavender recipes up me sleeve this spring, and am hoping to convince a few more people that lavender doesn't have to taste like soap.

Strawberry Corn Muffins

Even though it has been such a warm winter, I'm still really excited that it's starting to feel like spring. I love that it's light out until seven at night already. The daffodils are blooming everywhere, and I'm ready to spend my first official cherry blossom season in DC. I sort of jumped the gun on berry season and bought a quart of strawberries grown in a hot house. I was worried that they would be flavorless reminders of strawberries, but these berries were so juicy and wonderful. I savored them for a few too many days, and the last berries were getting overly ripe. I had bookmarked a recipe for strawberry corn muffins a few months ago and knew it was time to put it to use.
These muffins were light and subtly sweet. They were great for breakfast or lunch. I will definitely be throwing fruit in my cornbread from now on. While I love the portion control that muffins offer, these would definitely work in a pan if you want to make a sheet of cornbread.

Strawberry Corn Muffins
adapted from Eating Out Loud

3/4 cup cornmeal
1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup oil
1 cup almond milk
1 & 1/2 cup chopped strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into a well in the center of the dry. Gently fold the batter until just mixed. Add the chopped berries, and fill liners 3/4 full. Bake for 22-25 minutes.


Do you like sweet cornbreads? I have always been a fan of them. I know a lot of people prefer savory mixes with jalapenos or spices, but I have always preferred sugary things.

Chocolate Berry Tarts

I made these in a last minute decision on Valentine's Day. It's hard to believe that that was almost a month ago already. Time flies sometimes, even when each day feels so long. I'm starting to slip into a comfortable groove in the restaurant kitchen. I'm less panicked by the fast pace, yelling, and hot pans.
These tarts tasted pretty great. The recipe is an Isa Chandra creation, which you can find on the PPK. The berry flavor was really subtle but not overpowered by the cashews. I used a bag of frozen mixed berries that contained strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. When I blend that mixture for a smoothie it comes out to be a bright pink, but when cooked on the stove for the tarts it became a very deep purple. The color ended up being one that I didn't find super appealing for the tarts. If I were to repeat, I would probably stick to raspberries or strawberries.
The crust was a deep chocolate flavor, but I would maybe add a little more oil next time. They were a bit too crumbly for me. I also didn't use olive oil as she suggested. I know from experience that I am not a fan of the flavor of olive oil in tart crusts, but you should give it a chance if you haven't before. Also, excuse my messy tart shells. I didn't take my time filling the tart pans, so you can see some rough and uneven edges.


This is another recipe that's really easy to modify depending on your needs. If you have a gluten allergy, you could use an almond meal crust or pour the creme and berries in layers to make a parfait. If you have a nut allergy, you could skip the cashews and make a coconut milk pudding using agar or arrowroot.
I don't recommend making these tarts too far in advance. The morning after I made them the berry reduction seemed to start separating from the cashew cream, which led to some discoloration in the tarts.
I've got a few more tarts I've been thinking about making for a while. It could get wild. Do you have a favorite tart or pie?

Confetti Cookies & Strawberry Cream

I remember seeing these cookies on Namely Marly a few months ago when I was in my cookie craze. I forced myself to wait a few weeks to try them and give myself a chance to bake a few non-cookie things. These cookies are so wonderful. Their flavor is subtle & satisfying, and obviously they are adorable.
If you haven't ever made roll out cookies before, I don't think these should be your first attempt. I would practice with a few batches of a simple sugar cookie before you try this dough. As Marly suggested, this dough is infinitely easier to worth with when it is icy cold. I made the dough one night when I had some spare time and kept it in the freezer until I happened to have a pint of strawberries on hand. If I made these again, I would break the dough into around 4 smaller batches and individually wrap them. That way each section could stay in the freezer until you were ready to roll it, and you wouldn't have to deal with cutting a thick block of frozen dough into smaller portions.
I was not shy with the flour when rolling these cookies either. Prior to baking there was lots of extra flour stuck to these guys, and they still looked fine. I rolled the dough between sheets of parchment paper, and it definitely made lifting the cookies quite a bit easier. By the time I got to the last scrap of dough, the nonpareils had begun to bleed a bit. There were really pretty color streaks through some of the cookies as the nonpareils moved while I rolled the dough.


Even though I have a small chopper, when I tried smashing one strawberry it just ended up in large chunks. So I threw in four and pureed them. I think I might have added a tad more than one strawberry to the cream, but it was pretty close to her recipe. I know it seems like you should add more fruit, but the more you add the more likely it is that your frosting will separate and look less appealing. Even with the small amount of fruit, the flavor really comes through. Like I already said, it's wonderful.



I find the whole rolling-baking-sandwiching process to be really cathartic. Do you stress bake? I know I do. But I also bake when I happy, so I don't know if it's actually relevant to my emotional status.

*These are going to be posted at Sweets for a Saturday. There aren't many other vegan treats, but a lot of ideas for things to veganize!

Fruit Tarts

I don't think it's difficult to make cute treats, it just takes a little practice. I find it harder to create something elegant, that stands alone, and one desires to look at for a while before they eat it. That's what tarts are for me. Tarts are something that make me stand at bakery counter windows for far too long, just looking all the beautifully molded crusts, thick creams, and shiny decorations that I know aren't vegan. Vegan Pie in the Sky's recent release has had my daydreaming for a while now. This is a variation on the Strawberry Kiwi Crème Tart. It uses the shortbread pie crust, and the cashew crème from the recipe with additional fruits on top. My friend and I doubled the recipe, and used six 4" & three 3" tart pans with removable bottoms. If you have tart pans with removable bottoms, it makes cleanly removing the tart quite a bit easier.


The shortbread crust take a little love. Just have patience. Eventually all the butter will mix into the dough, but it might make the process a bit quicker to use a pastry cutter. We tried filling the pans in a few ways. The first technique we tried was rolling out the dough. This dough is not suitable for that, it will just rip.
What we found worked the best was making a ball of dough and firmly squishing it against the round bottom of the pan until it was smooth and thin. Then trim the excess from the bottom, and place it inside the other portion of the pan. Make a long rope of dough, and wind it inside the tart pan. Cut where needed, and firmly push the dough in. Make sure that the two doughs are sealed together, the sides are thin, and then trim the excess dough off the top of the pan.
There was not room in my freezer for all the pans, so we froze a few and refrigerated a few. We also used pie weights on a few, and no weights on most. There really wasn't much notable difference between the crusts. The crusts with pie weights had a few divets where the weights had rested during baking, but they all ended up to be a similar thickness.


Making the crème for these takes a little forethought. If you don't have a vitamix or other really powerful blender, you are going to want to soak the cashews for at least 8 hours or overnight. Because I have a vitamix, we got away with only soaking them for 2-3 hours and blending for a long while. We followed the recipe closely, only adding the seeds of two scraped vanilla beans rather than extract. I also want to note that if you don't have agar powder, you could probably get away with it in this recipe by just adding less liquid. However, in several of Vegan Pie in the Sky's recipes, the agar powder is necessary. And agar flakes are NOT interchangeable.


We used a mixture of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, kiwi, and sliced almonds on the tart. After adding the fruit, we brushed on a mixture of apple jelly thinned with water. This helps seal the fruit to keep it fresher and adds a really beautiful shine. You could probably get away with a different jelly if that's all you have in your fridge, but apricot and apple will add the least amount of color to your tart. Let the tarts sit for a few hours for them to firm up. There's a little bit of a waiting game in waiting long enough for them to be firm and waiting too long, to where the fruit starts to look not as lovely. These pictures were taken the morning after making the tarts, and you can probably see that the sliced fruits aren't quite at their peak any longer.
If you wanted to make this tart gluten free, I recommend using an almond meal crust. The flavors really complement each other. We also had additional crème left over that I used to make a parfait with several layers of fruit. That could be a really elegant dessert in a glass if you don't want to mess with a crust.

Tarts can be really simple or a labor of love, but I think are worth the wait. Is there another dessert that stops you in your tracks when you see it?

*These are going to be posted at Sweets for a Saturday. There aren't many other vegan treats, but a lot of ideas for things to veganize!

Strawberry Ice Cream

I am still quite confused on the distinctions of frozen desserts, especially when one starts considering vegan frozen desserts. If ice cream is defined as a 8-10% milkfat frozen treat, and sorbet is just a non-dairy frozen desert, then where's the distinction for vegan ice creams?! I obviously need a primer on this. Basically what I am saying is that the strawberry ice cream I made I suppose is somewhere in between an ice cream and a sorbet. It's a puree of fresh strawberries, blood orange juice, and coconut milk with a slight hint of agave and vanilla. The texture is definitely more sorbet like, as it lacks the creaminess of what I consider to be ice cream.


I used a recipe from My Darling Thyme which is a variation on a recipe from David Lebovitz of The Perfect Scoop. Confusing enough yet? I substituted blood orange juice for regular citrus and used agave rather than brown rice syrup. The consistency of the ice cream was perfect. It was easy to scoop and yet melted quickly in my mouth. It was simple and wonderful. I wish the blood orange flavor had come through a little more, but I remedied that by eating it with the remaining blood orange syrup from my coconut blood orange bundt cakes.


I am officially hooked on making my own ice cream. There are several more batches on my "to make" list, so I hope you're ready to get churning. There's also a few tips on making ice cream without an ice cream maker in the recipe links above, so no one feels left out.