L'Shana Tova

Rosh Hashanah starts tonight, and I'm ready with food to bring to my synagogue's potluck tomorrow (pasta in a creamy, non-dairy sauce with chard). By chance I ended up making this recipe earlier this week for myself, a gooey raw dessert that calls for 2 1/4 cups of dates. So I told myself maybe if I ate it on the holidays my year would be full of dates :) I'm not sure I even want that, as dates with new people are not fun most of the time, but I amused myself.

Even though, as usual, I've done a lot of cooking lately, and a lot of it has been unusual, I woke up this morning and wanted a traditional honey cake. Part of me is superstitious. We're supposed to eat apples and honey for a sweet near year, so what happens if I don't eat them?! Part of me just really likes ritual and tradition and didn't want to miss out on a holiday tradition. And part of me just never wants to miss out on fun other people are having, and other people are eating honey cake today!

Needless to say, this is not vegan. I don't have a problem with eating honey, mostly because I don't know what mistreating bees would mean or what it means for bees to have a comfortable life. Though most vegans don't eat it, so there probably is a good rationale that I don't know about.

To make a single-serving cake, a ramekin is really useful. Or you could use a mug, or maybe a silicon cupcake holder by itself. I've never used those, but I assume they are sturdy enough to stand up on their own without being in a muffin tin.

Single-Serving Honey Cake

3 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 Tbsp honey, plus a bit more if needed for moisture
1 Tbsp apple sauce
sprinkle of cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add the wet. If too dry, you can add a bit of milk - or more honey. Pour into a greased ramekin or mug.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the middle is puffy and firm.
Eat, and have a sweet new year :)

Birthday Cake, a Two-Part Story

I love cooking for parties, and I get excited to host my birthday party each summer. I usually make myself a checkerboard cake, which looks something like this:

My 2014 cake

I first made checkerboard cake in 2009, and I made it into a tradition after that. I make a different flavor every year. I used to make two different recipes for the two colors, but one would always rise more than the other, or they'd be different textures, and it didn't quite work. For the lemon lavender cake above, it wasn't until my third attempt that it occurred to me I could just make one big batch of lemon lavender batter, divide it in half, and add different food coloring to each half. It was a helpful realization, but I was tired enough after making the same cake three times last year that I thought maybe I wouldn't do a checkerboard this year.

But people kept asking about the cake, and I thought "Alright, I can handle one more checkerboard." This year's cake was almond mocha. I used a hazelnut recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and substituted almond meal for the hazelnut meal. I doubled the recipe, then divided the batter in half and added instant coffee and some cocoa powder to one half. I added a little extra flour to the other half so I wouldn't have one part wetter/drier than the other. The recipe had a chocolate mousse filling with chocolate ganache on top, so I did that, too. Put some almonds and marzipan on top and came out with this:

Yum!

Because I have so many friends with birthdays in August or early September, I decided to make marzipan letters for the guests, too. The party itself was a picnic in the park with eight friends, and it was very nice.

The following weekend was Labor Day, and I had some free time and thought since it was so fun to bake the birthday cake, I'd use my time to bake another cake! ... I discovered that it's not as much fun to bake a cake when you don't have a birthday party to look forward to, but luckily I did have a mini-party: lunch in the park with a friend who had missed my party and who had also just had a birthday a few days after mine. And I invented an interesting recipe that I thought was worth recording and sharing.

Oreo Cake
For the cake itself, I used this recipe Skinny Vanilla Cupcakes, from Chocolate Covered Katie.
Chop 3/4 cup oreos into small chunks and mix into the batter after the other ingredients are all mixed. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. The cupcake recipe says 18-20, but mine took much longer. I'd start with 30 minutes and keep checking on the cake until the center is puffed and firm.

The frosting was adapted from the mousse I made for last week's cake.
1 package firm silken tofu
1/4 cup nondairy milk
2 Tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup crumbled oreos

Put all ingredients except oreos into a blender and puree. If your blender is not very strong, blend the tofu, milk, syrup, and vanilla in the blender, then scoop it out and mix in the confectioner's sugar by hand. Stir in the oreos by hand.

Wait until cake is well cooled before frosting.

I brought two pieces of oreo cake to my picnic, plus a marzipan R that I'd made for my friend. He put the R on the cake and ate it in two bites. I wish I'd taken a picture.