November 4, 2015
With autumn comes a whole new set of seasonal veggies. I anticipate this change in the fruit and vegetable racks in my local grocer like how some other do clothing lines, a new sneaker, or tickets for whatever millennial-deep (puddle) marketing exec-made “musician” who doesn’t play or write music who’s Read more…
October 31, 2015
Ever since I’ve made successful meringues, I’ve imagined this cake (with the help of various seasonal blog posts): bright white spooky ghosts rising from a chocolate ground. As it sometimes works out: In my head, it was much better than reality. The cake was a sure bet. Isa’s basic, springy Read more…
October 11, 2015
The Mets are in the play-offs. With a tough loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night, I’m baking up these blue and orange wonders. Let’s go Mets!
June 7, 2015
When it comes to serving vegan cupcakes to non-vegans, you have to capitalize on the opportunity–make a point about the delicious potential and non-weirdness of the v-word. To increase the appeal, go with well loved flavors–or even better, nostalgic flavors. And you may need to embrace both ends of the Read more…
February 10, 2015
Plants give us such glorious things: fruit, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, leaves. And how delicious are these parts? To think that we eat the reproductive organs of plants? It’s all very wonderful, like we’re eating life. And in the case of bright, juicy blood oranges, it feels even more so. Read more…
December 28, 2014
Christmas means running around… with cakes. It was the gorgeous whirlpool bundt that decked the halls. First, in pumpkin chocolate chip, using the last of the fall’s pumpkin puree. A breath of downtime with the Netflix yule log and the waiting Christmas tree. Another bundt for another Christmas! This time, Read more…
Sometimes you just want to spend the entire day in the kitchen and the entire night in the dining room eating and giggling with friends. It was time for a Winter Dins vegan victuals dinner party. For starters, “Deviled” Polenta Yukon Golds. Rye, Kale & Eggplant Dressing with toasted Pepitas Fennel, Read more…
December 23, 2014
The holidays means increased baking duty. I deliver eleven–a poison test out of respect for recipients of course. This batch was for my class’s fundraiser. Then there was my classroom holiday celebration. They got unfrosted cupcakes to dress up how they pleased. My chocolate butter cream-filled (and of course vegan) batched Read more…
November 28, 2014
November 20, 2014
Every year, my classroom blog becomes my food blog. They spent October and most of November on Hercules. Now it is time for the 4th annual Harvest Festival Pumpkin-Cupcake transformation. It is time they turned into cupcakes already! After some roasting and pureeing, they became cupcake batter along with a pile of Read more…
November 4, 2014
Sometimes the sky blazes. And it makes even a suburban street beautiful. A beautiful birthday orchid. Spider art. The new dining room. And Frank. Cupcake Monster prep. Dandies + edible markers = Weird monster cupcakes. You lookin’ at me?
September 14, 2014
Coming up for air from the chaos of a new school year, I baked some “12 Men on the Field” cupcakes: rich chocolate cake (I used Chloe‘s celebration cake), vanilla buttercream filling, chocolate ganache-topped with a vegan royal icing football laces. 3 types of icings for every cupcake. I’m not Read more…
August 16, 2014
August 15, 2014
With plenty of banana cashew cream leftover from my raw stint, I spooned it into some chocolate cupcakes I made for a friend’s dinner party. Then I got fancy with the garnish. As I was already late jumping in the shower, I ran with it: toasting coconut (because I subbed Read more…
July 29, 2014
My first go at Hummingbird Cake, vegan style, was a bit of a fail. So I won’t share the recipe. But I was hopeful that the traditional South banana and pineapple spiced cake would be a success. Thank goodness for parchment circles. Also parchment strips under the cake while frosting Read more…
July 22, 2014
With my Dad’s birthday nearing and their belated love for Breaking Bad in full bloom, I got the blue raspberry rock candy out of the refrigerator finally. It would be the ultra-pure Heisenberg garnish to his birthday cake! Two big layers of blue-ish cake sandwiching a delicious vanilla buttercream. The Read more…
June 15, 2014
Happy Father’s Day! When I asked my Dad what kind of cake he wanted… my Mom replied, “Strawberry Shortcake.” They knew it was a bit more involved a recipe. But I was up for the challenge! [I’m the queen in the throne.] It starts with strawberries from the farmers market. Read more…
April 24, 2014
Transitioning back to Eastern Standard Time, I got myself back into the kitchen… for a sense of normalcy. I whipped up two types of cupcakes for an Easter event. First, these gluten-free beauties, VCTOTW‘s recipe. With a huge bag of coconut from the Indian grocer, I opted to top these springy Read more…
March 30, 2014
When I get a pancake craving, it’s hard to disseminate. Do I want the ultimate vehicle for sweet and savory? Do I want several airy, thin cakes with crispy browned corners? It depends. Whichever the case, I can certainly half my pancake recipe so as to not be left with Read more…
March 24, 2014
With several cans of coconut milk to use up, I packed this week’s lunch with rich, creamy coconut milk. Starting with coconut quinoa! A huge fan of coconut sticky rice, it was an opportunity to transform dare-I-say boring quinoa. I was going to to this right. Starting with a real Read more…
March 9, 2014
A special milestone for my Mom deserved pretty piped cupcakes with some color. As requested, chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing. Happy 70th La Mar! 1944 candies and my Jack Purcells.
March 3, 2014
I love long Sundays in the kitchen. The afternoon sun streaming in… making a mess… licking the spoon… It’s the best part of the week. Today’s epic recipe, a version of this: Vegan Vanilla Ding Dongs Real ‘black tar’ vanilla bean Very vanilla sheet cake. I could have put this Read more…
February 10, 2014
I’ve been making mostly one-pot lunches these days. Here is my eggplant stew… with a ton of cilantro for garnish. This is why I do one-pot meals now. My personal Crockpot! I love this thing. No more microwaving. And here’s a banana chocolate cupcake I made. Just because… And the Read more…
January 21, 2014
Rainbow chard. I wrote a long and rambling description of how beautiful these stalks are, how I handled them like precious art, before chopping and ingesting them… but it was a bit much. Trust me, you’d be creeped out by my love of these stalks and then I’d be embarrassed. Read more…
January 4, 2014
Stale holiday cookies be gone! I processed them to adorn the tops of cupcakes. There were several peanut butters in the pantry. An oily natural kind you have to stir went into the cupcake batter. Used it all: check! The I made peanut butter buttercream with the remnants of a Read more…
December 31, 2013
Banana in dessert form is one of my favorites. Nothing beats a soft, sweetened warm banana. Not even you, chocolate. A banana-based dessert is a sure bet. A banana-based dessert that is born of My Sweet Vegan Hannah Kaminsky is an even surer bet! I’ve been wanting to make her Read more…