June 12, 2024
Being surrounded by Biscoff biscuits on a daily basis, these cupcakes seeped into my brain. So finally back in my kitchen, I brought them to life. Started with a cookie layer on the bottom, then a black cocoa chocolate cake base, a very thin layer of ganache and some more Read more…
January 3, 2024
Being a lover of vintage dessert cookbooks, the Baked Alaska always appealed to me. The beautiful pastel layers, the encasement of torched meringue… the cohabitation of ice cream, cake and marshmallowy meringue. So with the new year, I’d start with checking it off my to-make Bucket List. It was partly Read more…
December 24, 2022
Well, the big day calls for the big guns. If colleagues get cookies, the family gets a labor-intensive Bûche De Noël. I made one last year and learned some lessons. This year, a toasted meringue and some whimsical garnish ideas inspired by the many Asian markets I hit up. I Read more…
October 17, 2021
I insist on making my own cupcakes when I visit my family for my birthday celebration. Because I greatly enjoy baking and am pretty critical of vegan baked goods, in general. And where can you get vegan s’mores cupcakes with a cookie bottom, chocolate ganache filling topped with chocolate buttercream Read more…
March 13, 2021
It’s that time of the school year! Though I missed Pi Day in my classroom last year because of, well, you know, it was on the calendar eerily when I returned back to my classroom finally 6 months later. This year Pi Day would fall on a Sunday, so I Read more…
May 9, 2020
The Vegan Gastronomy Culinary Academy has updated their informative vegan macaron Master Class on Youtube, incorporating their vegan egg white mix, Gerbet. Gerbet, a proprietary powder mixture of plant protein, fiber and gums, was created specifically for vegan macaron making. Having had a recent macaron fail with aquafaba, I really Read more…
April 17, 2020
A big bummer that the French macarons I attempted to make, a two-day process, were a big fail. 😢 So I made a batch of cupcakes to adorn them with my failure… and ordered some ingredients for my next attempt. Stay tuned! The extra Italian meringue would be piped into Read more…
December 25, 2019
Maybe I invented this? Holiday Rainbow Cookie Parfaits. It started off okay. I was going to make Rainbow Cookies to bring to my folks’ on Christmas. Then… the parchment became obsessed with the baked layers, not wanting to leave their side. I had to pry them apart. After, there wasn’t Read more…
November 28, 2019
This was my first spoken sentence apparently. I wanted a banana. I liked bananas (see below) and I still do very much. Banana desserts, especially. So on Thanksgiving dessert duty, a pie. A banana pudding pie with a Golden Oreo crust. Vanilla pudding, another childhood favorite So my ripe bananas Read more…
And bam, it’s the biggest food holiday of the year! Just like that. Seems like not too long ago I clanked mini champagne bottles in a soaking wet Prospect Park at the stroke of midnight. The start of 2019. Now 2020 is coming. Like hindsight. So let us start eating Read more…
August 29, 2019
Do you know how much I dislike the I-95? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s the worse kind of roadtrip driving. Direct but uninteresting, it eliminates half the magic of the road. Though South of the Border, an original gangster roadside attraction, has expanded a great deal since my last visit Read more…
July 8, 2019
Dear New York City, Where is your housemade eggy breakfast sandwich with housemade cashew cheese and housemade coconut bacon? Where is your housemade toasted meringue topped vegan ice cream? You can keep your packaged vegan options, NYC, while I head north. The packaged food options are getting to be a Read more…
June 25, 2019
How much would the world have beamed with an embrace of all love through history? …if it was treated with its value, sought out like power and wealth. Because it is powerful and enriching, if not one of the most powerful and enriching forces known to man. In this celebration Read more…
April 26, 2019
Austin has a tremendous quantity of vegan food options. It’s actually a bit overwhelming! And I only had 3 meals. So breakfast first and the first of many food cart options. Biscuits and Groovy can veganize their entire menu. So, like the sign reminds you, don’t forget to say you Read more…
April 15, 2019
Box-free Baking, Cakes & Cupcakes, Cooking Stuff, Dressing Up, Hosting Duty, Pies, Tarts, & Parfaits, Special Events
It was finally time for the Season 8 premiere of Game of Thrones! And it was time to completely nerd out. And have a vegan Game of Thrones feast with all the bells and whistles. My weekend was full of prep and running around… and then festivities. Here it is Read more…
January 27, 2019
I get very to-do-y in January. In fact, you best watch out if you get in the way of me crossing things off my list. This is me. A productive winter sets the tone for fruitful year. Because you reap what you sow. That’s a saying for a reason. I Read more…
January 26, 2019
With a brunch get-together happening, I decided to break in my new cookbook, a gift from my Secret Santa at work: Modern Vegan Baking, filled with next-level vegan baking challenges. I started with the lemon meringue… but improvised the throw down of some Mi-Del Lemon Snaps on the bottoms of Read more…
January 5, 2019
Looking back in my blog archives, J. Spaceman and his Spiritualized has served as my muse several times. And I am going to use him again for this foray into food coloring, partly because I’m finally able to listen to him again and partly because the trend of “galaxy” foods Read more…
August 23, 2018
The V.V. Manhattan tag count is pretty darn high on this here blog. And though I have been escaping into Manhattan since I was just a girl, there is always more to see. And though we’ve grown apart, I would spend a day with her, tucking our past away and welcoming Read more…
August 6, 2018
The vegan omelet at Invitation V Our final stop, Dugout Végane Pastry The only vegan macaron I got to eat in French Canada Passionfruit tart with brûléed meringue Borders A late lunch in Troy at The Shop. Vegan spare ribs: whiskey barbecue glazed housemade seitan, garlic sauteed chard, yuca fries Read more…
July 24, 2018
Vandal is a hot spot night club and restaurant on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Part of the posh Tao Group and in partnership with chef Chris Santos, of Food Network’s Chopped judge fame, Vandal could be one of the places that Patrick Bateman might head to with his fancy friends. But they have got Read more…
February 24, 2018
I had a craving for a marshmallow meringue-encased cake. Pretty specific, I know. But, a craving is a craving. So a marshmallow meringue-encased cake it will be! I made the s’mores cake from VCTOTW and a big batch of fluff. Then, getting fancy with some brulee action. Craving fulfilled.
July 12, 2016
I’ve written about these cookies before, a cookie so ingrained in my memory that I can still vividly experience them. From the shuffling through the brown paper grocery bag, as tall as me, in the backseat of my mother’s car to find and be the first to open them; to opening Read more…
July 4, 2016
Porno for pyros Pink, white & teal, close enough Fountainhead Marshmallow meringue parfaits Independent lunch–Field Roast burger, potato salad, corn on the cob Black-eyed Susan up, with ladybug superfly friend A Big Galoot snuck in to cool off. So handsome. Lilies are up. Tomatoes dropping already. Frank knows I’m heading Read more…
April 26, 2016
Los Angeles a city that feels immediately comfortable to me, like an old friend. So it’s doubly comfortable visiting an old friend in Los Angeles. Friends that know you got to eat… and eat we did! First at Chavela. They have a excellent menu with so many delicious totally plant-based 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…