The Best Kind of Cake is a Birthday Cake -

I love vanilla cake. I love vanilla ice cream. I was a vanilla extract huffer when I was a little girl. In fact, vanilla, though slang for basic and boring these days, is, to me, far more exciting than chocolate. Chocolate is too easy. Vanilla’s subtle, nuanced flavor is a bit more complicated… like the best things in life.

So my birthday cake was going to be vanilla, yes. But I’ll need a chocolate frosting. Retro-Duncan Hines style. Little did I know that the last page of Hope/Moskowitz’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World has the perfect recipe for my needs. I feel foolish for not discovering it sooner. It is exactly the kind of frosting I love. And it gave me the opportunity to finally try Earth Balance’s coconut spread.

Soy milk powder and cocoa are the foundation of this frosting, producing a thick, fudgy, milk-chocolately texture and taste. Try not to eat spoonfuls.

All blended up and ready for its close-up.

Jump to a fully frosted cake. It was gorgeous! And save for some milky specks of soy milk powder, a rich smooth shade of retro ripple icing waves. What exactly does that mean? Not sure but this comes to mind.