Back! With Pound Cake!

And I’m back! New and improved! How and why improved? With the purchase of my new lens of course (damn american amazon with your oh-so-much cheaper prices on camera equipment compared to the far north)! I bought it yesterday and I love it so and despite the dark day today I was able to snap a few decent photos this morning. Including this one:

This is the last slice of the Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake from Veganomicon I made recently. This Pound Cake was absolutely perfect and adored by my family. It tastes JUST like the traditional Pound Cake ladened with butter and eggs, definitely a winner for anyone no matter what your dietary preferences are.

So be prepared to see a whole lotta more of me now that I’m re-armed with a lens, I’m baking a very special something later on today so more photos are on the way!

Birthday Wishes

Yesterday was my grandmother’s 87th birthday and obviously a cake was called for such an occasion that celebrates a very special person. Armed with Papa Tofu, I decided to bake a cake inspired by Kittee’s tutorial. After baking the cake on tuesday evening, I trudged home in the freezing rain to commence the best part of a cake-the decorating. Now, I am still, very much so, a novice at cake decorating but I think my skills are finally improving (I’m thinking of taking one of those Wilton cake classes, has anyone taken one?).

This is the non-chocolate cake found in Papa Tofu filled with a strawberry filling and a strawberry buttercream, then frosted with a vanilla buttercream (the buttercream is also found in Papa Tofu) and finally, more strawberry filling was poured over top for good measure. The cake was very much a success with everyone thoroughly enjoying it-especially Grandma!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!
Love, Ash.

When I was taking these photos, I had quite the scare. I’m still learning how to use my tripod and decided to find out last night what a little switch thing would do if I flicked it, thinking it would help me change the angle of the camera. Nope. What this little switch thing does is allow you to easily attach and REMOVE the camera from the tripod. Naturally when I flicked it, my camera plummeted to the floor. My heart was definitely in my throat let me tell you, but luckily, the rebel was more durable then I though!

 Edit-I noticed today (1 week later!) that this was my 100th blog post! I’m glad it coincided with my grandmother’s birthday, definitely the most fitting post for it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. Or Pie. Or Pah.

(The title comes from a discussion with my sister.  I frequently converse with her about what I’m baking via MSN Messenger and I was telling her about this Cookie Pie which I suppose is really more of a cake but whatever and she said that she can’t say pie without a Southern accent ever since we watched Waitress a few weeks ago.)

 I have had a cookie cake once before in my life.  It was years ago, I was probably six.  But I still remember how awesome it was and have always meant to try another one.  So I finally baked one this evening.  I used Kittee’s Blondie Recipe using a container of soy yogurt for the egg replacer and leaving out the nuts (not that I have anything against them, I live with people who do).  I threw the dough into a greased 9 inch round cake pan and baked it for 40 minutes (next time I’d bake it for a bit longer, it was a tad underbaked not that it was a bad thing though.  I like gooey).  It was fantastic!  This is a most wonderful cookie recipe (I also ate more than a fair share of the dough) and the Cookie Cake was the delightful, chewy wonder that has been stuck to my memory for all these years.

Chocolate Cuteness

I made the Lower-Fat Deep Chocolate Bundt Cake from Veganomicon in mini cake pans last night for New Year Eve’s dessert (I don’t drink so I have to indulge in some way for the occasion, right?).  I served each cake with a chocolate sauce (the Quick Melty Ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World thinned with soymilk a lot) which took it to a whole new level of decadence and made it oh so gourmet looking (I am so on my way to restaurant stardom).  It was loved as well and requested to be made again (“Next time make a caramel sauce to go with it…and ice cream…and more chocolate drizzle…and cherries…no! strawberries!”). 

Mmm…chocolate, could there be a more perfect way to ring in 2008?