02 July 2010

There are many reasons why I like my birthday.  Firstly its one day each year when I can justify any princess demands I might have that day.  No one can say no to me without tantrums & tears and who is going to do that to the birthday girl?!

Then there are all the presents – the number may go down as the years go up but the quality definately improves.  

And then quite importantly there are the cakes…

As a vegan baker I have the  luxary of chosing which birthday cake I will make each year and this year I fancied trying some new.  One or two cakes instead of muffins. 

What cake would you choose?  For a long time now I have been saying to Mits that I will bake us a chocolate cake and it has always seemed a little indulgent to bake a chocolate cake for two and as such it has never happened.  My birthday is a great opportunity to do crack on with it. 

It is a chocolate sandwich cake topped with chocolate frosting and white and milk chocolate vegan buttons.

Another cake that I really like is carrot cake.  The subtle combination of carrot, sultanas, cinnamon and orange juice is heavenly.  Although I didn’t have the orange juice or sultana’s (dates make a good substitute), I adapted the recipe and still managed to rustle one together.  It tastes good too.

I also enjoy baking cookies, usually I make gluten free but I am starting to widen my repetoire…  Like all baking practise makes perfect so here was another opportunity to practise!

A celebration really wouldn’t be right without baking some muffins too.  I decided on peanut butter and choc chip (using banana as the egg replacement) & jam doughnut muffins coated in cinnamon sugar.

There is another reason I like my birthday and this is probably the best reason.  I get to bake for others to share and show how tasty, light & delicious vegan cakes can be.  It helps to persuade the non persuadable that we don’t miss out.  In one hit a large group of peoples perception is changed and next time they are amongst friends and someone says “Oh vegan food will be tasteless and boring” they will respond with “actually this girl baked vegan cakes at work and they were GREAT!”

Now thats is a quality birthday present

Tags: vegan birthday cake, Vegan cake, vegan cookies, vegan muffin