Vegan Rocky Road Cake {Guest Post from Gormandize with A-dizzle & K-bobo}

vegan chocolate cake

Hello everyone! Today I have my friend Keely of Gormandize with A-dizzle & K-bobo – enjoy!

I’ve been blogging for exactly one year this month. It’s been a great experience thus far and I’m learning loads as I go.

Like most bloggers I started off with some recipes which had really dodgy photos and this vague idea that maybe my blog could be awesomely successful without me putting that much effort into it.

More than a hundred recipes, a new camera and hours of work later, I’ve managed to build my blog into something that I’m really happy with and proud of.

But the best thing I discovered about blogging was the unexpected friendships that sprung out of it with other bloggers.

It has been wonderful to connect with other food lovers all over the world and have fun exploring food with your new friends. One such friend I have been happy to make is Erin from BigFatBaker, and I was very happy when she asked me to write a guest post for her.

cake Vegan Rocky Road Cake {Guest Post from Gormandize with A dizzle & K bobo}

This cake is one that I made for my mother’s birthday recently, and it was a creation I just had always wanted to try. You may notice that my rocky road contains absolutely no marshmallows. There are two main reasons for this:

  1. Marshmallow are a cheap way to fill out rocky road so that you don’t have to put in so much of the decadent and luscious ingredients
  2. Marshmallows are made from gelatine – which is made from boiling up all the skin, crushed bones, connective tissues, organs and sometimes intestines of slaughtered animals. Now, I’m a vegan, but that aside, I don’t know who would really want to put that in their bodies!

One other quick thing before getting to the delicious point! If you wanted to make this cake even better I would recommend doubling the quantity of the rocky road topping and using it as the filling in the layer cake as well – just to make it extra rocky! [Read more...]

Carrot Cake {Holiday Recipe Club 4/5}

carrot cake

Welcome to another Holiday Recipe Club! Today we are sharing Easter/Passover recipes. Interested in joining Holiday Recipe Club? Contact me here!

This time we were all required to use carrots, spinach, or eggs in our post.

When thinking about this time of year eggs, rabbits and chocolate always come to mind.

But other than the hordes of chocolate, carrot cake is my favorite Easter dessert.

I’ve made carrot cake in the past. They were fine cakes, but that was before I knew about the milk bar methods.

carrots Carrot Cake {Holiday Recipe Club 4/5}

So, I made this carrot cake using some of Tosi’s tricks. Carrot cake is baked and circles are stamped out then layered with liquid cinnamon cheesecake. Then you freeze all that and cover it with cream cheese frosting. Decadent, right?

Next time I plan on adding a layer of oatmeal cookie crumbs or pie crumbs on top of each cheesecake layer. The crunchiness would be a nice touch with the cheesecake! [Read more...]

Pistachio Strawberry Cupcakes {Holiday Recipe Club 3/15}

frosted cupcakes

It’s time for another edition of Holiday Recipe Club! Today’s theme is St. Patrick’s Day. The required ingredients for this hop included potatoes, pistachios and beer! Want to join the fun? Contact me here!

As I said, this hop’s theme is St. Patrick’s Day.

A few people jumped the gun and helped me pick the ingredients. It was so nice to have the suggestions! Keep them coming!

We ended up with potatoes and beer – to keep it Irish – and pistachios for something green.

ground pisatchios  Pistachio Strawberry Cupcakes {Holiday Recipe Club 3/15}

There were a lot of inspiring Pinterest boards…it was hard to decide on anything.

I was tempted to go crazy with something like green beer, but I couldn’t resist a cupcake recipe.

pistachios and strawberries  200x300 Pistachio Strawberry Cupcakes {Holiday Recipe Club 3/15}    finished cupcakes 200x300 Pistachio Strawberry Cupcakes {Holiday Recipe Club 3/15}    frosted cupcake 200x300 Pistachio Strawberry Cupcakes {Holiday Recipe Club 3/15}

These cupcakes are dense and reminiscent of muffins. The strawberry swiss meringue buttercream is not at all necessary, but a good way to sweeten the cake.

It’s also a great recipe to welcome spring!

What are your plans for St. Patrick’s Day?

[Read more...]

Tropical Cocoa Cupcakes {Guest Post on The Spice & Tea Exchange Blog}

Tropical Cocoa Cupcake

Just last week I had the chance to create something wonderful.

The Spice and Tea Exchange sent me two packs (1 ounce each) of their specialty Tropical Cocoa Mix with the challenge to bake something.

I was intrigued. Tropical cocoa powder? What a lovely idea.

cocoa mix 2 Tropical Cocoa Cupcakes {Guest Post on The Spice & Tea Exchange Blog}

I gave it a whiff. It smells like vanilla and coconut, but tastes like paradise. I couldn’t wait to get to the kitchen!

After a bit of brainstorming I came up with these Tropical Cocoa Cupcakes with Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Get the recipe over at The Spice and Tea Exchange blog!

And don’t forget to get some of your very own tropical cocoa powder today!

cupcake 1 Tropical Cocoa Cupcakes {Guest Post on The Spice & Tea Exchange Blog}

Banana & Lemon Checkerboard Cake {Holiday Recipe Club}

Piece of Cake

Welcome to the Mardi Gras edition of Holiday Recipe Club! Interested in finding out more about the club, or want to join the fun? Contact me here!

Mardi Gras is the ultimate celebration.

A day of final sins (so to speak) before the fasting for lent.

Many people choose to participate in lent, others do it for religious reasons, and others simply love Mardi Gras celebrations (can you blame them?).

What ever you decide to do, it needs to be done with cake. Especially if that cake has 2 flavors! 

The required ingredients for this post were either bananas, bourbon, or andouille sausage. I chose to go with bananas.

They are one of my favorite fruits, and New Orleans is the home of bananas foster!  

banana lemon Banana & Lemon Checkerboard Cake {Holiday Recipe Club}

But, this cake is great because you can choose any 2 flavors you like. Get creative!

The results of a checkerboard cake are gorgeous and so much simpler than you may think. All you need is this checkerboard cake pan set and you are on your way!

Have you ever been to Mardi Gras?

[Read more...]

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