happy little vegan banana cake?

 i swear this tasted like a really yummy banana bread to me... but the recipe says its a cake.

 i think the fact that i veganized the recipe, subbed half the all purpose flour with whole wheat, and baked it in a bread loaf pan, contributed to it's breadyness. 

wacky banana cake

recipe adapted from new baking book (better homes and gardens)

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

(or even better... 3/4 cup all purpose and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2/3 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)

6 tablespoons butter, melted

(nooooooo!!! don't use butter use earth balance instead)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tablespoon vinegar

(i used apple cider vinegar... i know you have some leftover from all those awesome vegan cupcakes)

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1/4 cup almond brickle pieces or chopped mixed nuts

(I left this out. where to get almond brickle anyways huh?)

1. preheat oven to 350. in an ungreased 8x8x2 inch baking (or loaf pan for more breaddy version) pan stir flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

2. add the bananas, melted butter (or earth balance) cold water, and vinegar to the dry mixture. mix until combined.

3. sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the cake.

4. bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 min our until wooden toothpick comes out clean.

sprinkle the hot cake with almond brickle or nuts. cool in pan on wire rack.

this banana bread/cake... whatever you wanna call it was really good! i liked the top of it the best because of the chocolate! strangely my husband (who loves anything chocolate) didn't really go for the chocolate chips. he loved the rest of the bread though... him and i are a good match. good thing we like each other.

happy little star trek cake

i made this cake in october for my husband's friend. apparently he's a big star trek fan. it's definitely not as cute as a cupcake but i thought i would post it in honor of the new star trek movie.  i  haven't seen it but was thinking about watching it this week. have you seen it? whatdaya think?

inside is chocolate, chocolate chip cake. outside is covered with marshmallow fondant. i haven't made very many cakes (why would i when i could be making cupcakes instead!) but this one was fun.  
this design would make really cute cupcakes too! maybe for his next birthday....

happy little birthday month!!

april is pretty much the best month of the year! april 1st was my birthday.... and in my family we celebrate birthday month! birthday month rocks! today my husband made pancakes for breakfast and he is going to yoga with me this afternoon... because it's my birthday month! 

so i  received some awesome gifts for my birthday! i got this cute little cupcake tea towel from my mother in law. she always manages to find the cutest little cupcake goodies!

my sister in law gave me this great cupcake stand! i've always wanted this cupcake stand but it's one of those items that you can't really justify buying for yourself but would love and adore as a gift so i was soooo excited to get it for my birthday!
when i got home from work on my birthday, this little flower bouquet was waiting for me on my door step! it was from my two super sweet sisters (i'm actually an only child but my best friend, her 4 sisters and i are all like family so we call each other sisters).

i was so excited  to get flowers from them (especially since one of them moved to cabo a few months ago and i miss her too much) but i was confused about the flower arrangement. why would they send me a bouquet in the shape of a triangle? after 3-4 hours of staring at this thing i realized what it was supposed to be!  can you guess by the picture?

it's a slice of cake! even though the florist is not as talented as this one, i thought this was the most thoughtful choice of flower arrangements ever and love them so much for it!

to top off my wonderful birthday, my husband and i picked up a couple slices of cake from the city deli by our house (i was gonna get a cupcake but they didn't look so hot). black forest and lemon coconut cake. yum.