First up, is a take that I had on cookies and cream cake. My friend originally requested a different kind of cake, but I couldn't find all of the ingredients, so I picked up some vanilla and chocolate cream filled Trader Jo-Jo's and went from there! I didn't feel like making the chocolate cake with cookies mixed in, as per Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, so I made a simple white cake instead.
The filling between the layers is ground up chocolate filled cookies with just enough vanilla buttercream frosting to hold it together. It was actually easier to apply it with my fingers than with a knife. The frosting has the recommended amount of vanilla filled cookies folded in as suggested by Vctotw. Needless to say, my friend loved her cake. Bonus picture: We took the cake to the restaurant where her birthday dinner was, and they gave me a gigantic knife to cut it with!
Next up is the tiramisu cake that I made on Thursday. This friend was so excited for her cake that she had put in the request over a month ago! Again, I used the recipe from Vctotw because that book is amazing and has only failed me once.
I have found that there is a trick when making this as a whole cake as opposed to cupcakes. In order to get the soaking effect with the coffee and Kaluha just right, you need to cut off the top crusty bit of the cake so that it is able to absorb the liquid better. (Funny side note: my vegan roommate was munching on the top crusty scraps and thought that it tasted like cornbread!) Since it is a cake, I also try to be a little bit more liberal with the amounts of coffee and liquor that I use. Cutting off the top does make the frosting job a little tricky, so take it slow. I don't like to frost all the way down the sides so that you can see the middle layer peeking through. In this case, I used a half batch of the Vctotw fudge frosting to hold it together. I think that it worked really well.
I have found that there is a trick when making this as a whole cake as opposed to cupcakes. In order to get the soaking effect with the coffee and Kaluha just right, you need to cut off the top crusty bit of the cake so that it is able to absorb the liquid better. (Funny side note: my vegan roommate was munching on the top crusty scraps and thought that it tasted like cornbread!) Since it is a cake, I also try to be a little bit more liberal with the amounts of coffee and liquor that I use. Cutting off the top does make the frosting job a little tricky, so take it slow. I don't like to frost all the way down the sides so that you can see the middle layer peeking through. In this case, I used a half batch of the Vctotw fudge frosting to hold it together. I think that it worked really well.
As you can see, cutting it can get a little messy since the soaking softens the top portion, but it was still good, and the cake was practically gone by the time that I left the party! My friend returned the plate today and was raving about how much she enjoyed it.
It is sort of fun to be known as the awesome birthday cake person among my circle of friends, if I so say so myself. Score for veganism!
1 comment:
Yum, both of the cakes look delicious! Lucky friends :)
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