Playing Catch-up

I have so much to post for you guys, and truly it has been catch-up for me in every respect, at home with the girls, with my book, and here.

Where to begin? First, a food photo. Our older daughter's 6th birthday was last week. Hard to believe she is six years old already. And what a busy week it was! On her actual birthday, I brought cupcakes to her class to share with her friends. The cupcakes were topped with a Strawberry Cream Kids' Frosting. The cupcake itself is a basic vanilla cake recipe, but the frosting is different than most on birthday cakes. Not gritty-sugary-buttery. I made a buttercream frosting first off, then tested it against the Strawberry Cream frosting with our daughter. She loved the strawberry cream, and said the other was too sweet. That's all I needed to hear, so I went on and retested the recipe. It's now going to be in Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.

Also, check out the nifty carrying container. Picked it up several months back at Zellers for $10. Yup, just ten bucks. Was on sale, but I think regular price it was only about $20. Handy for times like this, toting cupcakes around. And I know many of you are toting cupcakes! I have to say here, that I give due credit to Isa and Terry for testing the thousands of cupcakes they must have tested. I don't particularly enjoy cupcake making. Tedious with extra steps and cleaning, and care and packaging. I'd much rather do a full cake. So, hats off (er, muffin liners off) to you cupcake queens Isa and Terry!

Then, her birthday party was that following weekend. Our girl is a dino kid, which I love. Just to help balance all the 'girly' stuff that they get inundated with from such a young age. Even if you don't have it at home, it's everywhere else. Anyhow, I surprised her with my version (emphasis on my) of a dinosaur cake. I used my Triple Layer Chocolate Cream Cake recipe from TEV, and used an 8" x 12" glass baking pan to bake it. Also poured some extra batter into a round cake pan. Then, used that rectangular cake to cut a dino shape from this design. Decorated it, tho had to redecorate the next morning. Since this is a tofu-based icing, the candies slid off with the moisture by the next morning. So, make note, if you want to decorate this type of cake, do so a couple of hours before serving (not overnight). Here's the first version, and then the second lit at the party:

I liked the second version better after all was said and done, but believe me, a LOT was said at the time. A bit of vegan cake cursing! But, MAKE THIS CAKE! It's delicious. And NOT difficult. I'm not winning any awards with the decorating, but the kiddos loved it, and they came for seconds. The moms (non-veg) that tried ithave since been asking for the recipe. Every time I serve this cake to people, I am asked for the recipe. Seriously, go make this cake!

Speaking of awards, I've just been nominated for Blogger's best food blog. Thanks to my sis for that! :) You can click to vote for me. It would be cool to win, but really I'd just be happy if ANY vegan blog wins. Plus, I don't think I have anywhere near the best food photos. Someone like Susan V should win for her splendiferous (yes, that's a word in my world today) food pics! So vote for whichever blog you like, just vote vegans, folks! Oh, and I must note that when the food blog awards started several weeks ago, I voted for the ones that were there at the time. I noticed yesterday that there are 28 or so pages of blogs now, so I am guessing I may have missed some of you. I haven't had much time catching up on blogs and such, so if I missed your blog, I'm sorry, and I will try to cast more votes if I can after catching up on everything.

Next, I'm stoked to tell you that Vive le Vegan! is now in its 3rd printing! To kick off my own lil' happy dance, I'm giving away two copies. Here's the 'rules'. Thanks for supporting my work you guys. If you want to pick up a copy for yourself or a friend (I know, you'll wait to see if you win first), click on through. You may notice a very recent bah-humbug review. Must say it sucked to read that. I like making vegan food happiness, what can I say? So seeing something so sucky - well - sucks! I'm having a way with words today! Anyhow, I once heard that for every negative comment you get there are about 100 positive ones. That has already been proven by you through your e-mails and comments these past couple of years. Thank you all for that...

Finally, my manuscript is officially due the end of this month. Hubby is taking pen to paper these next few days to do "his" editing. He's mean, I tell you! Nah, actually I really appreciate it. He helps make my writing more succinct. And as you can tell from this post, that's most needed.

When I'm back I'll announce the winners, and catch up on lotsa' food stuff. Stay tuned, stay vegan. Click! :)