In Dessert Mode...

I've had a need to bake and create desserts in the last couple of weeks. Even while preparing for hubby's bday party... and even after it was all done... I still wanted to make desserts.

Take this Chocolate Banana Pudding Cake, for instance. I've made it three times this week! (much to hubby's delight... and it wasn't even his birthday cake). Going off-topic for a moment, I forgot to take a pic of the bday cake. I used the All-Purpose Vanilla Cake from ed&bv for the layers, and I frosted it with two things - a new chocolate ganache that is silky and velvety and rich, and then, I got experimental and also made a raw orange cream frosting. Now, chocolate and orange are one of my favorite combinations (and I also love the combo in these cookies). So, I put a layer of the raw orange cream frosting in the centre and top of the cake, and covered everything with the chocolate ganache. I will have to recreate the recipe, just to show you a picture of this cake!

Getting back to the pudding cake. Ihad a memory of making a chocolate pudding cake years back during the 'low-fat' time of the early 90's. I'm sure some of you remember that enchanting food era. Everything was made with wads of refined flour and sugar, but no oil or other fat. The only redeeming quality about some of the baking is that fruit purees like applesauce were used to replace the oil... but so were egg-whites. I remember making a brownie recipe that used about 6 or 8 egg-whites. Ugh. Makes me gag to think about it now. Wow! I'm really all over the place in my post today, aren't I? Now you have a glimpse into having a chat with me - ha! Well, it's been a while since I've talked with you all, so I have a lot to say!!

Anyhow, again, back to the pudding cake. (I've decided to keep adding different photos to remind you what this post is really about!) I got to thinking about that low-fat pudding cake, and how much I loved that layer of molten chocolate bubbling underneath the cake when it was baked. You can spot a little pool of sauce oozing through the cake layer in this pic, see it, around the lower left corner? And, I loved how that pudding-ish layer was still insanely good even when the cake had cooled. But, make no mistake, this cake is definitely best still warm, and with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream to melt into the crusty cake layer and meet up with the chocolatey sauce.

A couple more tests to go on this one, and then I may do a call for some testers for my recipes, since I know many of you are eager to try some of the new dishes I've posted.

Now, what will I bake today? So many choices! Vegan baking is grand!

(p.s. details on the Salba giveaway still coming soon, just waiting for a few details from SourceSalba, stay tuned...)