sneaky chocolate cake.

i call this cake sneaky because it has two cups of zucchini in it. my mom has been making it for years and years in an attempt to make us kids eat our veggies. it's kind of pointless, because really there's nothing healthy about this cake at all. of course, that's what makes cake fun.

the grated zucchini adds a nice texture and keeps the cake moist. i've always just used powdered sugar to top it, but i bet this would be amazing coated with a nice glaze or drizzled with chocolate. mmm, chocolate.



sneaky chocolate cake

1/2 c plus 1 T vegan margarine
2 c sugar
3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
egg replacer for 3 eggs (i use bob's red mill)
1/2 c vanilla almond milk or other milk sub
2 t vanilla
2 c coarsely grated, unpeeled zucchini (about 2-3)
2 1/2 c flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon

cream margarine, gradually adding sugar, beating until fluffy. beat in chocolate. add egg replacer, beat. beat in almond milk, vanilla, and zucchini.

in a seperate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. add to creamed mixture, beat well.

pour batter into a 10-inch bundt pan. bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. cool in pan 10-15 minutes before removing. dust with powdered sugar.


oh, and i'd like to share some pictures my friend took. we recently spent a day in fort worth at sundance square and the modern art museum. the building itself is a work of art, it's incredible.












drinking black coffee... obviously




lovely. :)

the aftermath.

christmas is over!! how very sad. i hope everyone had a good holiday filled with food and presents and all that mushy love crap.

what did *i* do on christmas, you ask?!

for starters, i made cinnamon buns for breakfast.



picture taken mid-drizzle... yum. the almondy icing went perfect with coffee.

as far as presents go, i got a bunch of awesome stuffs including clothes and a copy of my absolute favorite piece of music, a schumann piano concerto. obviously though, you guys are only interested in the food-related goodies, so here ya go:



vegan candy! newman's sweet dark chocolate x2, green and black's 70% dark, dagoba (i'm not sure if the name is a star wars reference or just a coincidence) mint chocolate x2, sunspire chocolate raisins and chocolate almonds, huge bag of candied ginger, and some random japanese fruity things hidden under there.



a DONUT PAN! so i can make delicious vegan donuts without the bothersome and artery-clogging deep frying.




a lovely recipe book so i can have a place other than my laptop to keep all of my favorite recipes from you guys ;)




a WWF sweatshirt. not food-related, but kind of vegan-related?


here is the cinnamon bun recipe:

cinnamon buns
veganized from baking bites

Dough:
1/2 cup water, warmed
2 tsp sugar
2 packets active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
1 1/2 cups vanilla almond milk, warmed
2 ener-G eggs
1 tbsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp earth balance, softened
5 1/2-6 cups flour

Combine first three ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let stand for 10 minutes, until yeast is foamy.
Add almond milk, "eggs", salt, sugar, earth balance and 3 cups of flour. Mix until well incorporated and smooth. Add 2 more cups of flour. Mix until smooth. Add any remaining flour in smaller increments until dough comes together and away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be slightly sticky, but very smooth.
Form dough into a ball and place in greased, covered bowl to rise until doubled, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Filling:
3-4 tbsp vanilla almond milk
Cinnamon
Brown sugar
1 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400F.
Coat two 9×13 glass baking dishes with cooking spray or butter.
Remove dough from bowl onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide dough in two and roll each piece out into (roughly) a 10×14 inch rectangle. Brush each rectangle with milk, dust throughly with cinnamon and top with brown sugar. Sprinkle with raisins, if desired. Roll in a jelly-roll fashion beginning at a short end. Pinch seam shut. Repeat for second rectangle.
Slice logs at 1 inch intervals and place rounds in the baking dish so they are just touching.
Bake 15-20 minutes at 400F, until tops are golden brown.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut apart and drizzle with glaze.
Makes about 20 buns. (i halved the recipe and got 15, but mine were small)

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Enough almond milk to form a pourable consistency

Stir ingredients until smooth with a fork. Drizzle over cinnamon buns.

satisfying my cake craving.

i finally got around to baking today! my aunt who evacuated from lafayette is staying with us for awhile so i decided to make the super moist chocolate cake from vegweb i've been dying to try. no, really, i think i have been dying from cake withdrawal. it's been two weeks since i last had some! thank god i had an excuse to make one.



basically the only change i made to the recipe was to replace about 1/3rd of the cocoa powder with dark cocoa powder. i am a huge fan of dark chocolate. if it was humanly possible to marry it, i would.

i made some frosting from a recipe i found somewhere (don't remember) that was basically a container of silken tofu, a few tablespoons of cocoa, some vanilla, and a lot of powdered sugar. it ended up like pudding. i tried adding more powdered sugar and it just got sweeter. i tried adding a bit of toffuti cream cheese but it didn't thicken up at all. so i just poured it over and topped it with some strawberries.




my cake presentation skills are severely lacking, but at least it tasted good. i am really nothing like my mother. she made me a chocolate treasure chest cake for my 6th birthday. literally, a treasure chest made out of cake. she filled it with chocolate coins and all this other stuff. insane.

i just realized how many food pictures i have with strawberries in them!

my first post.

after spending hours reading other vegan blogs, i've decided to start my own. there won't be many recipes because i'm quite possibly the laziest vegan on the planet, hence the name plain banana, but i'm getting better! and i'll start off with a photo of today's breakfast (my favorite meal of the day) which was chocolate french toast.



i'm a painter, not a photographer, so please forgive my amateur photos.