vegan! amongst other things...like jokes and bread. not mixed, though. ;)

I made a big batch of bread (normal, not vegan or anything, and i use the same recipe for all my different kinds of breads: focaccia, challah) earlier, and made challah braided bread while listening to Britt Nicole. Let me tell you, she has got some awesome cooking music that makes you want to dance. And I did. Kind of. :] I had Anna take a video of me segmenting and braiding a couple loaves, with the music on . . . it's funny. But I'm not sure I want to suffer the humiliation of posting the video --even if I did ever figure out how to post the thing. :) It's not the worst, but . . . nevermind. haha It's actually kind of cool; the music, and my hands are kinda fast at braiding, so it's amusing to watch. But nevermind.

Anna and I experimented with vegan cake recipes today. She made vanilla, and I made chocolate. :) I made some vanilla-nut coffee earlier today, and had a bright idea to put some coconut milk in it for a creamer of types, but forgot and put regular milk in instead.
So this little boy we know can't have normal food right now. And his birthday is Thursday, if I remember correctly? That's why we made the vegan cakes...though Anna wants me to make another chocolate cake for this weekend, what with some vegan friends coming to the camp. Should be good. I thought I'd share the recipe with you:)

Vegan coconut-milk chocolate-fudge frosting

¼ cups virgin coconut oil
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
¼ tsp sea salt
½ cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt coconut oil in a saucepan. Stir in sugar, cocoa, and salt.
Add coconut milk, stir well, and bring mixture to a boil. Adjust the heat to a steady but gentle boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. The mixture should begin to thicken.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.
Ice your cake. :)

Easy vegan chocolate cake
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup rapadura or sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup virgin coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup coconut water, or juice (or ¾ cup water and ¼ cup coconut milk)

Preheat 350 degrees
Grease 9x13 pan with coconut oil. Mix dry ingredients in big bowl, mix wet ingredient in small bowl. Pour wet into dry and whisk until well blended and smooth.
Bake for 20 minutes or so.

And . . . since I told her (like i've been telling everyone these days, it seems) that I'd blog about it, let me tell you something funny that happened while making these things.
We poured our batter into bread pans, because we're not about to make a huge cake and double/triple of these experimental recipes on the first try. :)
They'd been in the oven for a while, maybe 15-20 minutes, and Anna's was in there first because obviously, vanilla cakes are simpler, boringer, (yes, that IS a word, and i just made it up, thank you very much) and are lickety-split faster. ;) So instead of just opening the oven door to check on it, she pulls it out because she's pretty certain it's darn near done.
She holds it with a folded towel, looking at it.
"That looks done, don't you think?" She asks me.
"Um, it might need a few more minutes, I'd say," I reply.
She glances at me, skeptical of my advice, and pushes her hair back with her free hand, then brings the bread/cake pan close to her ear.
"Ooooh, listen! You hear it? It's not done; can't you hear it screaming? It's still alive!"
Yeah. That was me. I'm the one who mocks funny gestures and makes a midling moment crack-up amusing. I can sometimes be seen as . . . well, a joker. I like making things funny, and sometimes it begs me to; it's so easy. It's just what I do.
Of course, not everything is that way--not everything can be made funny. But hey, it can at least be amusing, ja?
And yes. She looked at me like I was crazy, but she laughed.
"Oh my gosh, Beka. That's so wrong."
"But that's what you looked like, oh...is it still alive?"
We laugh more and she puts it back in the oven.

Now they're both done, and the frosting turned out pretty darn good. But that batter of my chocolate cake was the best; the coconut-chocolate thing going on, y'know? Mmmm. :)
What's nice is that I just blogged all this while sitting outside, in the garage, on a white wicker chair (out of several) that Ben's fixing somehow for one of my uncles. And I'm not wearing a coat, but rather a nice long-sleeved shirt. Goodness, it's lovely out. Though my hands could use those fingerless gloves a friend gave me . . . black and grey heather. My fingers are a bit chilly.

Now to try to upload a few pictures of this glorious cake-making occasion. ;)