My Chaos and Chocolate Bark

 

It has been a very busy few weeks. My household is going to grow again by one. Daughter number 1 needs to come home for some much needed healing time. Without going into detail, suffice it to say that our "little girl" needs the support that only a family can give. Sara will be with us for now till at least the end of the summer, longer if necessary. That being said, I have been busy making space for her in her old room. We don't have a huge house so after she left, we have been slowly, "oozing" our things into her room and taking over the space. Her room has become my office space and her desk became my desk. Her dresser became my linens, table cloths and napkins storag place. Her closet became hanging space for Randy's suits and dress shirts and a place to store some of my "use once and a while items". I have had to find space elsewhere for these things, and let me tell you, it has been a test for my talents. We also had to move our old queen sized bed out of her room to make room for the bed Sara is bringing home. ACK! Our youngest is thrilled because that means she gets a "big" bed for a while since it will be easier to store her single, she inherits the queen bed for the short term. I told her not to get too used to it!

Of course, changing out the beds meant that I would get a much closer view of the upheaval in our youngest's room. As with so many kids, her version of a "clean" and "organised" room is VERY different than mine. Sadly, I got to see all the bits and pieces, lost socks, and clutter stashed here, there, and everywhere.  This was oh so much more than I could bear! For those of you who know me, I don't function well with clutter in my life. Given the extent of my daughter's chaos, it was a much bigger deal than simply swapping the beds out. It was time, again, for some extreme editing and purging which is hard for Erika to do since she has acquired the pack rat gene. I figured that since the young miss will be done high school next year, now is as good as any to start the downsizing process. Right now, my living room has become the dumping zone for stuff that needs a home or needs to be yard saled or donated. If I don't get my act together before Saturday, I will be adding to the confusion with Sara's stuff... breathe; I must remember to breathe!

This picture gives me goosebumps just looking at it! I think I need some chocolate STAT!  Why chocolate? Because chocolate makes me feel better and as I found out with a little research, there apparently is some science behind why chocolate improves how we feel. Do keep in mind, the crap that Nestlé and the like churn out by the ton may have some of the benefits, but due to the mystery ingredients and high sugar content, I think I would stick to the highest quality dark chocolate (at least 70%) to treat myself. 

Chocolate makes you feel better. It contains phenylethylamine (PEA) which is the same chemical that your brain creates when you feel like you are falling in love. PEA encourages your brain to release feel good endorphins. These endorphins that are released into the brain are known to decrease levels of both stress and pain. Apparently chocolate also causes your neuro-transmitters to create serotonin and dopamine which helps calm, relax, and create feelings of well being. YES... Exactly what I need! That said, do remember that a little goes a long way and just because dark chocolate is said to have great health benefits, it's still a sometimes food and in small portions. So no, chocolate can't be a food group... sadness, but it can be a healthy treat!

Check out here, here, here, and here for some of my information search,

So now that I know dark chocolate has some health benefits, I thought I would marry up the chocolate health benefits with those of coconut oil. A WIN/WIN for sure! I got my base recipe from one of my favourite writers... Oh She Glows! She has a wonderful chocolate bark recipe on her blog and this is from where my inspiration came!

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large heavy bottomed pan, I used my cast iron, heat over a medium heat. Toast your nuts, stirring or shaking regularly to prevent burning. When they are fragrant, pour nuts onto a plate to cool. Repeat the process with the coconut. Watch it like a hawk as it will go from just a little golden to burnt in a flash. On my first attempt I used a combination of pistachios and pumpkin seeds On my second attempt I used a combination of almonds and pumpkin seeds.  I wanted to have the green contrast in my finished product.

Roughly chop the pumpkin seeds and almonds and set aside.

Chop the cranberries in to small bits, roughly each cranberry into thirds. Mix the nuts, dried cranberries and coconut together in a small bowl.

 

In a medium saucepan, melt the coconut oil, cashew butter, and maple syrup over low heat. It will look like it has separated, but not to worry.  Whisk or stir in the cocoa (or cacao) powder, until super smooth. Add a pinch of sea salt and stir well. Remove from the heat.

Stir in half of nut mixture. With a spatula, scrape the chocolate mixture onto the prepared parchment-lined and smooth out until it's about 1/4 inch thick.

 

 

Sprinkle on the remaining nuts, cranberry and coconut mixture over top of the chocolate. Place into freezer on a flat surface for about 30 minutes, until frozen solid. 

 

 

Once frozen, break apart into small pieces, about 20 or so. Store in the freezer until ready to eat. This chocolate melts quickly so don't keep it out long.

Chocolate Bark with Nuts & Dried Fruit

1/4 cup shelled pistachios*
1/4 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup dried cranberries*

1/3 cup dried  unsweetened coconut, without sulphites if you can

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil

1/2 cup natural cocoa or cacao powder, sifted 

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon smooth cashew butter (it's what I had on hand)

Pinch of pink Himalayan salt or fine sea salt

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. 

 

In a large heavy bottomed pan, I used my cast iron, heat over a medium heat. Toast your nuts and/or seeds, stirring or shaking regularly to prevent burning. When they are fragrant, pour nuts onto a plate to cool. Repeat the process with the coconut. Watch it like a hawk as it will go from just a little golden to burnt in a flash.

 

When the coconut is a golden brown colour, immediately pour it onto a plate to cool.

 

Roughly chop the nuts and seeds and set aside.

 

Chop the cranberries in to small bits, roughly each cranberry into thirds. Mix the nuts, dried cranberries and coconut together in a small bowl.

 

In a medium saucepan, melt the coconut oil, cashew butter, and maple syrup over low heat. Whisk in the cocoa (or cacao) powder, until super smooth. Add a pinch of sea salt and stir well. Remove from the heat. 

 

Stir in half of nut mixture. 

 

With a spatula, scrape the chocolate mixture onto the prepared parchment-lined and smooth out (if necessary) until it's about 1/4 inch thick.

 

Sprinkle on the remaining nuts, cranberry and coconut mixture over top of the chocolate. Place into freezer on a flat surface for about 30 minutes, until frozen solid. 

 

Once frozen, break apart into small pieces, about 20 or so. Store in the freezer until ready to eat. This chocolate melts quickly so don't keep it out long.

 

Because I love chocolate and I wanted to give a special friend a healthier treat for her birthday, I made another batch. For this, I doubled my recipe so I could gift part of the recipe and have a little for me and my man! Sadly, I didn't have enough of the ingredients in my original recipe so I made the following substitutions with great success.

*Note On Substitutions

Instead of cranberries, I used dried cherries, and I used all pumpkin seeds instead of a pistachios/pumpkin seed mix and the bark was just as tasty. Bottom line is, I think you could use any combination of your favourite nuts, seeds and dried fruit. The possibilities are almost endless.

 

I hope you try this out and let me know how you enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

Old Fashioned Apple & Raisin Bread Pudding

Today is a glorious day. Although it's still a little chilly out there, the sun is shining brightly and my internal batteries are getting charged as I sit in this window absorbing those lovely sunbeams. Add a hot cup of my guilty pleasure and some time to work on another blog post, I couldn't ask for a better start to the day!

After sorting and organizing my freezer last week, my mission was to use up my freezer finds and older pantry items. I'm happy to report that my mission is going well. I've tested my creativity and ingenuity for a second week with great success as demonstrated with my family's happy and satisfied tummies. My bank account is happy too!

I turned a little leftover spaghetti sauce into nifty pita pizzas using the meat sauce instead of the traditional pizza sauce. Then I topped them with some chopped zucchini, red peppers, a little grated cheddar and baked till the cheese was bubbly, a yummy invention! 

I made some amazing white bean brownies from a can of white kidney beans I had in my pantry, and as you know from my last post, my husband really enjoyed them, even after he found out about the beans! These will be made again, for sure! 

I also made my Deconstructed Cottage Pie filling with a half pound of ground beef and the mixed veggies from some recently discovered freezer finds. I had all the ingredients for my meals this week pretty much in stock so I only had to pick up a few fresh veggies for the week. Yes, shopping my freezer, fridge and pantry saved me some more cash this week too. I am definitely a happy camper!

You might recall that I found a whole bunch of frozen bread in my freezer last week. I also had some apples and eggs that needed to be used up to as well. At the time of my post, I was thinking bread pudding, which of course, is exactly what our grandmothers and their mothers before them would have made too!

Today, I would like to share that bread pudding recipe with you. This recipe is not the rich, drenched in cream recipe that bread pudding has become in many modern chef repertoires, but a little more like what my great Grannie would have made. Although this recipe was a little more frugal, it was tasty, and even felt a little decadent. In the end, it still satisfied that call for a sweet ending after dinner and made use of on hand ingredients. 

Here is a pic of the odds and ends I had of frozen bread. I usually hang on to the bread to make bread crumbs, but apparently, I haven't been using a lot of bread crumbs lately!

Old Fashioned Apple Raisin Bread Pudding

Cube enough stale bread or your freezer finds. White, whole wheat, multigrain, sprouted or even buns all work well. There should be enough cubed bread to generously fill a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. It should be gently heaped. 

Originally, I thought I might have enough cubed bread to make a 9 x 13 and an 8 x 8 pan of bread pudding, but after completing the preparation, I only had enough for a 9 x 13 pan. Sometimes cooking is not an exact science!

In a large bowl, combine the eggs and milk whisking thoroughly. Add the cinnamon, grated nutmeg, both sugars and vanilla (extract or ground beans). 

Add all of the bread and stir to coat all cubes. Stir in melted butter, raisins, and diced apple. The bread will float for awhile but it will eventually soak up the custard and sink. This should take about 15 minutes. 

While the pudding is standing, preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Once the bread has soaked up most of the custard, gently stir the mixture to make sure the apples and raisins are distributed throughout the pudding. Then, scrape everything into a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish.

 

Bake for about an hour until the bread pudding is set, slightly puffed, and a golden brown colour. 

 

Remove from the oven and brush lightly with the maple syrup. 

Serve warm!

Old Fashioned Raisin and Apple Bread Pudding 

INGREDIENTS:

Stale bread; enough to generously fill a 9 x 13 inch baking pan when cubed. It should be gently heaped. If you are short stale bread, top up with lightly toasted bread. 

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 - 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

6 eggs

4 cups milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tbsp vanilla extract or 2 tsp ground vanilla bean

3/4 cup coconut palm sugar

1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1 cup raisins

4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped in a 1/2" dice

2 tbsp maple syrup

METHOD:

Cube your bread and generously fill a 9 x 13 inch baking pan so that the bread cubes are gently heaped. 

In a large bowl, combine the eggs and milk whisking thoroughly. Add the cinnamon, grated nutmeg, both sugars and vanilla (extract or ground beans). 

Add all of the bread and stir to coat all cubes. Stir in melted butter, raisins, and diced apple. The bread will float for awhile but it will eventually soak up the custard and sink. This should take about 15 minutes. 

While the pudding is standing, preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Once the bread has soaked up most of the custard, gently stir the mixture to make sure the apples and raisins are distributed throughout the pudding. Then, scrape everything into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. 

Bake for about an hour until the bread pudding is set, slightly puffed, and a golden brown colour. 

Remove from the oven and brush lightly with the maple syrup. 

Serve warm!

My Plant Based Journey Update & Brownies

It has been 2 years now since I started my eat more plant based and whole foods journey. I have been more mindful of where my animal products come from and I try very hard to eat as ethically as I can. I buy organic veggies as often as possible, and if my budget is tight, I choose organic for the veggies that tend to be sprayed most, like peppers, greens, and celery. Although I have always believed in having veggies on my plate at every meal, I think that for the most part, I have improved the family diet. I try hard to incorporate half my plate for veggies and sometimes fruit. Salads of mixed greens, kale, and spinach grace our table 2-3 times per week, and I try to go meatless for at least half of our meals.

I would like my family to eat more plant based as don't want to make TWO meals (one for me and one for them) AND I would like to keep my grocery expenditures down - after all, plant based protein is A LOT cheaper than meat, fish and poultry. In a perfect world, getting my family to willingly eat more lentils, beans and tofu would ROCK! This is easier said than done. Normally, I have to hide plant based protein.

Sadly, most of my completely plant based meals are not successful. Sometimes, no matter how I pitch them, they are not well received and the result is "don't make that again"! Ah, the trials and tribulations of a mom dragging her family along the eat more plant-based path! 

I have had to turn to subterfuge, creativity and my secret strategy of choice... "hidden healthy". Hidden healthy has been the most successful means to sneak in plant based protein since I'm not really allowed to cook much with lentils or beans; sadly the fam is just not feeling the love!

On the flip side, I shouldn't feel too badly. I have always tried to make sure veggies were part of our meals. I know we eat way more veggies now than we did before, so that in itself is a plus! I have managed to increase some plant based protein too, now that I have come to terms with the fact that I have to hide it. Slowly, I am learning how far I can go, shhhhhhhh! We are eating a lot more greens and more regularly (some of us not so willingly, right daughter #2?) and veggies generally cover at least half our plates. 

I have had good success with reducing dairy in general, finding dairy alternatives, and when we do have dairy, I have tried to keep the the quality standards high. Because of better store bought choices and more made at home options, I have been able to reduce the preservatives and mystery chemicals in our meals. I have even managed to successfully prepare more "better for you" desserts which have been very well received; I've even cleaned up some of my traditional ones too. 

When I actually think about all the WINS vs the losses, we aren't doing too badly after all. I need to revel in my successes and accept that my journey to eat better has gone pretty well over the last two years, even while dragging the non-believers along for the ride. For every not so well received meal, I need to remember those that were. There have even been a few that have achieved "Family Favourite Status"! I am a Wellness Warrior, and the war was not won in a day!

No matter your goals... trying to eat better, eat more plant based, to drink more water, consume less sugar, eat fewer processed foods, to eat more ethically or with fewer chemicals, or even just eat more home cooked meals, remember it is a process and positive changes take time, effort and practice. You can't change it all over night and there is always that crazy learning curve!

To celebrate the changes I have made and the changes you have made or are planning to make, I think we all deserve a treat. Best of all, it's guilt free and the perfect way to incorporate some plant based protein in your loved ones diets! 

For this recipe, I used my high speed Vitamix, but I think a good brand of regular blender should work. 

Chocolate Walnut Brownies

***UPDATE! My husband still really likes these brownies, even after he made me disclose the ingredients. A big WIN for me!***

1 - 19 ounce canned white kidney beans, about 2 1/4 cups 

1 1/4 cups milk of choice (dairy or non-dairy)

1/4 cup real maple syrup

3 tsp ground vanilla bean*

1/4 packed brown sugar **

4 tbsp coconut palm sugar

1 cup cocoa

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 cup walnuts

INGREDIENT NOTES:

* I believe you can substitute a good quality vanilla extract, but I think you would need about 1 – 2 tablespoons for the intensity of the vanilla in this recipe. 

** these brownies are not super sweet, more bitter sweet. If you prefer a sweeter brownie, I would be inclined to add another 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp of brown sugar. I prefer the bitter sweet and like to use better choices of sweeteners whenever possible. The choice is yours, but try to keep the brown sugar to under a 3/4 of cup to keep things as guilt free as possible!

________________________________________________________________

 

Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper with one strip going one way and another strip going another. I use a tiny dot of coconut oil or lard to anchor the paper to the pan. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder whisk to combine. Set aside. 

Place rinsed and drained beans into your blender. Add the all the ingredients except the flour mixture and nuts. Blend on high until the batter is super smooth. 

Pour into a medium sized bowl making sure to scrape out as much of the chocolatey goodness as possible. 

Add the flour mixture and the walnuts. Stir to combine well. 

Scrape the batter into the prepared 9" x 9" baking pan and smooth with an offset spatula or knife. 

Bake at 350°F. for 30 to 35 minutes or until skewer or toothpick comes out clean. 

Let cool on a wire rack in in the pan for about 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely. I use the parchment paper as handles. 

These brownies are tasty naked, but I just happened to have a chocolate mix in my fridges made of coconut oil, maple syrup and cocoa. When this mixture is cold, it creates a lovely chocolate crust I reheated this mixture and let it cool to room temperature. I spread it all over the top of the brownies and chilled in the freezer for about 20 minutes, until the topping was hard. Then I cut the brownies into squares, ready to be enjoyed. Remember to keep your brownies in the fridge to prevent the topping from melting!

From what I remember, I used the following proportions to make my chocolate topping:

1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp. cocoa
2 tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of pink Himalayan salt

Combine these ingredients over a low heat and whisk to combine and create a smooth chocolate sauce. Let cool to room temperature before you drizzle or cover your brownies.

 

Chocolate Walnut Brownies

INGREDIENTS:
 

1 - 19 ounce canned white kidney beans, about 2 1/4 cups 

1 1/4 cups milk of choice (dairy or non-dairy)

1/4 cup real maple syrup

3 tsp ground vanilla bean*

1/4 packed brown sugar **

4 tbsp coconut palm sugar

1 cup cocoa

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 cup walnuts

INGREDIENT NOTES:

* I believe you can substitute a good quality vanilla extract, but I think you would need about 1 – 2 tablespoons for the intensity of the vanilla in this recipe. 

** these brownies are not super sweet, more bitter sweet. If you prefer a sweeter brownie, I would be inclined to add another 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp of brown sugar. I personally prefer the bitter sweet and like to use better choices of sweeteners whenever possible. The choice is yours, but try to keep the brown sugar to under a 3/4 of cup to keep things as guilt free as possible!

METHOD:

In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder whisk to combine. Set aside.

Place rinsed and drained beans into your blender. Add the all the ingredients except the flour mixture and nuts. Blend on high until the batter is super smooth.

Pour into a medium sized bowl making sure to scrape out as much of the chocolatey goodness as possible.

Add the flour mixture and the walnuts. Stir to combine well.

Scrape the batter into the prepared 9" x 9" baking pan and smooth with an offset spatula or knife. 

Bake at 350° F. for 30 to 35 minutes or until skewer or toothpick comes out clean. 

Let cool on a wire rack in in the pan for about 15 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool completely. I use the parchment paper as handles.

Serve these brownies naked or add the chocolate topping. Chill in the fridge until the chocolate topping is hard. Cut into squares an enjoy. I kept my brownies in the fridge so the chocolate topping did not melt.

 

 

 

Erika’s Sweet 16 Birthday Cake

 

 

For those of you who have been hanging out with me, you know that my focus has been to share ways of eating better; my favourite family strategy of “hidden healthy” and to experiment with new to me plant based ingredients and recipes. SPOILER ALERT!! There are absolutely no veggies in this post and ALOT refined white sugar too! But since this is a post about birthday cake, I personally think its ok to indulge once and awhile… after all, it IS a celebration and we don’t eat cake every day!

 

It has been my tradition as a mom to make a special cake for both my daughters’ birthdays. Sadly this little tradition ended early for my oldest because she decided that she didn’t like cake. We changed to homemade ice cream cakes NOT made with cheap ice cream and fancied up with crumb crusts, fancy flavours, and add-ins like gummy bears, candy coated chocolate candies, chocolate chips, and candied fruit peels. No DQ ice cream cakes in this house (had one once and I’m not a fan)! My youngest, now turning 16 still LOVES cake and has decided that she is still not too old for a theme birthday cake. The tradition lives on!

 

Almost every year, I have made a different cake for her. When she was younger, I created a surprise theme cake for her parties including a bunny cake, train cake, and a pool cake. Now, she tests my talents with her own requests.  2 years ago, she wanted a happy face cake; last year she asked for a frog cake; and this year, she asked for a cat cake with pink fur and blue spots if I can manage it.

 

 

 

 

Early on, in my mom career, I used to buy made at the store cakes and I used cake mixes too because I didn’t trust my baking abilities. I even used frosting out of a can... shhhhhh! As I learned more about my food supply and the factory kitchens, I adopted the credo, “if I can’t pronounce it, I don’t eat it” which is probably the reason that I try very hard to minimize my consumption of prepared foods. Gradually, year after year, I dropped a few more “made for me products” from my shopping list, opting to make them myself. One of the first items to get dropped was cake, and low and behold, I found out that with a good recipe and wholesome ingredients, cake, in any flavour, wasn’t so scary after all!  Nothing beats real ingredients when making food for your family!

 

If you want, you can always improve your homemade cake by selecting premium ingredients such as unbleached flour (organic if you can find it) to further reduce your chemical intake or Fair Trade ingredients to give your cake a social conscience. You can even give your cake a humane spin by using eggs, butter, and milk from pasture raised chickens and cows. However you want to improve your cake, the choice is yours.  Just remember, the most important thing you can do for yourself, and those that you love, is to make the cake yourself with real ingredients and whole lot of love!
 

White Vanilla Cake (a Work in Progress, inspired by Canadian Living)

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar (try 1 1/2 cups next time; VERY sweet)

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup orange juice concentrate, thawed

1 tbsp orange zest

1 tbsp. vanilla

4 cups sifted cake-and-pastry flour

5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt 

                                

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Directions

 

Measure the sifted flour into a medium bowl. Add the baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine.

 

Pour the milk, orange juice concentrate, and vanilla into a 2 cup measuring cup, whisk to combine.

 

In a large bowl, cream butter thoroughly; by hand, or with a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment

 

Add the sugar, and beat until light and fluffy.

 

Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly between additions.

 

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, continue to beat. Add 1/2 the milk mixture and beat till mixed in. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat to combine and then repeat with the milk and the remaining flour mixtures.

 

Fill your baking pan or pans no more than two thirds full, otherwise the cake batter will spill over the sides of the pan. If you have extra batter, quickly grease a few custard ramekins to make mini cakes. Again, do not feel more than two thirds full!

 

This will fill a 13 x 9 cake pan, OR TWO 9" round pans OR (probably) THREE 8" round pans. Make sure you don't fill more than 2/3 full otherwise the cake batter will overflow.

 

Today I used TWO 9" round pans and had extra batter so I filled 2 Medium ramekins and 2 small ramekins. My small ramekins overflowed because they were too full. Live and learn!

 

Bake the 13 x 9 cake for about 40 minutes, until golden, a cake tester comes out clean, and the cake springs back when touched. 

 

Bake 9 inch rounds for about 30 minutes; bake 8" foot about 25-30 minutes; bake mini ramekin mini cakes for about 20 minutes

 

Cool for 20 minutes in the baking pan, on a cooling rack. Remove from pan and completely cool on rack.

 

Continue with cake preparation or wrap thoroughly and freeze for up to 2 weeks.

 

Frosting Recipe 

My go to easy buttercream frosting recipe is by Canadian Living.  It is rather sweet but it spreads nicely and is super easy.  http://www.canadianliving.com/food/vanilla_buttercream_icing.php

 

For my pink cat, I decided to try my hand at chemical free food colouring, one that is made from real food; nothing artificial. I have seen posts using cooked blueberry for purple, cooked beets for pinks; turmeric for yellows and matcha tea for greens. Today, I used raspberries that I cooked down and pressed through a jelly bag to remove the seeds and excess pulp, and then reduced a little more by simmering gently till slightly thickened. I was left with the most gorgeous red syrup.
 

 

I made my recipe according to the recipe and then set aside about 3/4 cup of frosting to keep white.  I added the raspberry syrup to the remaining frosting. to maintain the consistency, I added a few spoonful's of sifted icing sugar. The frosting picked up a subtle pink hue. Sadly, not as pink as I would have liked for my cake, so I ended up using a teensy bit of store bought food colouring gel to deepen the pink colour. Ah well! The frosting did change colour and it had a hint of raspberry flavour too which was quite lovely. If I had been making a regular layer cake and not one for a theme cake, the natural frosting would have been perfect. Next time, I will see if increasing the volume of raspberry syrup and thickening it a bit with cornstarch while cooking it will allow me to add more colour without diluting my frosting. I will keep you posted.

 

Making the Cat Cake

 

What You Need:

Pink Frosting for entire cake and ears
White frosting for cheeks, chine, eyes and whiskers (I set aside about 1 cup of white frosting before tintin
Licorice shoe string snipped super short for whisker dots, eye dots, and mouth
TWO round green wine gums, sliced thinly
3 Ice cream sandwich wafers (Bulk Barn) or large graham crackers, cut into triangles with a serrated knife - 2 large and 2 small for the contrast

ONE black wine gum or black jelly candy sliced thinly and cut into a small triangle for the nose

What To Do:

Ice your cake like you would for any layer cake with the pink frosting. Put short slits into the cake where you want the ears to go. Spread a little frosting on the bottom of the triangles and gently press into the slits you made.  Frost the ears, front and back. 

With the back of a spoon or an offset spatula, pat the icing all over to make the icing look "fluffy".

With a large piping tip, pipe 2 large cheeks, a chin, and 2 eyes.

Place nose above cheeks, insert the licorice mouth, and pipe the whiskers. Carefully place the whisker dots on the cheeks.

Gently press the green eyes on the piped eyes, and then then place the eye dots on.

Take the smaller triangles and gently press onto the ears for the contrast.

 

I hope you try your hand at making your own cake and frosting. With a little practice, you can accomplish anything, you just need the right ingredients, the right tools and a good recipe. The occasional treat, even high in refined sugar is SO much better for you than the chemical laden ones from Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker!