After many weeks of keeping this secret, I’m so excited to finally be able to announce a new project I’m working on with lovely Alix, of Cute & Delicious.  We’ve started a vegan secret supper club here in L.A. called A Moveable Feast, and our next dinner will be on July 9th in Studio City.

There are six seats open at each totally made-from-scratch themed-dinner (this one will feature a Mediterranean menu), and payment is on a donation basis (recommended between $75-$125).  If you’re interested you can rsvp at veganfeast@gmail.com.  For more details, and for a review of our last Moveable Feast, check out this awesome post from Quarrygirl.

Speaking of our last meal, these photos of dessert that night were taken by Alix’s husband, Shawn, of Little Vegan Planet.  (Our theme was Spring Italian, and dessert was an olive oil lemon rosemary cake with strawberry ice cream.)

Alix and I are so excited to finally be able to share this news with you guys, and we’re looking forward to our next Moveable Feast.  Yummy food and great conversation – one of the best ways to spend an evening if you ask me!

UPDATE: This past Saturday was the big day!  I wanted to share some pictures from my cooking class taken by the lovely Jackie of Alternative Outfitters.  I also have to thank Tera (of the beautiful elgin eco house blog) for being kind enough to open her amazing kitchen to us!  It’s an absolutely stunning space, and working there was such a pleasure.

We started off with the Strawberry Rhubarb Bars that I posted about when I first announced the class.  Here’s the diced strawberry and rhubarb cooking together.  Nice and steamy…

We also made a Dark Chocolate Pudding Cake with a Vanilla Cream Sauce.  It’s not the prettiest cake, as you can see below, but it’s so incredibly yummy!  Any dessert that combines chocolate pudding and cake is kind of a dream come true for me.  The Vanilla Cream sauce is just an added bonus.

And last, but not least, we made Chai Shortbread Cookies with Coconut Palm Sugar.  These spicy cookies are full of flavor, and they melt in your mouth (thank you, Earth Balance!).  They’re not too sweet, so you can really taste the chai flavor.

This was such a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and I had a great time with my awesome “students”!  You kind of can’t beat having dessert for lunch with great company in a beautiful space.  Thanks again to those of you that joined me.  I’m really looking forward to the next one!

If you get my newsletter you’ve already heard about the first C’est La Vegan cooking class, but with all the work I’m doing for the upcoming Cupcakes and Beer Party, I realized that I hadn’t made an official announcement on the blog.  Now that I have more information I want to share the details with you guys.

The class is scheduled for Saturday, April 23rd at 12:00pm in Highland Park.  I’m offering the class at a special introductory rate of just $45 – that’s cheap for cooking classes, ya’all.  This rate is only for this first class, so take advantage while you can!

This class will be focused on vegan baking, and I’ll be sharing some of my secret veganizing tips that will guarantee delicious baked goods.  We’ll be baking three different types of goodies, including these super yummy strawberry rhubarb bars.

To sign up for the class send an email to cestlavbakeshop@gmail.com by Wednesday, April 20.  If you can’t make this class there will be more in the coming months.  I’ll keep you guys posted about dates and class themes, so stay tuned!

Let’s start with some vegan Irish sausages, soda bread and colcannon that I made for St. Patrick’s day a couple years ago.  It was my first time making homemade vegan sausages and soda bread, and both were actually much easier to make than I’d anticipated.  The sausages might seem complicated, but don’t be intimidated – they’re definitely worth the effort!

Colcannon is something I make pretty often – it’s one of my favorite dishes and one that I don’t just reserve for St. Paddy’s day.  It’s also a great way to get vege-phobes to eat some greens, because mashed potatoes make everything taste great!

Last year I made this Irish “Steak” and Stout Stew, and I’ve made it many times since last St. Patrick’s day.  I’ve served it to meat eaters on more than one occasion, to rave reviews.  It’s a really tasty all-purpose “beef” stew.  You could serve this with soda bread, in puff pastry (as shown) or with a nice loaf of crusty bread.

This Irish Whiskey Cake may look plain, but it’s deceptively delicious.  Just seeing the picture makes me salivate…  I really need to make this more often!

I’m more of a cake than frosting girl, so I like this one as is, but you could get fancy and layer this with some vanilla or Irish Creme-flavored frosting.  It’s also perfect with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, and it couldn’t be easier to make.

What’s on your St. Patrick’s Day menu this year?

Here it is guys, the final cupcake I would have made had I advanced to Round 2 of Cupcake Wars – a Grasshopper Cupcake!  This one is a light cocoa mint cake topped with Creme de Menthe frosting, Creme de Cacao whip and a maraschino cherry on top.

When Michelle and I were waiting to hear the outcome of Round 1 we starting brainstorming everything we might do for Round 2, and going off the idea of a two drink minimum (with coffee being the first drink), we started trying to think of other drink ideas that would make for a tasty cupcake.

Since the episode centered around the 50th anniversary of the Ice House comedy club, we wanted to use a retro drink that might have been popular around the time the club openend, and the grasshopper seemed like a nice throw-back.  Grasshopper pie was also one of my favorites when I was little, so I’m particularly partial to this flavor.

With St. Patrick’s Day right around this corner, you could easily make this into a Shamrock Cupcake.  Just use the Creme de Cacao frosting as a filling (or omit it), and only top this with the Creme de Menthe frosting.  You could even get crazy and pipe shamrocks on top!

Just a reminder that you can order this and all the other cupcakes I’ve show  you from C’est la V Bakeshop, and these flavors are also available as full-sized cakes!

Grasshopper Cupcake
Yield: 12 cupcakes

1 cup non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 peppermint extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons organic unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Crème de Menthe Frosting, recipe follows
Crème de Cacao Frosting, recipe follows
Mint leaves, for garnish
Maraschino Cherries, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.

In a medium sized non-reactive bowl, whisk the vinegar into the non-dairy milk, and set the mixture aside to curdle.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set the mixture aside.

Whisk the sugar, oil, and vanilla and mint extracts into the non-dairy milk mixture. Add the flour mixture, and stir just until combined.

Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely.

Crème de Menthe / Crème de Cacao Frosting:

5 ounces vegan shortening, room temperature (recommended: Earth Balance)
5 ounces vegan margarine (recommended: Earth Balance)
12 ounces powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Crème de Menthe
1 tablespoon Crème de Cacao

In an electric stand mixer or with a had mixer, beat the shortening until it’s creamy. Add the margarine, and whip it into the shortening. Stop the machine, and scrape the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar and the non-dairy milk. Once it’s incorporated, stop the machine and scrape the sides of the bowl again. Whip the frosting on high for several minutes until it’s very fluffy.

Remove a third of the frosting and add the Crème de Cacao. Mix to incorporate the liquor.

Add the Crème de Menthe to the remaining two-thirds of the frosting.  (If you want a darker frosting you could add some green food coloring.)

To assemble the cupcakes, fill a pasty bag fitted with a small star shaped tip with the Crème de Cacao frosting. Spread the Crème de Menthe frosting on the cupcake, and then pipe a small star of the Crème de Cacao frosting on top of that to mimic a whipped cream garnish. Top each with a maraschino cherry.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: N/A
Ease of Preparation: Intermediate

Moving right along through the cupcakes I didn’t get a chance to show you on Cupcake Wars, here’s the next Round 2 flavor I would have made – a Jelly Donut and Coffee Cupcake.  I revamped my Sugar Donut Muffin into a cupcake, filled it with an organic mixed berry conserve, and topped it off with espresso frosting, a berry conserve drizzle and some coffee beans.

The inspiration for this one came from the idea that comics need coffee (or other aids… ahem) to stay awake and bring the funny.  And what goes better with coffee than donuts?  I thought I’d bring the two together in one tasty cupcake that I think would satisfy the many comedians in my life.

It was actually kind of ironic that the cupcakes for the episode were to inspired by the comedy world as I’ve been performing improv comedy for about twelve years or so.  I trained in Chicago at Improv Olympic, Second City and The Annoyance theatres, and I perform here in L.A. with my beloved team, King Ten.

While improv is very different from stand-up comedy, they both share a similar “comedy club culture” that I’m very familiar with.  Isn’t irony fun?  If you’re in the LA area you can come by to see King Ten perform Wednesday nights at 10:30.  Just be sure to have one of these cupcakes first so you’ll be wide awake for the show!

Jelly Donut and Coffee Cupcake
Yield: 12 cupcakes

1 cup non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups organic unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking power
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup berry flavored jam, for filling and garnish
Espresso Frosting, recipe follows
Whole Coffee Beans, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.

In a medium sized non-reactive bowl, whisk the vinegar into the non-dairy milk, and set
the mixture aside to curdle.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Set the mixture aside.

Whisk the sugar, oil, and vanilla into the non-dairy milk mixture. Add the flour mixture,
and stir just until combined.

Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes
out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely.

Espresso Frosting:

5 ounces vegan shortening, room temperature (recommended: Earth Balance)
5 ounces vegan margarine (recommended: Earth Balance)
12 ounces powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (recommended: Medaglia D’Oro)

In an electric stand mixer or with a had mixer, beat the shortening until it’s creamy. Add
the margarine, and whip it into the shortening. Stop the machine, and scrape the sides of
the bowl.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar. Once it’s incorporated, stop
the machine. Warm the non-dairy milk in the microwave for 10 seconds, and dissolve

the espresso powder into the warm milk. Scrape the sides of the mixer again, and add
the espresso mixture. Slowly mix it into the frosting. Once it’s incorporated, turn the
machine on high and whip the frosting until it’s light and fluffy.

To assemble the cupcakes, scoop about 1 1/2 teaspoons of cake out of the center of each
cupcake with a melon-baller. Fill each hole with about 1 teaspoon of the jam.

Fill a pasty bag fitted with a star shaped tip with the espresso frosting. Pipe onto the
filled cupcakes. Garnish each cake with a thin drizzle of jam and several coffee beans.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: N/A
Ease of Preparation: Intermediate

I know what you’re thinking – Another Cupcake Wars cupcake?  How?  What?  Um… Kim, you didn’t make it to Round 2…  How could you have another cupcake from the show?

Just because I got eliminated after the first round doesn’t mean I didn’t plan for Round 2!  And you can bet your sweet little cupcake lovin’ selves that I’ll be showing you guys everything I would have made had I been given the chance.  You can knock this vegan out, but you can’t keep her down!

So the inspiration for this flavor came from the idea that comedy shows are on late (hence the “midnight”), and that as a comedian you have to cater to the peanut gallery.  Ah, puns…  Black as night dark chocolate cake is filled with a dab of creamy, all-natural peanut butter and some peanut butter frosting, then topped with some cake, more pb frosting, shaved chocolate and some whole peanuts.

I have to give a shout out to Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero for their “super top secret patented Isa and Terry Cupcake Excavation Method” from their book “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World”.  I’m not really one for crazy decorations on my cupcakes (hmmm… that probably didn’t help me on the show), and this method was the perfect way to dress this guy up without making something that doesn’t feel like my baking.

Stay tuned for the other two flavors I would have made for the show – with recipes!

Midnight Chocolate Peanut Butter “Cup”-Cake
Yield: 12 cupcakes

1 cup non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup organic evaporated cane juice
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract
1 cup organic unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons black cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup all-natural peanut butter, for filling
Peanut Butter Frosting, recipe follows
2 ounces non-dairy dark chocolate, for garnish
2 tablespoons peanuts, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners.

In a medium sized non-reactive bowl, whisk the vinegar into the non-dairy milk, and set the mixture aside to curdle.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powders, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set the mixture aside.

Whisk the sugar, oil, and vanilla and chocolate extracts into the non-dairy milk mixture.  Add the flour mixture, and stir just until combined.

Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool the cupcakes completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

5 ounces vegan shortening, room temperature (recommended: Earth Balance)
5 ounces vegan margarine (recommended: Earth Balance)
12 ounces powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter

In an electric stand mixer or with a had mixer, beat the shortening until it’s creamy.  Add the margarine, and whip it into the shortening.  Stop the machine, and scrape the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the powdered sugar.  Once it’s incorporated, stop the machine and add the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract.  Mix to incorporate.  Scrape the sides of the bowl again, and add the peanut butter.  Whip the frosting on high for several minutes until it’s very fluffy.

To assemble the cupcakes, fill a pasty bag fitted with a round shaped tip with the peanut butter frosting.  Cut a triangle-shaped cone out of the center of each cupcake, and set it aside to top the cupcake later. Fill the hole with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon peanut butter, and then fill the rest of the way with the peanut butter frosting.  Frost the top of the cake so that about 1/2 inch of the edge of the cake shows.  Top the center of the cake with the piece you cut out, and garnish with shaved dark chocolate and a couple of the peanuts.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: N/A
Ease of Preparation: Intermediate

I’m so excited to announce that C’est La V Bakeshop is now offering cakes!  You may have already suspected that this announcement was coming since I’ve been writing about cakes recently here at C’est La Vegan.  I’ve definitely been having a lot of fun experimenting with different flavors and designs as of late.

The cake pictured here is peanut butter with chocolate mousse filling and vanilla frosting, one of my favorite combos.  Check out the new cake page on the C’est La V Bakeshop site for flavors, pricing and ordering information.  And if there’s a flavor you’d like that you don’t see, don’t hesistate to ask about it – I’m always up for trying new combos!

For a long time, I was really afraid of cakes, even when I made them at the bakery.  When I was probably 5 or 6 years old, I slipped carrying my Dad’s birthday cake.  I was so excited to bring his cake in to him, and dropping it upset me so much that it’s haunted me ever since.  I remember crying uncontrollably while my Dad tried to calm me down, telling me that it was just a cake and that he cared a lot more about me than any dessert.  Of course, my Dad doesn’t even remember the incident now, and I finally decided that it was long overdue to just get over the whole thing already!

I took a basic decorating class last month to get comfortable with handling cakes again.  While I really enjoyed it, I definitely found myself looking forward to finishing the class so that I could start working with my own frostings and design style.  Now that I’ve had a chance to do that, I’ve become a little obsessed with thinking about different flavor combinations and how I would decorate each one.  I even find myself getting sucked into cake shows that I would have gladly skipped over before.

There’s something so satisfying about making a cake.  I couldn’t stop beaming after finishing this one, and I could stared at it for hours if given the chance.  It didn’t hurt that I really love chocolate and raspberries, and of course Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for a really decadent chocolate cake.  This is filled with an all-natural raspberry buttercream and topped with vanilla buttercream swirls and a raspberry garnish.

To be honest, I usually find chocolate cake with chocolate frosting a little bit much, but because of the slight tartness of the filling and the vanilla buttercream swirls, it really worked here.  You’ve probably heard me mention that I’m not a huge fan of food coloring, and I love that the color of this raspberry frosting comes from real raspberries.  I’m really enjoying being able to make cakes “my way” now that I’m out of class, and I can’t wait to make more of them!  Anybody have a birthday coming up?

I mentioned yesterday that we hosted a Bears brunch over the weekend since the game was on at 10am here in LA.  Kind of strange to watch football over breakfast, but I could definitely get used to it.  It turned out to be a marathon day of TV since we watched both NFL games and then the Golden Globes.  And of course we ate pretty much the whole time… it was awesome.

I’d actually made this cake the day before for a Wilton cake decorating class that I’m taking.  We only assembled and frosted the cakes in class, but since we were having people over for the game I wanted to decorate it as well.  While I don’t normally use food coloring, I have to admit that I had fun messing around with colors for this.

The actual cake was a vanilla flavor that I been wanting to test out, and I filled it with apricot jam.  It’s frosted with the required Wilton basic buttercream – made vegan, of course!  I’m trying to stick to the  frosting recipes required for class while I learn their techniques, but I’m looking forward to working with my own frostings, which are a little less sweet than these.  (Sorry there’s no inside shot, but we didn’t get a chance to take one once I cut the cake.)

I’ll be honest with you, I think this little cake might have helped the Bears win.  I’m actually pretty sure it did.  Hopefully posting it today will bring them another victory on Sunday.  Go Bears!

I was recently contacted by Whole Soy about submitting a couple recipes for their website, which I was more than happy to do.  I love coming up with new recipe ideas or putting a new spin on old ones.  And of course I love an excuse to have to test out some cake!

Since the recipes will appear either this or next week, I wanted to try to tie them in with the season.  This chocolate cherry bread is easy to make, super chocolate-y and not too sweet.  It would make a great gift, or you could just keep it all to yourself and enjoy it for breakfast, dessert or an afternoon snack.

Chocolate Cherry Bread

1 1/2 cups organic unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup Whole Soy cherry yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla (or plain) soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 10-oz bag frozen cherries (or fresh cherries), chopped if you prefer smaller pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan (or use a paper-loaf pan).

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  Stir in the sugar.  Add the yogurt, non-dairy milk, oil and extracts, and stir to combine.  Fold in the cherries until no streaks of flour remain.

Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan, and bake for about 60 minutes (or until a cake tester comes out clean), rotating the pan halfway through baking.  Cool completely before cutting.

Notes: You could make a Chocolate Raspberry bread by omitting the almond extract, substituting raspberries for the cherries and raspberry yogurt instead of cherry.  This can also be baked in muffin tins – just reduce the baking time to about 20 minutes.