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     I truly admire my daughter, Maddy, for her ability to choose a vegan lifestyle and stick to it the way that she does.  We have a lot of family dinners around here and there are sometimes very few choices for her to eat, even though I try to make sure there are some vegan choices.  Also, there are a lot of temptations! Just yesterday we had a big dinner and there was delicious Texas Sheet Cake! Definitely not vegan and Maddy had to pass on it as she ate her rice and fruit choices.  I felt bad for her, even though she was uncomplaining.  I know that I do not have that kind of will power.  Well, while I searched for my Texas Sheet Cake recipe, I came across another old recipe that I had forgotten about.  It is this Goofy Chocolate Cake that has no eggs, no milk and can easily be sweetened in a vegan way. Since there were many people here yesterday and the Texas Cake is just about gone, I decided to make up this cake this morning as a surprise for Madalynn! She deserves a reward. 

     Besides not containing any eggs or dairy products, this recipe is inexpensive to make! When you are out of eggs and milk, you can still have chocolate cake that is delicious! It rises very well and is fluffy and super chocolaty.  I think that the secret to the rise is the combination of vinegar and baking soda. We all know what those ingredients do in science project volcanoes! Don't worry, you don't taste the vinegar at all, just the delicious chocolate taste that comes from the cocoa powder used in this recipe. 

Goofy Chocolate Cake (vegan!)

     You can frost the cake however you would like, of course.  Just remember that if you are keeping it vegan not to use dairy in your frosting! Here are a few alternatives:

• Use almond milk in your regular frosting recipe and shortening instead of butter. 
• Use some homemade (or purchased) jam or jelly to fill the cake and drizzle on top! 
• Make a frosting with fruit juice instead of milk.  Orange frosting tastes great on a chocolate cake.  Just substitute orange juice for the milk.  Add the zest for even better flavor. 

I love chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, so I used the almond milk alternative for Maddy's cake. 

    This cake is rich and moist.  I believe that it can rival any chocolate cake out there! I don't think Maddy will have to eat the entire thing on her own. 

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I am excited to share today's post with you because it was the first time I got to make a cake for someone in a long time (like really decorating a cake) and I enjoyed it! It was also my first time making a pinata cake, and it was a lot of fun!

About a month ago a girl I go to church with said she was looking for a cake maker for a cake she needed rather quickly. I told her I could probably do it for her if she didn't need anything too elaborate. That's when she told me she wanted a pinata cake for her gender reveal. I was so excited because I didn't even know she was pregnant! Babies are so wonderful and exciting, and this is such a fun way to do a gender reveal!

She dropped offer her little piece of paper for me, and it was a weird feeling knowing that I knew what she was having before she did!

Well, she is having a baby boy so I went and found some blue chocolate sixlet candies to fill the cake with. She and her husband were doing the gender reveal with her family in Spain, so there were only going to be two people eating the cake, so I decided to do six inch rounds. I felt like this would be the best size since the cake was going to be three layers. It was fun to make and I was so happy when she sent me the picture of the cut cake with the little chocolates spilling out! 

To make a pinata cake you can use whatever cake recipe you like the best, or even a box mix if you want! (I have a great chocolate recipe I intend on sharing with you soon!) Since this was a gender reveal cake I decided to do a funfetti cake, since it would have colorful candy chips in the batter.

To Assemble Your Cake:

Now I feel like a minimum of three layers is bet for a pinata cake. You could probably do two, but having a layer underneath really helps the candy pop out! I used a small glass to cut a hole out of the center layer of the cake.

Start with your bottom cake, spread a thin layer of frosting all around the cake, then place the center layer with the middle cut out.

Spread another thin layer of frosting around the outside and top of the cake.

Fill the center with your candy.

Place the top layer on top, and do another crumb layer.

To frost the cake I put my frosting in a piping back and pipe it on with a flat tip. I have a round cake decorating tray. Once the frosting is all piped on so your cake looks like this you can use a frosting smoother make it look beautiful. Place the smoother on the cake at a 45 degree angle and spin the cake . You'll have to stop periodically to remove excess frosting, but eventually the side of your cake will be nice and smooth. you can then carefully smooth the frosting over the edges and smooth it on the top.

To decorate the cake I just used pink and blue sprinkles. It was simple and sweet, but I knew she didn't want to spend much time looking at the cake, she wanted  to cut into it and find out if she is having a boy or a girl! So I just tried to make it look nice, but add a little fun with the sprinkles.

Cake making and decorating is something I really enjoy. It's hard to find the time with an infant to really spend on it, but there is something so satisfying about looking at a beautiful cake!

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    Have you watched the Great British Baking Show?  I absolutely love it! The people are so polite to each other and the feeling is so different from American cooking shows.  Plus, they make many things I have never seen, or at least their versions are different from ours.  
    My DIL hadn't seen The Great British Baking Show.  I was appalled and started her off on the first season on Netflix.  It was great to watch again and one of the first things that they made was a spiral rolled cake.  Whenever they make things, it makes me want to try them myself.  This time I thought of the recipe I have for this party cake roll that I call a Swiss Cake Roll.  I think that it would be perfect for Valentine's Day.  Unfortunately, I thought of that idea after we made it and ate it.  But, just add a few sprinkles or some piping and you can decorate this cake anyway you would like.  It is delicious with a luscious cream cheese filling and chocolate frosting.  We have a frosting recipe here that is perfect, just add some cocoa to it for the chocolate version.  

​Swiss Roll Cake

     Look at the spiral.  Merry Berry would say that my filling is too soft so it hides the spiral, but let me tell you, Ms. Berry, it is delicious! 

     Ooey and gooey, the American way! I hope you give it a try and enjoy it!