Last Saturday (January 20th) was my friend’s twenty-first birthday, so we had to celebrate BIG! My roommates and I arranged a little surprise birthday party at our local skate park to celebrate with our friends, BUT BEFORE…
Breakfast was a bowl of epic cereal: corn puffs, puffed kamut, grain free raw vegan pumpkin pie granola, flaxseed meal, strawberries, cinnamon, and almond milk with a Health Warrior dark chocolate cherry chia bar and a bowl of Vega Performance Sport mocha protein with more granola on top!
My roommate and friend also made apple cinnamon pancakes, so I tried to make a rabbit-shaped pancake and ate it with Lakanto monkfruit maple syrup! It was so fluffy and delicious!
Decided to try this bubbly turmeric ginger tonic drink while grocery shopping for party snacks. It was pretty strong, but I loved it! So much better than kombucha since it doesn’t have too much carbonation.
Surprise! The birthday picnic was such a hit. AND, so was the vegan chocolate cake I made for everyone! I was thrilled that everybody loved it so much. Means I have to give away the recipe!
VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE
- 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour; all purpose flour also works
- 1/2-3/4 cup cacao or cocoa powder; depends on how rich you want the cake
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, xylitol or erythritol
- 1 cup canned pumpkin, applesauce, banana, butternut squash, nut butter, or sweet potato; you can also use 1/2 cup canned pumpkin + 1/2 cup oil (half and half)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups of water
THREE-INGREDIENT FROSTING RECIPE
- 1 cup of Medjool dates, pitted
- 1 TBSP cacao powder
- 1/4 cup of water
PROCEDURE
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Whisk the dry ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix the canned pumpkin, apple cider vinegar, and water.
- Carefully incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry until a thick and creamy batter forms.
- Grease a large baking tin.
- Spread the batter into the tin and flatten out evenly on the surface.
- Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out completely clean.
- Let cool completely while you make the frosting.
- Soak the dates in hot boiling water for 5-10 minutes, or until the dates are completely gooey and soft.
- Blend the dates with 1 TBSP cacao powder and 1/4 cup of water.
- Frost the cake with the chocolate date paste.
Here’s all of us celebrating!
We got home and baked a giant Amy’s Kitchen roasted vegetable pizza for dinner. I ended up having two slices because they were so yummy!
I also decided to test some cookie dough and baked half a tablespoon of each jar of The Lion’s Choice cookie doughs: white chocolate pistachio, blueberry candy cane, and Samoa cookie! The Samoa cookie has the best flavor and the white chocolate pistachio had the best texture, but the blueberry candy cane seemed to have baked the best of the three. Stay tuned for another full in-depth review of The Lion’s Choice cookie dough!
Medjool dates + sunflower seed butter = BEST COMBO EVER!
One of my roommates brought home a pint of vegan Ben and Jerry’s for us to try, so I had a few spoonfuls of this peanut butter and cookie flavor! It’s honestly crack. I’d let it thaw out for a little bit before digging in for optimal creaminess, but it’s still delicious!
Lastly, another one of my roommates made raw vegan pecan pie that I absolutely adored! It’s completely made from pecans and dates. That’s it!
Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! I wanted to post something a bit more personal once again to show what’s new and all. Yes, I did say that I was going to play it conservative when it comes to sharing my life, but there are just some experiences that are seriously worth spreading to the world because they’re that incredible. Please let me know if you want to see more posts like this!
Did you ever host a surprise birthday?
superfitbabe 
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