Vegan Birthday Cakes!

My daughter recently celebrated her 7th birthday.  I usually get excited about making the food, but baking a cake for a party gives me the chills.  There was one birthday where I stayed up until 3am trying 2 different times to make a beehive shaped cake for a bee themed party.  It turned out OK (see old blog post here) but I would rather not stress about it.
I decided to leave this year's cake to a professional.  So what kind of bakery was I looking for to make the cake?

I'm not into lard balloons (that's what I call those huge icing balloons on cakes you find at Costco and HEB).  The cake also needs to be eggless, so I decided a vegan cake would be awesome.  With all the food allergies out there, going vegan is a great way to knock a few allergens off your list.  I didn't want to call all around town to bakeries asking if they would make a vegan cake.
Who knows, it might be the first one they make. I did not want my vegan cake to look or taste like a Cake Wreck.

Sugar Tooth Bakery to the rescue!



I would have to say that Sugar Tooth Bakery would be your best bet for the most creative vegan cakes in Austin.  Meghan did a great job at responding to my emails and making great suggestions.
My request for natural food based colorings was no problem.
I wanted an ice pop (Popsicle is a brand) cake as that was the theme for this summer birthday party.
I thought lemon poppyseed would be a nice refreshing flavor.
The cake was moist and not overly sweet. The icing was also light and not super thick (who needs 1/2 and inch of icing anyway) with a light lemony flavor.  The yellow portion was colored with turmeric and the pink with fresh raspberry puree.
My daughter had an extra wooden musical stick and that was the ice pop stick.



I was very happy with the way the cake came out and also very happy to support a local business that is in tune with my lifestyle.  Thanks again Meghan for making such a "cool" cake.
We hope you enjoyed the little bite off the top!  ;)

Visit Sugar Tooth Bakery at http://www.sugartoothbakery.com/ or go by their bakery in the Community Renaissance Market off William Cannon and Westgate.

Happy 3rd Anniversary Chef Veggie

After a tumultuous Sunday with fires on my street, I'm very thankful and grateful to have been unharmed and still have a place to cook meals for my family.
If you would like to support some of my neighbors who lost their homes, there will be a bake sale/lemonade stand on Saturday, April 23rd at 8007 Landsman Drive Austin, TX 78736.
Jack Allen's Kitchen on HWY 71 is also having a benefit buffet (2:30pm to 4:30pm) on Saturday.   Please RSVP if you can on Jack Allen's Kitchen Facebook page.
You can also donate to the Red Cross.

Now on to my happy announcement.  In addition to it being Earth Day tomorrow, Chef Veggie is turning 3!  There are lots of fun events in town to help you celebrate Mother Earth and rediscover ways to have a more harmonious relationship with her.  Now that I'm in my fun toddler phase, I'm continuing to see growth and changes in my business.  I'm working on a cookbook that I hope will be in some finished form in the fall.   To celebrate, I also wanted to offer all new and existing clients 30% off any cookdate in May!
So if you wanted to try my services, this would be a great time.  Spring produce is so beautiful and fresh and great to get before more of the Texas heat comes in.  Is there anything you would like to see Chef Veggie do this year?

Here's a great Spring Salad Recipe to celebrate Mother Earth's bounty:

Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Texas Pecan Vinaigrette

1 lb organic baby spinach
1 pint organic/local strawberries, sliced

Dressing:
(makes about 3 cups)
1 cup Texas pecans (you can toast them but I like to leave them untoasted to get the most nutritional benefit)
Extra pecans for garnishing
1 cup filtered water
1/3 cup olive oil
1 TBSP maple syrup
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (can also use apple cider if you prefer)
1 TBSP tamari/shoyu

Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Place spinach on individual plates, top with strawberries and dressing.  Garnish with extra pecans.

私たちはビスケットを食べみましょう

Let's eat biscuits!

That's what happens when your gluten-free baking adventures come up short due to very hot water!
Please recipe writers: mention how hot the water can be, otherwise if it's too hot, your cupcake batter cooks in the bowl.

Anyway, for Austin's Bake Sale for Japan here's what Chef Veggie brought....a known yummy standard she's made dozens of times - Scallion Biscuits.  A vegan version with Daiya and a cheese version with smoked Gouda.  These should balance out all the sugar out there today :)

Here's what I picked up with my donation!

Cupcakes from Sugar Skull and a chocoholic cookie from Vegan Lazy Smurf.

There will be more goodies out at the west location (The Shops at Mira Vista - 2785 Bee Cave Road, 78746) until 5pm, so if you haven't had a chance, stop by there now.

And a big thankyou to Kathryn - The Austin Gastronomist  and all the volunteers who made this all possible.

Austin Bakes For Japan

On Saturday April 2nd, the Austin food community is gathering together to support Japan with sweetness!  Come on out to one of the various locations around town and make a donation to the relief efforts in Japan by consuming a super tasty treat.  We'll have you saying "Oishii!"

As someone who spent part of her youth in Japan (3-4  and 10-14 years old), I have a special place in my heart for Japan.  I cannot remember happier memories.  The respect they have toward each other is beyond words.  My own father resides in Tokyo so I know this will go to help all his neighbors.

I plan on having some gluten-free/vegan goodness at the South Congress location - Hotel San Jose

To learn more about  Austin Bakes for Japan, the locations, and view some the awesome treats that will be available check out: http://austinbakes.wordpress.com/

I'll update here tonight once everything is baked and ready to go for tomorrow!

Chef Veggie's Food Blog Commitment

I recently went to Austin's SXSW food blogger conference called TECHmunch  and learned more about the latest and greatest ways to be a wonderful food blogger. Lots of high profile foodies on the scene explaining the wonders of Twitter, getting your site sponsored by major brands, and creating kick-ass multimedia content (that was an actual title of a segment.)

I realized that while I do have some of the skill sets and definitely the ability to create tasty dishes, my desire to post a recipe/article/review everyday and have blogging be my life is not where I am at.

However, I think when one wants to have a space that people want to visit and interact with, there should be a consistent level of activity.  If I want to make genuine connections with others they need to know what to expect.  One of the goals I have is to be better connected with my local food community. Austin has one of the greatest number of food bloggers in the US and also happens to be a very friendly bunch.  The group (Austin Food Blogger Alliance) plans on having lots of events to further education and also to help the community at large.  There is already a bake sale being planned to help the relief efforts in Japan.  As a former resident of Japan, this warms my heart.

So here before the world and the day before St. Paddy's Day (I am married to an Irishman afterall), I plan to post at least twice a month.

If you are looking for some healthy fare for tomorrow, here's a previous post about my St. Patrick's Day Salad!   Spring is here and there's lots of GREEN out there.