Halloween Treats from Caramel Apples to Cakes!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

As someone who likes to dress up or just dress outrageously, I've always been a fan of Halloween. As a child, I always wanted to be a "punk rocker" or the popular cartoon character of the year, but my mother wouldn't have it. She made every costume I wore, from the time I was Queen Elizabeth to when a refrigerator box was crafted in to a costume to make me a House, complete with a real lawn. (I could not sit down in the house costume, so my mother made me wear another homemade costume underneath!) This year was no exception & my mother produced 3 awesome costumes for myself, Ryan, & Strummer before I had even settled on what we should be. Ryan made a dashing Captain Hook, while I opted for the role of Peter Pan, Strummer was the Crocodile & I even had a lantern with a little Tinkerbelle on it to round out the cast. Strummer was a little less than thrilled by her costume, so I think the total minutes her costume was worn hover around 15.

We decided to host a Halloween potluck at our place, as San Francisco now lacks a celebration in the Castro & we're always happy to fill up on delicious vegan food! I started by making Caramel Apples from an excellent & easy recipe Kittee mentioned from Chow. I opted for three varieties, plain & Chick-O-Stick or Peanut Butter Bar coated. Next I took mini Chick-O-Sticks & Peanut Butter Bars & made candy bars by covering them in chocolate, similar to Butterfingers. I know most people say Chick-O-Stick taste like Butterfinger centers, but I must say the Peanut Butter Bar is far superior, as it lacks coconut. They're both downright delicious though & far too many were consumed!

The assortment of dishes & costumes were excellent! Elmo, a Deviled Egg (not vegan!!), Holly Golightly, a bumble bee, a tree, & even Sarah Palin & President Ahmadinejad were just some of the people in attendance! The treats on the table were great too, such as Pumpkin Whoopie Pies & Uncheese + Crackers from Erin at Vegan Homemade, Mummy dogs, baked beans, my Buffalo Tofu with Blue Sheese dressing, an excellent eggplant dip from Megan at The Sisters Vegan, & a killer Rice, Avocado, Tempeh dish that we all marveled at when it was served in a dome shape! We also snacked on vegan Doritos, chocolate covered pretzels, Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, & Ghost Dots. A filling feast was consumed by all & I feared I wouldn't fit in my costume by the end of the night! Luckily, that didn't happen & instead I just went to bed at 6am, happy that the shindig was a success.

Previous to the party, I made a Halloween themed birthday cake for a friend & awesome gal, Chris. She wanted something to fit in with the spooky theme of her birthday, so we opted for a Chocolate Orange cake, so we would have the Halloween colors in full effect. I topped it with a ganache spiderweb & left it at that, so she could further decorate with candles. It was pretty fun to make & I can see more ganache spiderwebs in my future!

By the way, I will be headed to Lula's Sweet Apothecary in NYC at 9pm on November 15th. If you're in the area, come join me, Ray Ray, & the PPK crew for some serious sweet tooth business!

Sugar Shock; a massive baking post!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

I am back from Portland! I had a great time seeing familiar faces, making new friends, & eating A LOT of food. I'll be covering the goods in a future post, but in the mean time, get your sweet tooth ready, as I am about to take you on one appetizing adventure that may put you in to sugar shock!

It's no secret, I love to bake! The level at which sweets are being produced is currently at an all time high around here. It may have something to do with a little endeavor I have in the works, but let's just say, they're not all for the consumption of my household or friends! With that being said, let the tour begin!

My friends Jordan & Mike got married. To celebrate, we ditched the guys & had a Girls Night Out which also celebrated the arrival of a friend's baby! I whipped up two types of cupcakes for the occasion; Vanilla with Pineapple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut & "La La Lemon"- Vanilla filled with Lemon Curd & topped with Lemon Buttercream.

I also sent home a little treat for the newlyweds; a Chocolate cake filled with a fudgy Caramel concoction, topped with Chocolate frosting & drizzled in Caramel. Not wanting to send them over the edge, I baked a 5 inch cake, the perfect amount for two to share!


An future vegan spot in San Francisco called "V Restaurant" contacted me for an event they were holding which included a bus tour & a stop in a community garden for dessert. I created this trio of mini treats for everyone to enjoy; Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies, Orange Dreamsicle cupcakes, & locally grown organic Strawberries in Bittersweet Chocolate! I went along for the tour & saw familiar faces including Aurelia from VegNews who wrote about the event for their Press Pass blog.

One of my favorite people, Laura B. the vegansaurus had a birthday! I insisted on creating a cake for her special event, hosted at San Francisco's newest veg cafe, The Usual Suspects. My first time working with a tiered cake, it leaves a bit to be desired visually, but this cake was quickly demolished! The bottom layer is Chocolate filled with Peanut Butter Caramel & the top is Vanilla with macerated Strawberries. I frosted the outside with a light & fluffy Vanilla mousse.

Mini cupcakes are super fun to make, although some would say they're more fun to eat! These mini Chocolate cupcakes with brightly colored Vanilla Buttercream were for an event at the Sephora corporate offices. While I don't believe there were any vegan in the house, rumor has it people loved them & were shocked to find out their veg status!

Finally, I bring you a fun project, a goth inspired cake! Birthday girl & awesome artist Netsui commissioned me to create her birthday cake & this is what we came up with. Despite the black marzipan skull & iron cross exterior, this cake is filled with sweetness; Vanilla cake coated in violet Strawberry Buttercream & filled with fresh strawberries!


I hope I didn't send you in to complete sugar shock! Surprisingly, this isn't all of the sweet treats I've been making & you can expect to see more posts like this in the future. Let's hope you can process it all without slipping into a sugar induced coma!

Cakes, Cupcakes, Cookies + Ice Cream; recent sweets from my kitchen!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

With all of my travels as of late, one would think there wouldn't be much going on in my kitchen, but that's quite far from the truth! Happy to be in my familiar surroundings again, I've been churning out an assortment of sweets from cakes of all sizes to cookies added to ice cream & thought I'd share some of them with you!

As you may know, I've been working on the campaign for Californians for Humane Farms & I'm proud to say, we gathered enough signatures to make it on to the ballot! If you're in California, PLEASE make sure to vote on this important initiative in November. Due to our success, we had a victory party & I decided to bring over 100 mini cupcakes to share with the celebration. Needless to say, it was a bit of work, but well worth it! I was in a rush, so the photos are lacking, but thankfully, the flavors are not; Lemon cupcakes topped with Strawberry Mousse & Chocolate cupcakes with Cinnamon Spice Buttercream. They went over well & were quickly swiped from the table, I even caught people trying to sneak over for seconds! I also had the pleasure of meeting some of the VegNews crew & they mentioned the shindig on their Press Pass blog.

The very next day was my Dad's birthday. His favorite cake has always been German Chocolate, but the rest of the family are not fans, so I opted for a cute little 5 inch cake, so he could share a slice with Ryan & keep the rest for himself. I would have liked to use multiple types of frosting, the sides always look lovely with fudge, but after the mini cupcake extravaganza & having to work that morning, I was a bit wiped out! I did use large flakes of coconut though, which makes for a bit of a different texture than the standard & Dad thought it was a nice touch!

Another event I attended was a weekly dinner co-sponsored by the San Francisco Vegetarian Society & Wellness Central. While it wasn't a potluck, I talked with the organizers & we agreed a cake would be a nice addition to the meal. With all the lovely organic fruit in season, I opted for a vanilla cake filled with Lemon Curd & topped with Strawberry Mousse. It went so quickly, I hadn't even finished my dinner before I had to run & get a slice for myself; I suppose that means it was well received?!

Ryan has been on the road a few times since we've returned from Europe & he's feeling worse for the wear. To cheer him up after returning from one of his business trips, he came home to "Thin Mint" cookies, Girl Scout stylee, a recipe from Kelly & Garrick's cookie book. Of course, I couldn't just stop there; I also made chocolate mint ice cream in my handy ice cream maker, for Thin Mint Cookie Ice Cream ala (the very un-vegan) Dreyer's. I opted to make the components separately, then combine them & re-freeze everything, which worked out great. You do have to work quickly with the ice cream though, it tends to melt faster than expected! We enjoyed the ice cream & cookies over the weekend, but I also hid some cookies from Ryan, so I could take them to friends.

One of those friends, was the awesome Amey from Vegan Eats & Treats who I met up with while sampling the vegan baked goods available in Santa Cruz with my favorite roller derby gal, Panda (aka Megan). We all had a fun day taste testing way too many cakes, bitching about life & love, & enjoying the sunny day. As for the goods we tried, I'll just say the company was better than the cake.

Well, that's all for now. I assure you there's plenty more to come from reviews to more kitchen concoctions. By the way, check out a little piece I did for Cakespy & their Cakewalk series; the first vegan cakewalk & it takes place in Berlin! Enjoy!

Some Valentine's Day sugar!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

It's Valentine's Day & while it's not a holiday that means much to this household, I thought it would be fun to do an update some sweets from my kitchen!

My husband Ryan had a birthday recently & we decided to invite friends over for jackfruit tacos, Guitar Hero, & of course, birthday cake! Peanut Butter is the number one dessert of choice in Ryan's world, so peanut butter it had to be! This rich Chocolate Cake was filled with Peanut Butter Caramel & topped with fluffy Peanut Butter Mousse. I played around with melted chocolate & "wrote" his name on waxed paper, then transfered the letters to the cake & surrounded them by chocolate-hazelnut frosting designs. I used almond milk for the mousse, so the nutty flavor would really shine, but found it was not the most stable option & I feared the frosting would slip right off the cake! Luckily, the taste didn't suffer at all!

Natalie from Bake & Destroy rocks my world, so when she sent me these awesome St. Elvis Cupcake Toppers, I had to put them to use. While a peanut butter banana cupcake would have been a better match, these vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream, made to enjoy with a friend over for dinner, went over just as well! By the way, have you seen the new Bake & Destroy hoodies & t-shirts? I have one of each on the way!

It has been cookie mania in my house! Ryan has an obsession with post-dinner cookies, dipped in soy or almond milk, so I've been trying to satisfy his sweet tooth. The Chocolate Chip cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance are super delicious; both Ryan & his co-workers have been rapidly consuming them. They last about 2 days around here, so I've made them a few times. They're just one more reason Vegan with a Vengeance is a heavily used cookbook in my house!

Well, that's all for now! I leave you with the most anti-vegan Valentine ever, courtesy of Natalie at Bake & Destroy. Sad? Hilarious? Cute? You decide!
I'll be spending tonight with some awesome friends, chowing down on ice cream cakes from Maggie Mudd. I hope you spend today doing something you love! Happy Valentine's Day!

Birthday Mania, I'm a Cupcake Hero?!, & Europe!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

After the madness of the Holidays, there's always one more day we celebrate in my household; my birthday! In years past, I've hid from this day, as I'm not fond of growing older, but recently I've decided to mask my distaste of aging with a party! As you know, I always like an excuse to gather people together & this was no exception.

I debated my birthday cake situation for weeks. Should I order one? Should I make my own? In the end, I went with an ice cream cake from local shop Maggie Mudd, purveyors of Muddslinger's vegan frozen desserts. The "cake" was an oreo-style cookie crumb crust & was topped with two types of ice cream of my choice, placed side by side. Death Squad; a combination of chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallow, fudge, peanuts, & brownie bits took up one side & Twisted; peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter & marshmallow swirls & peanut butter covered pretzels took up the other! It was rich, decadent, & the crumb crust was a perfect addition, although I must say the mix-ins were sparse, as many bites were only ice cream. I took advantage of the photo cake offering & threw my blog logo on there! I thought the birthday message of "Life Ain't Nothin' but Bitches and Money" would be written in fluffy pink frosting, but unfortunately they just digitally altered the file I sent. Overall, it was a good cake & a nice way to enjoy my birthday without laboring over my own celebratory dessert!

In addition to the cake, I pulled out one of my favorite treats; the chocolate fountain! While it may seem insane to own a chocolate fountain, I assure you, it's a delicious treat enjoyed at any party. Deep dark chocolate flowed as people drenched both sweet & savory items in it before consumption. Cherries, strawberries, pineapple, apples, rice krispie treats, pretzels, & of course, Candy Cane Joe Joe's were the items on display & I noticed some other salty treats, like chips, started to be dipped in as well! Bottom line? I love the chocolate fountain & don't have one ounce of regret that I bought it!

There was also non-dessert food there, surprise, surprise! A mini potluck occurred & we noshed on pita & hummus, chips & guacamole, crackers & creamy Sheese, & Ryan's popular dish; cream cheese with hot chili poured over the top! It was the first thing to go, as people ravenously scooped the dip up with chips.
I received amazing presents; gift cards to my favorite places, an adoption of a sheep named Sophie at Animal Place, Sweet & Sara marshmallows, Sheese, & Liz Lovely cookies, an adorable heart covered Jessie Steele apron I've had my eye on, & more! Ryan's gift surprised me most of all, as I never expected something so amazing, especially as we never exchange gifts for holidays. A 9 piece stainless steel All Clad Cookware sets is now in my possession & it is the most beautiful thing a girl with a love of cooking could ever ask for!! To end the night, I headed out dancing at one of my favorite clubs. I ran out to the dance floor with a major sugar buzz & while I probably looked like a maniac, it was a perfect end to my 27th birthday!

In a previous post about my Rich Chocolate Cupcakes topped with Mint Icing & Bittersweet Chocolate Dipped Candy Cane Joe Joe’s, I'd mentioned I may enter them in to the monthly Cupcake Hero contest. Well, I'm happy to say I entered them & I WON! December's entries were all fabulous & I was especially happy to see other vegan entries in the competition this time around. I was totally surprised to take home the title for December & it was a perfect way to wrap up my birthday!

In other news, Ryan & I are heading to Europe in March!
We'll fly in to Frankfurt on March 10th & spend just over 2 weeks traveling around; my birthday present to him. As of now, we plan to visit friends in London & check out Berlin, but we're looking for other destinations to explore. Recommendations on things to see, places to eat, cities to check out, ways to travel, inexpensive places to stay or if you have a place we could crash at for a few days, I'd love to know! Get in touch via email (melisser AT theurbanhousewife.com) or leave a comment.