Happy Birthday, Humphrey!

Humphrey is one of the loves of my life. He's a min-pin-dachshund cross who joined us in his 'forever home' this weekend in 2004. As a rescued pup from Tennessee, his background is a bit of a mystery, even to the point that we don't know his exact birthday, or even age. All we know is that he was rescued from a high-kill shelter in TN and brought up to New England by the good folks of the FACES network. These people are like a modern day 'underground railroad', saving countless lives by transporting non-humans from areas where they will be killed to loving homes. And just because we don't know exactly when he was born - and he's sure not telling! - does not stop us from celebrating him and marking his 'honorary birthday' each year on President's Day weekend. Today, he looked forward to and seemed to thoroughly enjoy a slice of birthday cake...

A Carrot and Vegan Sausage Cake with non-dairy Cream Cheese Filling:



Savouring the moment and knowing that it's all for you:



Trying to keep it on the plate:



OK, it's all toooooo good!:



Yum:




Looking for every last crumb:



Happy 'Birthday' Humphrey and many - MANY - more to come!
:)

Happy Birthday Boss!

OK, perhaps I'm a suck-up, but I can't help it. Today, our whole dept celebrated our boss' birthday and I made the cake! I like baking, as you know, but I am also trying to refrain from eating everything I cook (in an attempt not to end up looking like the side of a barn!), so baking for someone else makes perfect sense!

See...it's not altruism, it's self-preservation!
:)

And so, a little food porn! This was the cake:



And for a closeup:



With Humphrey's eyes glowing weirdly blue in the background!



It was a chocolate cake from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's Joy of Vegan Baking coupled with a basic 'buttercream' frosting spiked with Glenmorangie and coffee liqueur. Oh, and a little candy store in Northampton (MA), Sweeties, supplied the vegan 'cordials' - the delightful little choccie balls on top!

It went down well.



Happy Birthday and here's to the next one!

Eat cake and stay vegan, friends!

The Moment of Truth...

...and the camera batteries died!

Oh well, here it is - as far as I managed to capture it in glorious technocolour....

Humphrey, relaxing unsuspecting in his favourite spot by the fire:




The boys together - Humphrey and his older brother, Darwin - enjoying 'a moment'...




And now, the moment of truth...



Waiting for the 'OK!'....





And then the batteries gave out and the camera closed itself down.

:(

Stay vegan (and recharged!), Friends!

Humphrey's First Birthday Cake - Not Before Time!

And now for something completely different!

Fans of this blog (yes, I know you are legion!) are accustomed to my ramblings about food I'm preparing for My Beloved and I, potlucks, various friends' dinners etc etc. But here is a first!

Deep breath!

The promised vegan doggie birthday cake!!!

I have adapted a recipe found in The Everything Cooking for Dogs - a nice little publication, but one which is not overtly animal-friendly if you don't happen to be canine, calling as it does for ground up turkeys and chickens' eggs. Not to worry, I thought, this can be veganized! And so I went to work....

Step 1:





Pour yourself a nice glass of wine! It's Sunday afternoon (in this case) and you are baking a cake for your canine companion - you deserve a nice glass of something!!

Step 2:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and then assemble the ingredients. You will need the following:

1 cup canned beets
2 bananas
1 cup canola oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup carrots, shredded
1/4 cup of soy crumbles (cooked)
1/4 cup non-dairy milk

In this recipe, the bananas replace the 4 eggs you would have used and the soy crumbles replace the ground up turkey flesh of the original recipe. Think of it this way: no cholesterol for your beloved pooch and no-one - not man or beast - gets hurt in the creation of that special little gift for your beloved four-legged friend.  

Step 3:

In a food processor, blitz the beets thus:




Then add the oil and bananas and blitz until smooth, thus:




The mixture is now thick and creamy, mainly due to the mashing of the bananas.

Step 4:

In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together and form a well in the center.



Pour in the pink beet mix and stir until combined.




Step 5:

Stir in the grated carrots and the cooked soy crumbles. If you are unsure about the soy crumbles, this is what I used:




And it looked like this:







Step 6: 

The mixture is likely to be very thick, so now is the moment to thin it down a little with a scant 1/4 cup of non-dairy milk. I used soymilk, but ricemilk is equally good!

Step 7:

Lightly oil 2 8-inch pans and coat with flour and divide the mix between the pans.



Bake for approx. 30 minutes, or until a toothpicks comes out clean.


Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave until completely cool.





To finish the job, I creamed together some vegan cream cheese, a little powdered sugar, some additional grated carrots and a hint of non-dairy milk, sandwiching the cakes together like this:




And here is the almost finished result:



A close-up of that yummy beety-fake sausage-y mix...




I must say, it was a particularly odd thing to bake insofar as the kitchen smelled disturbingly like roasting pork. I have no idea to what I can attribute this happening - no pigs were involved directly or indirectly in the creation of this celebration. My Beloved was dog-proofing our last floor-level cupboard when he noticed it, and dragged me in to confirm he was not, in fact, completely losing his marbles. No, I verified, that really smells like pork crackling...

So if anyone out there in Blogland can explain this phenomenon to me, I would be especially grateful!

Humphrey and his brother Darwin are currently eating their dinner, after which they'll have a slice of cake. I'll document that as it happens, but for now...

Stay vegan, Friends!