Birthday Cakes

I celebrated a birthday almost a month ago. Does it come as a surprise that I make my own birthday cake every year? It shouldn't. That's just how it is. This year was no different. Except that this year's cake wasn't just chocolate (yes, I always make chocolate cake). I thought I'd try a new recipe from  Sweet Utopia by Sharon Valencik. It was the Ultimate Peanut Butter Cup Cake.

(S got me some awesome beer for my birthday...you can see them behind the cake)

I used a little whole wheat flour and mostly spelt, because that's all I had. As it turns out...the cake was quite crumbly and a little dry. A bit of a disappointment. I froze most of it in pieces and it actually tasted much better reheated with some ice cream on top (Nada Moo Java)! Very good, actually.

And here are the beautiful flowers my friend, Yuki, gave me:

I do love sunflowers :)

My favorite cake so far, though, would have to be Hannah Kaminsky's Decadent Almond Cake from her book, My Sweet Vegan. I've made this one a few times, and not just for MY birthday:

That one is absolutely amazing! I kind of wished I'd made that one this year.

Then there's my old chocolate cake with raspberry jam in the middle, and my own coffee frosting:

It's a good standby. Still love it. The recipe is here. You can easily veganize it by using Egg Replacer.

And there was the Simplest Rich Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting from Sweet Utopia. You can see my post on it here.

I guess that's it for birthday cakes since blogging. No pictures before that. 

What's YOUR favorite birthday cake? Do you have to make it yourself?

Eat smart,

T.