Wednesdays are amazing

I officially proclaim Wednesdays the best day of the week. No school, no work- I can do whatever the hell I want!!! So pretty much I'll be baking all day and doing a little bit of homework. Taking it easy is key, and I'm a pro. I'm determined to make my own bread today. I've never done this before, but I figure I'll need to know so I can sell it at my bakery someday. It's between chocolate tahini bread and carrot bread... or both. haha It wouldn't be unlikely for me to make the same thing anyways. Either way, it'll be good. And speaking of really gross things (which we weren't), I was doing laundry this morning and I had to pick up a huge crapload of clothes on the floor. I picked up the first half, and a gigantic spider crawled out. I screamed and cried of course. Then, I picked up the second half, and a mountain lion millipede walked out. I was like "wow, how disgusting can our basement get?" haha Can't wait to go take everything out of the washer... I'll probably get attacked by a lizard or something.

Now that all that madness is over (until I go back down there), here's the recipe for today. I didn't feel like cooking last night, so I'm posting a cake recipe that I made a little while ago. It was for my sister's birthday, and it's one of the best cakes I have ever made/eaten. It was vegan of course and every person who tried it really liked it. It's from Dreena Burton's cookbook "Eat, Drink and Be Vegan." - I love her. She is a goddess! I added the raspberry filling because it needed something fruity. Oh the really sexy guy in the picture is my best friend, Mitchel. We cook all the time together when he's home, so birthday cakes are no exception haha. I made him do ALL the sifting and he wanted to murder me.

Here's the recipe:
Coconut Cake with Coconut Dream Frosting and Raspberry Filling

Cake (makes 2 round cake layers):

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup unrefined sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cups plain soy milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup canola oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, including coconut, sifting in flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine soy milk, applesauce, vanilla, almond, and coconut extracts, lemon juice, and oil. Add wet mixture to dry and stir until just well combined. Lightly oil 2 round cake pans. Pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake for 23-26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer cakes to cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.

Coconut Dream Frosting

1 pkg (12 oz) silken extra-firm tofu
1 pkg (8oz) Tofutti cream cheese
1 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar
1/8 cup macadamia nut butter
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Directions:

Put tofu with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. In a food processor, puree tofu with cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add remaining ingredients and process for 1-2 minutes until very smooth, scraping down sides of bowl. Refrigerate until completely cool before using.

Note: Make the frosting a day or night before icing the cake. It will firm up and thicken. Also, when icing the cake, I iced the first layer, then put raspberry jelly between (about 1/2 cup) that layer. It tasted great with the coconut icing!