Saturday, May 05, 2007

Vegan Dark Moist Spice Cake and DH's "Surprised the Guests" Birthday Party!

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It was DH's (Dear Husband) birthday! I made a vegan Dark Moist Spice Cake from More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts by Fran Costigan (my favorite dessert cookbook) for his birthday. This was an unusual request for a cake for DH who likes CHOCOLATE! I guess he wanted to be 'different' this year. Before I tell you all about this scrumptious cake, I would like to tell you about his 'surprised the guests' birthday celebration.

He had a 'surprised the guests' birthday celebration this year. This was how he was going to surprise his guests:

  1. He didn't tell his guests that it was his birthday. This was hard but apparently possible.
  2. He wanted to surprise his guests to tell them that it was his birthday party with a cake that had a Happy Birthday candle on it, at the end of the party, dessert time.
  3. He wanted to present un-birthday gifts for all guests at the party.

His plan worked great so far as the middle of dinner. The phone rang and none of us got up and thought that we let the machine picked it up. It was DH's brother who left a message on the machine loudly "Hi, it's me, your brother from Missouri, Happy Birthday....." Ooops, the cat is out of the bag! Almost all of the guests heard the message and together they yelled "OH, IT"S HIS BIRTHDAY!" It was funny. I was laughing so hard. Of course, everyone said things like 'Oh, I didn't bring anything' or 'Oh, I didn't buy a card for him.' But that's exactly what DH wanted. Indeed, the phone message was a good way to break the news. Then, he gave his surprised un-birthday gifts for all his guests who were suprisingly happy to receive it. The cake was not a surprised anymore but they all were still surprised by how scrumptious it was for a vegan cake.


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It was indeed a delicious cake! It was moist (dark molasses and maple syrup), spicy (ginger, cloves, and cinnamon), and tender. It's topped and filled with Ginger Tofu Whip (tofu, ginger juice, orange juice, maple syrup, vanilla, and a tiny bit of nutmeg). I also used maple sugar. Believe it or not, there is NO WHITE PROCESSED SUGAR in this cake! But yet it was yummy. If you like to know who invented such a healthy but sensational desserts, check out Fran Costigan's website. I recently saw her on TV making her recipe Chocolate Cake to Live For in Get Fresh with Sara Snow in Discovery Health program. YAY, Fran!

P.S.: Dinner menu consisted of (from start to end): Lentil and Walnut Paté and Muhammara dips served with crackers and fresh cut veggies, Tom Yum Soup , Spicy Seitan Stew, Confetti Rice with Coconut (these last 3 dishes were from my last blog entry), stir-fried Variety of Organic Vegetables, and Dark Moist Spice Cake.

3 comments:

Alisa said...

Thanks, that looks great! I just happen to have Fran's book on hand too, I may have to give it a try.

Annelie said...

The cake looks fantastic! Fun idea with a non-birtday-party :-)

Vanessa said...

DH is a lucky man - what a beautiful presentation. perfect for a birthday, although I'd like one just for snacking. I bet it would taste good with pumpkin or banana too...