Top Secret Operation Step 2: Cake Carving and Crumb Coat

After the Vegan Cakes were made and frozen, I need to carve them to the right shape, and put on a crumb coat. In order to keep this Top Secret, I can't reveal yet which shape I carved it to, but let's say the people in this house can tell what it is without being told! I used a template printed from a google image search, and traced it with a knife onto the top layer, and then began slicing away pieces until my two layers resembled the shape I wanted.

Once that was done, it was time to make these cakes decidedly un-vegan with some Buttercream Frosting. I just made a simple buttercream, with butter, shortening, confectioners sugar, and a splash of milk. I put a generous bit between the two layers, and then began a thin "crumb coat" around the whole cake and sides. The point of the crumb coat is to catch all the crumbs from the cake so it won't ruin the look of the finished cake. Once the thin crumb coat is on I put the cake in the fridge for an hour or so, to really let it set.

The rest of the house has been enjoying the cake remains and extra frosting, pretty tasty!

Top Secret Operation Step 1: Vegan Chocolate Cakes

There's a top secret project going on over here, it was started yesterday. I baked some vegan cakes. They weren't intended to be vegan, although to be honest most of my baking is vegan these days. The first snag in baking my normal cake recipe was the lack of flour in my house. However, I found some cake flour I forgot I had. But then, there were no eggs. So I tried a new-to-me chocolate cake recipe. It was totally easy, and smelled delicious.

Cake Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour (I used about 3 Tbsp extra because I was using cake flour)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add water, vanilla, oil and vinegar and stir to combine. Pour into greased pan(s) - the recipe said 8x8, I used two 8 inch rounds. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cake tested come out clean.

Admittedly, my two layers were a little thin at first, but they rose a bit and seemed ok when they came out of the oven.

For my top secret project, I let these cool, wrapped them in plastic and aluminum foil, and put them directly into the freezer.

Next step, cake carving....

Baked Tofu

Here's my new favorite thing. I've been keeping it a secret for a while, mostly because I've been too lazy to write about it. Baked Tofu! I guess that's what you call it. It's like fried tofu, but there's no frying, only baking. It's super simple, and pretty tasty, and easy to make any way you want and throw in to any dish you want.

Basically, you cut up the block of tofu. I've been using the firm tofu, and I haven't squeezed out much water. You could maybe press a little out. I've generally sliced it up in to squares about 1/2 an inch thick. Then you coat it in your breading mixture. This is where you can get crazy. I usually have used 1 part flour to 2 parts cornmeal and added in a variety of spices. One time it was paprika and some cajun spices. One time it was oregano and rosemary. One time I left it plain. But really, you can go as all out as you want.

I had some trouble perfecting the baking of it though. I've found that I line a pan with aluminum foil, and coat it with either cooking spray or olive oil (depending on which I have). I lay them all done and bake for like 10 minutes at 400 degrees. I flip them once and keep baking. The first time I think I took them out too early, they could have been crispier.

At this point you can do what you will with them. I've added some to salad, I've had them with couscous and veggies, I've put them with some beans and rice and made a burrito. The possibilities are endless....