Cocoa

When I met Robyn Baldwin, one of my loyal readers, at a book signing in Davis, California (my hometown), she gave me the idea for these chocolate cupcakes with a cookie center. Thanks, Robyn! Frost with Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 92).

Chocolate and banana is one of my favorite flavor combinations. Try these cupcakes with Banana Whipped Cream Frosting (page 93), along with a side of strawberries.

Moist mocha cakes with dark chocolate chips, these nutritious yet decadent sweets are equally well suited for a post-workout snack or for a party with Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 92).

Everybody loves the classic, yet intriguing red velvet cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting (page 95). Enjoy my version made with natural vegetable coloring instead of the scary artificial red dye normally found in the traditional recipe.

An aesthetic wonder, these cupcakes might be a little more work to make than some; however, the swirled result is worth every bit of extra effort. My older son loves these with Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 92), while my younger son likes them without any frosting at all. Conclusion? They’re darn good.

When you want to share sweets with vegan friends and family, use this recipe as a substitute for those in the Special Occasion section. These cupcakes are not only gluten free, they are also made without dairy or eggs—not an easy feat. Make your own delicious creation by pairing them with Vegan Buttercream (page 95), Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 92), or Vegan Coconut Whip (page 94). Thanks to Ali Segersten from wholelifenutrition.net for giving me a head start on this recipe.

Smother these little treats with my White Chocolate Frosting (page 94) or try them with Vegan Chocolate Frosting (page 92), sprinkled with Chocolate Dirt (page 98). Chocolate lovers unite!

Bailey’s Drug Store, in Blue Ridge, Georgia, is long gone, but the cake lives on. Crystal’s Aunt Mary Ann and Aunt Thelma used to love eating this cake with ice cream during their lunch break at work. Both were hardworking women in the ’50s and they needed this daily treat to keep them going. Every now and then, couldn’t you also use a little noontime sweet to get you through the day? Don’t cheat yourself. It is better with ice cream, so make sure and give yourself a big scoop! We suggest good ol’ vanilla!

I LOOOOOVE Nutella. I can happily eat it straight out of the jar, so whipping it up into a mousse and serving it with a hazelnut cake just makes sense. It’s nutty, chocolaty, and creamy all at once—what’s not to love? As far as I’m concerned, anything with Nutella sells itself.

Don’t be fooled: Even though a chocolate donut sounds almost unreasonably decadent, this one is actually the most mellow of the bunch. It isn’t overly sweet, and it doesn’t act like a slice of cake. I purposefully didn’t amp up the sugar—primarily because that way you can go completely crazy in the glazing department to add sweetness. That said, if you really want the cake part of your donut to be sweet, you can toss in an extra 1/4 cup of sugar without repercussion.

For those of us who prefer to sweeten with agave, this glaze, which can also moonlight as a dipping sauce, is a godsend. You’ll need to store it at room temperature to prevent it from getting too thick.

Even though this cake is visually a stunner, it’s probably the easiest cake you will ever make. Don’t worry about putting too much filling between the layers; the messier the preserves and chocolate glaze get, the better.

I’m hoping this cake doesn’t need much introduction. It’s one of those recipes for which a photograph speaks clearly and perfectly to its mega-rich glory. I will add, however, that even though a German chocolate cake is not as recognizable without its beloved pecans, you can easily omit them if you are allergic and still achieve the same delicious experience. If you want to add a little crunch and you have extra time on your hands, you can fold in graham cracker crumbs from the S’mores recipe (page 79) along with or instead of the pecans.

I’m not a fan of the usual banana split because raw bananas taste too—how do I say this?—healthy for a sundae surrounded by all that other sweet chaos. So I add a little love and caramelize the bananas, which transforms them into a richly textured miracle and brings a buttery taste not available in your garden-variety banana split.

You’ll notice in a minute that this recipe does not call for the Sugar-Sweetened Chocolate Dipping Sauce (page 123), even though it might harden up in the freezer a little better than the alternative. Instead, I turn to the agave-sweetened version because, to my mind, there’s no sense in rolling a perfectly nutritious snack in vegan sugar when an agave-sweetened option offers an equally excellent alternative.

I often turn to unrefined sugar to sweeten my cookies because I love the crunchy texture it provides. But when it comes to whoopie pies, agave nectar works much better. The reason is simple: Traditionally, whoopie pies are built with cookies that are fairly squishy and cake-like by comparison—way more so than a typical cookie sandwich. For the filling I prefer Ricemellow Crème, the marshmallow concoction made by Suzanne’s Specialties (see page 17), but you can fill it with the Vanilla Icing (page 127) for equally wonderful results.

I’m Catholic by birth. Winter to us means Lent, which, to be honest, is about all I remember beyond the school uniforms. Anytime winter/Lent rolled around, the only thing we could count on was the house-wide hostility that would mount as we spent several weeks avoiding sweets and desserts in all their overindulgent forms. The colder months, you might recall, make up Girl Scout cookie season. In a unique show of torture, rather than simply not placing an order with the Scouts, our family bought a bunch, tossed them into the freezer, and stored them until Easter—about two months later. This recipe is for all you lifetime gluten-free folks who have never been able to enjoy a winter of Girl Scout Thin Mints—and for all you weak-willed kids who can’t help but break the Lenten period of atonement. Bless your hearts!

My favorite party dress is cocoa-powder brown. It has a crinoline slip underneath and I feel all dolled up when I wear it. I kind of look like a chocolate chiffon pie with a ruffle of whipped cream.

If you’ve ever seen the fabulous movie Steel Magnolias, you’ll remember the running gag of a groom’s cake in the shape of a giant armadillo that “looks like it’s bleeding to death”! Until I saw that movie, I had no idea I could produce my favorite color in a cake. I left the theater determined to uncover the secret—which is, of course, red velvet cake. It’s a deep red cake with velvety texture and a subtle flavor of cocoa hidden under snow white, vanilla-laced, cream cheese frosting. The armadillo shape is optional.