My babies are 5 and 2!

Three late nights and one full day (with helper as pictured below!), but the cupcake stand turned out alright 🙌😅🌈 

We recently celebrated Lake turning 5 and Banks turning 2 with a rainbow themed party, I googled every possible avenue and search word humanly available, but no one (NO! ONE!) sold cupcake structures shaped as a rainbow. 

Business opportunity, people! 😜

I was highly conscious of the fact that parties weren’t an option for many of you for some time so I held off posting the cupcake recipe, but the requests kept coming...

Sooooo, here you are.

Vegan Cupcakes

For the dry ingredients

1.5 Cups (180g) GF Plain Flour

3/4 Cup Raw or Demerara Sugar

1.5 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan Salt

For the wet ingredients

1 Cup (240g) Full Fat Coconut Milk from can*

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

*Ensure the can has been kept at room temperature and shaken really well. If you open the can and coconut milk is still separated into clear and creamy parts, then transfer the lot into a blender and blend to combine.

METHOD

-Preheat the oven to 180C.

-Whisk all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, making sure to smooth out any lumps. In a separate bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients.

-Slowly pour the wet ingredients over the dry while whisking gently or stirring briskly. When the mixture is smooth, scoop it evenly among 12 muffin cases. Better to fill with less and slowly add spoonfuls at a time, than to overfill some cases and not others. You will notice that each case looks only about half full, but don’t be tempted to overfill it, because the cupcakes will rise A LOT! In fact, this mixture was enough for me to fill 14 muffin cases, since I was restricted by height and really couldn’t have  it rise above the muffin case or it wasn’t going to fit into my rainbow sculpture.

-Bake for 13-14 minutes. I ended up having to bake 7 x 12 muffin trays for the rainbow to be complete and set the timer for 13 minutes each time which was perfect for my oven. Just make sure they are golden on top.

Vegan Icing

1/2 Cup Icing Sugar

2 tablespoons Cashew Cream*

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

2-4 drops natural Food Colour

Optional: Hot Water**

*To make cashew cream, I soak 1 cup of cashews in hot water for 1 hour or in cold water overnight, rinse them and blend with 3/4 cup of filtered water until creamy.

**Only add if your icing is too thick after mixing really well and only add 1 teaspoon of hot water at a time.

-I made 5 different colours for my rainbow, so I used this recipe 5 times within separate bowls, the only variant was the food colour. I mixed everything using a spoon and got a beautiful thick glaze. 

-Once the cupcakes were completely cooled, I then poured a small spoonful at a time over each cupcake. Use the back of your spoon to glide the glaze over the top of the cupcake to cover it completely. Leave to set for 2-3 hours.

I also thought I’d post the step by step pictures of the sculpture incase it inspires you to make something similar with your kids. Lake had the time of her life helping me paint it and if she was a bit older, I would’ve had her manning the PVA and the glue gun too. 

On January 13th my firstborn turned 4. 

On January 17th my baby turned 1. 

On January 19th we threw them a joint birthday party with a [party] animal theme. 

Meanwhile I was working at all hours after both kids were in bed to complete my eBooks ‘Nurtured - plant based recipes for kids’.

January was nuts. 

That party though!!

Lake said it was the best day of her life. And we’re pretty sure it was too! 

We hired a bouncy castle for Lakey’s gang, a soft play area for Banksy’s baby crew and incredibly it all fit inside The Living Room of My Chelsea/Tanya’s!!

The entire buffet spread was 100% vegan and nut-free and the sweets were also gluten-free and refined-sugar-free in addition to that. 

We ordered all the savoury yummies from My Chelsea and I did all the baking.

Lake’s grown up cake was Chocolate with Strawberry Frosting and Banksy’s baby cake was Carob with Apricot Frosting, because a). I wanted them to match and b). there’s no stimulants or caffeine in carob.

Here’s our plant based menu...

From My Chelsea Hotel:

Vegan Pizzas

Vegan Pasties

Vegan Sausage Rolls

Vegan Nuggets

Hummus + crudités + pita breads

Beetroot falafels

From ‘Nurtured - plant based recipes for kids’ eBooks:

Creamy Pea Dip (Dips & Party Foods eBook)

Blueberry Ice Lollies (Shakes & Ice Creams eBook)

Breakfast Popsicles (Shakes & Ice Creams eBook)

Banana Cake Bites (Dips & Party Foods eBook)

Baked Doughnuts (Dips & Party Foods eBook)

Chocolate Cake & Strawberry Frosting (Birthday Cakes eBook) 

Carob Cake & Apricot Frosting (Birthday Cakes eBook)

Lake specifically requested a Chocolate and Strawberry Cake, so that’s exactly what she got.

The end result went down an absolute treat and was very popular among all the parents as well as the kiddos.

It’s also a great staple cake recipe to keep handy and any one of your favourite frostings will go amazingly here, so have fun with it!

Aaaaand if you're looking for the perfect recipe to bake on the upcoming Love Day (Valentine's Day is this Friday people!!), then you've just found it...

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE & STRAWBERRY FROSTING 

For the cake:

(This recipe is enough for two 7-inch cakes just like you see in my pictures. Or you can make two slim 9-inch cakes instead.)

3 cups (440g) GF self-raising flour

3/4 cup (65g) cacao powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 1/2 cup (420g) agave nectar

1 cup (200g) coconut milk from tin

1 cup (200g) light olive oil

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the icing:

2 cups (250g) ground xylitol

1/3 cup (70g) vegan butter or a non-dairy spread

280g jar of sugar-free strawberry jam

3/4 block (150g) creamed coconut or 1/2 cup coconut butter

optional: 2-8 tbsp coconut flour

 METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/390°F/gas mark 6. Grease two 7 inch (18cm) removable base cake tins with some olive oil.
2. Place the flour, cacao powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and whisk together to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the coconut milk with agave, olive oil, vinegar, vanilla and ground flax.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk again to combine, but don’t over-do it. Distribute among the two greased tins in equal amounts, tap tins on a hard surface for the mixture to even out and let them sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature.
5. Place inside the hot oven and bake for 25 minutes. Cakes are ready when a sharp knife comes out clean or with a few crumbs stuck to it, just make sure not to overcook - this recipe is better gooey than too dry. Let the cakes cool entirely before getting started on the icing.
6. You can grind xylitol in your blender, simply blend on high until powdered and wait for 2-3 minutes for the dust to settle before opening the lid. Place all of the icing ingredients, except the coconut flour, into a food processor and process until smooth (You may need to open the lid and scrape everything down from the sides of the jug).
7. If you are making a Victoria sandwich-style cake, the cakes will need to be levelled off before they will stack neatly (only if the cakes haven’t sunk in the middle. If they’ve sunk, leave untouched). To do this, use a sharp knife to slice off the top of both cakes where they have over-risen. Then place a scoop of frosting onto the bottom cake and smooth out to the edges giving a generous layer of filling. Flip the second cake over and place on top. Pour the rest of the frosting on top of that if your icing is thick and spreadable but not runny. If it is too runny, add 1-2 tablespoons coconut flour to thicken it up and process to combine. Continue adding more coconut flour until the desired texture for icing your cakes has been achieved, careful not to over-do it as the coconut flour has a drying effect. Spread a generous amount of icing all over the top of the cake and take your time to carefully spread it towards the sides and then down the sides to completely cover the cake. If you like the exposed look of my cake, scrape off the icing from the sides as you are turning the cake on its stand. Decorate to your liking.

 If you think this recipe is pretty special, I have many many more in my new eBook series 'Nurtured - plant based recipes for kids'.

And the Launch Special 'Buy 2 eBooks, Get all 5!' is still on... check it out:

tanyasliving.com/pages/nurtured-plant-based-recipes-for-kids

While this sweet little 3 year old was expecting a baby brother for her birthday, he was gracious enough to leave 13th January especially to her and arrived a couple of days later.

It was the first year Lake truly looked forward to her birthday, learned about making a wish, picked her own outfit (and matched it with a hair ribbon) and even ordered her very own cake flavour…

She specifically asked for ‘Money & Peanut Butter’.

Money is Chocolate 😜because when she was 1 and 1/2, I let her try a dairy free chocolate coin and because ‘money’ was much easier to say than ‘chocolate’, that’s what it’s been ever since 🤣.

The cake is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free and baked, the icing is a raw, dairy free, refined sugar free ganache type.

The icing remains moist, shiny and creamy for days. The cake itself is super soft, a little crumbly and fudgey. It is equally indulgent to feed an adult as it is healthy'ish to feed a child of mine :)

Lake's Money & Peanut Butter Cake

For the cake

225g Brown rice flour or another Gluten free flour

320g Coconut palm sugar

250ml Hot water (1 cup)

130g Peanut butter

90g Extra virgin coconut oil, melted

50g Cacao powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp Himalayan salt

For the icing

40g Peanut butter

40g Hot water

80g Maple syrup

65g Extra virgin coconut oil, melted

2 Tbsp Cacao powder

1/3 tsp Himalayan salt

METHOD

-You will  need a 20cm/8in round springform cake tine or a standard rectangular loaf pan which you will line with tin foil.

-Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/350°F/gas mark 4.

-Place a baking sheet under your cake tin if using a springform round tin (note it needs to be a good leakproof one as the batter is runny) or line the entire rectangular loaf pan with tin foil.

-Mix the sugar and hot water in a food processor or a blender, add the remaining ingredients and blend again till smooth. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes. Do check at the 30 minute mark to see if the cake is done and the knife comes out clean. This cake is fudgy so it’s better a little wet than too dry, don’t over-do it and remove from the oven to cool.

-Once the cake has completely cooled down in its tin, remove it and start on the icing. I bake the cake the day before to make sure it is entirely cooled but you can speed up this step by holding it in a fridge for an hour after cooling a little on a wire rack.

-Place all the icing ingredients into a blender and blend till smooth. Pour generously all over the middle of the cake, then using the back of a spoon carefully spread the icing to the edges to let it drip a little off the top. Do this last step slowly and space out the drips no closer than an inch apart.