Some New Kinda Baking

I fell in love with the Babycakes bakery in NYC when i was there last year, so was so happy that they created a cookbook to go with it. All things vegan, gluten free and (mostly) sugar-free. Wow, what a specialty! Good thing they are still going strong too. Here`s a preggers me enjoying our finds.
So, i was even happier that my local public library had copies of the book. The wait was LONG but well worth it. Seems like we`re not the only ones that like such good baking. I finally got a copy of Babycakes cookbook from the library recently (the link is to their site and has great photos of the book so you can see it for yourself). And, since i had 3 weeks to enjoy it, we planned to make good use of it, so whipped up quite a few recipes! We enjoyed it so much that we`ve decided it`s something to buy. There were some hiccups though, but in the end each of the baked goods we made tasted yummy. For one, we had to buy a bunch of items that we`ve never used but now stand firmly in our pantry. Like potato starch, coconut flour, and garbanzo bean+fava bean flour. I do appreciate that it`s all to make gluten free goods, but it sure is a lot to have on hand. Also, since i`m in the process of reading The Omnivore`s Dilemma i am floored about the overuse of corn products in everything. Included xantham gum, which is a stable item in gluten free baking. Not sure how to avoid it though, as vegan baking can be so tricky and un-fluffy at times.
That said, there are some amazing, yummy, and creative recipes in this book. Plus, the book is so beautiful to look at - a true porn cookbook! The photos were lovely, and there are so great write-ups of things. There is some name-dropping as well by celebs, but i love them all so i guess it`s okay!...We tried the Johnny Cakes, Fat Pants Cake, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, and coconut icing for the cake. I`ll just share a couple of thoughts with you here for the cakes.

In all, the cake was my favourite even though i had a panic that it wouldn`t turn out. I made it for J`s birthday and had to bake the cakes (3 layer cake and all) MUCH longer than the recipe called for. Also had a nervous moment transferring each onto the serving plate as they were so fragile. The icing was lumpy as the coconut oil seemed to solidify after it was combined with the other ingredients. And, it just didn`t seem sweet enough - i know it didn`t call for `real` sugar but still icing should be sweet. In the end, i just added it into the middle layers and had another vanilla buttercream icing for the outer layer. And, with chocolate chip cookies PLUS chocolate chips and cocoa in the cake already, it was pretty decadent. Once done, the cake was so good, i kept stealing pieces of it and was so glad that there were leftovers after the party.

J made me the Johnny Cakes for Mothers Day. They were lovely. Baked pancakes with cornmeal (forget the comment i made above re: corn!). Nice and fluffy, even though they were dense. I also love the way our maple syrup made this cool spiral pattern instead of just falling off the cakes. A great alternative to standard pancakes, they are very filling!

Now, if only the book had a recipe for the amazing cinnamon buns we had. I guess they have to leave some things out, so that we keep going back to the store!