Happy Birthday Maddie!

it is 9:30 a.m. in the holy city of safed.  I haven't blogged because I was in a terrible funk after the holidays.  i'm back at work and have a new manager who is a great support.  can you imagine, I ask for eggs and I actually get them before I show up for work?  I was flying solo for months and was bringing in food from home to cook for the guys.  I got reimbursed but it wasn't very nice.

the caterer for the yeshiva asked me on sunday, if I could bake a birthday cake for a lovely young lady.  I bake cakes all the time at the yeshiva.  it usually is an eggless chocolate cake and takes no time to whip up.  I agreed to make a cake for this caterer. why not?  he then told me that it should be low on gluten and sugar.  it also should say: "Happy 30th birthday Maddie from mom". 

the mother called me from the states to confer about said cake.  she wanted avocado chocolate buttercream frosting and a chocolate cake.  she told me that her daughter was pregnant and loved to mix ingredients up to make healthy treats.  first, I do not write on cakes.  I don't know how.  I also have never made an avocado chocolate frosting but I've read about it.  I took this cake on as a challenge to my culinary prowess.  I often cook and bake for vegans.

I found a recipe for avocado frosting and non gluten chocolate cake online.  the cake called for honey, almond flour, coconut flour, coconut oil and coconut milk.  I had previously bought peanut flour and coconut flour when my sister came to visit.  I wanted to make non gluten muffins for her.  she is diabetic. well, I never touched the flours and I didn't make any muffins.  I did make psyche drama, but that's another story. I had maple syrup in the pantry and thought about substituting it for the honey.  after all, why should I use up a very expensive item like maple syrup?.

I went shopping last night after work.  I bought avocados, date syrup, organic cocoa powder, almond milk, dried shredded coconut, pistachios, slivered almonds, eggs and natural cherry jam. I got up at 7:30 a.m. and made the cake.  I didn't have an oblong or square pan so I used a round one.  it will be a bit difficult to slice, I presume.  the cake is not very sweet.  it called for honey and I used date syrup.  I covered it with the cherry jam, which has whole pieces of cherries.  it's kind of like a black forest cake  in my mind.  I made the avocado chocolate icing.  it's pretty weird.  I am planning on covering the cake and then sprinkling it with the shredded coconut, ground almonds and pistachios.

I don't know if the caterer was able to purchase edible pens or not.  I found a plastic happy birthday candle holder.  I spent a small fortune on the ingredients. this was an experiment for me.  I will not charge for my time and effort.  I will however, charge for the ingredients. it came out to about $20.  healthy is expensive.  I hope the young lady likes her cake.  I tried to think out of the box.  it is pretty much organic and definitely non gluten.  I learned a lot about using coconut and almond flour.  apparently, you need very little to make a cake but need a lot of liquid.  I will be happy to post the recipe if anyone is interested.

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