Cupcakes Make the Party

Ah, the beautiful marriage of blueberries and lemon! This week my siblings and I threw a very belated birthday party for my brother's girlfriend. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she replied, "Anything, but chocolate." No chocolate! Gasp! So I hit the cookbooks looking for a party-worthy, non-chocolate birthday cake, and since I now have the stand on which to set them,  I decided it must be in cupcake form. In the past week or so, I have been lustily gazing at the recipes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. So many cupcakes to choose from! This book is amazing! I finally decided on the Blueberry Lemon Creme Cupcakes simply because my house still has so many bags of frozen blueberries from last summer. And although the Vegan Girls have a gluten-free yellow cake recipe, I ended up using a cake recipe (not vegan) from the book Gluten-Free Baking Classics. I added a dollop of lemon curd (recipe also from Gluten-Free Baking Classics) at the center and covered it with the vegan blueberry compote and vegan lemon buttercream icing. The cupcakes were a success and the birthday girl was very pleased.

And don't those cupcakes look so handsome on their little pedestal?

Who says you have to live without?

Yes, that is cheesecake. And yes, it has whipped cream on it. And guess what!?! It is totally gluten and dairy free [insert angel choir and glorious beam of light]! I never thought this day would come, but the good people at Living Without have made my non-dairy cheesecake dreams come true. I made the chocolate version sans ganache. It can be made vegan, but I put the egg in there. The only complaint I have is that their gluten-free brownie crust was a little excessive; I would prefer a little less crust and a little more crunch. I'd cut the recipe in half or I might go with a cookie crust next time. And there will be a next time!

Now all I need is a beautiful cake stand on which to rest my glorious cake... The cake gods have heard my cries again! Today I was just selected as the lucky winner of the Dahlhaus Cupcake Stand Give-a-way! I can no longer claim to be one of those people who never wins raffles. I am so excited to get this beautiful little stand from this talented ceramic artist. What a great day! I think I'll celebrate with a delicious slice of cheesecake.