rainbow cake!

So fun!

I've had this recipe pinned forever, and we decided to make it for Ambrose's birthday party. We got a car this weekend, visited our dear friend Carolina, Brazilian coffee-maker extraordinare and juicer-owner, and juiced a bunch of fruits and veg for dyes, then had a little peach juice party. Just juicing was good fun! We want one now!

I greased all the pans but didn't flour them, so they generally didn't cooperate well in coming out. Still, the whole process was really neat, the cake tastes great (we slapped it together for family sampling), and it really doe slook gorgeous, even though my purple layer looks kind of gray. Whatever! Rainbows and clouds (cream cheese and yogurt, no sweetness at all, just a bit of nutmeg) and rain drops (edible silver ball bearings)!!! So much cuteness!

I have to make more spinach juice and make a new batch of cakes, lined with parchment paper this time, and freeze them for thawing and assembling Saturday, the day of Ambrose's party. Yee haw!

Recipe note: I don't have 5.5" cake pans, so I used a multiplying factor of 1.45 on all ingredients to translate it to 8" dimensions. The flour combo was 40% ground almonds, 60% white rice flour. As usual, no lab gums. Delish! I also used an extra egg yolk with the carrot juice for the orange layer. Next time will use more beet juice.

lined up for duty! my faith in the blackberry juice faltered so I also bought grape juice. not a good idea actually.

look how frothy and abundant the beet juice was!!

Beating the dry ingredients - my kitchenaid mixer needs to be repaired, so I actually had to use a hand mixer. Weird! Also notice how white it is!! I bought white sugar for the first time in... ever? for this cake.

dyes mixed into the batter portions

"look at all the fascinating colours!!" he said.

Ambrose was delighted with the colours, and we had a lot of beet, so I used tiny amounts of beet juice to dye his yogurt (and a few cups of milk) pink.

mixed. notice how similar the blueberry and blackberry/grape look? They do look distincitve when baked.

tah dah!

It was fun. I need to get silicone cake pans. I don't know how I can go back to eating regular cake, now.

summer lovin

I made jerky with some leftover ham last month. And it's still good!

I also have been making some simple fizzy drinks. I still have this one, which had plums, and grapefruit as a secondary fermentation flavourer. I wonder if that's still good...

I eat eggs almost every morning. So over the guilt.

Sam made us her traditional seafood BBQ as a goodbye a couple of weeks ago... sniff, sniff.

Some soup.

My first zucchini harvest!! Last year the squirrels ate all my cucumbers and pumpkin babies. This year I have been using human hair to deter them. Whenever I comb by hair out after a shower, I usually put the loose hairs in the sink, then trash or compost them. So I've been taking them outside and tucking them into the garden. Seems to be working!

cookie contemplation

noms. (GF cookies are one of the easiest transitions to make in baking, in my experience. This is an old, well-beloved recipe for us. It requires no modification other than switching wheat flour for rice flour 1:1. And this batch turned out PERFECT. Do not overbake is the golden rule of GF cookies.)

a dish of shredded cabbage, quinoa, tomatoes and their juice, cheese, and herbs.

I'm reading this amazing wonderful book, Salad for Dinner, from the library. It's gorgeous and educational and inspiring. I highly recommend it.

another spread

he likes using knives.

it makes the food taste better when he does it himself, you see.