vegan baker

This is exceedingly obvious (to nerds), but I know how I want to do both the Fig Newton and the Liebniz cookies: differences in notation!

The simplified history lesson here is that Newton and Liebniz developed calculus simultaneously, in opposite directions (one dealt with the infinity that is constant growth, one dealt with the infinity which is increasing tininess.) They each developed a system of notation for their new science. Liebniz pretty much ended up winning, since we use d’s and lowercase Greek deltas to talk about calculus these days. But Newton has his own notation, the cornerstones of which are “dot x” and “dot y”, x’s and y’s with little round hats. I am going to make a delicious fig-filled Italian cookie dot x style, and I am going to do it with nerdy pizzazz!

My body thinks winter’s on the way. I left for South America in late November, and I could feel my shoulders curving into the stooped posture of wintry wind even as I was landing in 80 degree Lima. I left South America in late April, just as my short jacket and long underwear started to fail in the post-autumn freeze. I’ve deferred two winters now, and my body disbelieves even the sunniest day. I spent today reading a Murakami book in which the rain lashes down incessantly and I had to read it under flannel sheets. Even wrapped up to my chin, I still was cold. Finally I got up and got dressed. To my great shock, when I looked outside it was spring.

I made some cupcakes to annoint with sugar flowers. My gum paste is improving, but I have to point out how fake my flowers look next to the real thing. I’ve got a ways to go.

This afternoon I drove about 25 minutes north to Rutherford, NJ to visit Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, a totally vegan cupcake and sweetshop that’s been around since the fall. This was my first visit.

I had two cupcakes, one of which was the Little Cutie: chocolate cake with a chocolate pudding filling and chocolate frosting. As you can see, it had a little pink dollop on top, which I was pleased to discover actually tasted of strawberry.

I also had a Sexy Sadie, which was a fairly traditional red velvet cupcake with knockout frosting. This is apparently their most popular flavor.

I have to make an embarassing admission: I don’t really love cupcakes. I think they’re difficult to eat because they upset my OCD. (It is hard to get the same ratio of frosting to cake in every bite.) Yes, I do realize that I am crazy. But, given that I am crazy, this is still a awesome new place to go and it is actually in Jersey.

The storefront is adorable, all pinks and browns, and the painfully cute counter girl was the right kind of nice without bubbliness (I’ve worked as a clerk for too long to be patronized by other clerks.) They had Latin in the window, which appealed to my inner nerd (”Love Conquers All”), though I took Greek, not Latin. I like that I talked directly to one of the owners, who was washing dishes himself. I really liked the brown wrappers on the cupcakes, which showed an attention to detail that was charming. They have other sweets in addition to cupcakes, and the prices are pretty decent. What am I saying here? You should go. You should go eat cupcakes at this place if ever you are in Bergen County, NJ and need a sugar fix.

I apparently have owned adorable wavy ramekins for several years, but only came to know it tonight. The nice thing about this discovery is that I can halve the bread pudding recipe and not gain fourteen pounds in the next week. (Just seven.)

I tucked the bread chunks neatly into the ramekins. They swelled up like jerks in the oven, causing sugary milk to sizzle over the sides onto the oven floor (and the entire house to smell like burning), but the results are cute. I may have contradicted my previous claim about bread pudding being horrifically unphotogenic.

When the puddings were baking, I chopped up a bar of high cocoa content Valrhona chocolate and topped it with a couple of tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar, two pinches of sea salt and a grind of nutmeg, all in a heat-proof bowl. I got out a little saucepan and in it combined half a cup of creamer, a quarter cup of soymilk, teaspoons of vanilla and bourbon and a quarter teaspoon of almond extract. I brought the soymilk mixture to a simmer and poured it over the chocolate. Then I wisked the whole mess together until it emulsified and put it in the fridge to cool.

Once the sauce was done, I tasted it and hated it. (I hate almond extract in pretty much everything.) I will admit my hate was premature in this case. Weird as it was by itself, once it was soaked into the bread pudding, the combination was killer. Killer. Here is a picture of the rabbit making a funny face in front of the ruins of the pudding, to which I had laid waste.