Lovelihood

Party season is well under way at Kindergarten, and the first box of store-bought treats we brought in to keep in his class for the occasions that are normally typified by the serving of buttercream laden cupcakes has been spent. And among the awesome qualities of cakes in a jar is the fact that they keep much longer than one's ability to abstain from them. So, of course, I'll bake up a batch to keep at school. And, of course, I'll bake what's left over into some ramekins to be enjoyed more immediately.

It is my birthday. But with the kids' day-long anticipation for this cake, a cake commisioned from the vegan bakery to accomodate a certain Boy's allergies, it's difficult to think of this as mine. Bear's "Happy Day, Momma!" mantra, on the other hand... that's all mine.

From-scratch marshmallows and vegan chocolate cake. Went with a store-bought graham cracker, crushed with some margarine, although, I'm thinking next time I might just put my graham cracker recipe for the crusty bottoms. www.lovelihood.com

Graham cracker crust, chocolate cake and a torched marshmallow top. Two bites of gooey love, complete with that aroma of burnt sugar. www.lovelihood.com

Torched to crispy golden perfection. Non-dairy, non-eggy to satisfy our allergenic needs, but the marshmallow's gelatine make this a vegan no-no. www.lovelihood.com

Gave the piped marshmallow topping a couple hours to set before subjecting them to the torch. www.lovelihood.com

The last of the jar cakes. We'd kept a handful of this year's batch of cranberry cakes (baked neatly into leeeetle jars), and have been picking them off one by one. These things are supposed to keep up to a year. I don't ever intend to test the upper limit of their shelf stability.