2nd Birthday!!

Joie De Vivre is 2!!! I can’t believe how time has gone by and how much has happened in these 2 years. I got married, moved neighbourhoods, got in and out and back into work and travelled far and wide from Texas to New Zealand to the inner depths of the Kanha National Park. Here’s to years and years more of sharing the food, fun and love for it all!

Joie De Vivre’s 2^nd Birthday Cake (Adapted from Sweetopolia)

Ingredients:  (Makes 24 cupcakes or 2 X 9″ round cake)

1.       2 cups all-purpose flour

2.       3/4 cup cocoa powder

3.       2 teaspoons baking soda

4.       1 teaspoon baking powder

5.       a pinch of salt

6.       1 +3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk

7.       2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

8.       1 + 2/3 cups caster sugar

9.       1 + 1/4 cups canola oil

10.   2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1.    Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line cupcake moulds or grease cake tin and then line with baking paper.

2.     Put the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Sift twice. Sifting twice is really important- don’t skip!

3.     In a separate bowl, whisk together the soya milk, vinegar, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until well combined.

4.   Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40-55 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out with almost no crumbs attached, and the middle of the cake, when pressed, should spring back slightly instead of sink. Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes if necessary.

5.    Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Slide a table knife all around the edge to loosen the cake, then remove from the pan. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 1 hour.