Easter Bunny Goes Hop Hop Hop

It's Easter. We've already had the school party where I have to dig through the candy that comes home to get all the dairy items out. I stress about my kid feeling like an outsider that he can't enjoy all the treats the other kids are. My heart breaks that he is so awesome about it. He sees a commercial for Chuck E Cheese and tells me he can't go there because he's allergic. He "checks" labels to see if there is dairy in them- he can't read yet, but he likes to think he knows what's up. I hide all the dairy items in the house, and they are very minimal, as I don't want to have anything in our home that he has to hear "no" to. The day I found ZPizza and that they made a vegan pizza was one of the happiest days ever. My kid could have a "normal" Friday night pizza delivery night.

I normally anticipate and am prepared for holiday treats. Ordering fun chocolate candies ahead of time, finding recipes to do a swap out for at parties, and this year I failed. I know I shouldn't take it as hard as I did today, but I did.

Let's back track to a few days ago to Tuesday at Target where we were strolling through the Easter aisles and my son saw those huge chocolate bunnies. He said "WOW, Mom! Do you think the Easter Bunny will bring me one of those!" Well, of course he will. I can make anything happen. Yes, I have gotten kind of cocky at this point in being able to prepare my son treats or finding them online from some of my favorite Allergy Safe resources. So Tuesday night I hopped online and discovered to get anything shipped in time for Easter would be at least an extra $35 in shipping. So I went to my next resource vegan bakeries...all who had vegan chocolate, but no bunnies. Panic set in and time was against me. No problem I would stop by Michaels and pick up a candy mold and some Enjoy Life chocolate chips...Michaels didn't have anything Easter left and was already set up for 4th of July.

It was in Bed and Bath's kitchen section (my fourth stop) that complete frustration and sadness came over me. I watched all of these people getting their milk chocolate bunnies for their Easter baskets and I had to wonder if their kids appreciated the awesomeness of a big chocolate bunny. All my kid wanted was a chocolate bunny...from the Easter Bunny. The most simple, purest childhood Easter Basket wish. Something that I took for granted, maybe eating an ear when I was a kid. I wanted him to have that luxury. To eat an ear and to feel too overwhelmingly full of chocolate that you don't feel like you could eat another sweet again. To just feel normal. To not hear "no, you can't have that you're allergic." I cried. I just broke down. The crazy woman surrounded by milk chocolate bunnies. Sobbing. I knew I didn't have time to go to Sur La Table- it was over 45 minutes away and my husband had to go to work. I sat in my car. Broken hearted. One last stop. One last try. I headed over to the party store. There I found candy molds for Easter lollipops. It wasn't going to be the big bunny my son wanted, but it was going to be chocolate and it was going to be in his Easter basket.

I will start looking for big bunny molds on Monday for next year, but for now I am going to make sure my son has a fantastic Easter morning.

So thankful these are stocked at my local grocery store!

melting those chips!

poured into the mold- yea, I added confetti sugar on the back

Easter Bunny!

Chick

Chocolate Lollies- don't worry that is edible Easter grass

Happy Easter, Bug!

***UPDATE***

It was all worth it for his excitement seeing his chocolate Easter Lollies. And...

This was my happiest moment of Easter

Carrot Cake

This week I am going in to my kid's preschool class to make a carrot cake with them for their Easter Party. I had to do a test run before my big appearance at school, especially since I wasn't making the normal cream cheese frosting so I could make it safe for my own kid. I was hesitant to use tofutti cream cheese, although very acceptable in our own house I thought it would take away from the carrot cake at school. Although I wound up using Pilsbury Cream Cheese frosting (a little unnerving that there is no actual dairy in the frosting by the way) and used some extracts to jazz it up.

I am not a huge fan of carrot cake, I went through a phase for about a year when I was a kid that I loved it, but it was short lived and now only make it per request. The carrot cake I am sharing with you today won't be an "on request only"- it was delicious!

Carrot Cake cooling in pan

Getting ready to get frosted

Frosted, with experimental sugar work (using a cookie cutter to outline)

It's not often that I am baking a cake "just cause" and since the leftovers of this one were destined to feed my husband's staff at the restaurant I took the liberty to experiment. Using a flower cookie cutter and a circle cookie cutter I used color sugar to make a flower as a "decoration". Perhaps I will make a wax paper cutout of a bunny, carrot, or easter egg to make with the kids at school.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

makes twenty-four 2-inch squares
For the Cake                                                   
3 cups all-purpose flour                                  
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder                        
1 teaspoon baking soda                                     
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon                     
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg*                            
¼ teaspoon ground cloves*
½ teaspoon salt
8 peeled carrots
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
2 cups applesauce
1 ½ cups canola oil
1 cup currants or semisweet chocolate chips
*I actually use my "secret ingredient" Chinese Five Spice instead

For the Frosting
½ cup butter, at room temperature
½ cup cream cheese, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract

For the Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9 inch baking pan with nonstick baking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Shred the carrots in a food processor using a shredding blade. Place the carrots on top of the combined dry ingredients. DO NOT MIX TOGETHER!

Wipe out the food processor bowl and add the metal blade. Process the granulated and dark brown sugars, applesauce, and canola oil until well combined.

Pour the sugar mixture into a mixing bowl. Add carrots and dry ingredients and, using an electric mixer, mix on medium speed. Add your choice of currants or chocolate chips to the batter and mix on low speed to distribute evenly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, and continue mixing until well combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. (If you found the carrots “watery” when shredding, extra baking time may be required) Test by inserting a toothpick into the middle to make sure cake is done.

Cool the cake in the baking pan. Cooled cake may be removed from or left in the baking pan.
Frost with cream cheese frosting.

For the Frosting
In a bowl, and using an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and lemon extract on medium speed until well combined. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar. Mix until smooth and creamy.
Store the frosting, covered, in the refrigerator, until ready to spread on cooled cake.

In other Easter Party preparations there is an Egg Drop the day of the Easter Party. Prizes for Most Creative, Most Recyclable, Most Scientific, and Biggest Splat. Here's our entry:

Used a carvable foam egg, white feathers, white and pink pompoms, glittered foam, black pipe cleaners, and jiggly eyes

Carved a hole in the back for the egg, filled with bubble wrap and edible Easter grass as a nest for the egg
Our Egg will be dyed blue and made into a little blue bird- I wanted a chick, but my kid said blue is his favorite color, so bluebird of happiness it is!

Made the parachute from a floral patterned vinyl tablecloth
He actually floated down during his test flights- a real miracle!