For my dad, for his birthday meal.
The pierogies came out so great! I added some buckwheat into the beet/sauerkraut filling and some kale and baby spinach to the onion topping.
Seriously, make them!
For the cake, I veganized the recipe for mai tai chocolate cake from Death By Chocolate Cake, by Marcel Desaulniers.
It had a lot of components going on (pineapple-almond layer cake, chocolate rum mousse, orange buttercream, chocolate orange ganache, and last but not least chocolate dipped/almond covered dried pineapple slices), but I made them all over a few days, and it came together quite easily.
There were a lot of textures going on, but I mean that in the best way possible. It was extremely satisfying and rich.
I made the orange buttercream with coconut oil, and I was super happy with how it came out. Also, the orange zest flecked throughout looked so adorable.
Both are going into my “Absolutely must make again!!!” file.
May 8, 2009 at 1:16 am
Hi Veronica,
How are you ? That cake looks incredible – it is the only thing that I can think about now. I’ll have to get a chocolate fix quickly!!
May 10, 2009 at 12:49 pm
The pirogies were SOOOOOOO GOOOOOODDD!!!! Probably one (well, I had quite a few more than one…) of the most delicious things I’ve tasted in a good while. I loved the filling… And to think I used to not like buckwheat! My loss for many years, which I can only do my best to rectify now. And that cake was superb! It does sound like a lot of flavors going on, but everything went beautifully together. It’s late, I’m hungry, and I wish I had a slice right now! That would really hit the spot.
May 11, 2009 at 8:41 am
oh wow—Veronique! Those pictures are AMAZING and the cake looks seriously S*T*U*N*N*I*N*G. I’m kind of dying of awesomeness right now!!
May 12, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Ah, I used to love watching that Death by Chocolate guy on PBS when I was a (wierd) kid. The concept of a chocolate mai tai cake is just so…right. And also–pierogies?! The best.
May 13, 2009 at 10:50 am
Whoa, I didn’t know he used to have a cooking show! I don’t think that makes you a weird kid, I think that makes you the coolest kid EVER!!!
Okay, I just looked on youtube to see if I could find any clips from the show. Unsurprisingly, there were none, but I found this hilarious and amusing clip: