A layer of dark chocolate, a layer of white chocolate, and crushed peppermint candy on top!

Sprinkles: You can’t have cake without it. I’m pretty sure that’s a universal law of some sort. They make everything more colorful, and some people (…me) even convince themselves that things taste better with sprinkles. Nonpareils, jimmies, dragees, confetti… you name it, I love it.

But vegan sprinkles? What would be in sprinkles that would be remotely questionable? Ever seen “confectioner’s glaze” on a label?

“Pharmaceutical glaze is an alcohol based solution of various types of food grade shellac. When used in food and confections, it is also known as confectioner’s glaze, resinous glaze, pure food glaze and natural glaze. It is also known colloquially in the manufacturing world as beetle juice due to shellac’s derivation from the lac insect Kerria lacca (which is not a beetle, but a scale insect).” -Wikipedia

Shellac? So, the same thing they finish hardwood floors with? mmm! It’s even in sanding sugar!! WHAT?

I spent about a year looking online and in stores for sprinkles without confectioner’s glaze. I am here to tell you that most sprinkles on the market (Cakemate, most Wilton sprinkles, etc.) contain it- the kind I was looking for, anyways. I even considered dropping the baking gig and going into vegan sprinkle manufacturing (I’m only half kidding).

I know what you’re going to say: “You can buy vegan sprinkles at Whole Foods!”. Yes, I am aware that there is a brand named “Let’s do… Sprinkelz” that are available and do not contain confectioner’s glaze. However, the colors of the nonpareils are pastel and very boring. I like to dream big, so I was on the hunt for sprinkles with bright, rainbow colors! These sprinkles are great in a pinch, though- I’m always thankful for a vegan option. India Tree is another out there that, from what I can gather, used to have a lot of options… but last I checked, I found confectioners glaze (and they’re pretty pricey).

A friend of mine and co-organizer of Texas VegFest named Angela recently introduced me to some sprinkles that did not contain confectioner’s glaze, weren’t overpriced, and looked normal! Angela travels a lot for work, and just so happens to travel to Florida, which is apparently the land of kosher grocery stores that sell tons of accidentally vegan products.

The easiest brand to buy is Lieber’s, which you can buy online here! You can buy rainbow jimmies, rainbow nonpareils, and chocolate jimmies there! Be aware that not all of the sprinkles in that online store are confectioner’s glaze-free. I have a few other sprinkle brands that she gave me (including one for confetti sprinkles), but they are all off-brands that are harder to source. I will post more as I find them.

I’m writing this post in order to raise awareness, and not point fingers. Most people aren’t even aware of what confectioner’s glaze is. Also, please feel free to share any information regarding sprinkles and confectioners glaze with me. Now I just need to find birthday candles that don’t contain beeswax.

What kind of blog would this be without sugar skulls? I actually molded these skulls LAST year around this time so that I could decorate them, but never got around to it. So they sat on my shelf for literally a year, and here we are again. They are traditionally made using sugar, water, and meringue powder but we’re going to replace the meringue powder with starch because… well, who needs eggs?

I would recommend starting with the large mold, because they are way easier to decorate. I own the large and medium “Oaxaca” molds, and all I can say is whoever can decorate the small molds and make them look good is my hero.

Sugar skulls are traditionally decorated with royal icing, but I chose to use vegan buttercream simply because, well… I wanted to. :)

What you need: sugar skull mold (if you live in Austin, you can find these at Tesoros around Halloween), piping bags, piping tips (#2, #3, and #8 are good ones to start with), gel food coloring, and a sheet pan or plate for drying.

Sugar Skull Recipe
makes 1 large sized ‘Oaxaca’ skull, front only

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 t cornstarch
• 2 t water*

*for a colored skull, add a tiny amount of gel food color to the water prior to mixing.

Directions: (read the better version here) Mix all ingredients in a bowl- it should feel like wet sand. Pack sugar mixture into mold, and allow to dry about 5 hours. The mold comes with two sides, a front and a back. I didn’t need my skull to be 3D, so I took the lazy man’s approach and just used the front (face) side. Hollow out the skull if you’d like to re-use the sugar for other skulls, or just to make it lighter. You don’t have to hollow it out, it will just take longer to dry. Allow to dry completely overnight (at least 12 hours).

Decorating Buttercream:
Don’t eat this. Trust me, it’s not worth it.

• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 2-3 T water

Directions: Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream shortening until smooth. Add powdered sugar. Add water 1 T at a time, until frosting is no longer dry. Whip for 2 minutes, or until fluffy. To color, use a TINY amount of gel food coloring (think of the gel coloring as food coloring concentrate), and mix. Load the piping bag (fitted with a piping tip) with colored frosting, and decorate!

Let me just start by saying that this is completely ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome, that is. My friend Jessica asked me to do a giant peanut butter cup for a co-workers birthday & I immediately got carried away with the idea and started dreaming up how I would attempt this. I knew I wanted to use a tart pan, because of the ridges on the side of the pan.

When it comes down to it, this was really easy to make. This is a great kid-friendly project, as long as you’re cool with the post-pb cup sugar high. :) But how to attempt making this monster? I’ll show you- Let’s start with what you’ll need:

large stainless steel bowl + a saucepan (double boiler), 9″ tart pan, spatula, parchment paper, baking spray, measuring cups, scissors, small offset spatula, cake board (or just a plate), & two piping bags.

Ingredients:
This is adapted from a vegweb.com recipe.

• 5-6 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Step 1: Melt chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. Prepare tart pan by lightly spraying with cooking spray (trust me), and lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper cut in a circle.

Step 2: Fill the bottom of the tart pan with chocolate and spread evenly using a offset spatula. You’ll want this part to be a little thicker than the rest (about 1/4″ thick), because it’s the foundation.

Step 3: Chill the bottom layer until firm, about 20 minutes.

Step 4: While the bottom layer is chilling in the fridge, make the peanut butter filling. Combine the peanut butter, confectioners sugar, and salt in a stand mixer until smooth (you can use a bowl + spatula if you don’t have a mixer). Load the filling into a piping bag.

Step 5: Once the bottom layer is firm, pipe the peanut butter filling in a circle on top of the chocolate layer. Leave about 1/4-1/2″ open around the edge.

Step 6: Load the remaining melted chocolate into a piping bag, and pipe chocolate around the edges of the filing. Cover the remainder of the top with chocolate and use an offset spatula to smooth out. I’d advise you to start with less chocolate on top than you think you need, and add as you go… because chocolate spilling over the edge of the pan is not fun (but so, so delicious). Chill giant peanut butter cup for at least an hour before attempting to unmold(again, trust me). You might want to wear some disposable gloves while trying to unmold, to prevent fingerprints. I’ve found it’s easiest to lay a piece of parchment paper down, gently flip the tart pan (this is where the chilling is important), and try to remove it upside down (gravity is your best friend here). Once unmolded, let it return to room temperature (30 mins?) to help make cleaner cuts. If you try to cut this bad boy while it’s rock solid and cold… you’ll end up with chocolate shards in a pile of peanut butter.

Viola! Easy as pie… err… yeah. Giant peanut butter chocolate pie. I like to eat these at room temp, but they’re also really good straight out of the fridge. I’ll leave you with a picture Jessica sent me of the outcome- what to do with a giant sugary vegan confection made of pure chocolate and peanut butter? Add vegan ice cream on top, of course! I love my friends.

Hope you enjoy!

This year, a group of vegans from Austin decided to participate in the World Wide Vegan Bakesale. It was held at monkeywrench books, and we raised around $400, which was split between Austin Pets Alive and Austin Food Not Bombs. As always, I waited until the last minute to do something, so I decided to play it easy and make some caramel apples. The caramel is the same recipe I used for the butternut bars, and was an easy choice because I basically just boil it for 30ish minutes, let it cool for 5 minutes, and then dip the apples. Here’s how they turned out:

and my loot: coffeecake from Vegan Brunch, Pineapple right side up cake, and a brownie cupcake!

For more pictures, check out Wes’ Photos!