Peanut-Butter Frosted Chocolate Cake

(Trust me, it’s all about the frosting)

It’s been a bittersweet week. I’ve finally wrapped up my year of student teaching, and am all but officially a credentialed teacher in the state of California. It’s exhilarating, and I’m ready to move on, but at the same time it’s terrifying to look ahead toward absolutely zero job openings for new teachers, unemployment still rampant, and a whole summer without seeing my hilarious fourth graders. I told myself I wouldn’t, but I didn’t even make it halfway through the whole day without crying. My master teacher actually presented me a gift in front of the class, which included an Anthroplogie (!) gift certificate (aka my favorite of all favorite stores), and a little accordion-like book with pages created by each student, complete with their pictures and drawings. Tears. Some of my favorite gems, straight off the pages:

* “I learned from you how to be shareful.”
* “Yo quiero que te seas una maestra aqui.” (One of my students who learned English this year. She was my little Spanish teacher. Lucky for her, she picked up ingles much quicker than I improved my espanol)
* “You taught me to grafe.” (Perhaps I should have spent more time on spelling?)

I will miss you, my little estudiantes.

Along the bittersweet theme, boyfriend lost his job (someone made a BIG mistake, releasing that one). The good news is that this means he can come back from Michigan to the sunny Bay Area (woot), but now he’s got to find a new one somewhere, somehow. Hopefully it happens easily and close by (I’m confident that it will ☺ ).

Amid all this my sister ALSO lost her job. Luckily, I had stayed the night with her to attend a CPR class in her neighborhood, so when she got off of her (surprise) last day of work, we promptly zoomed across the Bay Bridge and landed straight in my kitchen to do the very best thing of all for lifting spirits (other than drinking about a bajillion Patron and sodas, which we also promptly got down to): We fired up the oven, broke out the bundt pan, and whipped up a bittersweet (I love themes) peanut-butter-cup inspired bundt cake.


Too-Pure-to-Taste-This-Fabulous Gluten- and Dairy-Free Chocolate Bundt Cake
This is a basic gluten- and dairy-free chocolate cake recipe, and it could be adapted to cupcakes, round cakes pans, or even a square baking dish.

¾ c. brown rice flour
¼ c. potato starch
2 tbsp. arrowroot
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. salt
½ c. grapeseed oil
2/3 c. agave nectar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. vanilla
1/3 c. hot water
½ c. melted dark (dairy free) chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Whisk together flour, potato starch, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt.
3. Stir in hot water until combined.
4. Stir in melted chocolate until combined.
5. Pour into pan and bake approximately 30 to 35 minutes, inserting a knife to ensure it’s cooked all the way through before removing.
6. Let cool, then run knife around inner and outer edge of bundt, flip, and let cool more on plate or serving tray.
7. Frost!

Vegan Peanut Butter Frosting (no kidding!)
I am so proud of this recipe. After scouring dozens of vegan cookbooks and websites in search of a doable vegan frosting—without gobs of added sugar or obscure ingredients—I finally whipped this up. My grandpa, whom we lovingly called papa, would make a version of this (with corn syrup) to drizzle on top of Mickey Mouse pancakes for my sister and I as we were growing up. This conjures up those same memories—nutty, smooth, and just the right amount of sweet atop just about anything. I think he’d be proud.

1 c. coconut butter
½ c. agave nectar (plus more until desired sweetness)
1 c. organic, no sugar added, peanut butter

1. Heat the coconut butter for about a minute in the microwave, until liquefied.
2. Stir in ½ c. agave nectar until totally combined.
3. Stir in peanut butter until totally combined.
4. Add in additional agave until it reaches desired sweetness. Depending on what you’re frosting, you may want it a little nuttier (say, on a sweeter cake or cupcake), or a little sweeter (on plain pancakes or loaf of banana bread).