Happy 100th, Blissful Basil!

Someone became a centenarian today. She did so gracefully (I hope) and with an open heart.

With today being my 100th post, a celebration was most certainly in order. Guided by some sweet-craving taste buds and eyes that tend to seek pretty things, I set my heart on Cake Batter Fudge. When I bake, I typically peruse the internet to get an idea of ratios within the recipe since everything is so precise in the baking world. However, a long perusing session moved me to the conclusion that most cake batter fudge recipes incorporate overly processed cake mixes that are full of chemicals, dyes, and all sorts of ingredients that I cannot pronounce. If I wanted to do this right, I knew I had to move outside of my baking comfort zone and recipe-brainstorm this one up from a blank canvas…

And I did. All week. Seriously, I tossed around possibilities for ingredients all week long and finally settled on the base for this fudge being raw cashew butter. From there, I built in the other ingredients and toyed with ratios until this little vegan miracle came to be.

The result is a super fudgy, creamy, and cake-battery delight to the senses. The addition of butter extract and raw cashew butter transforms the fudge from something that could be mistaken for vanilla into an undeniable force of cake-batter pow. Best part? No one will know this is vegan by taste. So much so that it should probably be called {Secretly Vegan} Cake Batter Fudge.

Stacks of gooey cake batter bundles of joy…

{Secretly Vegan} Cake Batter Fudge (Makes 40 Pieces)

◊ 1 cup raw cashew butter (see recipe below — must be raw or it will alter the flavor of the fudge)

◊ 1/2 cup vegan buttery spread (e.g., Earth Balance)

◊ pinch of salt

◊ 1 teaspoon butter extract

◊ 3 to 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

◊ 4 tablespoons sprinkles, divided

1. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add in cashew butter and stir (note: this will not incorporate with the butter until you begin adding in the powdered sugar). Turn off the heat, and add in pinch of salt and the butter extract. Slowly begin adding in the powdered sugar, stirring constrantly to ensure all sugar lumps are smoothed out. Once the powdered sugar is added and the mixture has cooled to room temperature or slightly warm, add in 2 tablespoons of the sprinkles and give the batter a few stirs. If you add in the sprinkles when the batter is too warm, the color is more likely to bleed.

2. Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 5 x 8 or 8 x 8 baking pan (depending on desired thickness). Top with remaining 2 tablespoons of sprinkles. Pop in the fridge for at least one hour or until fudge sets. Cut into 40 or more pieces. Indulge. Store uneaten fudge in fridge or freezer.

Raw Cashew Butter (yields 1 cup)

◊ 2 cups raw cashews

◊ 1/3 cup water

◊ pinch of sea salt

◊ 1/2 teaspoon agave nectar

Add the cashews to a food processor and process until a coarse meal is formed. Slowly add in water (using less or more, as needed) as processor is running and process until a creamy butter has formed. Add in salt and agave nectar and pulse.