Non-LPL Birthday!

Happy 6th birthday to my second child!  The only one thus far without LPLD.  Maybe someday I'll be able to make a low fat cake for everyone and be happy with it... but I haven't reached that stage of maturity yet.

For now, I am stuck planning two cakes.  Stressing over two cakes.  Making two cakes.  Striving to get the cakes both tastey and beautiful and appealing to children.  Wow, it stresses me out.

Good thing she's worth the stress

When I'm able to find someone to outsource to, I LOVE paying someone to take over the anxiety and make the two cakes for me.  But so far here, I have had zero luck finding a baker or bakery willing to make very-low-fat-cake or -cupcakes for me.

So here I am, trying a new frosting recipe.

I rely on nonfat chocolate brownie mix as the only alternative to angel food cake.  Mix a full box with nonfat greek yogurt, and I can make little cupcakes or a bigger cake!  Because as amazing as angel food cake is, I don't blame my girls for wanting some chocolate in their lives, too.

The frosting has always been my challenge.  I don't get along with 7 minute frosting, I always manage to mess it up and let it go flat, or it slowly melts and drips off my creations in the days after I make it, before we've finished the whole cake.  I've made 'frosting' out of powdered sugar and nonfat greek yogurt, but it lacks a richness and creaminess that frosting deserves.

Today I took some firm coconut oil (the ambient temperature happens to be just right) and mixed a proportion of 1 tablespoon coconut oil to 1 tablespoon nonfat greek yogurt to 1 cup powdered sugar.  Plus a dash of vanilla extract and a dash of almond extract to detract from the coconutty-ness.

I am by no means a professional cake decorator, but it will have to do.

So far, it's a perfect frosting texture!  We'll see what the girls think of it!  In the future, I would consider making it with MCT oil to ensure it really has only the medium chain triglycerides that are good for my girls.  But then again, MCT oil doesn't solidify at room temperature in the same way coconut oil does, so maybe the texture wouldn't be right/   I'll worry about that next time!