A Plant-Based Birthday Party!
Last weekend, I was so lucky to get to celebrate my 22nd birthday with my friends and family. I’m blessed to have a backyard where we were all able to gather and maintain safe social distancing. It was my champagne birthday (22 on the 22nd), so I decided to go a little extra with the party details. Because why not? Life is short and every year is worth celebrating with the people you love!
In addition to an entirely vegetarian BBQ, I served some really fun vegan desserts that were a hit among my friends! Check them out:
1. Vegan Jell-O Shots
I’ve never tried making any kind of vegan Jell-O before, so I was worried that these wouldn’t turn out. To my surprise, they "gelled” up faster than regular Jell-O and were ready in about 2 hours! I used this recipe from Loving it Vegan and I made both alcoholic and non-alcoholic ones so that the designated drivers of the group could participate. For the fruit juices, I used grape juice and pink lemonade - the pink lemonade was delicious and I’d highly recommend! For an extra sparkle, I added sprinkles to the cubes about an hour into refrigeration. Since they hadn’t completely hardened, the sprinkles melted into them nicely but didn’t fall to the bottom of the cubes.
2. Vegan Meringue
I love meringue cookies and I think they’re such a cute and light dessert addition to parties! I haven’t had meringue since transitioning to plant-based, but when I noticed that Zero Waste Bulk had created a Vegan Meringue Mix, I just had to give it a try. They turned out so tasty and I loved that they included the recipe on the website. I took their suggestion to use Earl Grey tea instead of hot water for a London Fog style cookie, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to regular meringue! In terms of decor, my best ones were the coloured swirls. I did this by running a bit of food colouring down 2 sides of the piping bag, and piping the mixture. Because my mixture wasn’t very stiff, the colouring helped define the swirl shape. I tried to make a few with just sprinkles, but found the sprinkles melted in and weighed down the swirl shape - these turned out to be sparkly lumps (pictured on the bottom tier for a reason, haha). Oh well, now I know!
3. Edible Flower Cake
Having been on a bit of a roll with vegan cake-baking this summer, I was pretty set on making one for my birthday party. (And yes, I know it may be a little weird to make your own birthday cake, but I love cake-making and I am always looking to improve my skills, and it relieves the pressure for someone else to feel like they should make or buy one). For simplicity, I used the same cake/icing combo as described here. One decor idea I’ve been wanting to experiment with is edible flowers. I think they look gorgeous on cakes and they’re a great alternative to plastic/single-use cake toppers! I also find that vegan buttercream icing can be hard to work with, as it’s typically more oily than regular icing and doesn’t hold its shape as nicely.
I decided to try out edible flowers this time to hide some of the imperfections on the top and sides of the cake. I used pansies from our front flower bed and my neighbour’s, who was so generous to let me use some of her gorgeous purple ones - in exchange for a slice of cake, of course! I also used white chive flowers and mint leaves from our garden. Though chive flowers have a strong, onion-y taste, they complemented the look of pansies really well and helped patch up some roughness along the sides of the cake.
Overall, I really liked the taste of the flowers on the cake! The chive flower helped balance out the sweetness, the pansies didn’t really taste like anything, and the mint worked really well with the chocolate. Some of my guests chose to remove their flowers before eating and others dove right in - to each their own!
I loved the feeling of having something completely natural and homegrown as decor, it added a personal touch and felt like something that would be served at a vintage-era garden party.
I’m looking to experiment with more edible flowers in my recipes! What other types of edible flowers or greenery should I try eating or growing? Comment below!
4. Champagne Bar
Not particularly plant-based, but my mom and I put together this champagne bar so guests could make their own mixed champagne cocktails! It’s just too cute not to share:
Overall, I had a wonderful day and I am so lucky to be surrounded by such incredible friends and family!
