Cake BakeOff: Vegan baked goods VS All the other sinful stuff

Outdoor Recreation on base held their annual Spring Festival today ands part of their festival they had a Cake Bake Off. Because of my perfectionist nature (doesn't that sound better than saying, weird Type A personality?), I spent days thinking about what kind of cake to make, and how to decorate, etc etc etc. They had several categories: themed, layered, cupcakes, no frosting and specialty (gluten-free, etc.). I was so excited to go head to head against the "regular" baked stuff that has the advantage (?) of getting a lot of its flavor from the fat in it's ingredients. I couldn't decide on which category to enter, that is, until I was told I was NOT limited to one entry or one cake! Woohoo! I made two cakes and at the last minute also entered a cupcake.

This first cake I decided to decorate only with colored white chocolate butterflies. I wanted to keep it simple. But it didn't lack personality, don't let the outside fool you! Cake was vanilla, frosting was cream cheese frosting with lemon zest. It is DELICIOUS!

 View from the top

 

                                       TA DA!!!! Rainbow on the inside!!!!

 
Almond Joy inspired cake. Vegan chocolate cake, cream cheese frosting, shredded coconut and toasted almonds. Seriously. This is the least flashy of the three, but honestly it was my favorite. I wish I had a magic wand to eliminate calories and I could just eat the whole thing in one sitting. Hhhmmm....

Just look at this deliciousness!

 Chocolate Tiramisu Cupcakes

These babies where spiked with a little Amaretto, y-u-m! They were the "after-thought" entry. I had clocked in 6+ hours the night before the bake-off making the other two cakes. All from scratch, the cakes... layer by painful layer .. hahaha, I crack myself up! The frosting, the decorative accents, etc. I had a little chocolate batter left so I made 1/2 dozen cupcakes, just to use it up. The next morning, up at the crack of dawn with the kids I figured I had time to put those cupcakes to use. After about 30 seconds of thinking about it, I decided turn them into Tiramisu cupcakes and entered the cupcake category as well. They took all of 5 min.

And the winner is ..............

Cash prize baby! Ok, it was only $25 bucks, but hey .... bragging rights, no?! And the kids were excited about the ribbon I got. Zuben said, "I'm so proud of you mama, I knew you could do it!" So sweet!

I know, crazy ... after all the work and thought I put into the other two cakes, the one that won was the one with the least effort. Is there a lesson here?