Vegan Delights Birthday Platter

I am SO tired.

These past few days have been incredibly busy but I still want to maintain my blog so even though it's 11:00 and I want nothing more than to fall into bed--makeup still on, teeth not brushed, street clothes on--I decided to post some quick photos of what I've been up to before I hit the hay.

I created this platter for a woman with whom I work.  Her daughter's 5th--or 6th??--birthday is on Saturday and she hired ME to create little edible confections for the party!  

I had so much fun with this.  The little chickies are vanilla cake, dunked in chocolate, topped with toasted and untoasted coconut, almond crumbles and shortbread cookie crumbs.  The hearts are yellow cake with buttercream frosting and colored sugar and the pink balls are strawberry-flavored cake pops with chocolate hearts!  I also tried my hand at making a gum drop flower and I gotta say, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!  

The ONLY chocolate I use in my baked goods now--after much trial and error--is Enjoy Life's mini chips/chocolate chunks.  Their product is so superior and their taste is the best.  Believe me, I've sampled a lot of "vegan chocolate chips" and there are a lot of reeeeeeaaaaaallllllllllyyyyy bad ones out there.  Enjoy Life ain't one of them.

As for treating myself to chocolate--for snacking, you know, nibbling on it secretly, hidden under stairwells or in coat closets (just kidding)--I really love Alter Eco.  Their chocolate is so natural tasting and I love what the company promotes:  environmental awareness, sustainability, fair trade...  Their packaging is recyclable too, which is an awesome added bonus (and it looks cute!).   Blackout is my favorite flavor of the bars but I bought the Quinoa and Mint to try in addition thereto and I'm sure they will be good as well!  I'm expecting the Quinoa to have a Crunch Bar-like taste.  We shall see!

Without further ado, though, here are the birthday platter photos!