February 1st update

This week I was stricken by flu. It wasn't fatal, but I avoided baking until I was less contagious. Therefore I skipped the basic cake I was going to make, and skipped right to the lava cake. Learning from past mistakes, I stuck like glue to a single recipe. I also chose a recipe that was vegan from the start, so I wouldn't have to worry about substitutions. I used the following recipe: . I did make on slight change: I substituted soy milk for almond milk because I didn't have any on hand. Almond milk has a more pleasant flavour, in my opinion, but soy milk is a) more nutritious and b) indistinguishable once mixed with sugar and chocolate. Compared to the meringues, the cakes were much less labour-intensive. Preparing the batter took about 20 minutes, and I baked the cakes for 18 minutes. The end result was this:

The presentation is not particularly elegant, but the cakes themselves turned out nearly perfectly. They rose into the proper shape, were fluffy, and did not stick to the pan or burn. In terms of flavour and texture, I had advance warning they would be tasty- leftover egg-free batter makes cleanup delicious. Once cooked, I was disappointed to find that the cake had cooked through; it was not "molten" inside like it should have been. However, this was not the case. When eaten, the outside was solid and the inside was very soft and "gooey". My willing human test subject agreed, saying it was delicious and that the inside was perfect. She then defeated the purpose by pairing it with a dairy ice cream, but the cake stands as a success. I was discouraged after last week's underwhelming meringues, but this success has bolstered my confidence. It is an issue, of course, that one setback can impact my mindset so intensely. In future, I should reassure myself with the adage of "learning from my mistakes". It seems to have worked in this case. In the coming week, I will tackle two desserts: a simple cookie to maintain confidence and share with family (they were upset I had only made two cakes), and a souffle. I fully expect the souffle to fail, so I will try 2 or 3 different recipes to see which gives me the best result.