Birthday cake gift idea

It was my friend's birthday so I decided to bake a sweet treat as a gift. The only thing I could think of was a classic chocolate cake but in the shape of a present. I used white chocolate butter cream icing to compliment the cake with a toffee cream center. I also used smarties to use as polka dots on the cake. I was in a bind as I don't have piping bags but i managed to find a zip lock bag and cut a whole at the end to make the bow. My friend was ecstatic! I must say it was a pretty good cake!!!!!
ps i had some left over batter and pink icing so I decided to make some fair cakes.

Creamless Coconut Pie

The other day I had a roast dinner with my roommates and we decided I was going to make dessert. I raided to cupboard to see what I had: a bag of coconut, different kinds of sugar, chocolate, nuts and cupcake liners. The fridge wasn't much better, I only had soy milk, eggs and margarine. So I decided I would make a coconut cream pie with a few substitutions.
A pie crust recipe normally requires butter but I made it with margarine instead. It still had a flaky and crispy texture and I'm a firm believer the pie is all about the crust. Next I substituted 3 cups of milk for soy milk instead. The pie comes out looking a little greyish but it's scrumptious non the less. I also substituted orange extract for vanilla to give it an extra zing (also because I was out of the latter). It's all about making substitutions with what you have to remake a recipe. Plus my roommates loved it...bonus. I didn't finish it off with whip cream, just a light coating of roasted coconut instead.