The Vegan Strawberry Cake That Wasn't And Other Pink-ness

I was heading down with corn for the deer tonight and looked up to see these incredible blooms. I ran back inside for my camera because I just knew some of you out there would want to share in this moment with me--well, besides the moquitoes that were picking my blood veins dry! Over the course of this 90-plus degree hot day, my tree was now flush with blossoms! Just like that. I don't think its ever had this many blooms. I imagine we are having this pink spash partly owing to the fact that I've allowed this "rather invasive" tree to mature on a hill directly below my very amended square-foot-garden--i.e., this sucker is getting all the goods I have in one fell swoop.

My roses are doing amazingly well this year, too. I planted garlic directly next to them. I have yet to see a Japanese Beetle dare set foot here. Hmmm. Could it be my companion planting research finally paid off?

And then this. . . so I am just in for a quick post this evening. (I am an early to bed gal--beauty sleep is mandatory and critical at my Almost Fifty age). I'm sad tonight. I wanted to have my fruit with dinner per the Eat to Live plan: "fruit with each meal", so I made a vegan strawberry cake. I think strawberry cake qualifies as a "fruit with dinner".

Alas, my cake was a total failure. In my research in all things pink cake--I discovered two things: most of them are made with Jell-O, and most are made with a box cake mix. I tried my hand at adapting several recipes to get to this finished mess. Looks good, right? Umm, no. Not even close. Too flour-y, too lacking in. . . I don't know--a good Jell-O cake taste--which for the life of me, I cannot quite replicate in a vegan version. I will try again because I have bad cake lust right now. So until I get this right, this is the only "cake craving" shot for today. Sigh. No fruit with dinner, sorry Eat to Live plan.