It’s only been two weeks since summer break started but I feel like I’ve done so much! We attended the VegExpo, a convention featuring vegetarian and vegan products, and ate like three rounds of samples, listened to live country music, and picked up some awesome food (like these hot dog sausages, which will make appearances at many of our BBQs and picnics this season)! Then we went on a camping trip with a handful of our closest friends which was an absolute blaaaaaaast! Like omg-I-still-think-about-how-much-fun-we-had-everyday kinda blast. I’ll go into detail about what shenanigans went down in a camping-inspired recipe post later. We came back home in time for Mother’s Day, and I took my mom to high tea with a few other aunties. Sometimes I like to dress up in cute dresses with a face full of make up and eat off tiered plates. Other times I prefer my Christmas pajamas, messy hair, and eating leftover kale salad out of a mixing bowl. For mom, I’ll do anything.

Mama Leung’s birthday coincides with Mother’s Day every year; sometimes it’s on the same day, other times it’s off by a day or two. This year it was off by a few days, so she got double the cake. Two of her favourite things are coffee and caramel, so it was a no-brainer to make this cake. Fun fact: Starbucks’ frappy hour always overlaps mom’s birthday as well, so we usually go and get sugary coffee drinks. She always picks the mocha or caramel flavoured ones while I go for the toasted coconut or s’mores ones. I say skip the frappuccinos this year and eat a slice of this cake instead! Same flavours, less crap.

By now, my family is acclimated to my usage of funky ingredients. Like this wildly successful Healthy Black Forest Cake we made last summer with our best friends, which features black beans, this espresso and coconut salted caramel cake is primarily made with white navy beans. If you’ve never tried bean based desserts before, you’re probably skeptical. I get it, because I was too. But I’m always floored by how fluffy this bean-based cake is. Also, if you had a salted caramel cake like this sitting in front of you, you’d want a slice too.