Skinny Birthday Cake Batter Shake and Kelle Hampton Skype!
I totally Skyped with Kelle Hampton last night! Let me tell you friends, she is awesome and even more friendly, open, fun, and cool than she comes off on her blog, if you can believe that. She even brought Nella and Lainey in to say hi at the end. They were wrapped in towels, fresh out of the bath. Cutest things ever. I was interested in her writing process and asked how the magic happened. She said she doesn't edit a whole lot, and that what she writes on the blog naturally comes out the first time. So, in short, she's crazy talented. I don't do a whole mess of editing myself, but I'm not a writer like she is. She said 1 in every 5 blog posts, she'll wake up and re-read and think I wrote WHAT?!? which leads to some edit. She also edits her pictures every single day.
Funny Story. I read the blog of this girl named Libby. One day, about a year ago, she wrote something to the effect of "I'm leaving to Naples, Florida. Be back next week". I immediately commented with
Hey, your going to Naples? You should totally stake out the Isle of Capri (A place Kelle Hampton hangs) and see if you could orchestrate bumping in to Kelle Hampton. Do you read her blog? She's my favorite.
Well, a few days later I'm reading Kelle's blog about Nella's first birthday party, when I spot Libby in the crowd. I. Was. Mortified. Because I didn't know if they were friends or what and I completely suggested stalking her. I told Kelle this story last night and she laughed and said that Libby had told her a a few of her readers had commented about the Naples/Kelle connection. At least I wasn't alone...
And now, a random and abrupt changing of subject-
My milkshake brings all the girls to the yard, cuz they're like, it's better than yours, damn right it's better than yours, I could teach you, and I won't charge. La la...la la...la.
My milkshake brings all the girls to the yard. Not boys. Because this milkshake is of the skinny variety. This milkshake contains no added sugar, unless you count the rainbow sprinkles (please tell me you are not counting the rainbow sprinkles) And is vegan...again, unless you count the rainbow sprinkles, because dude, theres no nutritional info on the back of the rainbow sprinkles container and I'm not about to call up the company to ask if they are indeed vegan. And furthermore, if you are really that worried about it, I'm not sure this blog is for you. I don't worry about sprinkles. I just eat them. Butter extract is vegan. Who knew?
I get really excited about desserts that don't have added sugar because that means I could conceivably have them at any time of the day, or even for my actual lunch. I don't really recommend that, but I'm just sayin' you could, you know, if you wanted to for any reason. *I use coconut milk in this recipe, which does in itself contain sugar, so what I mean by no added sugar is, I don't add any additional sweetener to it. You could always sub an unsweetened milk if you'd rather.
To achieve a shake that tastes as true to birthday cake flavor as possible, don't change the recipe up too much. It's sort of a delicate balance. For example, if you don't have coconut butter, and you try subbing with coconut oil, it'll still taste good, but it won't be as cakey as it should be. If you don't have butter extract and leave it out, the flavor won't be nearly as cakey either. Coconut milk can be substituted for different kinds of milk, but keep in mind that something strong like soy will tweak the taste. I like plain coconut milk the best for this recipe, but unsweetened almond milk works too. I love this recipe!
The more ripe your bananas, the more flavor they will impart to your drink. So, try to peel and freeze bananas that are not too ripe so they don't take over!
Skinny Birthday Cake Batter Shake
adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie
makes 2 small, or 1 big shake
2 large bananas, peeled and frozen
4 tablespoons coconut butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter extract
3/4 cup coconut milk (I used Silk Pure Coconut, Original) or more as needed
Rainbow sprinkles
Add all ingredients, except rainbow sprinkles, to a powerful blender such as the vita-mix. If you don't own a vita-mix, you'll need to add more coconut milk than called for. Just add enough to get the machine running. Once everything is blended throughly (I let my vita-mix run on high for a few seconds) add in some rainbow sprinkles and blend on low until just combined. Pour into glasses, top with more rainbow sprinkles. Eyes that roll back into your head is completely normal.
Sometimes, I add more butter extract or even a smidgen of coconut extract.