Cake, like love, can be a battlefield. And is always better with side of ice cream.

I’m drowning in a sea of end-of-the-season produce: carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, lettuce galore. But I haven’t let me lose focus on that other essential food group: dessert. An opportunity from vegan news bloggy Vegansaurus! set me straight into cakeland with the challenge of making a vegan adaptation of the winning dessert from previous episode of Top Chef: Just Desserts.

Read more for my grumblings about buttercream, the pleasures of sour cherries and get a fresh batch of epic dessert recipes.