Before jumping into today's post, I wanted to include a little note about what goes through my mind when I write a blog post that includes music (read: basically all of them). If I'm talking about a particular band, artist or group of songs, chances are that I was probably listening to whatever I posted while I wrote the blog. If I was tech savvy enough I would set up my blog so that certain songs would be playing alongside certain posts, but for someone who finds it a challenge just to get certain YouTube videos working on my posts, I'm going to go ahead and say that it is not likely this feature will happen anytime soon. Having said that, if you read my blog on a regular basis I would highly reccommend reading the articles with the music I've posted playing in the background. Now is your cue to scroll down to one of the two links I've posted (I recommend the second video, it's a happy song and there's no video to go with it), hit play, and enjoy today's post!
Yesterday afternoon I took a much needed break from my travel writing assignment to download some new music. Although I have a few bands that remain constants in my life, my musical taste tends to shift from season to season. Throughout the summer I typically listen to a lot of upbeat music--top 40, electronic, hip-hop, pop/rock, and anything else that makes me want to party hard and dance. Come autumn, my ears crave the sweet, soothing sounds of indie folk, alternative, and as of last year, country music. As I scrolled through iTunes nothing was really peaking my interest. When my mind is set on something I become quite stubborn, and yesterday all I wanted to do was discover a new, female vocalist. Basically everyone on the pop, alternative and singer/songwriter charts was familiar to me, so I made my way to the country section. Previously aware of how males overpowered females on the country music charts, I hadn't realized the extent to which this was true. Among the dozens of male country artists on the charts there are only a few female names to be found, and for the most part they are the household names that even non-country fans are aware of (Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, etc.) As I let my eyes glaze over the album covers of Jason Aldean, Toby Keith and Hunter Hayes, a girl by the name of Cassadee Pope caught my attention. Over five songs by this fresh country starlet have found their way onto the latest country charts. After sampling a few of her tracks I decided to download the entire album. It only took a few minutes before I became obsessed with her catchy, emotional, southern ballads. Complemented with a few upbeat tracks that make you want to put your boots on frolick around in the autumn leaves, her debut album, Frame By Frame, showcases the wide range of talent that this 24 year old singer had previously been hiding down in her Florida homeland. Curious to know how her career started, I did a bit of googling and discovered that Cassadee was in fact the winner of The Voice, Season 3. With Blake Shelton as her mentor it's no wonder she's hitting the charts so hard. Given the reaction I had to her music, I have no doubt that her popularity is only going to grow.
The only bad part about discovering her album yesterday afternoon was that I wasn't at home where I could belt along to the songs that were about to become the new anthems of my life. Whenever I'm at home I'm on a constant singing high, regardless of what I'm doing I'm always singing and humming along to whatever I have playing. Her songs were easy for me to relate to, and when that happens to me I always want to learn those songs themselves. It's hard to describe the feeling you get when you just connect with a song, but that's what I felt as soon as I heard her single "Wasting All These Tears," the first track that I played from beginning to end. The perfect combination of sass, power, anger and heartbreak in a song has the ability to take over the entire female species (see: Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood), and this song just happened to find its way into my life at the perfect time.
And you left me
Standing on a corner crying,
Feeling like a fool for trying
I don't even remember
Why I'm wasting all these tears on you
I wish I could erase our memory
Cause you didn't give a damn about me
Oh, finally I'm through
Wasting all these tears on you
For the sake of your emotions I'm hoping that song didn't make you as melancholic as it did to me, but if it did, fear not! I absolutely love when an album takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions, and that's exactly what happened to me throughout Frame By Frame. "I wanna put a smile on your lips like an eighth grade kiss/put a swingin your hips come on move like this" sings Cassadee in "Good Times," an uplifting track that will leave your heart smiling and your feet dancing. In all seriousness, you will find it irresistible to groove along to this song - I found myself not-so-discretely swaying around on several street corners as it blasted through my headphones. If the recipe that follows this song doesn't motivate you to have some fun today, then this song definitely will. For maximum pleasure, make Cassadee Pope's debut album the soundtrack to your baking - your ears AND your stomache will be completely satisfied.
Vegan Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake with Spiced Buttercream Icing
I found the recipe that I based this one off of on one of my favourite vegan food blogs, Oh She Glows. I made the version from that site for the first time last year and it was actually to die for. However, the other recipe called for walnuts, which I decided to omit from this recipe in order for friends with nut allergies to be able to try it. I took this as an opportunity to incorporate apples into my baking for the second time this month. A few weeks ago I made pumpin apple streudel muffins and the apples made all the difference, so I figured they would taste just as delicious in this fall cake. The recipe below is for one cake, however I doubled mine in order to have an extra loaf to take to an upcoming dinner party :)
Ingredients
-1 cup canned pumpkin
-3 tbsp blue agave (I used maple flavour)
-3/4 cups sugar
-1/3 cup coconut oil
-1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
-chia egg (mix 1 tbsp of chia seeds + 3 tbsp of water in a small bowl)
1 2/3 cups spelt flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you can't find pumpkin pie spice you can mix together 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
-1 tsp sea salt
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp ground cloves
-1/2 cup chopped apples
Icing
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Line regular sized loaf pan and oil lightly with coconut oil.
3. Peel and chop 1/2 cup of apples (about 1 apple is enough).
4. Combine pumpkin, agave, sugar, coconut oil, molasses and chia egg in a medium sized bowl.
5. In a large bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well.
7. Fold in apples.
8. Pour batter into pan and smooth out with a wet spatula for an even surface.
9. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
10. While the cake bakes prepare the icing
-whip butter with a mixer until smooth
-mix in 1 cup of the icing sugar
-add the vanilla, pumpkin spice and almond milk
-add remaining icing sugar
11. Let cool for as long as possible.
12. Spread on buttercream icing and cut into 8 slices.
If you decide to follow this recipe and need any extra help, feel free to message me or comment below!
With love,
Ciara
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