When you think of Lady and the Tramp, what do you think of? I can almost guarantee the first thing that came to your mind was the spaghetti scene.

So when I was faced with the challenge of conceptualizing a dessert based off of this movie, my first thought was to go with an illusion cake. Well, illusion cupcakes. There’s a lot of components for this, so instead of listing everything all together, I’m going to go one at a time.

The first thing I made was a vegan version of Ferrero Rochers that would play the “meatball” on top of each cupcake. For your truffles, you’ll need:

• 3/4 cup roasted hazelnuts (or other nut of choice; I ended up using almonds)
• 3/4 cup crushed cornflakes
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3 TBS hazelnut (or other nut) butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 TBS coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

First, crush up your cornflakes so that they are in small, even pieces. Then, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the cocoa powder, nut butter, maple syrup, 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil, the vanilla, and salt. Personally if I made these again, I would sub the coconut oil for vegetable shortening or something similar, since the coconut flavor can be overpowering. This mixture should combine into a thick paste.

For each meatball, take about half of a tablespoon of this fudge-like mixture and form it into a rough ball. Place a whole hazelnut/other nut in the middle, and form the fudge around it. Continue doing this until you have 12 fudge balls. I used a bit of non-stick spray on my hands. Coat your fudge balls in the crushed cornflakes, then freeze them for 15 minutes.

While your truffles are chilling, add about an inch of water to a small saucepan and bring it to a light boil over medium heat. Add the chocolate chips and the remaining coconut oil to a glass bowl, then place the bowl over the saucepan to create a double-boiler. Melt the chocolate and remove it from heat. Then, finely chop the nuts you did not use in the center of the truffles.

When your truffles are done freezing, dip them one at a time into the melted chocolate, either with a spoon or with a fork, and make sure they are entirely coated. Then sprinkle a bit of chopped nuts over the top and place them in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Moving on to the cupcakes. For these, you will need:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup plain soy yogurt
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 375F, and prepare your muffin tin. Then, whisk the cocoa powder into the boiling water. If you have an electric kettle, this is probably the fastest way to get the water to boiling. Set this chocolate mixture aside, and in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, beat the shortening and sugar together until it is light and fluffy. Add the yogurt, milk, and vanilla to the sugar mixer and beat it together.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and beat until combined. Then add the cocoa mixture.

Scoop the chocolate batter into your prepared muffin tin, and bake the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes.

Finally, the buttercream frosting. For this, you will need:

• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 TBS soy milk
• Food coloring

Start by beating the vegan butter until it is creamy. Then, slowly add the powdered sugar. Add the milk and vanilla and continue beating until fluffy. Add 1-2 drops of yellow and copper or orange food coloring until the frosting looks similar to spaghetti noodles. Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with the grass tip.

Once the cupcakes have cooled enough, you’re ready to put it all together. Frost the cupcakes with the buttercream. Warm up some strawberry, raspberry, or cherry jam and spoon just a bit over the top of each to look like pasta sauce, but make sure your jam isn’t too warm, or it will melt the frosting. Add one truffle to the top of each cupcake to look like meatballs, and if you want to go the extra mile (and can source it), grate a little bit of vegan white chocolate over the top to look like parmesan. A good brand can be found here, but I didn’t have any on hand at the time.

This was my first time attempting any sort of illusion cake, but I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. Order some real pasta for dinner and enjoy an at-home dinner, dessert, and movie!