Vegan maple gingerbread layer cake with cheesecake filling and spiced crumb

I have this thing with animals. All of those cuddly and fuzzy creatures, like little dogs and squirrels and ducks and rabbits; it just brings out the squealing little girl in me. And then of course I chase them. It’s really the only logical thing to do. When you see something so perfectly cute and squeezable, you must chase it, and then you must capture it and hug it.

Not that I’ve ever hugged a duck, of course. Once I chased a duck around a pond in my kayak for, oh, about ten minutes, to no avail. But such is life.