Last week, my husband was away in San Francisco for work, and so I have been subsisting on meals from RFD and basically a static menu of brown rice, bean and Daiya cheese burritos (cooking for one is a real drag…) but to celebrate his return– and cut my newfound vegan teeth– I have decided that I want to try my hand at vegan baking.
This is not an entirely spurious decision, as I am making a wedding cake for a dear (vegan) friend in March, and while I’ve made a few traditional wedding cakes, this will be my first attempt to bake without eggs, butter and milk.
So I’ve rounded up a few vegan cooking books, such as the new Babycakes cookbook (which could not be any cuter) from the NYC temple of all gluten and dairy free desserts, and the Joy of Vegan Baking, which has come highly recommended by basically every vegan baker I know.
My inclination is to start with something from The Joy of Vegan Baking, only because she uses traditional All-Purpose Flour and Sugar, which, for better or worse is much closer to my “comfort zone” of how to bake. I am, however, a sucker for glossy pictures and adorable aprons, which is drawing me inevitably towards the Babycakes option. Oh decisions!
At any rate, my big question that I would love some suggestions on is the issue of egg replacement. There’s a great reference on the too-awesome-for-words Post Punk Kitchen, that lists a few different types of common egg replacers– who knew ground flaxseed could fill the yolky void of eggs? Food chemistry is an amazing thing…
At any rate, as always, I’m looking for help and support from anyone out there who has a great book, website, blog, recipe– anything that will help me make an AMAZING vegan cake (and, hopefully, to prove to my husband that we can get by just fine without dairy or swine…) 
**And huge, huge thanks to everyone who’s been writing, emailing, and commenting so far, it’s a huge help to know you’re out there!!!**
Thursday, 14. January 2010
First things first, I would recommend using one of the Isa Chandra Moskowitz/Terry Hope Romero cookbooks (Veganomicon or Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) or My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky (both of which use white flour and white sugar, since that’s your comfort zone) as your baking tomes. I’ve not had success with the baked goods recipes from The Joy of Vegan Baking and I’m most definitely a baker.
Generally, if you’re using a vegan cookbook, the recipe will point you in the direction of the right egg replacer for that specific recipe. Sometimes one type of egg replacer might work better in a specific type of recipe. For example, I’ve always had great success with EnerG egg replacer (whipped until frothy, that’s very important) in cookie recipes, but I’d probably be more apt to use soy yogurt as an egg replacer in cake. All that being said, it’s best to use the suggestion of the recipe’s author!
Feel free to email me if you have any more baking questions.
Thursday, 4. February 2010
Nice blog, keep up the good work and thank you for sharing.