Ask a Vegan Baker
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Hazelnut based vegan truffles/Gianduja? Ideally with cocoa butter.
Posted By: Morgoth In Ask a Vegan BakerI want to make vegan truffles, modelled after the velvety vegan gianduja truffles available from some fancy chocolatiers. I have been unable to find a gianduja recipe that works. My attempt turned out sadly gritty and poor in flavour. Unfortunately, the vast majority of vegan recipes only seem to focus on a nut base other than hazelnut, presumably due to the comparative rarity of hazelnuts in the US. Any ideas for a gianduja-like truffle made of roast hazelenut that comes out smooth and not gritty? It would be especially useful if it had cocoa butter in it, as I bought a whole load of it and it was expensive, and have yet to use it beyond that one unsuccessful attempt.... -
Cutting a candy recipe in half?
Posted By: Freeda In Ask a Vegan BakerHi, Does anyone know if the candy recipes like fudge (ones that require caramelization) can be cut in half? I'm wondering if the proportions of sugar/water etc would have to change for it to turn out right. Thanks for any advice!... -
Doubling your recipes
Posted By: Boricua65 In Ask a Vegan Bakeri want to double this recipe, can you tell what I need to watch for? I use a mix of 1/2 tsp. of BP and 1 oz of Mori-nu tofu for each egg. Ingredients * 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans * 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans * 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising) * 1 tablespoon baking powder * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 3/4 cups sugar * 4 large eggs * 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract * 1 1/4 cups milk... -
Butter Substitute
Posted By: alwayscooking In Ask a Vegan BakerMy daughter has multiple food intolerances, so I find vegan recipes very suitable for her (although I do still need to do some tweeking). I note that the vegan butter has soy, which is something she cannot have. She eats Nuttelex butter (which is all vegetable based) - would this substitute work well? Thanks... -
Creating a flyer on vegan baking
Posted By: unnypn In Ask a Vegan BakerHi, I'm trying to create a quarter page or half page introduction to vegan baking to hand out. I imagine the flyer would mostly talk about how to substitute eggs and dairy. Can you point me to an article or other resources on this site or elsewhere to get me started? Thanks!... -
Measurement Conversion from evaporated cane juice to sugar
Posted By: lmmountain In Ask a Vegan BakerWhat is the measurement conversion from evaporated cane juice to regular sugar?... -
Flour
Posted By: vegangal In Ask a Vegan BakerHello! I'm a new Vegan and I am also gluten and soy free. I'm still fairly lost when it comes to picking basic ingredients that I can have, and I was hoping someone could help. I've searched and searched for breads that I can have but haven't been able to find any brands that are suitable for my diet, so I'm thinking the only way for me to have bread is to make my own, which requires flour. However, I don't know which flours would be okay for me to have. Originally I thought any kind of flour would be okay but the more I looked the more flours I was finding that either contained gluten, soy, or were unspecific as to what they contained. Any suggestions? Thanks!... -
Looking for a cookie or snack recipe.
Posted By: blujpster In Ask a Vegan BakerHi! My sister-in-law is a vegan and is going through chemo right now. She's having a very hard time so in response to what I could do to bless her, she asked for some cookies. She is supposed to have high fiber, low to no simple sugars, no dyes. She can have truvia and agave for sweeteners. She likes chocolate, pecans, walnuts, and coconut. Any ideas out there? Thanks in advance for your help!... -
Vegan Baumkuchen?
Posted By: dancingisforbidden In Ask a Vegan BakerHi everyone! The holidays do weird things to bakers, and being vegan, at least I want to convert every seemingly incongruous recipe to my diet. Baumkuchen doesn't seem to have been veganized yet so maybe that's next. If you've never had it, it's sort of a hyper layer cake (baum=tree), whose batter is sort of a thin german pancake/crepe batter, fairly egg and yolk-heavy. You bake one layer for a short period, pour on another, bake, etc. You end up with about 20 or so layers, which is then covered in a dark chocolate ganache-style icing. Very rich, yet very subtle. Anyway, I was hoping someone might be able to suggest the proper egg replacement? I have made challah and croissants with Ener-G. I may experiment with Matt's homemade version, and let you know, but please, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!... -
Celebration Pumpkin pie Substitution
Posted By: culpritsmom In Ask a Vegan BakerThe celebration pumpkin pie calls for barley malt syrup. I live in a small town in the Deep South and cannot buy barley malt syrup locally. In my bread recipes I substitute molasses but didn't know if that would be too strong for the pie. Any ideas on acceptable substitutions? Brown rice syrup? Molasses? Thanks!... -
vegan photo toppers
Posted By: Sunrise In Ask a Vegan Bakerhi all. does anyone out there know of a company that prints vegan custom photo toppers. i'm making a sugar cookie that i want to put a photo on top of. i found some companies that do this online, but i want to be sure that the sugar they use isn't filtered with bone char & the dyes that they use don't have any animal or insect excretions, ie. cochineal bugs for red dye etc. thanks for any info you guys have. i sell my vegan cookies & want to stay true to my product... -
German Chocolate Cake Frosting!
Posted By: andreanewengland In Ask a Vegan BakerThere is no recipe for German Chocolate Frosting here on veganbaking! I just made one based on thickening the frosting with cornstarch (instead of the original egg yolks). The texture is just wrong, like pudding. Mattie, or anyone, do you have any ideas for making a more custard-like base for the frosting? I used coconut milk and some of Mattie's vegan butter, thickened it with a slurry of cornstarch in almond milk. I'm sure it will taste fine, but I think there's a better way. I had a vegan modification I liked, but I lost it. And I need to get it right for a party. Thanks!!... -
Stevia/sugar conversion
Posted By: HayGurlHayCafe In Ask a Vegan BakerHi all, I have a recipe that calls for Stevia, but I would like to try using sugar. I know Stevia is much sweeter (not to mention more expensive) than sugar. Does anyone know the proper ratio to use when substituting? Are there other properties that one must account for? Thanks-- EGN... -
Vegan butter for soy-allergic person
Posted By: alisaunt In Ask a Vegan BakerHelp! I'm allergic to soy (as well as dairy, corn, egg yolk, tomato... Not all relevant to my vegan desires, obviously, but all difficult). Oh: sensitive to canola, too. Without the curdling, can I make decent butter from almond, grapeseed, sunflower, or coconut oil or milk? I bought Pure brand sunflower margarine in Ireland earlier this month -- not bad -- but need to make something here, back home. Thanks for any help you can give.... -
Crumbly Muffins
Posted By: Embones In Ask a Vegan BakerMy vegan muffins are crumbly, and sort of dry even though i put in heaps of freshly grated apples. Any suggestions or reasons why this might be?... -
Where can I find information on the Chemistry of Vegan Baking to help with recipe creation and development?
Posted By: JME In Ask a Vegan BakerI'm great at baking with a recipe. I can even put my own spin on recipes I find. What I want to be able to do is start creating my own recipes from scratch. I feel like this involves understanding more about the chemistry of how different ingredients react to one another. While I would love to go to a vegan culinary school, I don't have the money for it. Does any one know of books, websites or other sources of information on how to develop recipes and help me understand the chemistry behind vegan baking?... -
Is the salty taste from soy products bad for you?
Posted By: kk1936 In Ask a Vegan BakerHi Tried to ask this question but it doesnt seem to have appeared so sorry will ask again... Is all the salt in soy flavoured products bad for you if you have too much? Im a very new vegan and loving it so am reading all I can about it. Just discovered that if I (nearly dry) fry slices of tofu cheese (miso covered then rinsed tofu after 12 hours) it tastes like haloumi cheese- yum... -
vegan option for candy melts
Posted By: sweet witch In Ask a Vegan BakerHello, Last week I tried to make vegan cakepops. The cake and the frosting were no problem. Instead of the candy melts from Wilton I used rice-chocolate from Sweet William but the rice-chocolate-coating didn´t harden again at room-temperature. Once they were inside my fridge the coating solified. Any ideas what I could use to make colourful easter-cakepops my vegan friends could enjoy? Thank you in advance! sweet witch... -
My first vegan passover!
Posted By: lsparer In Ask a Vegan BakerI'd like to bring my usual chocolate buttercrunch matzoh, but I'm having trouble re-creating the buttercrunch, without butter. The original recipe calls for 1 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, stir on the stovetop for 2-4 minutes, and then bake at 375 for another 15 minutes. I've tried it with commercial vegan butter (can't recall the brand - it was years ago, for a friend with heart health issues), and I just tried it with veganbaking's vegan butter recipe (mainly a blend of coconut and canola oils) - and both times, it turned into an oily, smelly (chemical smelly), smoky mess after just 5 minutes. Any suggestions? (And btw - I know this is generally a baking site, but ... matzohballs. Anyone gone there? Got any favorite recipes from other websites?) Thanks!... -
Spirulina Powder- Refrigerate? Or room temp ok?
Posted By: Electric Blue Baking In Ask a Vegan BakerThis may be a bit off topic, but does spirulina powder need to be refrigerated? I have so much (bought a whole pound), there's no way I'm gonna use it all any time soon! Hugs from one vegan baker to another. ... -
What is really Vegan vs. Allergy friendly
Posted By: gingerannie In Ask a Vegan BakerI'm a novice when it comes to baking without eggs, milk or dairy butter. I can make a few things thanks to Cybele Pascal's awesome books and my mother's constant determination to experiment. I can get some cakes to rise but i have definitely heard conflicting responses to white granulated sugar. Is my recipe considered vegan if I have replaced eggs, milk and butter but still use white granulated sugar for my cakes and cookies? I want to share what I have but I don't want to say it is truely vegan if it really only qualifies as allergy friendly for my daughter.... -
brown rice flour for bread
Posted By: silviareus In Ask a Vegan BakerCan I bake a bread with brown rice flour?... -
Vegan melting wafers?
Posted By: daniemma In Ask a Vegan BakerHey folks! I am desperately intrigued by this recipe, as it combines two of my most favorite things; dessert and sushi! http://www.cakespy.com/blog/2012/1/12/sushi-cake-truffles-recipe-from-crazy-for-cake-pops.html However, the only place I know to get melting wafers in my metropolis is my local Bulk Barn. Sadly a look at their website shows that their wafers have milk products, as do the Make N Mould variety. I don't know if there is another brand I should look to, or if I should try making something from scratch to dip my ''sushi'' in, but I figured I would send out my question to the universe and see what y'all think! Thanks so much!... -
Shortening
Posted By: curaloucur In Ask a Vegan BakerHello, I just loved this website, such a great resource for vegan bakers! I have a question about shortening though, in the pastry recipe you suggest using it and I wonder if it's the same vegetable shortening made of hydrogenated oils as you can find on supermarkets. I've seen in USA some shortening that are not that bad (I think from the same company as Earth Balance) but it scares me a bit having to use those kind of shortening. Any healthier alternative?... -
First attempt at puff pastry...
Posted By: kirstles13 In Ask a Vegan BakerHi Mattie I tried your Puff Pastry recipe for the first time this week, along with your vegan butter. I think for a first try it's ok! However there's a few things I'd like to ask/improve on. Sorry this is a bit of a mamouth question sesh. I don't have a stand mixer, so just cut the butter into the flour by hand with a knife - I've now ordered a pastry cutter! I did as the recipe said and left pea sized bits of butter in the flour. There were still these little lumps of butter when I'd finished all the rounds of folding, and I found that when in the oven a lot of oil was coming out of the pastry and resting on the lid of my pie! (and also dripped a lot onto to the tray beneath. Do you think the cause was these lumps of butter? My pastry looked different to the photos of yours...perhaps my lumps of butter need to be much smaller? All in all it was a good first attempt at puff pastry and very edible, just a bit on the oily side. Possible things to improve on/errors ...