Ask a Vegan Baker

I 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....

Hi, 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!...

i 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...

My 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...

Hi, 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!...

What is the measurement conversion from evaporated cane juice to regular sugar?...

Hello! 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!...

Hi! 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!...

The 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!...

Hi 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...

Help! 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....

My 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?...

I'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?...

Hi 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...

Hello, 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...

I'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!...

This 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. ...

I'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....

Can I bake a bread with brown rice flour?...

Hey 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!...

Hi 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 ...