Ask a Vegan Baker

I HATE the flavor of Shortening in frosting and I'm trying to make a vegan frosting, it was gross not because it was vegan, because I could taste the shortening.... yuck! Not to mention that the feeling of shortening in the mouth is awful!! If the recipe calls for both shortening and margarine, can I just double the margarine? Please tell me that this is possible, or I just know I'll never be able to have frosting ever again!!! Thank you!...

Hey Mattie, Is there a brand of coconut cream that you recommend? I don't even know where to start with looking for this. Do you buy it in a can? HELP please! ...

Hello, After reading Daniel-san's post regarding margarine vs. oil and delving deeper into puff pastry territory I've been thinking about what it would take to develop a margarine from a custom blend of solid fats. Has anyone experimented with this before? I'd love to get away from the habit of purchasing margarine from a company that I think may not be getting palm kernel oil in the most environmentally respectful manner. And also because I'm a total food geek and it would be a fun experiment. I'm thinking something along the lines of cocoa butter, coconut oil with some water added and emulsified with possibly soy lecithin and arrowroot flour. I may add nutritional yeast flakes and a touch of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar for flavor depth. Vegan By Nature looks to have done this already but I'm not sure how it would hold up in puff pastry. I'm guessing not too well because it appears to be a tub margarine- a definite no no in the puff pastry world. The issue I can see...

Hi I really enjoy reading your blog. I would be obliged if you could answer my query . I baked a traditional fruit cake this Christmas using the ORGRAN No Egg powder after years of not being able to eat one since adopting veganism. I am happy with the way it turned out. It did rise and was moist even though there was no vegan butter used. But I feel that may be it could rise more and turn out a wee bit more moist, but I guess that was because I am a novice at baking as compared to other cooking methods. I will now try baking more complicated cakes/pastries with the No Egg powder. Being a novice at baking, I do not feel very confident using tofu or other egg substitutes as far as baking goes. There is no vegan margarine available in Goa. There is a company called Dakini Health Foods that does make cashew, sunflower, almond, peanut butters which are vegan. I have tasted their cashew butter which tastes good, but I was a little skeptical about using it in my cake as it appeared...

Hi! I am trying to bake some cookies for a vegan friend. I thought this would be an easy task, but as I look at recipes, I realize I dont have any of the right ingredients and dont know where to get them. Any advise? Are there any simple recipes with ingredients that a non vegan may already have? I have non dairy milk, I dont have any kind of nut butters. I do not have whole wheat flour.. is that necessary for vegan baking or just preferred? Thanks for your help!!...

i was make chocolate raspberry cake. i wanted to know. what is silken tofu? is powder or is it tofu in block....

Hiya, Just wondering if you have any rules for chilling or freezing cookie dough. I want to make my cranberry pecan oatmeal cookies that are here on the site, but I've never frozen or kept the dough chilled for a long period of time. I'd like to make the dough ahead of time so that I can bake it faster as the day approaches when I will need the cookies. Any advise? Thanks, Renata...

Hey, I'm a very new vegan. I absolutely loveeee to bake and I recently bought "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" and some of the cookies are really tasty! But, I want to bake other things, like cakes, brownies, pies, pastries, etc. The only thing is that I'm only 15 and don't have a job at the moment so my parents aren't too happy about having to buy all these special ingredients just for my baking, on top of all the vegan food I need. Does anybody have any good recipes for any dessert that doesnt require too many special ingredients (soy milk, egg replacers, and the basic everyday baking ingredients like baking soda are okay... just nothing else toooooo crazy expensive or difficult to find please!) thanks!...

I work in an all-oragnic, all-natural bakery, and a lot of our recipes cater to vegan's. However, we have no good recipe for a vegan icing that is thick enough to write on a cake with. I recently made a vegan chocolate ckae and the customer wanted 'Happy Birthday' written on it. Well, on non-vegan cakes I will use cream cheese icing, royal icing or chocolate ganache. However, our vegan cream cheese icing is too thin, because tofutti doesn't whip up the same way as dairy. I can't use vegan ganache because the cake is iced with gananche. I tried to dye the gananche darker but we don't use any unnatural food colorings and there is no plant-based dye that will get a chocolate icing any darker. Royal icing uses eggs, which obviously are out. I tried a paste made of lemon juice and powdered sugar, but it proved too runny. I have another order for a vegan cake which needs icing and it is due TOMORROW and I still have no idea what to use. Does anyone have a recipe for a vegan icing thick en...

I'd like to use some candy molds to make chocolate decorations for birthday cupcakes. I was thinking of a pirates and princesses theme. There are some neat Wilton molds, but the melts are not vegan. I was wondering what brands of chocolate would be best to make small skull and crossbones and princess crowns. I saw some white chocolate chips on the vegan essentials website, but the reviews seemed mixed. Any suggestions? When I do find some white chocolate, can I color them with food coloring or is there another way you are supposed to color chocolate? Also, is there a brand of dark chocolate that would be recommended for using these molds? Maybe I could make the main part in dark chocolate and use white chocolate for the accents. I need them to taste good because I don't want anyone saying that vegan stuff is yucky... hahaha. Thanks in advance! Anna...

Does anybody have a recipe for vegan brownies that actually comes out like a brownie? I've tried countless different recipes and they all end up like cake. If I wanted chocolate cake I would have baked one! The only recipe I've made the comes close to the dense, chewy, moist brownies I'm looking for had flax and it reminded me to much of eating dirt. Any suggestions?...

I need help! Can someone tell me why my vegan cakes (without eggs) always turn out dense, soggy (wet), and not crumble? I make sure I don't overmix and I follow the recipes accordingly. Is it because of the flour??...

Ok, so stumbling on this site made my day :woohoo: and now I'm excited to start baking again. In addition to this website, what vegan baking cookbooks do people recommend? I know many vegan cookbooks that don't specialize in baking still have baking sections. Any ones that have good baking sections that people recommend so I can start making some good stuff? Thanks, Julie...

I've just started baking banana nut bread for my vegan sweetheart. I found the recipe on your website. Compared to the kind I'd made before using eggs and shortening, it's terribly dry and without much flavor. Is there anything I can do to make it more moist and tasty?...

What's the difference between regular flour, pastry flour and cake flour? I'm curious because I know cake flour is obvs easier to make cakes with but I'm unclear as to why. :dry: -mr.pants...