Ask a Vegan Baker
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Replacing Shortening with margarine in frosting
Posted By: Brookelewiscomedy In Ask a Vegan BakerI 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!... -
Coconut Cream
Posted By: NMSMITH18 In Ask a Vegan BakerHey 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! ... -
How would you create your own margarine?
Posted By: Mattie In Ask a Vegan BakerHello, 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... -
Vegan Christmas Cake
Posted By: gemini16381 In Ask a Vegan BakerHi 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... -
non vegan trying to bake for a vegan
Posted By: kirab2 In Ask a Vegan BakerHi! 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!!... -
tofu
Posted By: apeechy3 In Ask a Vegan Bakeri was make chocolate raspberry cake. i wanted to know. what is silken tofu? is powder or is it tofu in block.... -
Rules for chilling cookie dough
Posted By: Renoodle In Ask a Vegan BakerHiya, 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... -
Eclairs and choux pastry?
Posted By: HildaJorgensen In Ask a Vegan BakerWell I tried to make eclairs with veganised choux pastry a couple of weeks ago, and while my vanilla cashew cream filling and dark chocolate icing were delicious, the pastry didn't turn out at all like the eclairs I remember from non-vegan days. I was wondering whether anyone had any success with choux pastry, or could think of something else that would work for vegan eclairs?... -
What is the future of vegan baking?
Posted By: Mattie In Ask a Vegan BakerA new year of vegan baking is upon us. So what's it hold for the new year? I predict that higher-end eats will make a stronger showing, along with aliens finally sharing their vegan baking technology with us (It's about damn time). What do you think?... -
root bread
Posted By: matthewe In Ask a Vegan BakerI'm new to baking, and I've been using the same potato bread recipe, and it's worked every time. I tried using daikon one time, and that worked too. I was wondering if I can use any sort of blended vegetable matter in the place of potato. Namely, I have this borscht in my fridge that I'm not too pleased with, and I feel like this would be a creative way to dispose of it. Any feedback?... -
White chocolate
Posted By: Nyx In Ask a Vegan BakerHello everyone, I am trying to make a white chocolate icing and have followed a recipe for white chocolate (vegan) that came out alright but it is not sweet enough. I am making it to use in icing and will have to remelt (don't even know if I should bother solidifying it after making before melting to put in the icing). Anyhow, I want to make it sweeter and the rest of the recipe does not call for sugar (the icing recipe that is). So I am wondering how to add more sugar without changing the composure of the chocolate bar itself. Does this make sense? The recipe for the white chocolate is here: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-make-white-chocolate.html It was already vegan! The recipe for the icing is something to the effect of 3 ounces white chocolate melted + butter + heavy cream. I was going to melt my vegan chocolate, add soy creamer and EB. Should I add some sugar as well to the icing since the white chocolate is not sweet enough? I'm doing this f... -
Does a vegan French Macaroon exist?
Posted By: Faithrules99 In Ask a Vegan BakerHello! I would love to find a vegan recipe for French Macaroons. All I can find are the coconut variety but a French Macaroon is completely different. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance! ... -
vegan baking without high costs?
Posted By: xintothebreezex In Ask a Vegan BakerHey, 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!... -
Recipe for writing icing?
Posted By: bakerbyproffession In Ask a Vegan BakerI 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... -
Chocolate candy molds
Posted By: Anna In Ask a Vegan BakerI'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... -
Perfect vanilla cupcakes?
Posted By: cottagecupcakeco In Ask a Vegan BakerHello folks! I've recently been experimenting with various vanilla cupcake recipes. I've tried VCTOTW's oil and margarine method, as well as the "100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes" vanilla muffins recipe. They never turn out as fluffy or wonderful in texture as the others do. Does anyone have a never-fail vanilla cupcake recipe? I'm up for trying just about anything Thanks! Jenny.... -
Vegan Brownies
Posted By: nickispider In Ask a Vegan BakerDoes 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?... -
Wedding Cake
Posted By: beckyk In Ask a Vegan BakerOK...so maybe I got a little excited, but I offered to make my little cousin's wedding cake next spring. The good thing is she's veg, so that helps. Anyone have any cake tips or suggestions for me? I haven't baked a large vegan cake yet so I'm wondering if I need to be aware of any issues. I plan on starting to test cake flavors soon.... -
What's your all-time favorite dessert?
Posted By: Mattie In Ask a Vegan BakerI'm a huge cookie and pie fan although I have to say that brownies is my all time favorite dessert. This site's forums would be useless if we didn't pop the question: What's your favorite vegan dessert? So what is it? And while you're at it, submit the recipe to our 'Submit a Recipe' link so we can all try it. -mattie... -
Soggy bottomed apple struedel
Posted By: beckyk In Ask a Vegan BakerMy apple struedel made with phyllo became soggy relatively soon after making them. I'm thinking I made a couple of mistakes. First, I forgot to line my pan with parchment paper, and secondly I think I was too eager to plate the struedels and they were just too warm becoming soggy when served. Anyone have any insight on this problem? :unsure: Today I made up for my baking mistakes and made a lovely batch of banana cupcakes with caramel frosting topped with chopped walnuts! :woohoo:... -
Why my cakes so dense, soggy??
Posted By: payling In Ask a Vegan BakerI 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??... -
Vegan baking cookbooks?
Posted By: julie In Ask a Vegan BakerOk, 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... -
Dry bread
Posted By: aninanny In Ask a Vegan BakerI'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 baking tool can you not live without?
Posted By: Mattie In Ask a Vegan BakerWhen I moved from San Francisco to Brooklyn the flight attendant at the front desk of the airport mentioned that I could save money by moving some of the stuff from one of my bags to the other. This way I could be under a certain weight limit with both suitcases. So I ended up moving my food processor to another suitcase. She looked at me puzzled and said that was the first time she noticed anyone taking a food processor with them anywhere. I have a special relationship with my food processor- it's helped me out so much in the kitchen. So what baking tool can you not live without? -mattie... -
Regular flour vs pastry flour vs cake flour?
Posted By: Mr. Pants In Ask a Vegan BakerWhat'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...