Did I ever tell you about the day that I was appointed chief of detectives of the egg police? No? It was a several years ago before the blog, on Mr NQN's birthday and we were having dinner with the Elliotts (cue the music to Jaws please Mr Music). I had organised his birthday at a Japanese restaurant and I was busy trying to negotiate a second language which I barely speak and people were asking me all sorts of questions about the cake, the food they were eating and just general daftness. Then,there was a loud, dramatic gasp and then a cry from Mr NQN's mother Tuulikki who was sitting next to me. I had apparently let her eat a piece of okonomiyaki, an egg omelette. "Lorraine! How could you let me do that?" she asked me looking at me accusingly and hurt.
"But, but it looks like a pancake or an omelette ... and they are two things that you can't eat as they both have eggs!" I spluttered, my energy completely sapped from the whole experience. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I had been appointed the chief of detectives of the "Egg Police" and was expected to watch what she would eat and warn her accordingly. From that day on I resigned my position and she was on her own. It was up to her to ask whether an item had egg in it and if she ate it, it washer responsibility.
I know she and I have our moments where the vegan clashes with omnivore but we do get along well as long as we aren't talking about food. And apart from being an entertaining and charmingly eccentric artist, she also created Mr NQN who is the most wonderful specimen of humandom.Anyway it was Tuulikki's birthday and I decided to make her an eggless, vegan chocolate cake.
Except I wanted people to have no idea that it was a vegan, egg-less or dairy-less cake. I wanted it to be moist, gooey and rich with an "eat me" texture to it - not like some vegan cakes that I had eaten which would err towards hard and dry. I baked the cake and decided the best way to keep it moist would either be to poke holes in it while it was still warm and pour a rich chocolate syrup on top or spread the syrup once cooled as a thick icing. Either way I think after much experimentation, wefinally had a vegan chocolate cake that could pass as a regular chocolate cake. It was rich and it had a moist, tender crumb - everything you could want in a cake yet this one had no eggs or dairy in it.
So it came to serving the cake. I asked Tuulikki if there were forks for people to eat the cake. Her brow wrinkled and she put a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "I haven't been able to find my forks...." she mused before pausing for a second and then her hands sprung up into the air. "Eureka!" her expression said.
"Oh yes, the forks must be in the bedroom!!!" she said before scurrying off to look for them.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a good repertoire of vegetarian, vegan or allergy friendly recipes? And are there certain topics that you just can't discuss with some people like politics, relligion or food?
75g/2.5oz dark chocolate (dairy free) finely chopped
Chocolate syrup or icing
1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs water
1/2 cup/75g/2.7ozs icing or confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa
100g/3.5ozs dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Step 1 - Line a 20cm round baking tin with parchment and preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together. In a jug mix the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla and then add to dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate and and then pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Step 2 - While it is baking, prepare the syrup. Heat the water, icing or confectioners sugar and cocoa until boiling and syrup - this may take a few minutes but you do want this syrupy. When thick add the chocolate and then whisk to remove any lumps and melt the chocolate.
Step 3 - When the cake is ready, take out of the oven and leaving it in the tin, poke tiny holes with a skewer. While it is still warm, gently pour the syrup over the cake and allow to cool completely before taking it out of the tin. Alternatively, if you allow this to cool and partially set, it takes on the consistency of icing and you can spread it out over the top which is what I did (who knew that inattentiveness would pay off? ;) ).
This can be caused by a few things already mentioned such as using the wrong egg replacer or over mixing. I always recommend using fresh raising agents. Generally, baking soda and baking powder only stay active for 3 months after opening.
Vegan cake is cake made without eggs, dairy butter or dairy milk. Each of these standard ingredients is easily replaced by plant-based substitutes, such as banana or flaxseed for eggs, non-trans fat margarine or oils for butters and plant milks for milk.
Lack of Eggs: Eggs provide structure, moisture, and leavening in traditional cakes. Vegan cakes typically replace eggs with alternatives like flax eggs, applesauce, or mashed bananas, which may not provide the same lightness and binding properties.
Because the ingredients of vegan cakes contain fewer calories than those of regular cakes, you have a lower tendency to gain weight while eating them. However, this depends on your amount of consumption. Like any other thing, eat vegan cakes in moderation.
Most cakes begin with creaming butter and sugar together. Butter is capable of holding air and the creaming process is when butter traps that air. While baking, that trapped air expands and produces a fluffy cake. No properly creamed butter = no air = no fluffiness.
Breads, cakes, cookies, and nearly all baked goods require a leavening agent. These are the key ingredients that make a cake rise. There are two types of leavening agents, chemical (baking soda and baking powder) and biological (yeast).
Vegan baking, on the other hand, omits all animal products. While baking without eggs and butter can seem daunting, it's not impossible. All it takes is getting familiar with the right substitutions, and you'll be whipping up cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and more in no time.
No they can be very nice if made correctly. The only difference between a Vagan and a normal cake is Vegans use alternatives to milk, butter and eggs, Eggs is what give normal cakes their lift (extra rise) milk and butter can easily be substituted.
What are good vegan butter substitutes? In baking, you can use vegan butter, applesauce, dairy-free yogurt, coconut oil, coconut butter, olive oil, nut butter, mashed banana and mashed avocado. In cooking, you can use olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable stock, or avocado oil to replace butter.
Dairy, whether it's milk or yogurt or sour cream, helps keep baked goods moist. It's also unfortunately not vegan. But don't skimp on the creamy stuff—it really helps to make a dense and luscious-textured pastry. Experiment with alt-milks, like almond milk.
Why does an eggless cake turn bitter? (It is mostly the overuse of baking powder/soda, but it has happened twice, even after reducing the baking powder.) Yes , usually its because of baking soda , but if you are making a chocolate cake and using cocoa powder , excess of same could cause the bitterness to occur.
I know it may seem strange to add vinegar to baked goods, but just think of it as a chemical reaction. The baking soda in your recipe needs a little acid to help it start reacting (bubbling). That's why recipes will call for things like lemon juice or buttermilk.
Depending on the bakery, a gluten-free cake may take a bigger bite out of your wedding budget than a regular cake. Gluten-free cakes tend to be more expensive due to the pricier flours and ingredients they contain. Vegan cakes, says Herbert of Desserts by Dana, don't typically cost much more than regular cakes.
Your cake is too dense A cake that is overly dense typically has too much liquid, too much sugar or too little leavening (not excess flour, as is commonly thought).
There could be various reasons, like you are not properly sifting the dry ingredients, or mixing the dry and wet ingredients too thoroughly. Or maybe the egg substitute is being too heavy. Make sure that the baking powder isn't too old or hasn't become moistened.
Why is my Eggless Cake rubbery? Your Eggless Cake can be rubbery for two main reasons: overmixing the batter and using too much flour. Overmixing develops tough gluten (elastic protein in flour), while too much flour adds density.
The ratio of wet ingredients (fat and vegan milk) to dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder etc.) has to be in perfect balance. If you have too much fat and too little milk and/or flour, you'll get a greasy cake. If you have too much milk and not enough fat, you'll end up with a gummy, dense cake.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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