.jpg)
I think everyone who loves sweets should enjoy sweets, so I am doing all I can to hone at least a few flavors that will be delicious vegan and gluten-free options available from the Sweet Shop (our in-progress online store project!)
Because I figure there are a pretty good number of you who may not know anything about vegan baking, that you, much like me, will be interested to know some of the different tricks & pitfalls.
So- hey, I have a blog, why not keep you all up to date on this adventure as it progresses, AND for those of you that do know a thing or two, or MORE about vegan baking- I'd deeply appreciate your comments & suggestions!!
Today was ingredient gathering day. I mean if you're gonna make a vegan cake, you can't just go butter & egging it up- whole different process to create moist, delicious cake with out a stitch of dairy/animal by-product.
Armed with my recipe, I headed to the market.....ok, margarine? Really? Easy!! I've used it before at some point, I can handle that...hmmm, hit my first wall. None of this SAYS "margarine"...so many "spreads", lots of "65% oil" labels (so what the heck is the other 35%??)...and not a dang thing is going to help me enough to just clearly say VEGAN on it, is it? I'm still looking...
Mind you, I live in West LA, land of MANY, MANY vegans...but this is a baking journal for people living everywhere, so I did not just go straight to wholefoods (which by the way, I may just do on the next batch), but hit up a local Ralph's...so the selection was Imperial, Blue Bonnet, I Can't Believe it's Not Butter, and about 4 others~
So I start reading ingredients...first one- "whey (from milk)" um, not vegan. Second one, buttermilk, also not-vegan....finally I see the top of one of em DOES say VEGAN! YAY!! So here's what I ended up with:
Smart Balance Certified Organic 100% Vegan "whipped buttery spread"
Step one, complete- now to bake the cake!!! :o)
4 comments:
It might be better to use the smart balance in a stick, rather than smart balance in a tub, for the same reason one would use stick butter, rather than whipped butter. But that would probably require a trip to Whole Foods. West LA Ralph's tend not to have the greatest selection of such things (amazingly).
Can you believe the West LA Ralph's didn't have it?! I was trippin!! Agreed, I'll definitely use the stick next time- I was happy with how they came out, Stephaine and Nate both didn't even know they were vegan!! Thank you for the tip- let me know any other pointers you've got- this is all new to me!
Hey Beth! My boyfriend is macrobiotic/vegan and I can probably get some recs for you if you like. His favorite places to shop in the LA area are the Santa Monica Co-op and Erewhon. They also have some great natural sweeteners he has experimented with, such as the Suzanne's products. Happy vegan baking!
I'll be near Erewhon tomorrow and will definitely check it out!! Thanks for the heads up!! :o)
Post a Comment