Veganizing Your Favorite Baked Goods

[Amy SF]

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/veganizing-your-favorite-baked-goods.html?page=1#comment-5471594

By the way, the bit about the maple syrup, I had NO idea they did that.

 

[KLS52]

By the way, the bit about the maple syrup, I had NO idea they did that.

Things like that annoy me to no end. Grump.

 

[peacefulveglady]

Oh man, that is bad about the maple syrup, its very hard to find a good one for you... I'll probley be looking for the Kosher one, I thought Vegan company's has some for Vegans. Anyhow Thanks for the link.

 

[Wolfie]

I didn't know that about maple syrup either. Yuck.

I have had success with Ener-G egg replacer in most baked goods, except for brownies from a mix, which sucks because many mixes are vegan without the required egg. I also don't worry about the source of white sugar though so I'm a bad veg*n.

 

[Poppy]

Unfortunately, in my experience, simply exchanging vegan ingredients for non-vegan ingredients doesn't always insure that the final vegan product will be exactly the same as the non-vegan one. I get very frustrated with vegan baking. It seems as though most baked goods I've made come out kind of sticky and dense.

 

[KLS52]

I have a problem with denseness as well but if its something like a carrot cake or banana bread, I can usually live with it. Oh what I wouldn't give for a light, fluffy cake like sponge or angel food.
I think Scorpius said she used tofu in place of egg in her brownies and they came out really good.

 

[Wolfie]

Yeah Ener-G wouldn't work for angel food. There's also a rum cake I used to make for my dad that takes a ton of eggs and I never tried it with that. I should though, it was a good cake. But for regular cake that takes a couple eggs, banana and other fruit/veggie breads, and cookies I couldn't tell a difference. Maybe that's because I've been using it so long. Or because I don't cook any exotic baked goods.

 

[PTree15]

It depends on the baked good in questions. I've had pretty decent success with cakes, cupcakes and some cookies, but not all. On the whole, though, I can't complain.

 

[Renee1]

When replacing non-vegan ingredients with vegan ones, you have to consider what the purpose of the ingredient is. Eggs do more than one thing in baking - sometimes it's an emulsifier (any replacement will do), sometimes it's for rise (well-whipped Ener-G, flax seed + extra baking soda/powder), sometimes it's for additional fat content, sometimes it's all or some of these reasons. And just occasionally, there's no reason for it other than it's a traditional to have eggs in baking - some quick breads come to mind.

The only thing I take issue with in the world of vegan (and now gluten free) baking are vanilla cakes/cupcakes. Dense and bleh.

 

[SummerRain]

I agree with Renee, it depends on what you need the ingredients for.

I think trying to veganise a baked recipe is much more difficult than buying a good book of vegan ones (VCTOW etc are really good in my experience) and then tweeking them to suit what you fancy, and it can also be really disheartening - I tried a lot when I first went vegan and thought making a vegan cake must be impossible because I was relying on veganising things and internet recipes. Then I bought VCTOTW and some other cookbooks since - I haven't had a disaster in a long time.

Since then I've started veganising, but it's much easier now I know a little bit more baking science to help me I.e. what the purpose of the ingredients is, why you do things like knead / let things rest / put things in the fridge for half an hour / etc.

 

[peacefulveglady]

A few years ago I tried a cake to bake in the oven at Christmas time with out any eggs or oils and it was homemade, it came out perfect and it was very good..

 

[Pirate]

i agree that it is a lot easier to just use dedicated vegan recipes. there are sooo many out there. ive never had much success in veganising a recipe but im not really that good so its not suprising. maybe its cause ener-g doesnt exist in the UK but egg replacer is evil, I will not touch a recipe with it.

 

[shyvas]

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/veganizing-your-favorite-baked-goods.html?page=1#comment-5471594

By the way, the bit about the maple syrup, I had NO idea they did that.

The following brands don't use animal products to reduce foaming :

Spring Tree, Maple Groves, and Holsum Foods all report that their maple syrups do not use an animal-derived defoaming agent.

 

[Amy SF]

The following brands don't use animal products to reduce foaming :

Spring Tree, Maple Groves, and Holsum Foods all report that their maple syrups do not use an animal-derived defoaming agent.

I've never heard of those brands. Are they available in the US?

 

[peacefulveglady]

http://www.sbamerica.com/spring_tree/maple_syrup_line.htm
http://www.maplegrove.com/

I cannot find the last one..

 

[Everleigh]

I've never heard of those brands. Are they available in the US?

I've used the Spring Tree and Maple Groves and I'm in the US.

 

[thefadedone]

I've used the Spring Tree and Maple Groves and I'm in the US.

I regularly purchase Maple Grove products. I have found them at every grocery store even at Walmart. I've seen Spring Tree before, but I've never purchased it.

 

[Photojess]

since I live in NY, maple syrup is abundant around here, with nothing funky added to it. I also follow no to low fat baking. that's more difficult, as you can't necessarily just add applesauce in the same amts.....if a recipe is already vegan meaning no eggs in the recipe, but calls for oil, I use ground flax and water in the same amt, but I haven't tried more than 1/3 cup. doing that. If I am converting a recipe, it won't even get my attention if it calls for more than the 1/3 cup of oil, so I may use the EnerG for the eggs, and gr flax and water for the oil.