The basics of Vegan baking

What does Vegan mean?

Veganism is a philosophy and way of life that aims to eliminate, as much as it is possible and practical, all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty for food, clothing, or any other purpose. As a result, it encourages the creation and use of alternatives that don't involve using animals for the benefit of all parties involved—animals, people, and the environment. In terms of diet, it refers to the practice of avoiding any food or ingredients that are entirely or partially coming from animals. This includes milk, meat, fish, eggs, gelatine and certain colourants amongst others.

What ingredients are used in Vegan baking?

It might surprise some people but Vegan baking is not far off traditional baking. A lot of baking ingredients are Vegan or have vegan alternatives. Jam, flour, nuts, dried fruits, sugar, oil, baking powder, vanilla extract, salt and pure cocoa powder are some of the traditional baking ingredients that happen to be Vegan.

Some ingredients might need to be substituted such as honey, butter or gelatin. But you can easily find delicious and performant alternatives to almost every traditional ingredient now. You can replace honey with agave or maple syrup, you can replace gelatine with agar-agar and you can replace butter with Vegan spread.

For certain products, such as chocolate chips, spreads, icing or sprinkles, you might have to verify whether they are suitable for vegans before purchase.

A great way to start is to think about where the product originates from and then ask, "does it have a face?" to determine what ingredients you may and cannot use while baking vegan.  If in doubt about a certain product or ingredient, just Google it. There are tons of resources online to help you navigate all products available and obscure ingredients (we will not lie, there are a few really obscure ones that only a trained eye would recognise).

An alternative way to create

Because Vegans do not use any animal products, they have had to find ways to substitute them or invent new ways to get the same results. Vegan bakers are very resourceful and possibly more inventive than traditional bakers. So when you try Vegan snacks you can be sure that you will eat something delicious that either is the same as a traditional option or a way to discover new textures and flavours.

For example, did you know it is possible to make vegan meringue? You would think it is impossible to recreate something that has egg white as a main ingredient. But it turns out that aquafaba (chickpea cooking juice) can be whipped just like egg whites and create the most beautiful meringues.

Many people refuse to try vegan food because they are afraid or think it will not taste as nice as non-vegan food. But as explained above Vegan cakes are, at their core, quite similar to traditional bakes. They are made of flour, sugar, jam, nuts, oils and a lot of other ‘normal’ cake ingredients. So do not be afraid to try vegan cakes and snacks! You can start with more traditional options such as vanilla cake or chocolate cake first and move on to more adventurous delicacies later. Vegan food has become so popular in the last few years and it will definitely keep growing in popularity over the next few years. So try something new today or make your vegan loved one happy by treating them to a delicious vegan snack. Explore our Vegan Cakes range today!