Can you believe that it is already October?! 2021 has flown by in a blink of an eye! As it gets closer to Halloween, sweet treats will definitely be on everyone’s mind. And if you have been to any of the local stores lately the holiday spirit is already in the air.
Let talk about holiday cakes.
If you have recently switched over to a vegan or plant-based diet of any kind navigating the holidays can be a challenge. You begin to quickly realize just how many ingredients that we use in everyday cooking are animal-based.
Most cakes have basic staples that can’t be eaten by vegans. Do you have a strict vegan in the family who has a birthday or celebration coming up that traditionally calls for cake?
If you’re not familiar with vegan dietary practices yet, you might not know what vegans do not eat, or even if you are vegan yourself, you may not be too familiar with swapping things out just yet.
But don’t worry. In a few short paragraphs, I’ll explain exactly what you need to make the perfect cake for your vegan friend or relative, or of course for your own yummy celebrations. And best of all, no one will be able to taste the difference!
Let’s start with what strict vegans do not eat. They do not eat eggs. They do not drink milk. They don’t eat certain types of sugar. (Due to how this is grown or processed.) They don’t eat butter. And they don’t eat frosting. I know this is a lengthy list that can feel like it eliminates the best parts of the cake-eating experience.
How to Create a Delicious Vegan Cake
Eggs can be replaced by “Vegan Egg Replacer,” sounds obvious right? But yes it exists and it works! You can purchase them at many grocery stores and supermarkets, on and offline and there are many brands now.
The box will explain how much replacer to use per egg. You can also find eggs often replaced by flax or chia.
Cow’s milk can be replaced by organic rice milk, which doesn’t contain any animal by-products. You can buy rice milk at your local grocery store or supermarket too.
If you prefer you can also use oat, almond, hazelnut, cashew, soy, and many others.
Many vegans do not consume sugar, either, because it is often whitened by animal bone char. You can avoid sugar that is whitened by bone char by purchasing “unbleached” sugar, sugar in the raw version, or beet sugar.
There are some cane sugars, too, which were not whitened using bone char, but they are hard to distinguish from others unless you know the exact name brand.
Then there are other options like granulated monk fruit.
Strict vegans will not eat food made with butter, either. If your cake recipe calls for butter, you can simply replace it with vegetable oil, margarine, or vegetable shortening.
Or use a vegan butter of which there are many to choose from now.
You can even make your own vegan butter and search online, there are a plethora of recipes, it’s quite amazing and some are truly fabulous for making butter frosting. So don’t forget to check those out too.
In addition to butter, sugar, milk, and eggs, vegans also will not eat dairy frosting. If your recipe calls for frosting, you can look for a similar flavor of “non-dairy” frosting, or you can make your own, replacing butter with margarine, or vegan butter.
Many creams can also be made with coconut milk and vanilla extract as well as cashew creams and they are delicious.
There are now also many vegan flavored, ready-made frostings, such as chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and coffee and they are remarkably like the original frosting.
And there you have it: an ingredient replacement guide for your vegan cake. Simply follow the guide, replace vegan-unfriendly items on your recipe, and your cake will be perfectly fit for even the strictest vegan! And no one will ever know!
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