Making it Vegan

Most people in this world don't start out vegan, unless you have some very dedicated parents. It is usually a lifestyle choice that you make in your life after experiencing life as an omnivore. This means that people have already gotten used to eating certain foods and that makes the transition into their new diet pretty hard.

I would like to make my first disclaimer, I am not vegan, I am not even vegetarian, but I have trying to cut down on the amount of animal products that I am consuming. This practice of mindful eating has opened my eyes to the lack of care that some places put into making vegan options affordable and of the highest quality. We have to stop thinking about vegan baking as a feat of nature, but rather finding creative alternatives to create our favorite desserts.

I have found myself turning to science and studying what purpose each ingredient plays. For example, I have found that eggs are often used as a binder in recipes to keep the product from falling apart. The immediate thought may be to reach for a container of liquid egg substitute, but that can get expensive. Instead there are many other options to bind together your batter, like flaxseed, carbonated water, and even unsweetened applesauce. For cupcakes my favorite binder is applesauce since it helps maintain the moisture in the cake and still allows for air to be incorporated into the batter.

Most of our cupcakes at Flourish are topped with a flavored buttercream, and based on the name you can probably tell that the classic recipe is not vegan. The basic recipe for butter cream is butter, cream, and powdered sugar, so 2/3 of the ingredients are animal products. There are vegan butters that exist and a variety of plant based milks. This is where you as a baker need to do some experimenting to find out which products you prefer. Personally, I like using oat milk because it is creamier than a lot of the other options in stores. In the end the both of our classic and vegan frostings taste amazing, because we are constantly tweaking the recipe and using high quality ingredients to flavor our products!

As you are searching for vegan desserts remember that you deserve quality products just as much as the next customer, never settle for less!

See you soon,

Katie Ohren