Va va Voom Vegan Cakes E-Book

Angela Romeo

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Whether you are a full-time vegan or you choose to cut out animal products whenever possible, there's no need to miss out on your favourite cakes. Baking without eggs, butter and milk is not only possible, but also easy and just as delicious as what you are used to baking. There are now so many alternative ingredients available from supermarkets and health food stores and with Angela Romeo's inspired recipes, you'll have all the know-how and inspiration you need to start baking. Bake small treats such as Lemon Meringue and Marbled Go-nuts cakes; traybakes including Indulgent Chocolate Chip Brownies and Gin & Tonic Traybake; everyday bakes like Rooibos Tea Loaf or larger fancy cakes for special occasions such as a Pistachio, Lime & Raspberry Wowzer Cake or Chocolate & Salted Caramel Mud Cake. Also included are show-stopping seasonal treats including Vegan Vanilla Thriller for Halloween and Knickerbocker Glorious Cake for summer days.

Leseprobe

Va va Voom

Vegan Cakes

Va va Voom

Vegan Cakes

More than 50 recipes for vegan-friendly bakes that not only taste great but look amazing!

ANGELA ROMEO

photography by

CLARE WINFIELD

For Giuseppe, Elena & Sofia

Senior Designer Toni Kay

Editor Kate Reeves-Brown

Production Manager Gordana Simakovic

Art Director Leslie Harrington

Editorial Director Julia Charles

Publisher Cindy Richards

Food stylist Angela Romeo

Prop stylist Max Robinson

Indexer Hilary Bird

First published in 2021 by Ryland Peters & Small

20–21 Jockey’s Fields, London

WC1R 4BW

and

341 E 116th St, New York

NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text copyright © Angela Romeo

Design and photographs copyright © Ryland Peters & Small 2021

ISBN: 978-1-78879-378-0

E-ISBN:978-1-78879-416-9

Printed in China

The author’s moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

US Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

Notes:

• Both British (Metric) and American (Imperial plus US cups) measurements are included in these recipes for your convenience, however it is important to work with one set of measurements and not alternate between the two within a recipe.

• All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified. A teaspoon of liquid is 5 ml, a tablespoon is 15 ml.

• Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. We recommend using an oven thermometer. If using a fan-assisted oven, adjust temperatures according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using.

Contents

Introduction

Tips, Techniques & Finishing Touches

Basic Recipes

1 Tutti Frutti

2 Let’s Go Nuts

3 Hello Petal

4 Chocs Away

5 Sugar & Spice

6 Party Time

Index

Suppliers & Sources

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The only thing better than a show-stopping, crowd-pleasing cake… is a show-stopping, crowd-pleasing, vegan cake! To hear gasps of joy for the look and taste of vegan cake is fabulous! It’s also brilliant on a practical level (not just on building my ego!), if making for a special occasion, it will optimize the number of people who can enjoy it – limiting the need to bake separate cakes. No one need be left out!

Surely I’m going to need lots of specialist shops for striking and delicious vegan cakes? I set myself the challenge that this didn’t need to be the case. Vegan or not, the base recipes in this book are great ‘go-to’ recipes – the perfect foundation for the ultimate wow-factor celebration cake, cute cupcakes or a fabulous ‘just because’ cake. Take inspiration from the designs in this book and complete with that all-important touch of va va voom!

The classic flavoured cakes in this book are working that cake-plate in the style-stakes! But it’s also been great to develop recipes with refreshing new flavour combinations complemented by vegan decorations that reflect those flavours. Think flaked coconut creating an elegant white border, vibrant carrot curl cake toppers and colour pops of red from deliberately placed raspberries, giving both a fresh artistic and delicious look.

The most important thing is to have fun with the flavours and designs in this book. Happy plant-based baking… and of course eating!

TIPS, TECHNIQUES & FINISHING TOUCHES

VEGAN BAKING SUPERSTARS

Having a few of these to hand, along with store cupboard staples, such as flour and sugar, means you’ll be able to whip up a vegan treat any time!

SOYA/SOY YOGURT

Soya/soy yogurt gives an unbelievable soft texture to vegan cakes. Mixed with vegetable or sunflower oil, it not only gives fantastic results, but by simply mixing with the other wet ingredients of a cake batter, then adding to the dry ingredients, it also makes for a super-speedy method. A wonderful base for great-tasting show-stopper cakes.

SOYA/SOY MILK

Mixing soya/soy milk with lemon juice makes a homemade vegan buttermilk. Reacting with bicarbonate of soda/baking soda and baking powder, it’s great for creating light and airy cakes that still retain their shape and structure.

CHICKPEAS/GARBANZO BEANS

Chickpea/garbanzo bean water, also known as aquafaba, is a fantastic replacement for egg white. It reacts in a similar way due to its high protein content. Super handy to have to hand for every vegan baker, perfect for light meringues. A stabilizer like distilled white vinegar will help keep whipped meringue peaks glossy and firm.

SUNFLOWER OIL

This oil is so versatile. It doesn’t have a strong flavour, comes from one flower/seed source and is light in colour – it’s an all-round winner for oil-based cake batter.

PLANT/VEGAN BUTTER

More readily available than ever, a great straight replacement for butter. It works wonders for buttercream. I would even, dare I say, put it out there and say that it actually pipes with better results! After a few hours it even ‘crusts’ over, so holds well like a traditional buttercream-covered cake would. Adding a tablespoon or two of water to loosen vegan buttercream works really well too and means the cake can keep well, covered at room temperature – there’s no need to chill it. Vegan margarine, however, does need to be chilled, so do not use this for buttercream or you may end up with a slippery-slidey mess on your hands!

GOLDEN/LIGHT CORN SYRUP

It’s always going to have a place for drizzling on porridge and making flapjacks, but this little gem has had a bit of a makeover and taken the vegan cake baking world by storm, too. It has a little more depth of flavour than caster sugar, complementing naturally sweet vegan-friendly products such as soya/soy milk and soya/soy yogurt.

CASHEW NUTS

Soaked and blended, these little beauties make the most amazing light and fluffy ‘buttercream’. Lighter than classic buttercream, if used between layers, it’s good to mix with chopped nuts or fruit to maintain height and strength, or combine with vegan buttercream when holding up several layers of cake for a delicious and sturdy show-stopper.

COCONUT OIL

When warmed, coconut oil is fantastic for thinning sweet sauces that you need to solidify a little when at room temperature – great for perfecting your drizzle on drip cakes! If you’re in a sticky situation when melting chocolate and it becomes thick, stir through a touch of coconut oil – it should melt and loosen up the chocolate once again.

COCOA POWDER

Wow. Just wow. It gives the most chocolatey cake you can wish for without the need for vegan chocolate. I never really appreciated the power of humble cocoa powder before writing this book!

TIPS:

PAN-TASTIC LINE UP

Greasing and lining a cake pan can be tricky if you do not have vegan butter or margarine to hand, especially if the batter you’re using uses vegetable/sunflower oil. Grease and line the base using the sunflower oil and baking parchment, then cut the baking parchment strips for the sides to size. When the cake mix is ready, dot the inside edges of the pan with four dots of the mix and use to secure the strips in place.

GO HALVES

If you love a design in this book, but want a smaller cake, you can always scale the recipe down. If it’s a large two-layer cake using 2 x 20-cm/8-inch pans, simply halve the batter ingredients and cook in 1 x 20-cm/8-inch pan for the time specified in the recipe to make a single layer version (omit or adjust the filling and coating accordingly).

STIR IT UP!

As scary as it may seem… sometimes you have to chuck out the baking rule book! It’s quite a different technique mixing batter for vegan bakes. When mixing wet and dry ingredients together, once the flour-part has disappeared, it’s time to stop stirring. There’s no need for an electric whisk; it is too harsh for most vegan batters and can create a dense, even sunken, cake. A folding technique with a rubber spatula is a great way to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Continue this folding technique when adding any fruit, nuts or any extras at the end, and all will be fine!

ALL GOOD THINGS…

You may notice that once your vegan cakes are cooled, particularly small cakes like cupcakes, they may have a very thin crust. After cooling, transfer to a plastic airtight container (or for larger cakes wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap) for a couple of hours… And voila! Soft tops! Obviously, if you are trimming the tops, or completely covering with icing/frosting, use as soon as they are cool.

COLOUR ME BEAUTIFUL

Get experimenting with natural colours! Try pouches of coloured wonder, such as pitaya and spirulina superfood powders, or go for store-cupboard brights, such as turmeric and beetroot/beet. There are also lots of good vegan pastes and gels readily available.

Pink – Dragon fruit powder/pitaya powder.

Orange – To colour around 450 g/1 lb. of icing/frosting a mid-orange, stir 2 teaspoons ‘crushed’ raw beetroot/beet (use the rough small star- shaped holes on a box grater for this) into vegan buttercream along with 2 teaspoons turmeric (see note), 2½ teaspoons cinnamon and ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (adding the cinnamon and extra vanilla overpowers any taste from the turmeric and also tastes great alongside a spiced cake).

Peach – A little pitaya powder and a dash of ground turmeric (see note).

Yellow – A touch of turmeric (see note) works wonders in enhancing the yellow hue of buttercream. For lemon yellow royal icing, replace water with passion fruit pulp (sieve to remove the seeds, if liked).

Green – A touch of matcha powder.

Blue – A sprinkling of spirulina powder.

Lilac – Playing around with purple! Mix ⅛ teaspoon pink pitaya powder and ⅛ teaspoon blue spirulina powder into 325 g/11 oz. of buttercream to achieve a lilac shade.

Note: Be careful of using light-coloured cake plates here, as turmeric can stain. A disposable cake board is also a good option.

NATURAL BLING!

All things bright and beautiful… well edible ones! Don’t forget to look directly to nature for colour inspiration, from edible and/or food-safe flowers and deep red and purple berries to fresh green herbs, and not forgetting zingy zesty colours from oranges, lemons and limes. All can make beautiful focal points on both large and small cakes.

BUTTERCREAM – SMOOTH OPERATOR

CRUMB COATING

1 A spoonful of icing/frosting spread onto the middle of the cake board will stop the cake moving around while you’re working.

2 When crumb coating it’s best to apply the buttercream little and often; this will help to give an even distribution and prevent dragging the crumbs around the cake. Use the tip of a dinner knife to apply buttercream to the sides and top of your stacked cake, slightly spreading a little more buttercream into any gaps or recesses, if necessary.

3 Smooth the top with a palette knife/metal spatula. At this stage, the sides do not need to be completely smooth.

4 When the cake is covered, take the palette knife/metal spatula or a cake scraper and sweep around the cake with a little pressure to remove the excess buttercream. Scrape the buttercream into a separate bowl (as it may have crumbs in) and continue to remove the excess buttercream. If there are any gaps or holes, fill with a little buttercream and smooth again.

5 After finishing the sides you will have little peaks at the top edge of the cake. Use an off-set palette knife/metal spatula, held horizontally, to draw these peaks to the centre of the cake, using gentle but sturdy sweeping motions. Chill the crumb-coated cake for 15 minutes.

FINAL COAT

After the cake has chilled, use the same technique as crumb coating for the final coat. However, when using your palette knife/metal spatula or cake scraper, apply slightly less pressure, aiming to ‘spread’ the buttercream around the cake whilst maintaining straight sides.

WELL EQUIPPED

CAKE PANS

Lots of the cakes in this book use 18-cm/7-inch round cake pans (make sure they are at least 4.5 cm/2 inches in height). If you have only two 18-cm/7-inch cake pans, the sponge mixture will hold while the other sponges are baking, so you can bake in batches. Cover the remaining batter in clingfilm/plastic wrap, until ready to bake.

RUBBER SPATULA

Not only great for ensuring every last bit of batter is scraped from the bowl, but perfect for folding together batter ingredients.

PALETTE KNIVES/METAL SPATULAS

A long palette knife/metal spatula is perfect for smoothing buttercream. A medium-sized palette knife/metal spatula is fantastic to use for making patterns on a buttercream-covered cake if you are working your confidence up to super smooth sides. Lightly press vertically, swiping up and down for a striking ridge effect for example.

WEIGHING SCALES

It may seem obvious, but weighing scales with a tare 0 function makes making the basic Vegan Chocolate Sponge (see page 16) and Vegan Deep Vanilla Sponge (see page 15) super easy. Weigh out all the dry ingredients in one bowl, then weigh out all the liquid ingredients in another, before adding the wet to the dry.

FOOD PROCESSOR

I have given the technique for making buttercream with a hand-held electric whisk. If you do have a food processor, however, this is a super-easy way for whizzing it up instantly and minimizing clouds of icing/confectioners’ sugar. Put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse until smooth.

COCKTAIL STICKS/TOOTHPICKS

Perfect for checking sponge in shallower cakes is cooked without creating a big hole.

BASIC RECIPES

Vegan deep vanilla sponge

A delightfully soft, versatile sponge. Use for everything from stylish cupcakes to large show-stoppers - also the perfect base to allow additional flavours to sing!

480 g/3⅔ cups plain/all-purpose flour

280 g/scant 1½ cups caster/superfine sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda/baking soda

480 g/2¼ cups soya/soy yogurt

180 ml/¾ cup sunflower oil

2 tablespoons golden/light corn syrup

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Makes enough for 1 large cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda/baking soda, and mix with a spoon to combine. Make a well in the middle.

Put the yogurt into a bowl with the sunflower oil, golden/light corn syrup and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon until fully combined. Pour into the well of dry ingredients. Fold through with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined and smooth.

Vegan chocolate sponge

Maximum impact with minimal fuss. Using only a handful of ingredients, this chocolatey sponge gives luxurious flavour and unbeatable texture.

480 g/3⅔ cups plain/all-purpose flour

5½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

280 g/scant 1½ cups caster/superfine sugar

5 teaspoons baking powder

1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda/baking soda

480 g/2¼ cups soya/soy yogurt

180 ml/¾ cup sunflower oil

2 tablespoons golden/light corn syrup

Makes enough for 1 large cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas 4.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda/baking soda, and mix with a spoon to combine. Make a well in the middle.