Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I had what I hope is an awesome idea... did a quick search and didn't see a thread exactly like this. I'm in the long (for me) process of transitioning from vegetarianism so this would really help me.

Idea: We post our pregan faves and help each other veganize them. I wanted to throw this out there before I post an actual recipe because:

A. Maybe it's already here and I suck at searching
B. I don't want to break ppk rules by posting non-vegan recipes without an official ok. The purpose would be to help each other veganize so is this acceptable?

Let me know what you think ppkers, and if it's a go I'll post up my family favorite Carrot Cake (which is vegetarian of course, but not vegan and I really want to vaganize and share).

:)

There are some preexisting threads on vegan baking and substitutions. For the most part fats like margarine earth balance and shortening or oil can be subbed for lard or butter. It's more about what the eggs etc are doing like binding vs leavening.

Yes good thought. I was kind of hoping some one a little more adept at vegan baking could help me troubleshoot, but I can certainly give it a go (or many:)

I though there used to be a baking sticky in here but now I don't see it.

It's totally fine to ask for help veganizing a non vegan recipe. post it here and people will help you!

There it is!
As ijdi said if there's something specific I'm sure someone has likely been there before. :)

Thanks all.. I'll check out the sub list but also will post the original recipe tomorrow. Tonight I'm sleepy. :)

I will warn you it is the best carrot cake I have ever tasted. I sure hope it veganizes well!

something i do, if i want to veganize a recipe, is i find a similar already vegan recipe and adapt the flavors. Isa has a REALLY good carrot cake recipe in vegan with a vengeance that you could take a look at.

yes, yes! try Isa's recipe in vegan with a vengeance. i served this to my father 4 years ago on his birthday. he's not one for, as he says, "this vegan crepe", but he looooved it and every year since then he requests Isa's carrot cake. it's amazing - you've gotta give it a try!

I will look at it, thanks. I have been eating this one for almost every one of my birthdays since I could eat, so as you can imagine I'm a little attached... but one can never have too many carrot cake recipes!

Here is my not-vegan Carrot Cake. Like I said it is an old family favorite and while I'm sure there are many wonderous Vegan Carrot Cakes already in existance I really want my carrot cake to be veganized.

Any help would be much appreciated. I truly believe veganizing this to be worth the effort. Thanks ppkers.

Here it is from my Mom's hand written cookbook that is so faded I can barely read it:

1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 tsp baking soda
1 1/3 c flour
1 1/3 tsp cinnamon
1 cup sliced almonds (save a few to decorate cake)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cups of grated carrot

Beat together oil & sugar. Beat in eggs. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt & mix into oil, sugar & egg. Beat well. Add vanilla & fold iin grated carrots. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. A Bundt pan works well.

Icing

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
icing sugar (enough to reach favourable texture, aprox 4 cups)

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla and icing sugar.

oh and I'll work on it too with the sub list but if others who know how to vegan bake without cookooks want to give it a go that would be awesomeness.

the frosting is easy with tofutti cream cheese and earth balance, though i think i'd use shortening instead of EB because tofutti has more water in it than regular cream cheese and shortening has less water than buttery spread.

for the cake, my recommendation is basically the same. I wouldn't necessarily try to replace the eggs. I'd try to adapt an existing carrot cake recipe to match yours.
I have no idea if this recipe is good, but it looks really similar to yours without the eggs. you could probably replace the applesauce and earth balance with the 3/4 cup of oil and obviously, the walnuts could be switched out for almonds. http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegancak ... carrot.htm

Or you could try a combo of egg replacers for the eggs if you wanted. Maybe a combo of flax and soy yogurt?

Great advice... I think. My lack of vegan-baking knowledge makes it hard to know for sure yet but it certainly sounds as though you know what you're talking about, and I am grateful for the help. I'll give it a go very soon and report back. :)

ha. wow. so if your recipe doesn't come out how you want it's going to be my bad advice? you're welcome!

if you want my real advice, just make isa's carrot cake recipe!

No of course not... I was just trying to say thank you and also point out that my vegan baking skills are underdeveloped.

Um, just thank you.

That will teach me to post before my morning coffee

Ozma, I love your user name! Anyway, your recipe looks really easy to veganize. It's already got oil as the fat, so you really just need to figure out what to replace the eggs with. I'd go with a combo of flax and tofu probably. Or flax and apple sauce. And do what ijdi said for the frosting. It won't taste 100% the same, but it might get you to somewhere around 90% the same.

Thanks Rhizopus. I really like the flax and applesauce idea. I appreciate the help. I can't wait to try it.

This was my first thought as well. I would probably go for 1/3 to 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1.5 flax eggs. Normally I wouldn't suggest flax for cake, but I think it would fit in with carrot cake nicely. If you happen to have Ener-g around, you could use yogurt plus one of those...I don't use it often, but I know the cakes from Sticky Sweets use it and they come out awesome.

And I know you're wanting to to keep this cake exact, but I strongly suggest following Isa's cream cheese frosting recipe form VCTOTW. It has a reliable taste and texture. I've tried others with a higher cream cheese to EB ratio that tasted too chemically and basically turned into a big, gross drippy mess.

Soy yogurt is definitely the way to go. 3 eggs = 1 (6oz) container of plain or vanilla, plus 1 tbs ground flax. A few vegan baking tips...
1) Don't expect the same level of browning. By the time your cake is golden brown on top, it will be a burnt mess underneath. Do a tooth pick test a couple minutes under your normal baking time.
2) That said, don't open the oven door a bunch. It'll weaken the structure of the cake with uneven temperature.
3) Grease well! I don't know the science behind it, but I feel like vegan baked goods stick more.

Just my $0.02. Hope it goes well! Carrot cake is the best.

thanks & thanks

I can't wait to start baking (but I have to because I'm not driving to the grocery store today :)

Update: I'm having trouble finding ingredients. I have to postpone this experiment until my next shopping trip to the city but I have not forgotten. :)