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Veganuary

(9 Posts)
apricot Fri 24-Jan-14 19:56:47

My daughter has gone vegan (and given up alcohol) for January. Every Sunday my family comes to tea and I make cakes and puddings and I am coming to the end of my tether over vegan recipes. My usual offerings are traditional and made with pure and simple ingredients.
Vegan cakes and bakes require weird stuff (xanthan gum, soya milk containing dozens of unheard-of chemicals etc) huge quantities of oil or baking powder. After buying all these odd and expensive things I follow the recipes and the results are horrible, flat, tasteless.
I feel so sorry for children raised as vegans, never tasting a proper wholesome cake. Victoria sandwich anyone?

Riverwalk Fri 24-Jan-14 20:38:06

If it's just a fad for January I see no reason why you need to inflict her choice on everyone else and put yourself to so much trouble!

durhamjen Fri 24-Jan-14 21:19:47

Not true, Apricot. Soya milk does not contain dozens of unheard of chemicals. If you buy Alpro organic soya milk they are not allowed to add dozens of unheard of chemicals.
I use almond milk most of the time, but have some Alpro cream which I pour on pasta for a sauce. It has eight ingredients altogether including water, soya beans and sunflower oil. The almond milk has 11 ingredients, with 4 of them being vitamins. These do not have to be listed on the milk carton, so you assume that there is only one ingredient, milk. But what is milk?
There are 11 ingredients in Rice Crispies.
Why can you not look on it as a challenge to find a decent vegan cake recipe? There are lots of vegan chocolate cake recipes which are very tasty. Martin Shaw makes a chocolate banana one which is a proper wholesome one.
Haven't gone vegan in my house this month because I still have lots of cheese left from Christmas and New Year, but when it's used up I will only buy Cheddar for my granddaughter as it's the only protein she really likes, although she has started eating hummus again.
www.vegetarian.org.uk for lots of vegan recipes.
As Riverwalk says, it's only one more Sunday.

Ana Fri 24-Jan-14 21:22:04

And what's so important about cake anyway? That's not proper food...
(I suppose I should duck now, but CBA)

durhamjen Fri 24-Jan-14 21:28:16

It can be, Ana. If you make a cake using half flour and half ground almonds, which I tend to, you are getting protein in. I have just looked at the recipes on the website, the latest from Gransnet. There is a recipe for chocolate brownies which uses carrots and courgettes. That will be a deliciously moist cake, and ideal for all those kids who refuse to eat their vegetables. There is nothing in the recipe that people should not have in their larders. Or as Ana seems to suggest, give them fruit, proper vegan food.

durhamjen Fri 24-Jan-14 21:29:16

www.vegetarian.org.uk

apricot Sat 25-Jan-14 19:16:32

Sunday teatime has to feature cake.
Today I made a vegan lemon cake and it's quite nice but needed 15g baking powder, which is an awful lot, and the gum stuff which cost £2-odd and I only needed 1/2 teaspoonful, and soya flour which was also expensive.
The soya milk I bought lists 13 ingredients and I don't know if it will make custard.
Roll on the end of the month.

Nonu Sat 25-Jan-14 19:48:29

Apricot , how quaint and sweet , Sunday afternoon tea, I did not know that people still did this , quite charming !
All rather tickety -boo
smile

Versavisa Sun 26-Jan-14 10:22:26

Apricot, try googling for Wacky Cake. - no, it's not that sort of cake!

There are lots of recipes around and they are made without eggs, butter or milk. Very easy. I used to make a lot but rarely make cake these days so can't put my hand on my recipes.

Mine were made with standard ingredients otherwise and I used them for birthday cakes as well, so everyone ate them, not just the vegans.

Hope you find them OK. If not let me know.