Veg friendly baking?

Hey folks.  Forgive my ignorance but I wanted to check in here for suggestions if anyone wouldn't mind educating me a little.  Doing searches (google and such) leaves my head spinning as the opinions I'm seeing are so vastly different. 

One of the gals in my husband's office is a vegetarian and I know she'll drink milk if soy milk isn't available but I'm not sure on other things.  I wanted to send in some baked stuff (probably a muffin tray w/ lemon/poppy, blueberry and chocolate) but I wasn't sure if eggs are ok, or what to sub... and then can you bake with soy milk? and would it really throw off the taste?  I have some tried and true recipes but I guess I could just use some vegetarian ones and cross my fingers!

It's really important to be able to have something friendly for everyone in the office.  I don't want to offend her if I put in something wrong, or just make my normal ones and risk her feeling left out.  Any help and pointers would really be appreciated.

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/08/peach-up side-down-cake.html

not for everyone, but it is wonderful.

Yes, soymilk does change the taste, but it's just a different taste, still good.  As for eggs, *vegetarians* can eat eggs, but some don't.  Since eggs are in so many baked goods, you may want to find out for sure before not using eggs.  If you can use eggs, there are alot more options avaivlible that more people will like.

You can also make a cake/brownie mix with applesauce or canned pumkin instead of butter/eggs/milk, but i can't swear to what all is in the cake mix itself.

This looks absolutely wonderful!  Thank you!!  I use canned pumpkin a lot in recipes, don't know why it didn't dawn on me to just go that route lol.  Will be playing with some of my recipes trying to get them more friendly and I'll have to post what I can figure out! At least until I get my husband to check on the eggs.

Have to confess I've never had soy milk so I guess this is my chance to try.  Always wonder when we pass it by in the store  and I've just never had the guts to grab a carton.  Is there one brand that's better then the others I should look out for, or are they pretty much the same?

Sorry for sounding like such an idiot =/  No one in my family has ever done a vegetarian lifestyle and other than the gal from work I don't know any I can go to for answers. 

For soymilk, I like Silk myself. If your local library has the book "Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, that is an EXCELLENT help for baking using substitutes for animal products.

There are several ways to replace eggs in baked goods if you need to - Ener-G egg replacer is a powder that you mix with water, and I really like it. If you need to use butter but would like to use a nondairy substitute, plain old vegetable oil works pretty well. Use a little bit less than the butter measurement though.

Good luck! I bet whatever you make will be wonderful.

this looks amazing. Thanks for posting this.

Just wondering how to reduce the sugar in this recipe. according to CC, it is 26g of sugar per one serving. maybe apple sauce ??

I also have buckwheat flour. can I use it ? 

I can't offer any useful information about the vegan baking (since I eat eggs and don't bake :)), but why all the apologizing for being uneducated about someone's preferences? I'd be amazed if someone in my office/school was that considerate!

Try using one tablespoon of soy flour + one tablespoon water for each egg in a recipe.  You can get soy flour at a health food store in the bulk section very cheaply.

Lots of frugal folks do this in their baking.  No one has ever noticed it in any of my baked goods; it tastes the same or better (not so eggy). It will work great in any baked recipe; less cost than using eggs and no cholesterol, to boot.  You should keep the soy flour in a jar in the fridge or freezer between uses so it won't go rancid.

The only place you can't use this is in recipes such as quiche, etc. that use eggs as the main portion of the recipe.  In that case you can use tofu instead.

Hope that helps you out.

Original Post by _ayu_:

I can't offer any useful information about the vegan baking (since I eat eggs and don't bake :)), but why all the apologizing for being uneducated about someone's preferences? I'd be amazed if someone in my office/school was that considerate!

I guess my biggest worry in posting was getting the dreaded "Try google" sort of responses.  I have a lot of respect for anyone and their choices so I guess coming across trying to learn rather then just a quick fix so I didn't offend anyone is where the apologizing comes in.  My oldest daughter just started in saying how mean it is to kill animals for food so I might just be trying to learn more fast if she decides she no longer wants to eat meat.  I eat a lot of veg but do still eat meat a few times a week.... not sure I could ever really make the full switch but if my daughter does want to then whatever I can do to be supportive I will.  We already cook a few options at dinner so one more won't kill me!

Going to grab some soy flour too thanks zenseekercu!  I've got a couple recipes that come too eggy or fall flat if I cut out an egg so this should be a fix!

And on tofu.... the texture killed me!  Is it just something that needs to be an acquired taste or is the firmer stuff better? 

and also... the upside-down peach cake is AWESOME!  I ended up having to make another one for my hubby to take to work tomorrow.... first one is practically gone!

I know, I love it myself :D.  It was perfect for my lactose intolerant Brother in Law! My husband can't stand soy milk himself, so I don't get the chance to make it that often, but when I do, everyone else (myself included) devours it ^_^.  I think I found the recipe via google when I was looking for desserts for the lactose intolerant.  It just so happens to also be both vegan AND delicous!!

And I was surprised.... I LIKE the soy milk!  All this time I kept passing it by thinking it'd be gross. 

ladyduece, I am glad to know that you liked the cake. :) i am dying to give it a try but the only problem is the amount of sugar in this cake. Is there a way to go around that? I am trying to lose weight and am really watching my sugar intake these days.

Can I use apple sauce? and for the flour, is it ok to use any kind of flour?? I have almond meal flour and maybe buckwheat flour.

Thanks in advance.

For the peach upside down cake, I imagine that if you can use all whole wheat flour, that you can use buckwheat.  As for the sugar, it's still really low calories, only 150 per slice, so I really wouldn't try reducing it that much more, honestly.

Original Post by fluffydragon:

For the peach upside down cake, I imagine that if you can use all whole wheat flour, that you can use buckwheat.  As for the sugar, it's still really low calories, only 150 per slice, so I really wouldn't try reducing it that much more, honestly.

it is about 26g of sugar per piece. I am still hoping there is a way to work around that :)

seriously? it's cake! 150 calories is not bad at all.. are you trying to do low-carb? if so, I recommend against it.

Sugar wise you can probably cut it down a little out of the dry ingredients but with the liquid ones you really need that sugar for the peaches to come out right.  It's still pretty low but I can understand really wanting to cut out something like sugar.  One of those things that for people with a sweet tooth that can trigger a binge.  I've limited sugar so much that just a little bit now and then is more then enough =)

I love the Cherrybrook Kitchen Baking Mixes, you just add water, many of them are vegan-friendly and moist and wonderful. I use them to make cupcakes, birthday cakes. Nature's Path makes a great brownie mix as well...and the Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips are vegan friendly as well. Smart Balance Light in particular is a great veg friendly margarine and tastes good too.

I've brought them into work for everyone to share since my work is health conscious and I am vegan...The only comments anyone's made is how moist they are and how they can't believe they are vegan.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes or brownies anyone?

I think it's so thoughtful and considerate of you to think of her, I'm sure she will be appreciative of your efforts.

I've been on quite a baking kick as of late, especially muffins. Eggs can easily be replaced with a mixture of 1 tbl. spoon ground flax seed and 3 tbls. of warm water. As someone who on occasion eats dairy, I've found both soy milk and hemp milk to be good substitutes. Frankly, I don't think the taste suffers at all.

I usually make a corn meal based muffin, mixed with either whole wheat flour or buckwheat flour. Then I'll add berries or other filings. I made real moist sweet potatoe muffins topped with pumkin seeds, that I modified from the "How it All Vegan" cookbook.

I just made Carrot Cake Cupcakes recipe from the book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" and EVERYONE (me, the one vegan) and everyone else (all non vegan) were amazed and surprised. I highly recommend anything out of that book!

My husband is vegan, and this is my favorite brownie recipe.   They are so good.  If you can't find vegan chocolate chips, just leave them out. 

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Spray an 8 x 8 baking pan with nonstick spray.

2.  Mix applesauce, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl.  In another bowl mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

3.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then fold in chocolate chips.

4.  Spread in pan and bake 25-30 minutes.  Cool before slicing.

This brownies are so yummy!