This article on what to do if your little child asks for a “‘real’ birthday cake” is kind of amusing. I more or less agree with the outcome, though the way they think about it is a little batty. Also, ener-g egg replacer sucks, and I have no idea how rice syrup would work as a replacement for sugar. I’d probably just use sugar, though maybe evaporated cane juice, rather than white, or something like that.
http://www.vrg.org/recipes/vegancakes.htm
Aside from the vegetarianism, it amazes me how people can be so concerned about sugar or fat in treats. Like, if you’re not eating it every day, what’s the big deal? Especially if you’re so militant about it that you can’t even have a cake once a year. I eat waaaay too much sugar, and I haven’t died yet.
Making vegan cakes is really easy. That ener-g stuff is too much work… just whip up (to froth) some flour,water, and baking powder, and voila! We had vegan carrot (with fake cream cheese frosting) cake at our wedding.
The (fancy, froofy) cookbooks from the Millenium Resaturant in SF have lots of good vegan cake recipes. I don’t think any of them use egg replacer.
That’s because a) egg replacer blows and b) millenium rocks.
Just don’t have their quince tart. I had the weirdest reaction to it.
I don’t actually have much experience with egg replacer (although there is a box in my cabinet that I have had for *years*). But Millenium is my favorite restaurant in the world! The Raven in Mendocino is another incredible vegan restaurant.
As for the rice syrup thing, hasn’t this woman ever heard of turbinado? It’s a lot easier to use in baking than rice syrup (which has the whole liquid balance thing to worry about – use it to sub for honey, if you’re going to worry about that)
Frankly, I make perfectly good vegan muffins with nary a bit of ultra refined sugar nor any egg replacement – I use an extra 1/4 C of soy milk and slightly overbeat. It works, and I imagine it would work equally well for something more “cakey”, though cake is not my favorite dessert, so someone who appreciates the art might well disagree with me.
And while I am not a vegan, I will make those muffins in that style when it’s allergy season for me. And they’re good, too.