No butter, no eggs, no problem

VEGAN BAKING

For one pastry chef, creating vegan desserts ‘is about baking with compassion.’

McClatchy Newspapers

When Becca Medvin went vegan at the age of 14, she had no trouble giving up meat. Or milk or cheese or eggs. What she missed was dessert.

“I have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know,” says Medvin, now 16. “I need dessert every day.”

Fresh fruit is lovely, but a girl’s got to have her chocolate chip cookies. Alas, the vegan treats Medvin found “weren’t as good as normal desserts.”

They were flavor-challenged. They had texture issues. She took to the kitchen to create her own.

A junior at Ransom Everglades School in Miami who dreams of having her own bakery some day, Medvin came up with what people tell her is “the best cupcake they’ve ever had, vegan or non.”

Don’t take her word for it. Becca’s Vegan Cupcakes are at outlets including Miami’s Bookstore in the Grove, where they sell briskly for $1.75 a pop.

“You don’t need eggs and butter and all that to make something as good as it can be,” says Medvin, who lives in Coconut Grove, Fla. “And it’s fun.”

Gaby Larrea, co-owner of Peace A’ Cake, agrees.

“Being vegetarian doesn’t mean you’re eating grass all day,” he says. “Eating healthy can be decadent and yummy” — like Peace A’ Cake’s signature chocolate chip walnut cake.

Since February, Larrea and his business partner, Veronica Menin, have been selling vegan cakes, muffins and cookies privately and to vegetarian eateries in the Maimi area including Beehive and Om Garden.

“Vegan baking gave us a way to be healthy and still eat dessert,” Larrea says.

Neither Medvin nor the Peace A’ Cake pair claim their to-die-for desserts beat out broccoli when it comes to nutrition. Nor are they low in calories and fat. Peace A’ Cake’s two dozen treats range from 120 to 270 calories per serving.

The vegan bonus comes from replacing eggs, milk, butter and even white sugar with products like coconut oil, which adds richness and fat but no cholesterol, and agave nectar, which adds sweetness but is low-glycemic and doesn’t make your blood sugar spike.

At the vaunted New York bakery BabyCakes NYC, Erin McKenna’s bag of tricks also includes products like xanthan gum, a thickening stabilizer, and high-protein garbanzo-fava flour. They sound unlikely to produce anything you’d want to eat but figure in almost every knockout BabyCakes dessert, including Triple-Chocolate Fat Pants Cake.

Among BabyCakes’ vegan and nonvegan fans are Natalie Portman, Jason Schwartzman, Zooey Deschanel ... and Medvin, who has twice made the pilgrimage.

“I went there and I loved it. I just bought the BabyCakes cookbook, and oh, my God, it’s one of my favorites.”

Reproducing BabyCakes’ treats requires a trip to the natural-foods store and a serious investment. The ingredients for McKenna’s chocolate chip cookies, for example, price out at a gasp-worthy $30.

At Peace A’ Cake, “our ingredients are expensive,” says Menin, who charges $30 for a 10-inch cake or a dozen muffins. “But it’s impossible to make the food any cheaper.”

David Kalas, pastry chef at Sublime, the Fort Lauderdale vegan Mecca, uses raw agave nectar in greatest hits like his Chocolate Nirvana, but wants to make vegan treats accessible and affordable for home cooks. That’s why the scone recipe he demonstrated at a recent Vegan Baking 101 class uses sugar.

“That’s OK if you do it in moderation,” he says.

Ah, well. As Kalas can tell her, the path to vegan baking is not a straight one. He studied at the Cordon Bleu in Sydney, Australia, and made a detour to Yale University for a master’s degree in theology before joining Sublime last year.

Kalas doesn’t want to be too woo-woo about it, but he acknowledges that “the spiritual aspect does impact my baking tremendously. You want to prepare food as a loving offering.”

Creating vegan desserts, he says, “is about baking with compassion.”

Peace A’ Cake’s Larrea went vegan for health. Medvin did it “for health, the environment, everything.”

Whatever their reasons, “We have the same goal, says Menin — “opening the ways of the world and showing people they can live a healthy life and eat yummy foods.”

SUBLIME SCONES

11‚Ñ2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg replacer

21‚Ñ2 cups all-purpose flour

1‚Ñ3 cup granulated sugar

4 teaspoon baking powder

1‚Ñ2 teaspoon salt

3‚Ñ4 cup nondairy “butter” (such as Earth Balance)

1 cup currants or raisins

1‚Ñ2 cup soy, almond or rice milk plus 2 to 3 tablespoons for brushing

Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat egg replacer with 2 tablespoons water until thick; set aside.

Place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl; whisk to blend.

Cut “butter” into small pieces and add to dry ingredients; mix in with a fork just till crumbly. Stir in the currants. Add milk and egg replacer, mixing with a spoon or your fingers just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Gather dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll it to a 1‚Ñ2-inch thick round. Cut into 8 or 10 wedges. Brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Place on prepared pan and bake until tops are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on a rack or serve warm. Makes 8 to 10.

Source: Adapted from Sublime pastry chef David Kalas.

CRANBERRY ORANGE NUT MUFFINS

These are citrusy, sweet, fragrant and fluffy — a rarity for vegan baked goods.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2‚Ñ3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1‚Ñ2 teaspoon baking soda

1‚Ñ2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh orange juice

1‚Ñ2 cup canola oil

2 tablespoons orange zest

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1‚Ñ4 teaspoon almond extract

11‚Ñ2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, roughly chopped

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped (walnuts work, too)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin tin (or use paper liners).

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a fork until well blended. Make a deep indentation in the center and pour in the orange juice, oil, zest and extracts. Mix just until all wet ingredients are moistened, adding cranberries and nuts about halfway through.

Fill the muffin tin three-quarters full. Bake 23 to 27 minutes, until muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean. When cool enough to handle, transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Source: Adapted from “Vegan Brunch” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (Da Capo, $19.95).

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Cakey rather than gooey, these are not your classic Toll House cookies, but they deliver big chocolate indulgence nonetheless.

1 cup coconut oil

6 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

11‚Ñ4 cups evaporated cane juice (such as Sucanet)

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour

1‚Ñ4 cup flax meal

1 teaspoon baking soda

11‚Ñ2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees and place racks toward center of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the oil, applesauce, salt, vanilla and cane juice, blending well.

In another bowl, whisk the flour, flax meal, baking soda and xanthan gum.

Using a rubber spatula, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones, stirring until a grainy dough forms. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Using a melon baller or 1-tablespoon measure, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 1 1‚Ñ2 inches apart. Gently press each with the heel of your hand to flatten slightly and help them spread.

Bake 15 minutes, rotating pans 180 degrees after 9 minutes. The finished cookies will be crisp on the edges and soft in the center. Cool on the pans for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Source: Adapted from “BabyCakes: Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-About Bakery” by Erin McKenna (Clarkson Potter, $24).