My Vegan cake came out dense like a muffin, did I mess up?!
My Vegan cake came out dense like a muffin, did I mess up?
I am trying to get a good recipe for a vegan cake. I decided to become a vegan last week, so I dont know any of the tricks to good baking, yet. My son's birthday is at the end of the month and I know that everyone will judge us at the party if it does not taste good. I made a white cake, using wheat flour, it called for 2tsp of EnerG replacement, but I did not have it, so I used 2 tsp baking powder and 4tsp water. Is that where I went wrong? It had a good taste, it was just more like a muffin with icing. I appreciate all input as I really dont know anything about vegan recipes.
Answers:
YES
Yeah, just go get a cake mix.
Animal products in it will be very minimsl...and it's better than having an inedible CAKE!
yes
You really do need to use something for an egg replacer. I use Ener-G myself. It can seem a little pricey ($4.00-$5.00 a box) but I just checked the label on mine and each box has the equivilant to 113 eggs! That's alot of baking, and it is by far the best thing I have used to replace eggs, especially for cakes and other things you want to be light and fluffy.
If you'd rather make your own egg replacer, you were on the right track with the baking powder and water. Try this next time, it's about the closest you'll get to Ener-G.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons water
Whisk them all together till foamy, this equals one egg.
Something else that works for an egg replacer is mashed banana or applesauce. Just bare in mind you will be able to pick up on their flavor a bit, and your cake won't be as light and airy as it should be. Use 1/2 of a banana or 1/4 cup applesauce for each egg.
Silken tofu can work and won't alter the flavor of the cake, but like with banana it will be denser than if you use Ener-G. Use 1/4 cup per egg. Using the tofu, applesauce, or banana you can expect the cake to have more the consistancy of a quick bread or muffin.
Flax seed is another option. Once again, your cake will be more dense and if you're needing to replace more than an egg or two you'll pick up on the nuttiness of the flax seed when it's done. Grind 1 Tblsp flax seed to a fine powder then mix with 3 Tblsp warm water. Let sit for a minute to thicken, this equals one egg.
Another thing that would make your cake heavier is the wheat flour. I love substituting whole wheat flour for pancakes, quick breads, waffles, muffins, and so on, but for cakes whole wheat is too coarse of a flour to give the consistancy you would want. If you want to get some of the benifit of the whole grain try using half whole wheat with half cake flour, this will help lighten up the texture some. Although your best bet is using all cake flour.
If you're really concerned about your guests comparing your vegan cake against a conventional one you could try what my friend did. She made some vegan blueberry muffins for a party last year. She just frosted them like cupcakes and they were a huge hit. Nobody besides her or I even guessed them to be vegan.