Vegan Baking Made Easy: Acid + Base
Oh hi there!
Exciting news, the Kindle version of my new cookbook, Vegan Baking Made Easy, 60 Foolproof, Plant-Based Recipes is now available! The hard-copy version publishes August 10.
Alright, now that I’ve completed my shameless shill, let’s get down to business! I am doing a series of posts teaching you vegan baking tips/tricks/hacks that I learned from writing Vegan Baking Made Easy.
You can a find the first two here:
Today’s tip is about Acid + Base. One major complaint I get from people who are trying vegan baking is that they find, without eggs, their cakes are… um, shall we say, brick-like? Nobody wants to eat a brick. You want your cakes to be light and fluffy, but without eggs, how do your achieve that?
So… remember when you were in grade 3 and you had to make a volcano for your science project? What went into your volcano to make it “erupt” was dish soap, vinegar and baking soda.
You can make your vegan baked goods rise (erupt) in a very similar way (just minus the dish soap).
Simply put, you acidify a liquid ingredient in your recipe, and then add baking soda. During the baking process, the acid and the base (the baking soda) react together, and voila! you get a fluffy, light cake.
My favourite way of doing this is by adding vinegar or lemon juice to a non-dairy milk.
Check the video for the full story: