The Vegan Baking Roundup
My former Pro Athlete husband with a Supersonic Sweet Tooth went Vegan ten years ago and I had to re-learn everything I'd perfected. Here are our favorites.
O has been Vegan for a decade now. O has the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I’ve ever met so baking being one of my greatest passions since high school really worked out well for him. I baked through cookbooks to find the best of the best recipes, tried to recreate his Ladurée favorites, asked the best bakers in my life for their recipes typically kept under lock and key so this man could delight in dessert for the rest of his days.
So imagine my surprise when a season of “trying out veganism” turned into three months, then six months, then a year…then a decade. As athletes we both had given up dairy for extended periods of time and I had two eight-month stints of being egg and dairy free during breastfeeding. This forced me to adjust tried and true recipes and learn new ones along the way, but it was comforting to know that soon, I’d be able to return to my Bakerella Twelve Layer Cake recipe with all the butter, all the eggs and all the predictable deliciousness when our stints ended. Finally accepting that he was done with dairy and eggs for good was the thing that changed the dread to excitement and for those of you looking for reliable recipes to start with, make sure to save this post as a little starting point.
My Baking Staples
This Glass Domed Cake Stand was something I registered for two of in 2010 and have used them borderline weekly ever since. They look so beautiful and inviting on the countertop so I love to store muffins, breads, cookies and other treats rather than just cake. This Milk Glass Cake stand is the second most used in my collection and it adds such a sweet vintage vibe to every cake.
I truly cannot imagine baking without my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, my Food Processor or my Hand Mixer. They’re all baking essentials in my book, but with how precise some recipes require you to be, even more so.
This Amazon Kitchen Scale is a staple I talked more about in my Sourdough Essentials post, but I’m now on a year and a half of baking with a scale and I’ll never go back.
Everything else feels pretty interchangeable when it comes to loaf pans, baking sheets, cake tins and so one. We’re a household that avoids toxins as much as possible, though, so I am partial to Caraway.
Every home baker I know has this 10 Piece Glass Bowl set and I’m fifteen years into my relationship with mine. I love these bowls so much and they also work for double broiling to melt chocolate.
This cookbook is pretty foolproof. It was the first Vegan cookbook I’d ever bought after we took a trip to New York and tried a few bakeries, quickly falling in love with one who sold this book. I’ve baked from it for years but know off the top that most recipes contain lots of oil. Most of O’s favorite treats come from this book.
Favorite Cake Recipes:
The majority of these cakes and treats can be made with a Gluten Free flour substitution, but I highly recommend using this or this brand when possible. I’ve found that the Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free flour is the worst across the board when it comes to their flour replacer so everything else is okay.
Ridiculously Moist Caramel Cake
Chocolate Cake with This Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe — Bonus points if you use this “Vegan Cookie Dough Frosting” for the inside to make a chocolate cookie dough cake. It’s unreal. Don’t forget to cook the flour first, though.
Favorite Vegan Treat Recipes:
1 Bowl Apple Carrot Muffins (GF V)
Two perfect chocolate chip cookie recipes—One and Two
Fudgy Brownies
Chocolate Chip Muffins
Happy Baking—enjoy!