Baking

[LikeTwoPancakes]

I really like baking, though I haven't done it a whole lot. I'm pretty good making muffins and I made a pretty good pie once. I'd like more opportunities to bake things.

[Eggcellent]

I really like baking, though I haven't done it a whole lot. I'm pretty good making muffins and I made a pretty good pie once. I'd like more opportunities to bake things.

Oh wow, same here! I don't get to bake or even cook as often as I'd like, but I really enjoy doing it. I managed to bake a key lime pie and a pumpkin pie fairly recently, and they both turned out better than I thought they would

[Natevaelle]

For me, baking is rather relaxing. So I bake even if I don't intend to eat all those sweet stuff I end up making. Yesterday, I made these.

[Toyo]

Waiting for my soft sprinkle sugar cookies to cool fully, so I can stuff them full of frosting.

[StormWizard212]

Does anyone have any good vegan cakes/slices?

 

I tried making a vegan cake today for my book group, since one member is vegan, and it's really ordinary. It's a chocolate cake that uses coconut milk and it's just insipid and flavourless. No richness or depth of flavour at all, even though I used very good quality chocolate and ingredients that usually result in a delicious final product. 

 

Looking for some suggestions and guidance! 

[Stromboli]

I had a really tasty recipe for vegan funfetti cupcakes the other day, I can dig it out if you're interested. Haven't tried baking it as a full cake, but the rise was good so it might be fine in a regular pan.

 

Maybe try swapping coconut milk for soy milk? It has a li'l more protein per cup, I've had a pretty good time baking with it.

Also for chocolate cake, adding a bit of coffee or espresso powder can bump up cocoa flavor.

 

ETA: Here's the vegan cupcake recipe I used: https://minimalistbaker.com/one-bowl-vegan-funfetti-cupcakes/

I made it with the "very vanilla" silk soy milk and it turned out really tasty.

Speaking of, did you use, like, canned coconut milk, or a coconut milk drink? I just looked at the nutrition info for silk's coconut milk and it has, like, no protein and folks were complaining that it didn't do well in baking.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Stromboli

[StormWizard212]

8 hours ago, Stromboli said:

I had a really tasty recipe for vegan funfetti cupcakes the other day, I can dig it out if you're interested.

Oooh, thank you! A good cupcake recipe would be fantastic. I'll give the recipe a go next book club. 

 

8 hours ago, Stromboli said:

Maybe try swapping coconut milk for soy milk?

That's a great suggestion, but unfortunately I'm allergic to soy milk! I wonder if almond milk would be a suitable substitute. It's a little more watery than soy milk, though, so maybe not. I did wonder whether a mix of coconut milk and coconut cream might have given the cake a bit more flavour, but worried that the extra fat might impact the cooking process. I used canned coconut milk, not bottled coconut water. Next time, I might try adding some coconut cream and doing a half/half. Have you baked with almond milk or any other nut milks before?

 

Great tip about adding coffee, though, thank you! 

 

The cake I made ended up falling apart very easily. It wasn't crumbly in a dry way (it was actually quite moist) but kind of crumbly in a... weak structural sort of way? I think this is likely from the lack of eggs and butter/fat in the recipe. It didn't have a sort of sticking agent, if that makes sense. I ended up crumbing the cake, mixing the crumbs with some melted chocolate and then forming them into little balls. When the chocolate set, they had a better texture and tasted a lot better. 

 

 

[Stromboli]

Oh no! Yeah, I guess the soy milk substitution's not gonna be much help 

I was going by this guide for which non-dairy milks are good for which kinds of cooking: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/non-dairy-milk-guide-for-all-your-cooking-and-baking-needs/

Since protein gives cake a lot of its structure, soy was their number 1 pick for baking, but coconut milk also has a bit of protein. At least, more than almond milk. On the other hand, almond milk has really nice flavor, so it might be something to play with.

[StormWizard212]

26 minutes ago, Stromboli said:

Oh no! Yeah, I guess the soy milk substitution's not gonna be much help 

I was going by this guide for which non-dairy milks are good for which kinds of cooking: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/non-dairy-milk-guide-for-all-your-cooking-and-baking-needs/

Since protein gives cake a lot of its structure, soy was their number 1 pick for baking, but coconut milk also has a bit of protein. At least, more than almond milk. On the other hand, almond milk has really nice flavor, so it might be something to play with.

 

Oh thanks! This is really useful. I'm wondering if maybe in different parts of the world, we mean different things when saying 'coconut milk'. Here, the beverage you drink from a bottle is coconut water, and you can get canned 'coconut milk' and 'coconut cream'. What this website refers to as 'canned coconut milk' is what we'd refer to here as 'coconut cream'. So perhaps I was actually meant to use coconut cream in the recipe and that might have made the cake more stable. I'll try that next time. 

 

Lesson: next time, consult the internet properly before attempting an unknown bake for unfamiliar dietary requirements.  

[Whirlaway]

I like baking (cooking in general), if my oven would stop being so old and grouchy and would work more often.

[Caius]

I have taken a liking to baking over the past six years or so because I grew tired of how bad the glutenfree

cookies and cakes are that you can buy in the stores ... Not to mention that no coffeehouse knows what "glutenfree"

means, which in turns means I can't go to coffeehouses whenever someone asks me to join them ...

So instead I chose to learn how to bake glutenfree on my own after I got my diagnose.

 

And I guess both my mom and I have thoughts about opening a coffeehouse one day that take not just

gluten, but other allergies too into account and can be a place where everyone can go without having to

feel "there will be nothing that I can eat anyway". But first I need to become better at baking ...

I guess I'm getting there, because I have improved quite a bit over the years.

[StormWizard212]

2 hours ago, Caius said:

And I guess both my mom and I have thoughts about opening a coffeehouse one day that take not just

gluten, but other allergies too into account and can be a place where everyone can go without having to

feel "there will be nothing that I can eat anyway".

 

Oh wow! That would be an amazing thing to do.  I know how frustrating it can be when you have allergies and there are never any good options. (Avocado is the bane of my existence - every trendy cafe has it in everything.) 

 

Do you have any good gluten free recipes that you've tried? Flourless cakes are delicious, though. A lot of gluten free biscuits, though, are not very nice. My mum is gluten free and can never find good options. It's also frustrating that 'gluten free' has become a sort of trend and people roll their eyes a bit, which makes it challenging for those who legitimately can't have gluten. 

[wonderwanders2]

I like baking, don't do it as often as I used to...  (time. *sigh*) but I still make cookies and the occasional cake.  I've also made biscuits (mostly from the can... does that count?) but I did make them from scratch once... when I realized I didn't have any!  LOL the store-bought dough was better though LOL  I know what I'm doing wrong... I just don't have the patience for all that chilled butter / rolling / layering / more chilled butter business.  And I've made those big soft pretzels.  That's a super simple recipe - so simple it was used as a craft project at a camp!

 

We have a persimmon tree in the yard and about the only thing I've found to do with the fruit is make persimmon-raisin cookies - which are very rich and cake-like and my friends just eat those things up!

 

Baked goods are a weakness of mine there's few I don't like... 

[Lovecats]

I don't really get as much time to bake as I did thanks to school but, when I do, baking gingerbread biscuits always seem to be my favourite.  They're easy to make, last a long time and taste pretty great with milk! (pic)

[Aqub]

Baking is really fun to do. I've never actually done it all myself, but I always help my mom make cakes or cookies.  Every Christmas, we make 7 or 8 big batches of cookies to give out to our family and neighbors. I really like it, but I'm not too sure if it's the baking I like, the spending time with my mom, or just eating the stuff we make.

[Distorted_Flare]

Is making a pie considered baking? I like to make my own pie fillings and even the crust from scratch (although I was awful at the crusts at first, haha). I make 3 pies for Thanksgiving every year, it's my favorite thing to make!

If pie doesn't count I do like to make cookies and I can bake almost anything as long as I have a recipe. Or at least everything I've tried so far. Heh.

[StormWizard212]

On 4/17/2018 at 6:54 AM, Distorted_Flare said:

Is making a pie considered baking? I like to make my own pie fillings and even the crust from scratch (although I was awful at the crusts at first, haha). I make 3 pies for Thanksgiving every year, it's my favorite thing to make!

If pie doesn't count I do like to make cookies and I can bake almost anything as long as I have a recipe. Or at least everything I've tried so far. Heh.

 

That's totally baking!  I love homemade pies. They're the best. I'm sure your crusts are a lot better than you give yourself credit for. I can't believe you'd post saying that you make three pies without telling us what the fillings are, though!  What kinds of pies are they? Are they the same or different? Do you prefer sweet or savoury pies? What's your favourite kind of filling? 

Edited April 18, 2018 by StormWizard212

[Distorted_Flare]

5 hours ago, StormWizard212 said:

 

That's totally baking!  I love homemade pies. They're the best. I'm sure your crusts are a lot better than you give yourself credit for. I can't believe you'd post saying that you make three pies without telling us what the fillings are, though!  What kinds of pies are they? Are they the same or different? Do you prefer sweet or savoury pies? What's your favourite kind of filling? 

Oh, I like both kinds! But I mostly make the sweet kind. For Thanksgiving I make a pumpkin pie made from an actual pumpkin (buy a small pumpkin and bake it then scoop out its innards to use in the pie), blueberry pie, and apple pie. They're all from scratch, so they taste great! We even whip cream to make our own whipping cream to put on them. Just a little bit of maple syrup in the cream makes it taste AMAZING.

[StormWizard212]

18 hours ago, Distorted_Flare said:

Oh, I like both kinds! But I mostly make the sweet kind. For Thanksgiving I make a pumpkin pie made from an actual pumpkin (buy a small pumpkin and bake it then scoop out its innards to use in the pie), blueberry pie, and apple pie. They're all from scratch, so they taste great! We even whip cream to make our own whipping cream to put on them. Just a little bit of maple syrup in the cream makes it taste AMAZING.

 

I prefer savoury pies, generally, but apple pies are delicious! One of my favourites.

 

Making things from scratch is always the best way. Pre-made whipped cream and isn't really a thing here. Some supermarkets sell cans that aerate it, but I haven't seen that for years. When I was travelling in America, I tried this pre-made topping that wasn't really cream (I'm not sure/can't remember what it actually was?) but we have nothing like that in Australia, to my knowledge. I've never seen canned pumpkin, either. I don't really get why some people aren't willing to work with fresh ingredients. It doesn't take that much extra time and always tastes heaps better!  

 

That being said, I can understand why people buy pre-made puff pastry.  That stuff takes a long time to make and get right. I've done it a few times, but it's just so time consuming. It's a lot of fun, though! If you haven't tried it before, you should give it a go sometime! It's a great challenge and the end results are definitely worth it! 

Edited April 19, 2018 by StormWizard212

[Distorted_Flare]

7 hours ago, StormWizard212 said:

 

I prefer savoury pies, generally, but apple pies are delicious! One of my favourites.

 

Making things from scratch is always the best way. Pre-made whipped cream and isn't really a thing here. Some supermarkets sell cans that aerate it, but I haven't seen that for years. When I was travelling in America, I tried this pre-made topping that wasn't really cream (I'm not sure/can't remember what it actually was?) but we have nothing like that in Australia, to my knowledge. I've never seen canned pumpkin, either. I don't really get why some people aren't willing to work with fresh ingredients. It doesn't take that much extra time and always tastes heaps better!  

 

That being said, I can understand why people buy pre-made puff pastry.  That stuff takes a long time to make and get right. I've done it a few times, but it's just so time consuming. It's a lot of fun, though! If you haven't tried it before, you should give it a go sometime! It's a great challenge and the end results are definitely worth it! 

 

Pfft I can imagine my first attempts at puff pastry will be disastrous. Sounds fun, though! Maybe I will try it. :3

[Ripan]

I made some white-and-dark chocolate chunk muffins on a whim today, simply because we had some leftover baking chocolate chunks. I sprinkled just a little sea salt on top of them before they went into the oven and that was the best thing I've ever done to a sweet muffin, totally enhanced and contrasted the sweetness of the chocolate.

Edited April 19, 2018 by Ripan

[Stromboli]

 

i maked these

[orrrangeee]

My biggest issue is that I don't have the patience to preheat the oven. It usually turns out ok when I bake stuff like pizza or oatmeal cookies, but I can't imagine what would happen if I tried to bake anything else.

[prpldrgnfr]

@Stromboli-beautiful, I want a bite!

@DOLPHIN232-you can get around that if you turn the oven on before you start mixing your baked good-by the time it's ready to go in, your oven will be hot.

[Aniia]

I don't bake very often, though I've been trying to cook at home more for health reasons. I think the last thing I baked was... scalloped potatoes with pumpkin-cheese sauce. This weekend I want to try making pumpkin pie from scratch!