Middle Eastern-Style Vegan Bake [Vegan] (2024)

FAQs

What does vinegar do in vegan baking? ›

The reason that you'll see apple cider vinegar or vinegar in a lot of vegan baked goods is because it helps with the leavening. It's an acid and it helps the cakes to rise.

Vegan baking means you're not using any animal products in your recipes. So while traditionally most vegan cakes, for example, would have eggs, milk and sometimes butter, a vegan cake won't have any of those ingredients.

If you're moving toward a vegan diet, I have good news. When it comes to delicious baked foods, you won't be missing out in the slightest. While eggs and butter feature heavily in most mainstream baked desserts, there are superb vegan recipes that do away with these ingredients and yield sensational results.

Apple cider vinegar and white vinegar make good substitutes for one another in most cooking applications, but the former is significantly more tart. In many cases, you can also use these vinegars as substitutes for other types of vinegar.

Beer and Wine

Isinglass, a gelatin-based substance derived from fish, is used as a clarifying agent in some beer and wine. Other non-vegan ingredients sometimes used are casein (from milk) and egg whites.

Lemon juice

Some acidic fruit juices also make a good baking replacement for apple cider vinegar. This is because the acid helps your recipes to rise. However, you will need to adjust how much you use based on the acidity of the juice. Lemon juice has a pH between 2 and 3, which is more or less the same as ACV.

Vegan Cake Troubleshooting

Reduce sugar content. Increase baking powder and baking soda. Usually caused by batter being too thin or lack of leavening power. Reduce water content.

What are good vegan butter substitutes? In baking, you can use vegan butter, applesauce, dairy-free yogurt, coconut oil, coconut butter, olive oil, nut butter, mashed banana and mashed avocado. In cooking, you can use olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable stock, or avocado oil to replace butter.

While many chefs ethically understand the reasons behind veganism, the overall culinary ecosystem doesn't support this thought making it difficult for chefs to accept it wholeheartedly.

What is the purpose of vinegar in baking? ›

When vinegar reacts with baking soda, it creates carbon dioxide bubbles, which act as leavening agents. So as the batter bakes, these tiny bubbles expand, causing the cake to rise and giving it that light, airy texture we all love.

Most of the times when I make Eggless Cakes, I use the mixture of vinegar + baking soda. The reaction of vinegar with baking soda releases carbon dioxide and this aerates the batter which helps in leavening the cake. This vanilla cake made without eggs uses the same reaction principle.

Mixing 1 tsp (7 g) of baking soda with 1 tbsp (15 g) of vinegar can replace 1 egg in most recipes. When mixed together, vinegar and baking soda start a chemical reaction that produces carbon dioxide and water, which makes baked goods light and airy. This substitution works best for cakes, cupcakes, and quick breads.

Depending on the variety, vinegar can bring a sour, tangy, sweet, mild, malty, woody or even buttery flavor to your dish. It can also be used to color or discolor foods. Because of its unique ability to break down proteins, vinegar is also used as a marinade to help tenderize meats and veggies.