Vegan

Macaron Troubleshooting: Mottled Macarons and 10 Ways to Prevent Them

November 10, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Why are my macarons mottled and stained on top? Learn what causes it and ten ways to prevent mottled macs.

If you’d like to see other installments in the Macaron Troubleshooting Series, click here!

And for more mac fun join our vegan macaron community on Facebook!

WHAT ARE MOTTLED MACARONS?

Mottled macarons whose tops have darker colored spots and blotching. They look stained, like they’ve had water sprayed on them.

WHAT CAUSES MOTTLED MACARONS?

Macarons become mottled when either there is excess liquid (either oil or water) in the batter, or they were not baked high or long enough to sufficiently evaporate it out.

EXCESS OIL

Excess oil can come from three sources, and will make your macarons not only mottled, but hollow and the tops will be very fragile.

OILY ALMOND FLOUR

If your almond flour contains a lot of oil, there are a couple of things you can do to try and save it:

1. Dry it out in the oven. Spread your almond flour out on a clean baking sheet and pop it in the oven at around 200F (just under 100C). Bake it for 20 minutes and turn the oven off, and let it hang out in there for another 10 minutes before pulling it out and letting it cool.

2. Pulse it with your powdered sugar. This is less reliable than #1, but might help if you already have your oven preheated for the macarons or you don’t have time to wait for the almond flour to bake.

Simply put the almond flour and powdered sugar for your recipe in a food processor or blender and gently pulse until everything is combined well.

MAKE SURE TO USE VERY SHORT PULSES! If you hold that button down, you’ll release *more oils* and turn it into almond butter. Almond butter is delicious, but doesn’t make good macarons.

ADDED OILS

Many times the flavors people try to add to their macaron batter contain oil. Whether it’s lemon oil, peppermint oil, or something with naturally occurring oils like cinnamon or cocoa, these additives can wreak havoc on your macs.

The same holds true for colors. Make sure you are not using colors that contain oil! Candy colors made for chocolate will destroy your batter. Some natural colors like yellows that contain turmeric and greens with matcha can also cause problems.

If you’ve never made successful macarons before, you should leave out the flavors and colors until you can consistently make great batches. That way you know it’s the additive that’s causing the issues!

OIL FROM YOUR EQUIPMENT

If you use your silicone mats to make cookies, or your mixing bowl for buttercream, there’s a chance that some oil may have hung around on your equipment and sabotaged your macarons.

You should always wipe down all of your pans, mats, spoons, whisks, bowls, etc. with some vinegar prior to beginning the recipe to get rid of any residual grease that might deflate your meringue and doom your macarons.

Also beware of bits of buttercream falling from your mixer into the bowl!

EXCESS MOISTURE

If either your batter contains too much moisture, or it doesn’t have a chance to escape during baking, you could get mottled macarons.

INCORRECT MEASURING

One reason for this could be that the batter is too wet. This happens when your ratios are off.

Maybe you tried to estimate instead of measuring, or you’re using cups and spoons instead of weighing out the grams with a kitchen scale.

Even the best of us sometimes mess up too, though. It’s possible you accidentally added too much aquafaba (or water for folks who make potato protein macarons) or not enough dry ingredients.

This will also happen if you are making Italian macarons and didn’t heat the sugar up enough (which leaves extra water in it), or added too much color.

The result of way too much color being added to macaron batter. They are mottled on top and the feet oozed out from the bottom. — I added waaaaay too much color to this macaron batter. The mottling just got worse and worse as they sat, too.

MERINGUE AND MIXING ISSUES

If your meringue is underwhipped or your batter is overmixed, it could also cause your macarons to be too saturated with moisture.

When you whip the meringue to stiff peaks, what you’re doing is creating billions of teeny tiny bubbles. It makes the batter light and airy, and allows it to dry out in the oven. If you don’t whip the meringue stiff enough, the bubbles aren’t there to allow moisture to escape easily.

Likewise, if you overmixed your batter during macaronage, you’ve popped all the bubbles you made during the meringue stage and the same problem arises.

Whip your meringue well and be sure you do not overmix your batter. It’s better to be too stiff and undermixed than to have mottled puddles for macarons.

HEAT PROBLEMS

Even if you did everything else right, when your oven is not hot enough it will cause your macarons to be too moist.

The oven temperature needs to be high enough to evaporate the moisture in the macarons before it has a chance to soak the outer shell of the cookie. It also needs to be hot enough to dry out the macaron before the meringue has a chance to deflate.

Anything lower than around 210F (100C) and sometimes even hotter than that depending on the batter and the weather will not dry out your macarons fast enough.

Chances are that if your tops are mottled, the macarons have no feet, and your macarons stick to your mat or paper, your oven wasn’t sufficiently hot.

BAKING TIME

Not baking long enough will also cause these problems.

Even if you vaporize the moisture in the outer parts of the shells with sufficient heat, if you don’t bake long enough the liquid will spread and settle on the surface. This will give them a mottled, stained appearance.

Under-baking will also leave your macarons raw on the inside, and they will be very fragile. Another sign that this is what has occurred is that they will stick to the mat.

If your macarons stick to the mat, become mottled AFTER baking, are raw inside, but have great feet, your oven was probably hot enough but the baking time was too short or you opened the door too much during baking.

CHECK YOUR FILLINGS

If your macarons baked perfectly with no problems, but become mottled after maturing, the culprit is your filling.

When you fill macarons with something very wet like jam or curd, the shells will absorb the moisture and become soaked and soggy.

Either switch the filling for something fat-based like buttercream or ganache, or give the bottoms of your macs a swipe of melted chocolate or frosting to make them waterproof before filling them.

MATURATION

If you mature them at room temperature, they can also over-mature after about 6-12 hours depending on the filling. Room temp maturation is good if you’re in a rush, but otherwise – keep it in the fridge.

TEN WAYS TO PREVENT MOTTLED MACARONS

Here is your checklist to make sure your macarons don’t come out mottled:

10 Ways to Prevent Mottled Macarons

Mottled macarons can be caused by plenty of different things, but here are 10 ways you can avoid them:

Instructions

1. Wipe down all of your equipment with vinegar before you begin.

2. Measure everything accurately by the gram with a good kitchen scale.

3. If making Italian macarons, make sure you bring your sugar syrup to the correct temperature.

4. Whip your meringue very well.

5. Do not add color or flavor with oils or meringue-deflating ingredients (if in doubt, leave it out!)

6. Do not let your batter sit for too long before piping (two hours max).

7. Make sure your oven is hot enough.

8. Make sure you bake them long enough and don't open the oven door.

9. Do not use very wet fillings without sealing your shells first.

10. Mature them in the fridge.

Notes

Find my vegan Italian macaron recipe here.

Find the ingredients and equipment I use for macarons here.

Join our vegan macaron community on Facebook here.

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Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

Vegan Quick and Easy Mexican Red Pozole/Menudo (Instant Pot)

January 1, 2020 // by Meggan Leal// 3 Comments

Deep, rich, spicy, and flavorful red pozole is a classic comfort food in Mexico – especially during the winter holiday season. It’s a chili based hominy soup and usually simmered all day with cuts of pork or chicken (or beef tripe for menudo). My version is vegan, easy, and can be made in less than an hour thanks to the Instant Pot.

Pozole: a brief

First of all, pozole is pronounced poe-SO-lay.

Traditional red pozole (pozole rojo) is made by slow simmering pork or chicken in a rich broth made of blended red chili peppers and onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, and a host of other herbs and spices that change based on who is making it and how their abuelita taught them. The same dish, but made with tripe instead of meat is known as menudo.

White or yellow hominy is added and it’s garnished with cabbage, radish, cilantro, onion, and lime juice. Avocado and tostadas (baked or fried corn tortillas) are also frequently enjoyed with pozole.

It can be simmered for hours to days, and is a labor of love, and a holiday tradition passed down through generations of Mexican families. It’s a beautiful dish rich in both flavor and history, and once you’ve tried it you know you’ll be craving it again and again.

As beautiful as the thought is of simmering it for days according to an ancient family recipe, I ain’t got time for that. Plus, I want it to be vegan. So I’m gonna make it convenient with quick ingredients, pre-ground and mixed spices, and an Instant Pot to cook it in less than an hour.

Ingredients:

Here’s a breakdown of our ingredients for this quick and easy vegan pozole:

The first ingredient I use in my quick and easy vegan pozole is soy chorizo. Yup. I know. That’s weird. But trust me.

Chorizo actually has a ton of the same spices and flavors as traditional pozole: chili, garlic, some acidity, and lots of gorgeous natural red. Yes, red. That’s important because we are making red pozole. Your red pozole should not be lacking in red.

Can’t do soy? No worries! Just skip the soyrizo. 🙂

The second ingredient is portabella mushrooms. Or portobello. Or giant creminis. Whatever you want to call them, they’re meaty and absorb all the pozole flavors wonderfully. Slice them thickly so they give plenty of chew.

I use baby portabellas because they give smaller chunks that are more manageable.

Before slicing your mushrooms, please please please wash them. The brown stuff you see on your mushrooms isn’t dirt. And trust me, you don’t want to eat it.

Next is veggie broth. I love that the manufacturer has already slow-simmered this for hours and hours so that I don’t have to! Yay! Complex flavors in an instant. Life doesn’t get much better than that.

The most important ingredient of all is menudo spice. Menudo spice is an intricate and balanced mixture of a TON of herbs and spices. You can definitely mix your own, and there are thousands of recipes online if you decide you want to give it a go. I don’t. Lol. I’ve been there, done that, inhaled way too much chili pepper, and I don’t want to go down that road again. So I buy pre-made.

There are a lot of different brands out there! Fiesta is the most popular where I am, but La India and Gebhardt are very good, too. Actually, I’ve never tried one I didn’t like – so find what you can, check the ingredients for anything you’re avoiding, and use what’s safe. I’m using Gebhardt in this because I went shopping for it ON NEW YEARS EVE (when everyone is making pozole) and literally all the menudo spice was sold out except for this one because it was hidden on an end cap on the opposite end of the store.

Lastly, hominy. Humble hominy is a larger and tougher variety of corn than what most Americans are accustomed to. It’s actually the corn used to make grits! There is a yellow and a white variety, and either one will work wonderfully here. Find it close to the canned corn or in the Hispanic section of your grocery store.

Cacique is my favorite brand of soy chorizo because the flavor is amazing, so is the price, and the meatiness is scary convincing – all while being gluten-free

INGREDIENTS: WATER, SOY FLOUR, SOYBEAN OIL, DISTILLED WHITE VINEGAR, PAPRIKA, SALT, MUSTARD POWDER, SPICES, GARLIC POWDER, CARAMEL COLOR AND POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO MAINTAIN FRESHNESS).

Let’s get started!

Step one: Turn your Instant Pot on sauté on medium heat and gather all your soup ingredients. First, add the chorizo and give it a good stir. Add about two cups of broth as needed to keep it from burning.

If you have whole mushrooms, you should cut them into about 1/2″ (about 2.5cm) slices. They don’t have to be exact. If you have sliced mushrooms, just toss them in!

Add your mushrooms to the pot.

Stir the mushrooms to coat with chorizo and juices.

Add about two cups of broth (16oz, 480ml) and stir well. The broth will keep it from burning on the bottom.

Open your hominy and drain it.

See? Corn! really ugly corn, but still corn.

Dump your drained hominy into your pot and stir well.

Now it’s time for the menudo spice! Hold your breath as you dump this in. You don’t want to breathe in chili powder. Use whatever brand you can find and tolerate. And use the amount indicated for 2-3 pounds of meat.

Delicious flavor and color, coming right up!

Stir everything really well.

IMPORTANT INSTANT POT INFORMATION!!!

My Instant Pot is a 6 quart Duo. It has a line inside that marks 2/3 capacity with a note that says “PC Max”. This is the max fill line for pressure cooking. DO NOT FILL YOUR POT UP PAST THIS POINT. If you have a smaller pot, are using any dehydrated ingredients that will increase in volume during cooking, or you are not confident about filling yours up to this point, stop here, cover, and cook now.

If you’re ok filling it up, go ahead and add another four cups of broth or until you reach the max fill line according to your Instant Pot instruction manual.

Close your lid and turn your valve to the sealing position.

Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook on normal/medium pressure for 20 minutes. It should come to pressure rather quickly since the pot is full and it’s already hot.

Once it’s done, let it natural release for ten minutes before carefully turning the valve to ‘venting’. Allow it to vent until the button drops and it’s safe to open.

If you opted to not fill your pot to the max fill line earlier, go ahead and add the four remaining cups of broth now and stir well.

Stir and serve your soup! Top with cilantro and chopped white onion, shredded cabbage, radish slices, and plenty of lime juice. It can also be enjoyed with avocado and tostadas.

Store it in the fridge for up to four days and reheat portions rather than the whole pot for best food safety.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, don’t fret! Follow the instructions but in a slow cooker for 4-5 hours, or on a stovetop over a medium simmer for 1.5-2 hours.

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Video:

Coming soon!

Recipe:

Yield: servings 8-10

Vegan Quick and Easy Red Pozole

Deep, rich, spicy, and flavorful red pozole is a classic comfort food in Mexico - especially during the winter holiday season. Mine is vegan, and cooks quickly in the Instant Pot.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb (452g) soy chorizo
24 oz (680g) baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
2 30oz (850g) cans of hominy, drained
64 oz (1.8L) vegetable broth
3.25 oz (92g) menudo spice mix

Garnishes

Cilantro
Finely chopped white onion
Thinly sliced radish
Shredded cabbage
Fresh limes

Instructions

In the Instant Pot on the sauté function, stir together the chorizo, sliced mushrooms, and two cups of broth
Drain and add the hominy, and stir well
Add the menudo spice and two more cups of broth and stir well
If you’re worried about overfilling your Instant Pot, you can seal and cook now. I have a 6qt Duo and this recipe fills it exactly to the 2/3 max fill line. DO NOT GO OVER YOUR 2/3 MAX FILL LINE. SEE YOUR INSTANT POT’S INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Add the remaining four cups of broth now (or after cooking if you’re worried about overfilling the Instant Pot)
Pressure cook on medium for 20 minutes, and allow to naturally release for 10 minutes before venting, stirring, and serving
Garnish with fresh cilantro, chopped white onion, shredded cabbage, sliced fresh radishes, and fresh lime juice

Notes

Please use caution while using your Instant Pot, and follow the user’s manual exactly.

This can also be prepared in a slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours, or on the stovetop over a medium simmer for 1-2 hours - until the mushrooms are cooked through.

If you're avoiding soy, omit the soy chorizo and check the menudo spice mix and veggie broth well for it. If you're avoiding corn, swap the hominy for chickpeas and check your menudo mix for cornstarch and your veggie broth for corn.

Vegan Low Carb Almost-Instant Mug Brownie

December 16, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Sometimes you need a sweet treat right now, without a lot of prep or waiting, and you don’t want to share. Whether you’re keto or just watching your carbs, or you’re diabetic and don’t want to throw your sugars off, or if you’re avoiding gluten or animal products, this brownie recipe is for you!

Is this recipe keto?

Keto seems to be defined differently by a lot of different folks. This recipe definitely can fit into a keto diet/lifestyle. Is it keto if you eat it 18 times a day? No, no it is not. Will I judge you for doing that? Again, no. No I will not.

For the sake of avoiding arguments from internet people, I’ve decided to label this recipe as being ‘low carb’, because it’s waaayyyy lower in carbs than a traditional brownie is. It is not zero (about 16 net carbs as is, 7 if you leave out the chocolate chips), but it is also meant as a special treat and not as an everyday thing (but again, I will not judge if you decide to make and eat it every day!).

So really, “is it keto” would be answered by how low you think it has to be in carbs to fit the definition. But I can tell you it’s darn delicious.

spoonful of brownie — Enjoy your brownie, guilt-free!

What do I need to make this recipe?

Equipment-wise, you’re going to need a microwavable mug or ramekin, and a second small bowl for mixing your wet ingredients. You’ll need a spoon to stir and measuring spoons to measure out your ingredients, and of course you’ll need a microwave to cook it in.

Ingredient-wise, this is what you’ll need to gather:

Dry Ingredients:

Almond flour
If you’re allergic to almonds, you can use another nut flour here like hazelnut or pecan. Allergic to nuts in general? No problem! Swap it out for sunflower seed or pumpkin seed flour and it’ll work just fine.
Cocoa powder
I really like Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder, but I’m a dark chocolate fiend. Any cocoa powder should work fine here, though!
Baking powder
NOT baking soda. Baking powder is a mix of base and acid in powder form, so that when it gets wet it fizzes and makes lots of tiny bubbles in your brownie so it’ll be spongey and won’t be a hockey puck.
Salt
Whatever kind of salt you want, as long as it’s salty. I use sea salt because it’s what I’ve got. It’s to balance out the sweetness of the brownie (plus, salt and chocolate are total besties and go SO well together!).

Wet Ingredients:

Coconut oil
Allergic to coconuts? Have no fear! Use palm oil, or even Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks instead.
Don’t want to use palm oil AND allergic to coconuts? Swap it for any oil of your choice and it should be fine! The oil is to up the fat content for the keto-ers, and also helps to keep the brownie moist and decadent.
Flax egg
Da heck is flax egg? GOOD QUESTION! Flax egg is when you mix together ground flax seed with water and let it gellify. It gets the same goopy consistency of chicken eggs, with 100% less animal protein. I actually keep a big container of it premade in my fridge and just scoop out 3 tbsp for each egg in a recipe, but if you need to make it on the spot it’s 1 tbsp of ground flax and 2.5 tbsp water per egg. No flax? Use ground chia seeds instead!
Almond milk
You can actually use whatever liquid you want here! So if you’re allergic to almonds or nuts, use your favorite plant milk instead – or even just plain ole water. I chose unsweetened vanilla almond milk for this recipe because of the extra vanilla boost and the zero carbs.
Sweetener
Use whatever your favorite sweetener is here. Erythritol is a preferred sweetener by low carb/keto folks but it has a cooling sensation a lot of people can’t get past. Stevia is a good choice, but can be bitter. Monkfruit is a great choice, but hard to find (getting easier, though!) and is a little pricey. I find that mixing erythritol and stevia gives great results because there’s not enough of either to make your mouth go “ick”.

Other Ingredients

Lily’s dark chocolate baking chips are the crowning glory of this brownie. I love them (and they don’t pay me to say that) because again, I am a dark chocolate fiend, but also because I love that they’re super delicious and sugar-free so I can nom them and not feel bad about it. I also love adding them to all my kids’ breakfast foods because no added sugar. Yay!

That said, you can leave them out if you don’t have them or don’t like them, and your brownie will still turn out decadent and wonderful. Just add another teaspoon or two of your sweetener to make up for what Lily’s would have added.

Additionally, you can add chopped nuts or seeds to this and it’s amazing. Pecans, walnuts, or roasted seeds are all great choices.

Tell me how! The process:

Making the brownie is actually really quick and simple – and gets quicker the more times you do it. 😉

Wet ingredients and dry ingredients, ready to be mixed

1. Measure together your wet and your dry ingredients separately. Also, if you don’t have your flax egg pre-made and waiting in the fridge, go ahead and mix that before you do anything else. Melt your fat and heat up your liquid to make sure you don’t get solid chunks anywhere.

I measure the dry ingredients into whatever vessel I will be microwaving the brownie in – in this case, a coffee mug.

dry and wet ingredients, mixed separately and ready to combine — Dry ingredients and wet ingredients, mixed separately and ready to be combined.

2. Stir together the dry and wet ingredients in their separate containers. I do the dry ingredients first, and then use the same spoon to do the wet ingredients. Fewer dirty dishes makes me happy.

Dry and wet ingredients combined into batter — The luscious batter made by combining the dry and wet ingredients.

3. Once everything is nicely mixed in their separate containers, go ahead and plop the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well.

Batter with chocolate chips folded in and sprinkled on top — Fold in half of the chocolate chips and sprinkle the other half on top.

4. Once you’ve mixed the batter and everything is smooth with no giant lumps, go ahead and add half of your chocolate chips and all your nuts/seeds if you used them, and stir them in. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top.

Finished brownie — Once microwaved, it turns dark and rich!

5. Microwave your mug on high for 90 seconds. It’s going to puff way up in the microwave (so make sure you’re using a mug or bowl that has plenty of headroom left in it) and then fall back down once done. You can see here that mine souffléd up to the rim of my mug before collapsing down to its final height.

It will be a bit like a molten chocolate cake while it’s still hot/warm, and will firm up as it cools (if you can wait that long!).

Enjoy at whatever temperature you wish! You can top it with some whipped buttercream made with confectioner’s Swerve instead of sugar, or some whipped coconut cream. Or eat it as is. 🙂 I eat mine still hot with a cup of coffee and nothing added on top.

Quick and Dirty Method:

You can totally do this ALL in ONE mug if you’d like to avoid a couple more dirty dishes. Results might be a little lumpier, but still delicious. So feel free to use this method if you are short on time or patience and just need some delicious brownie in your face rite nao:

Measure oil and milk into your mug and microwave for 30 seconds, or until it’s hot to the touch
Add the rest of your wet ingredients and stir well
Mix in your cocoa powder and stir well
Add the rest of your dry ingredients and stir well
Fold in your chocolate chips and nuts/seeds if using, and top with chocolate chips
Microwave and enjoy as usual

How do I store them?

Uhh.. In your belly? I suppose you could pop some plastic wrap over the top and save it for later, but this is meant to be enjoyed right away.

I have made them in silicone cupcake liners and transitioned them to paper for a Valentine’s gift in a cupcake box and they worked well like that. But I would really advise you to eat these the same day that they’re made.

What if I’m not low carb/keto?

If you’re not watching your carb intake and aren’t concerned about consuming sugar, feel free to use granulated sugar as your sweetener and regular chocolate chips instead of the Lily’s! It’ll work just as well for a quick single-serving treat!

Can I make these in the oven?

Yes! Give it a try at 325F for about 10-12 minutes.

Can I double or triple the recipe?

Yes you absolutely can. The photos you see here are actually of the recipe doubled (so you can actually see what’s going on). You’ll just need to microwave a bit longer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on after the brownie is cooked (so the chocolate doesn’t burn) and give it another 30 seconds to melt. Try cooking for two and a half minutes for a double batch, and three and a half minutes for triple.

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Recipe:

Yield: 1 serving

Vegan Low Carb Almost Instant Mug Brownies

Sometimes you need a sweet treat right now, without a lot of prep or waiting, and you don't want to share. Whether you're keto or just watching your carbs, or you're diabetic and don't want to throw your sugars off, or if you're avoiding gluten or animal products, this recipe is for you!

Prep Time 3 minutes

Cook Time 1 minute

Total Time 4 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

4 tbsp almond flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Wet Ingredients

1 flax egg (see recipe post for details)
2 tbsp unsweetened vanilla almond milk, hot
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
4 tsp sweetener (erythritol, stevia, or monkfruit that measures like sugar)

Additions

2 tbsp Lily's dark chocolate baking chips, divided
1 tbsp roasted nuts or seeds, chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Make your flax egg if you don't already have some waiting

2. Measure together your wet and your dry ingredients separately

3. Stir together the dry and wet ingredients in their separate containers

4. Mix everything together in your microwaveable mug, combining well

5. Fold in one tablespoon of your chocolate chips and all of your seeds/nuts if using

6. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top of the batter

7. Microwave for 90 seconds

8. Enjoy hot as a molten cake, or allow to cool for a firmer brownie

Notes

If you have allergies to any of the ingredients, or want to make it not-low-carb, see recipe post for substitutions

This recipe is inspired by the non-vegan 3-minute keto brownie recipe from Keto Daily

Chai Spice Cake (Vegan, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, One-Bowl)

November 8, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Pumpkin spice needs to move over, because chai is the fall flavor that is going to fill you with autumnal warmth this year! Warm Indian spices including cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and black pepper turn my favorite hot latte from beverage to show stopping dessert.

Chai Spice?

First off, what the heck is chai?

Well, chai is my favorite tea! Lol. But it’s so much more than that. It’s funny because the word chai actually means tea in India. So my favorite flavor of tea is.. tea. In India this would be known as masala chai – which simply means mixed spiced tea.

But unlike here in the United States, tea in India isn’t just some black tea steeped in hot water – it’s full of warming aromatic spices, and prepared with hot milk and is served sweetened – hence it being masala – or mixed spices.

The spices used can vary, but generally include cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and star anise. I love the ones that also include ginger and black pepper. Some have orange peel and vanilla added. Even coriander and fennel can make appearances! And then of course, there is tea – black tea.

I love chai tea. But I do not mix my own. And I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on it here – because I’m not. I don’t even know 1/10th of 1% of Indian cuisine or culture or the significance of these ingredients to the wonderful people of the country.

I also don’t know anything about tea. What kinds of tea leaves? Heck if I know. Black. Lol. I also like green tea and jasmine tea. And hibiscus tea is wonderful! Those aren’t usually used in Indian teas as far as I know, but that’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge there.

But I love chai tea.

If you want to learn more about Indian tea and how to prepare it authentically, my friend Anushree has an amazing food blog with a great post containing everything you could want to know about it. Head on over there if you want to give it a shot yourself. 🙂

So how am I going to make chai spiced cake if you’re not going to teach me how to make chai spice?!

Good question!

I let the experts do the mixing.

I buy chai tea from the store. I make some, with almond or oat milk, I sweeten it with a little sugar. And I judge – usually not harshly, because apparently I love all chai teas that exist on the market. And if I like the chai tea I’m drinking, I will use those tea bags in my chai spiced cake. With the same milk I used to prepare my tea, and the same sugar I used to sweeten it.

I literally transform my chai tea latte into a cake. And now you can too!

The Ingredients

The ingredients here are pretty simple and straight forward; nothing too fancy or hard to find.

Flour. The flour I use here is all purpose wheat flour. Not self-rising, not cake flour, not bread flour, not any of that. Just plain ole AP flour. You can substitute your favorite gluten-free alternative if you’d like – Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour is my favorite. The longer the name, the better the results. 😉 Follow the instructions on the bag.
Sugar. I use Zulka brand granulated sugar. It’s the same as traditional white granulated sugar, but it hasn’t been filtered through bone char – meaning it’s vegan (that’s right, most American sugars aren’t vegan). It has a slight amber color and gorgeous caramel notes in the flavor. You can use whatever your favorite granulated sugar is, though.
Baking soda. Also known as bicarbonate or bicarb, it’s much more than just for deodorizing you’re freezer or adding to toothpaste! And it is NOT the same thing as baking powder. So make sure to use soda and not powder here (that’s the number one mistake made in my recipes).
Salt. Use whatever. I add it to enhance the flavors and balance out the sweetness a bit. Pink, white, sea, kosher – pick your poison. You could even use black salt if you wanted to give the cake a bit of an eggy taste.
Chai tea! Like I said above, I use the same bags for cake making as I enjoy for drinking.
Milk. Whichever plant milk is your favorite will probably do great here. I love using almond milk and soy milk in my cakes – so I choose based on whether my clients want to avoid one or the other. I opt for unsweetened vanilla to amp up that flavor.
Vinegar. Any vinegar will do! I use white because it’s cheap, but I’ve also used apple cider vinegar and rice wine vinegar in a pinch. And if you can’t have vinegar, use lemon or lime juice! All we are looking for is an acid to react with the baking soda to fill our cake with tiny bubbles – turning it into a sponge.
Vanilla. Whatever your favorite is – either real or synthetic, just make sure it’s not made with beaver butts. Yes, you read that right.
Butter/oil. For cakes that will be stacked or carved, I recommend using your favorite vegan butter. It will give your cake a firmer structure allowing you to manipulate it without it falling apart on you. For cupcakes, oil is wonderful for giving them a light and airy texture – not great for stacking and carving, but perfect for cupcakes!

The Method

The first thing you’re going to do is pick out a chai tea that you like to drink. The best way to figure this out is to buy some, make it, and drink it. And my favorite way to do this is to steep it in hot almond or oat milk with a touch of sugar added.

Love the H-E-B brand Chai, but if you’re not fortunate enough to have an H-E-B near you, I really like the Stash brand Double Chai, as well (it’s made with cinnamon and clove oil that pops really well in the cake, though it doesn’t contain black pepper – so add some if you want it spicier).

One batch of this recipe is going to take five tea bags worth of tea. So get five envelopes out, rip em open, and pull the bags out.

Using a pair of scissors, snip off the top of each bag. Keep in mind that the tea bag might actually just be a folded tube, so make sure you hold on tight or you’ll make a big mess! Once you snip one, dump the contents into a coffee/spice grinder before moving on to the next.

If you don’t have a grinder, that’s fine – just dump the tea into your flour mixture as is. Your cake will just have larger flecks instead of a smoother color. And if you don’t want to do that, then steep ten bags in your hot milk instead.

Once you’ve unloaded the contents of your five tea bags into the grinder, give it one nice sniff before closing it and buzzing it into a fine powder.

After grinding the tea, I advise letting it settle in the grinder for at least five to ten minutes before attempting to open it. It’s going to be a spicy cloud that will likely make you cough and gag if you open it before that. Direct inhalation of cinnamon and black pepper is never a good thing, people.

In the meantime, whisk your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl – that would be your flour, sugar (yes, it counts as a dry ingredient in whacky cake recipes – which this is), baking SODA, and salt.

Once you’ve mixed your dry ingredients together and your chai powder has had the chance to settle, dump the contents of the grinder into your bowl.

Gently whisk your chai powder into your dry mix until it’s well combined.

Once your chai and dry are combined, make three wells in the mixture – one large and two small. Into the first small well, pour in your vanilla. The second small one will get your vinegar. And the large well is going to get your melted butter or oil.

Do not mix, yet!

Once you’ve made and filled your three wells, pour your hot milk over the entire bowl.

Gently stir the hot milk into your dry mixture until it’s just combined and you don’t see any dry patches anywhere.

Pour your batter into prepared cake pans or cupcake tins.

Bake cakes at 325F (162C) for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out dry (the time will depend on the size and depth of your cake pans, as well as your individual oven). Cupcakes take around 17 minutes.

Let the cake cool completely before decorating with your preferred frosting. My favorite is my American Meringue Buttercream with 12 drops of LorAnn lavender oil added.

The cake can be stored covered at room temperature for up to a week, or wrapped well (double wrapped in plastic film) and frozen for up to six months.

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Whacky Cake Recipe Tutorial Video:

This video is for my chocolate whacky cake, but the process is the same – just using chai tea powder instead of cocoa powder and hot milk instead of coffee.

Recipe:

Yield: 1 10", 2 8", 3 6" cakes, or 24 cupcakes

Chai Spice Cake (Vegan, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, One-Bowl)

Pumpkin spice needs to move over, because this is the fall flavor that is going to fill you with autumnal warmth this year! Warm Indian spices including cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and black pepper turn my favorite hot latte from beverage to show stopping dessert.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour (480g)
2 cups sugar (400g)
2 tsp baking soda (bicarb) (12g)
1 tsp salt (6g)
5 chai tea bags (10 if you don't have a spice/coffee grinder)
2 tsp vanilla extract (10ml)
2 tbsp vinegar (30ml)
3/4 cup of vegan butter/margarine, melted (you can use oil, see notes below) (175ml)
2 cups plant milk, hot (475ml)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325F (162C)
Prepare your cake pans with nonstick spray and parchment paper circles on the bottom
Empty the contents of your tea bags into a coffee/spice grinder and blitz until it's a fine powder and let it rest for five minutes without opening (see recipe notes if you don't have a grinder)
Whisk together your flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl
Gently stir your chai tea powder into the dry mix
Create three deep wells in your dry mix
To the first well, add your vanilla. To the second, add the vinegar. To the third, add the melted butter/oil
Pour your hot milk over the entire mixture
Gently whisk or fold your batter until it's well combined and no dry bits remain
Divide your batter evenly among your prepared pans
Bake for 45 minutes or until you insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and it comes out clean (cupcakes only need about 17 minutes)
Remove your cakes from the oven to a cooling rack. Let it sit in the cake pan for five minutes before turning it out. Let cool completely before frosting.

Notes

*This can be made with your favourite cup-for-cup gluten-free flour if you want to make a wheat-free version.

*For a no-sugar-added version, use a cup-for-cup Stevia baking blend in place of the granulated sugar.

*Using melted butter is recommended for stacked or carved cakes. Oil is best for cupcakes as it results in a fluffier texture.

*For soy-free, use melted Country Crock Plant Butter sticks (avoiding the almond one if you have a nut allergy) or Miyoko’s butter if you’d like to also avoid palm-oil. Or use a non-soy oil instead.

*If you don't have a coffee/spice grinder, feel free to add the contents of the tea bags as is to the dry mix. It will leave larger flecks in the finished cake and won't give you as a smooth of a color. If you still want a smooth color, try steeping ten tea bags in your hot milk instead of grinding the contents of five.

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

American Meringue Buttercream (vegan)

October 28, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// 78 Comments

This frosting is quick, it’s easy, it’s no-cook, and just so happens to be vegan. It’s American Buttercream’s less teeth-shatteringly sweet, more refined, and just as perfectly versatile meringue cousin. Dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free, it’s allergy friendly and you’ll love working with it. Plus, the flavor and texture will have everyone who tastes it in awe.

While American Buttercream may be the quickest and easiest of the buttercreams to make, many people find it to be sickeningly sweet because it’s the sugar that gives it structure and body – and it takes quite a lot. So what could we possibly do to it to make that not the case?

Enter aquafaba.

Tips&Tricks Square — I usually use garbanzo/chickpea aquafaba – but any one will do!

Aquafaba is legume (beans, lentils, soy, peas, etc.) cooking or canning liquid – and it is the vegan egg white replacement for perfect meringues. It can be used to make macarons and top meringue pies, and even perfect little meringue cookies and royal icing. And it gets treated just like egg whites do in all of the meringue recipes out there.

And there are some amazing recipes by amazing bloggers for vegan meringue buttercreams like this recipe by Gretchen’s Vegan Bakery which is DELICIOUS and AMAZING, but they all involve a pan on the stove and I’m honestly quite lazy and don’t like to dirty extra dishes or turn the stove on unless I absolutely have to. So I had an idea.

Weighing sugar to make syrup. The bane of my existence.

One day, while making my easy vegan buttercream, I wondered how I could lower the sugar amount but still maintain structure within the frosting.. And I’ve made enough aquafaba meringue to know it COULD provide structure, but was worried it might deflate if I added it to a bunch of fat. Fats and oils kill meringue faster than you can blink your eyes, in case you didn’t know. Plus, aquafaba meringue usually deflates over time unless it’s stablized with something like agar agar. If you don’t add a stabilizer, it starts to melt and get weepy, and NO ONE wants a soggy cake due to deflating meringue.

But I decided to give it a chance anyway, and I did it the lazy way; I just cracked open a can of beans and dumped the liquid straight into the buttercream.

AND IT WORKED. WONDERFULLY. PERFECTLY. MIRACULOUSLY.

Smooooooth.

It fluffs up gorgeously, provides a silky texture and beautiful sheen to the buttercream, and takes the place of a whole bunch of sugar so that the frosting is only about half as sweet as what my original American buttercream recipe is.

Even being a meringue buttercream, it’s still stable enough to go between cake layers or macarons and not squish or slide out everywhere.

This cake traveled an hour by car, was unloaded and reloaded multiple times, and sat in 75-80° F heat for over three hours and did great! It was filled and frosted with American meringue buttercream.

It doesn’t deflate or weep, and colors and takes on flavors like a dream. And if you want a denser meringue, you can totally reduce your aquafaba down before adding it (I don’t because I’m happy with the way it is and I don’t want to dirty extra dishes).

If you want to check out some gorgeous cakes that use buttercream employing this method, check out @justsomethingfancy on Instagram – while she doesn’t use my exact recipe (because I’m just publishing it now, lol) she does add reduced aquafaba to her buttercream to make it lighter, fluffier, and less sweet.

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Pinterest image featuring cupcakes topped with smooth, white, meringue buttercream

As far as butters go, take a look at my Easiest Vegan Buttercream Ever post to check out which ones work and how to make the ones that don’t bend to your will.

Tutorial Video:

So without further ado….

The Recipe

Yield: Enough to generously fill and frost an 8" cake

American Meringue Buttercream (vegan)

No thermometers, no cooking, no weighing, no timing, no fuss. The easiest meringue buttercream to ever exist - thanks to aquafaba. And it just so happens to be vegan. Smooth, pipeable, delicious, and super simple to make.

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups (4 sticks, 450g) vegan butter*, room temp
5 cups (550g) powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2ish c (125ml) aquafaba, room temperature**

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream your butter on low speed until lighter in color and smooth, then turn off mixer.
Add all the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until completely incorporated. Turn off mixer.
Add in your vanilla and aquafaba and mix on medium high for five to ten minutes, until your preferred level of fluffiness has been achieved. Keep in mind that the fluffier it gets, the less weight the buttercream will be able to hold. I usually go about five minutes.
Mix on low/stir speed for five minutes to get rid of bubbles.

Notes

* Country Crock plant butter sticks or equivalent. For more on vegan butters and how to make them work, check out my Easiest Vegan Buttercream Ever post (please note that Earth Balance and Miyoko’s are both too soft for this recipe alone. Use 50/50 butter and shortening if you’re unsure if your butter will work)

** I add my aquafaba straight from the can - no reducing. Feel free to reduce yours first if you want, though.

*** The perfect amount of aquafaba to use depends on your climate, your tastes, and your needs. If your buttercream feels too soft, reduce the aquafaba to about 1/3c and/or reduce whipping time. You can also add extra powdered sugar to stiffen it.

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

Chili Lime American Buttercream (vegan, soy-free)

October 15, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

This buttercream not only has an addictive spicy kick, but its tangy sweetness will have you looking for new and creative combinations and vehicles for getting it from bowl to mouth. It’s dairy-free, vegan, soy-free as long as you use the recommended ingredients, and I won’t tell anyone if you accidentally make a double batch.

Best coupled with fruit flavored confections, it uses fresh key lime juice in place of your usual cream or milk as well as the vanilla in American buttercream. I like to add yellow coloring to mine, since I most often pair it with mango smoothie cake for my famous Mangonada Cake and Mangonada Macarons. If you want to avoid dyes, use turmeric to turn it vivid yellow!

For the fruit chili powder, Trechas is my favorite brand (when I lived in Mexico, my host families only used Trechas brand, so that’s all I buy, now). If you’re wanting to avoid sugar or dyes, Tajin is a great choice as well.

And as far as butter goes, I use Country Crock Plant Butter sticks now, and it’s what I recommend. If you don’t have access to it or want to use something else, check out this post that covers vegan butters and how to make them work for your buttercream.

Video Tutorial

My buttercream tutorial on YouTube for the visual learners

Recipe

Yield: 2 cups (enough to frost a two-layer 6” cake)

Vegan Chili Lime Buttercream

The easiest vegan buttercream you’ve ever made - in sabor loco chili-lime! Four ingredients and ten minutes gets you perfectly pipe-able frosting for any confection that needs a spicy-sweet punch of tangy Mexican flavor!

Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 11 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup room temp high-fat vegan butter* (two sticks)(I prefer Country Crock Plant Butter sticks for best and soy-free results)
3 cups powdered sugar (use Swerve Confectioner’s for a sugar-free version)
2 tbsp + 1 tsp lime juice
1-2 tsp chili lime fruit seasoning
Yellow gel food color

Instructions

Add butter and two cups of powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the paddle attachment
Mix on low/stir until completely incorporated
Add the final cup of the powdered sugar and chili lime seasoning, and mix again on low/stir until completely incorporated
Add your lime juice
Mix on low until completely incorporated
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl
Mix on low just until the mixture is fully combined and smooth
Adjust the consistency by adding more juice by the teaspoon to thin, or more powdered sugar by the quarter cup to stiffen until desired consistency is reached

Notes

*For more info on vegan butters to use, check out my post at www.cookingoncaffeine.com/easiest-vegan-buttercream-ever

*If you use shortening, whip the mixture for 15 minutes or until it no longer has a greasy/waxy mouthfeel

*if you want the buttercream as silky smooth as possible, turn the mixer on low/stir and let it go for about a half an hour after you’re done mixing it

*for butter without palm oil, give Miyoko’s cultured butter a try

*for butter without soy, use Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks, Earth Balance Soy-Free, or Miyoko’s cultured butter.

*feel free to sift your powdered sugar if it’s very lumpy

*for crusting buttercream, add another one to two tablespoons of liquid, and use powdered sugar to bring back to consistency

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

Mangonada Cake with Chili Lime Buttercream (vegan, soy-free)

October 15, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// 1 Comment

This Mangonada Cake was inspired by the classic Mexican street snack! It’s a sweet cake made from natural mango purée with sweet, tangy, and spicy chili lime buttercream, accented with chamoy and adorned with Mexican spicy candy, this cake is addictive in all the right ways! It’s also totally dairy-free, egg-free, and soy-free if you use the recommended products. It can be modified to be gluten-free and no-added-sugar, as well. And it makes darn good cupcakes for those who don’t like to do cakes!

By far, this is my most popular cake flavor sold out of my little vegan cottage bakery in Texas.

Mangonada?

So what is a mangonada? A mangonada (also known as a chamoyada or chamango depending on what part of Mexico you’re in) is frozen mango blended up with ice and served with chamoy sauce (explained below), chili powder, lime juice, and usually a tamarind-covered straw.

There’s just about nothing better on a crazy hot summer day.

The Components

The body of the cake is made with the mango version of my fruit smoothie cake. I use mango-peach Koolaid powder to really up the ante flavor-wise, but you can omit this if you’re wanting to go au natural.

The frosting is my chili-lime version of my easiest vegan buttercream ever. I use fresh squeezed key lime juice as the “liquid” addition as well as in place of the vanilla, and add a teaspoon of Mexican fruit chili seasoning with the powdered sugar. Trechas is my favorite commercial brand (and Tajin is wonderful if you want to avoid added sugar), but feel free to use whatever you prefer or even make your own! (And make sure you try it on your favorite fruit if you never have before!).

I dye frosting bright yellow and/or orange with Americolor lemon yellow and super red gels, or use turmeric for those seeking a dye-free delight.

Apart from the buttercream between each layer, I also add a healthy amount of chamoy. If you’re not Hispanic or haven’t been exposed to a lot of Mexican food, you may not know what that is.. so, what is chamoy?

Chamoy is a glorious sauce made from concentrated fruit (usually plums) with chili and salt, and no mangonada is complete without it. It’s tangy, sweet, spicy, and all round wonderful. It’s used on fruit most of the time, but it gives this cake a wonderful, exotic kick! Its deep maroon color is also beautiful against the brilliant yellow frosting. My favorite is a brand I recently discovered called Joy Chamoy – it’s made just a few miles from where I live and it’s the most flavorful variety I’ve tasted!

If you prefer to order from Amazon, you can grab this variety and it will taste great as well.

Or just skip the shops and make your own!

I brush it directly on top of each layer of leveled cake – like one would a sugar syrup – before a healthy layer of buttercream and the next cake on top.

The Construction

So this cake is, from the bottom up, mango cake – chamoy – chili lime buttercream – mango cake – chamoy – chili lime buttercream, as many layers as your heart desires. Then I cover the whole cake in the chili lime buttercream, pipe some sort of decoration in the buttercream on top (usually swirls or rosettes), and pour more chamoy all over the cake.

Watch me make it in this quick timelapse:

As the final touch, the cake gets adorned with spicy Mexican candy and another generous sprinkling of the fruit chili.

Just the Cupcakes, Ma’am.

For cupcakes instead of cake, just do the swirl of frosting, chamoy drizzle, chili sprinkle, then the candy on top. I’ve even served them with the chamoy inside a pipette instead of drizzled (for less mess during transport and sale).

You should be able to find the chamoy, fruit chili, and Mexican candies at your local Hispanic grocery or aisle, otherwise click on my links to find them on Amazon.

If you want to avoid the candy on the cake, it can definitely be served without. Try substituting dehydrated mango slices instead! Even better if you can find the chili lime variety!

The cake can be made up to five days before serving, but wait to put the chamoy and candy on until just before the cake is presented, though – as they can melt with the buttercream.

That’s it! It looks complicated, but once you have all the ingredients in order, it comes together easy peasy. And if you’ve ever had the privilege of enjoying a cool mangonada, hopefully this mangonada cake will bring back great memories!

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Recipe:

Yield: 1 10” or 2 8” or 3 6” cakes or 24 cupcakes

Mangonada Fruit Smoothie Cake

The yummiest mango-flavored cake recipe ever. Made with mango as the first ingredient, it’s super allergy-friendly, oil-free, has a surprisingly delicious spicy kick, and can be made with no added sugar and gluten-free as well.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

2.5 cups mango purée (540g)
2 cups sugar (400g)
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
5 tablespoons hot water
———
3.5 cups flour (440g)
2 teaspoons baking SODA (bicarb)
1 packet of Peach Mango Koolaid Powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 c chamoy

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325°F (160°C) and prepare your cake pans (I like to use nonstick spray and a parchment paper circle inside the bottom).
Prepare your flax eggs by mixing the ground flax and hot water in a small bowl or cup (1 tbsp of flax + 2.5 tbsp water = one flax egg - so you’re making two eggs here. Also, using hot water speeds up the process). Set aside.
Add your flour, baking soda, salt, and KoolAid powder to a medium mixing bowl. Sift or whisk if you’d like.
Add your mango purée and sugar to a large mixing bowl.
Add your flax egg to the fruit/sugar once it’s goopy - after about ten minutes.
Pour your dry ingredients into the wet, and fold them together using a silicone spatula until the batter doesn’t have any dry bits. Don’t stir! Fold!
Pour half of the batter equally into your prepared pans.
Drizzle equal parts of chamoy into each pan
Pour the remaining batter equally into each pan
Use a toothpick or knife to swirl the chamoy around
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Cupcakes take about 17 minutes)
Proceed as usual and enjoy your cake!

Notes

*Use cup-for-cup stevia if you'd like to avoid added sugar, and substitute the chamoy with reduced prune juice with cayenne to taste.
*Use a cup-for-cup gluten-free flour replacement if you'd like to avoid gluten

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 148Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 153mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 1gSugar: 18gProtein: 2g

This nutrition information has been calculated based on the recipe as written and with strawberry purée. These values will change if you alter the recipe.

Yield: 2 cups (enough to frost a two-layer 6” cake)

Vegan Chili Lime Buttercream

Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 11 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup room temp high-fat vegan butter* (two sticks)(I prefer Country Crock Plant Butter sticks for best and soy-free results)
3 cups powdered sugar (use Swerve Confectioner’s for a sugar-free version)
2 tbsp + 1 tsp lime juice
1-2 tsp chili lime fruit seasoning
Yellow gel food color

Instructions

Add butter and two cups of powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the paddle attachment
Mix on low/stir until completely incorporated
Add the final cup of the powdered sugar and chili lime seasoning, and mix again on low/stir until completely incorporated
Add your lime juice
Mix on low until completely incorporated
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl
Mix on low just until the mixture is fully combined and smooth
Adjust the consistency by adding more juice by the teaspoon to thin, or more powdered sugar by the quarter cup to stiffen until desired consistency is reached

Notes

*For more info on vegan butters to use, check out my post at www.cookingoncaffeine.com/easiest-vegan-buttercream-ever

*for butter without palm oil, give Miyoko’s cultured butter a try

*for butter without soy, use Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks, Earth Balance Soy-Free, or Miyoko’s cultured butter.

*feel free to sift your powdered sugar if it’s very lumpy

*for crusting buttercream, add another one to two tablespoons of liquid, and use powdered sugar to bring back to consistency

Allergy-Friendly and Vegan Pastry Recipes:

21 Amazing Vegan Chickpea Recipes

October 6, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

The secret ingredient for many vegan cooks, chefs, and bakers is beautiful, thick aquafaba (bean water). It is used as an egg replacer in many amazing recipes such as macarons, meringues, cookies, royal icing, and so much more. This amazing vegan nectar leaves us all with a common problem: we are drowning in a surplus of chickpeas (garbanzo beans).

Knowing that I’m not alone in my overwhelming supply of chickpeas, I have compiled a list of the internet’s best vegan recipes starring them so that you may finally reclaim your fridge and freezer back from the garbanzo overlords!

Psst… don’t miss my super chickpea tip at the bottom of the list!

1. Easy Buffalo Chickpea Wraps

Photo Credit: www.karissasvegankitchen.com

These Easy Buffalo Chickpea Wraps are a tasty vegan lunch idea you can prep ahead of time.

2. Spiced Chickpea Smothered Sweet Potato

Photo Credit: www.goodlifeeats.com

Spiced Chickpea Smothered Sweet Potato is an easy and hearty meal that is perfect for winter.

3. Avocado Chickpea Salad with Vegan Pesto {Gluten-Free, Vegan}

Photo Credit: avocadopesto.com

Avocado Chickpea Salad with Vegan Pesto makes for the perfect lunch recipe that is ready in minutes. Super simple 5 ingredient recipe packed full of flavor and protein. Lunch or grill day appetizers don’t get easier than this!

4. Air Fryer Falafel with Creamy Tahini Sauce

Photo Credit: www.ohsweetmercy.com

Are you sitting down? You should, because crispy-outside, soft-and tender-inside Falafel without deep frying is enough to make you weak in the knees.

5. Chana Masala (Indian Chickpea Curry) Recipe

Photo Credit: simmertoslimmer.com

This vegan one-pot curry can be made in an Instant Pot as well as a stovetop pressure cooker. Get all the deets on how to make this delicious curry at home!

6. Maple Walnut Sweet Potato Hummus

Photo Credit: cupcakesandkalechips.com

Perfect for an appetizer or snack that’s also a naturally gluten free and vegan recipe, and you can even pack it in the kids’ lunchboxes. Get your apples, carrots, and crackers ready, and blend up a batch of Maple Walnut Sweet Potato Hummus.

7. Vegetarian Chickpea Salad Recipe

Photo Credit: www.savoringthethyme.com

A flavorful and healthy salad that comes together in mere minutes, with minimal effort.

8. The Best Vegan Egg Salad Sandwich With Chickpeas

Photo Credit: veggiefunkitchen.com

This plant-based version of the traditional egg sandwich uses chickpeas instead of eggs, vegan mayo, breadcrumbs and black salt along with all the other classic egg salad sandwich ingredients.

9. Easy Vegan Red Thai Curry with Roasted Butternut Squash & Chickpeas

Photo Credit: fussfreeflavours.com

Make your own quick and easy vegan red Thai curry paste and cook this delicious version in next to no time. Prep ahead cooking at its best. Make as fiery or as mild as you like.

10. Easy Homemade Almond Hummus

Photo Credit: asprinkleandasplash.com

Easy Homemade Almond Hummus is a tasty switch up to a traditional hummus, using almonds instead of the usual tahini. Serve with toasted baguette slices, pita chips or fresh veggies for a healthy, nutritious snack.

11. Chickpea Potato Soup

Photo Credit: cookingmydreams.com

Here’s a recipe to comfort you on cold winter nights. If you’re not a fan of chickpeas, you definitely need to try anyway! It’s so simple yet so flavorful - the perfect winter soup.

12. The Ultimate Vegan Chickpea Burgers

Photo Credit: makeitdairyfree.com

You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy these classic chickpea burgers. Simple ingredients, really easy to make, and an incredibly delicious under 30 minute vegan dinner idea!

13. Spanish Chickpeas and Spinach

Photo Credit: www.carolinescooking.com

This Spanish Chickpeas and Spinach is a classic tapas dish that’s easy to make and wonderfully versatile. Simple, hearty vegan comfort food.

14. One-Pot Red Lentil, Squash and Chickpea Dhal

Photo Credit: www.supergoldenbakes.com

This hearty One-Pot Dhal Curry is packed with red lentils, chickpeas, butternut squash and spinach and ready in just 25 minutes.

15. Creamy Chickpea Soup with Squash and Rosemary

Photo Credit: theclevermeal.com

This Creamy Chickpea Soup is so easy to make and it makes a perfect meal prep lunch. Simply, healthy, and flavorsome, this recipe is a super simple way to get your protein and vegetables on the table in no time!

16. Vegan Chickpea Tacos with Peach Salsa

Photo Credit: swirlsofflavor.com

Vegan Chickpea Tacos With Peach Salsa is an easy vegan recipe that's packed with the protein of chickpeas and topped with a lime-scented fresh peach salsa!

17. Pasta e Ceci

Photo Credit: www.simplyhealthyvegan.com

This Pasta e Ceci one-pot recipe is simple to prepare, yet packed full of satisfying flavour it is one of the ultimate comfort foods.

18. Quick and Easy Mediterranean Rice

Photo Credit: www.knowyourproduce.com

This Vegan Rice Dish can be made in less than 20 minutes if you have leftover rice or even quinoa!

19. Beetroot Hummus

Photo Credit: shivanilovesfood.com

An easy and healthy recipe for vibrant beetroot hummus made in a blender. This hummus is a great protein-packed vegan dip!

20. Sloppy Pineapple Chickpea BBQ Sandwich

Photo Credit: www.veggieinspired.com

Sweet and mildly spicy, hearty and delicious, this sloppy sandwich is husband and kid approved! It comes together quickly and easily. You’re gonna want seconds!

21. A Vegetarian Passover: Potato, Tomato, and Olive Stew

Photo Credit: www.allwaysdelicious.com

This vegetarian Passover entree includes hearty Mediterranean and springtime ingredients like tomatoes, olives, potatoes, and artichoke hearts. And the entire dish can be made in one single pot—a critical quality for one of the kitchen's busiest nights of the year.

More than just recipes...

So, there you have it! You are now armed with 21 amazing recipes to try against your stash of garbanzo beans - and they're not all hummus and curry!

One option remains, and it’s not even a recipe: farm animal sanctuaries and shelters. Give your local sanctuary a call or shoot them a message on Facebook and see if they'd like a delivery of your surplus beans. Most of the time, they will be thrilled with the gift - and the animals will be too!

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Easiest Vegan Buttercream Ever (Dairy & Soy Free)

October 3, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// 30 Comments

This vegan buttercream is so easy, it should be a crime. Really. The stand mixer does all the work, and in about ten minutes (less if you don’t care about it being super silky smooth) you’ve got delicious, crave-worthy, allergy-friendly, infinitely customizable, perfectly pipe-able frosting to use on all your cakes, macarons, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and other confections.

It’s an American buttercream, but this icing is so good that I’ve sold it by the bucketful and even offered it as 2oz “frosting shots” to a begging and drooling clientele.

It CAN be made with just a hand mixer (if that’s all you’ve got), and it can also be turned into a “crusting buttercream” if you need that for your creation – just see the notes in the recipe.

Yes, it’s a weird photo. I acknowledge that.

Vegan Butter?

Yeah, yeah, I know. “It’s not actually butter because it’s not made from dairy,” say the purists. Well, neither is peanut butter or apple butter, so let’s just go with it here. If it really bothers you *that* much, just imagine I’m calling it margarine.

Now, for this to be the “Easiest Vegan Buttercream Ever” you need a good quality, high fat butter. Most vegan butters are actually mostly water – so when they’re room temperature, they are EXTREMELY soft. The tell tale sign of this is if it calls itself a “spread”. These will not work well in this recipe.

Two good options for this recipe would be Earth Balance sticks and Country Crock Plant Butter (my personal preference). If you have another butter that’s at least 79-80% oil/fat though, it should be fine. Miyoko’s cultured butter should work well based on accounts I’ve read of it, but I’ve never tried it myself as the exclusive fat in a buttercream.

If you’re in Australia, Lis Armstrong of Treat Dreams, which specializes in vegan chocolates, treats, and desserts, advises that Nuttelex is a good choice. “For the oil percentage in Nuttelex it depends if you’re buying retail or food service…” She adds, “Retail sizes available from most grocers like Aldi (best price), Coles, Woolies and Costco (5kg tubs).

Food service comes in a 15kg box with plastic liner. It has a higher fat content of 80% and is used by some commercial bakeries in Sydney to produce vegan croissants.

Even with the food service version, melt is a factor in the warmth, so a little shortening can help, so personal trial and error really pays off.”

What if I can’t find a high-fat butter?

Great question. If you can’t find a vegan butter with a fat content of 79-80% or more, I have had success with Smart Balance (64% fat) for frosting cupcakes. Note that the buttercream will be EXTREMELY soft, and won’t hold up in between cake layers or macarons. But for cupcakes and frosting shots, it’s wonderful.

Another option is to cut your butter with veggie shortening or straight palm oil. I usually use a 50/50 ratio for easy maths’ sake. If you go this route, it won’t be the “easiest” anymore, as it’ll take an extra step and a good chunk of time, but it’ll still come out just as high quality and delicious as the full butter version (yes, I promise).

Don’t want to use shortening? There is another, final option. It’s going to take some time, and you’ll feel like you’re wasting money, but it’s a viable option for those who don’t have vegan shortening options OR high-fat vegan butter available (I’m looking at you, South Africa!) – you’re going to make your own.

You can definitely make your own butter from scratch if you feel like it, but I never do. So what is my alternative route? I cook the water out of my high-water butter and it suddenly turns high-fat.

Put your delicious-but-too-soft butter into a shallow pan and melt it. Let it cook over medium heat until it starts to boil, and let it go until it stops bubbling. You’ll be left with nearly 100% fat that’ll work great in your buttercream! Just pour it (carefully! It’s hot oil!) into a heat-proof container or butter stick molds and pop them into the fridge to solidify, and then proceed as normal.

What about flavors?

The sky is the limit! I add whatever liquid I feel like, up to the two tablespoon per stick limit. Coffee creamer, coffee concentrate, fruit juice, protein shake, citrus juice, chamoy, jellies and jams, and more!

And powders can pop in with ease, too! Freeze dried fruit powders, powdered drink mixes, matcha tea, cocoa powder, instant coffee, protein powder, etc. Just make a paste with them with a tiny bit of liquid before adding so they distribute evenly and don’t cause drying out or texture issues.

Some tangerine zest going into the base buttercream for one of my bakery clients.

And what about food coloring?

For food coloring, I recommend using either gel or powder. You can use liquid, but any liquid you use will affect the consistency of your buttercream at the expense of flavor.

Some of my favorite vegan food coloring options are AmeriColor gels, ProGels, and Artisan Accents gels. Ultimate Baker has an amazing line of powdered colors that are both vegan and all natural, if you prefer the natural route!

Just remember that your colored buttercream will get darker and more vibrant overnight. This is especially important if you’re trying to make a dark color like black, navy, red, or burgundy. Try to make your buttercream a day early, get it to a few shades lighter than what you need, and let it “develop” in a covered container overnight.

The other side of the token though, make sure if you don’t want a dark color to not make your buttercream too far ahead of time! I once had to make a navy blue cake; I let the cake sit overnight and it was black by morning. Oops. If this does happen to you though, you can add in some white buttercream to lighten it a bit (unless it’s already on the cake like mine was).

My beautiful navy blue cake before it darkened.

And how do I store it?

In a bowl with a tight fitting lid or plastic wrap.

It can be kept at room temp for a week, in the fridge for a month, and in the freezer for six months. Just give it a quick stir before you frost your confections.

I’m so ready, but I forgot to take my butter out of the fridge!!

Don’t panic! And don’t microwave! I’ve got you covered:

(If you don’t have a blow torch, you can use a hair dryer!)

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Yield: 2.5 cups (enough to ice a 6” cake)

Easiest Vegan Buttercream Ever

The easiest vegan buttercream you’ve ever made. Four ingredients and ten minutes gets you perfectly pipe-able frosting for any confection that needs icing!

Prep Time 1 minute

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 11 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup room temp high-fat vegan butter* (two sticks) (230g)
4 cups powdered sugar**** (450g)
2 tbsp liquid - any liquid you want (check the post above for suggestions)***** (30ml)
1 tsp vanilla extract (5ml)

Instructions

Add butter and half the powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the paddle attachment
Mix on low/stir until completely incorporated. It’s important to do this slowly to avoid gritty buttercream!
Add the second half of the powdered sugar, and mix again on low/stir until completely incorporated
Add your liquid and vanilla extract
Mix on low until completely incorporated
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl
Mix on low just until the mixture is fully combined and smooth
Adjust the consistency by adding more liquid by the teaspoon to thin, or more powdered sugar by the quarter cup to stiffen until desired consistency is reached

Notes

*if you use shortening, whip the mixture for 15 minutes or until it no longer has a greasy/waxy mouthfeel. Use pure palm shortening if you're avoiding soy.

**if you want the buttercream as silky smooth as possible, turn the mixer on low/stir and let it go for about a half an hour

***for butter without palm oil, give Miyoko’s cultured butter a try

***for butter without soy, use Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks (does contain a cross contamination warning), Earth Balance Soy-Free, or Miyoko’s cultured butter.

****feel free to sift your powdered sugar if it’s very lumpy

*****for crusting buttercream, add another one to two tablespoons of liquid, and use powdered sugar to bring back to consistency

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Gochujang Spicy Brussels Sprouts (Vegan)

September 22, 2019 // by Meggan Leal// Leave a Comment

Sweet and spicy, easy to make, full of umami, crowd-pleasing Brussels sprouts are totally possible and need to be on your dinner plate tonight! They’re buttery and caramelized with Korean gochujang chili paste – which once you try, you’ll be addicted to adding it to everything you eat!

What is Gochujang?

Gochujang is a red chili paste with its origins in Korea. It’s made with rice flour and vinegar, sugar, as well as red chilis – and it’s a perfect harmony of spicy, sweet, and tangy. (Here’s the Wikipedia article if you want to learn more)

We use this one because it’s vegan, gluten-free, and it’s also soy-free in case that’s what you’re needing. Most are made with gluten and soy, so just make sure to check ingredient lists. It caramelizes perfectly when you heat it thanks to the sugars, and its flavor accompanies just about any savory ingredient well. We’ve even enjoyed it on fresh fruit (dipping apple slices) with raving reviews!

And would you believe me if I told you it’s also amazing in dessert? Add a couple of drops to the center of a jam-filled macaron and have your mind blown!

So I invite you to set the sriracha aside (yes, just trust me!) and give gochujang a try!

Yield: 4 servings

Gochujang Brussels Sprouts

Sweet and spicy, full of umami, addictive butter-fried sprouts caramelized in gochujang Korean chili paste.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 lb Brussels sprouts
1/2 c vegan margarine
2 tbsp gochujang chili paste
1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free soy sauce if avoiding gluten, coconut aminos if avoiding soy)

Instructions

Wash, trim, and halve your sprouts
Heat a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium-high flame
Add your margarine and allow it to melt and boil
Once your margarine has stopped fizzling, add your sprouts to the pan in a single layer
Allow the sprouts to cook until they begin to brown on the bottom - about three to four minutes
Toss the sprouts and allow them to brown again, another three to four minutes
Mix in the gochujang and allow to cook for two minutes
Add soy sauce and mix well
Serve while hot

Vegan

WHAT ARE MOTTLED MACARONS?

WHAT CAUSES MOTTLED MACARONS?

EXCESS OIL

OILY ALMOND FLOUR

ADDED OILS

OIL FROM YOUR EQUIPMENT

EXCESS MOISTURE

INCORRECT MEASURING

MERINGUE AND MIXING ISSUES

HEAT PROBLEMS

BAKING TIME

CHECK YOUR FILLINGS

MATURATION

TEN WAYS TO PREVENT MOTTLED MACARONS

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Chai Spice?

So how am I going to make chai spiced cake if you’re not going to teach me how to make chai spice?!

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