Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Oil and flour cake pans. I used one 8-inch round pan and baked the remaining batter in a muffin tin for cupcakes. Got 6 of them.

2 In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

3 In a blender/food processor blend together the warm water and EnerG and blend it until it’s frothy. To this add the soy milk and blend it for another 30 seconds and set it aside.

4 In another bowl beat the margarine with an electric mixer until softened. Add sugar and vanilla to the margarine and cream together thoroughly.

5 Add 1/2 of the soy milk mixture to the margarine/sugar mixture and beat for a minute.

6 Add 1/2 of the flour to the margarine and beat for a minute.

7 Now add the remaining soy milk mixture and flour mixture alternately and beat together for a minute after each addition.

8 Pour the cake batter into prepared pans.

9 Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

10 Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire cooling rack.

TasteThis cake was good, but I think I felt the presence of soy milk when I ate the cake without the icing. Luckily my husband and others didn’t feel it. So next time I’ll be trying some other non-dairy milk instead. It did have a nice texture, especially the cupcakes. Together with the frosting it tasted no different than any other cake.

My Notes1 I used sweetened soy beverage so I reduced the quantity of sugar to 1 cup and it was perfect because it also got the sweetness from the frosting.

2 For the margarine, I used Fleischman’s No Salt Added soft tub margarine.

3 If you don’t have cake flour it’s ok. Instead use this substitute which is widely used. Place 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill the rest (until the top of the cup) with all purpose flour
and level it off.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven at 375F (190C). Grease with non stick spray or line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 In a large mixing bowl add peanut butter, margarine and sugars. Beat together well until smooth and creamy.

3 In a blender (I used the small jar of my Magic Bullet), blend together the egg replacer and warm water until it’s frothy.

4 To the creamed sugar mixture add the egg replacer liquid and vanilla. Beat once again until it’s combined well.

5 To this add the barley flour, baking soda and salt and stir well.

6 Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

7 Spoon the batter onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. I took mine out after 11 minutes.

8 Leave the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer it to a cooling rack for the cookies to cool completely. Transfer the cooled cookies to an airtight container.

Taste These barley flour cookies taste very much like chocolate chip cookies. It was qutie crisp after an hour of baking but became chewy the next day. It still gets a light crunchiness from the Rice Krispies cereal. We didn’t feel any difference in taste due to the use of barley flour. I was surprised that it tasted just like cookies made out of all purpose flour.

I’m not a peanut butter fan, but I used it to just finish it off. So I was very happy because the presence of peanut butter was not at all felt from the 2nd day onwards.

I bought very little amount of carob chips and used it in this recipe instead of chocolate chips to make it completely vegan. When tasted it by itself, I found that there was a slight difference in taste when compared to chocolate chips. I didn’t like it that much. But I literally couldn’t feel any difference (maybe a little or it was just psychological) when I tasted the cookies and my son didn’t find it. The original recipe had called for 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, since I was using carob chips I used only 1/4 cup of it and I used 1/4 cup of dried cranberries. However I’m not sure if I would substitute carob chips for chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Maybe it would be too much. I think the better bet is to try other dairy free vegan chocolate chips instead.

My Notes1 For the margarine I used Fleischman’s Non Hydrogenated no salt added margarine.

2 The original recipe mentions to use cornflakes. I used Rice Krispies because I had only that in hand.

3 Similarly you could use all nuts, or all chocolate chips or any dried fruits etc. Just be sure to keep the measurements same though.

4 At first I thought the quantity of sugar was more in the recipe with 1/3 cup each of brown sugar and granulated sugar, but it was perfect when we tasted the cookies. Maybe it would have been even sweeter, had I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and raisins instead of cranberries.

5 The cookies don’t spread like the usual chocolate chip cookies. So I think if you flatten it with a fork you may get crispier cookies but you would have to adjust the baking time. Also I overlooked the 1 teaspoon of water in the recipe. Maybe if I had added that the cookies would have spread a little bit.

6 I have mentioned this a couple of times, but writing it once again. If using a dark coated non stick pan, stay alert and take the sheet out of the oven 2-3 minutes earlier because the bottoms burn quite quickly. The same thing happened in this recipe too. Even after being careful and lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper the bottom of the cookies went black. Maybe double lining the sheet would help. I’m going to try it the next time.

Procedure1 In a bowl, add the shortening, vanilla and butter flavoring and 2 tablespoons of water. Cream until light and fluffy.

2 Add sugar one cup at a time and beat after each addition, until all the ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.

3 Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy. This produces 3 cups of stiff consistency icing.

4 For medium consistency, add 1 teaspoon of water to each cup of stiff consistency icing. For thin consistency, add 2 teaspoons of water for each cup of stiff consistency icing.

Taste Even though the name of the icing is Buttercream, we don’t actually use butter. Instead we use solid white shortening. That gives the pure white color (so when you decide to mix colors you can get better shades) and also the correct structure for the designs. To keep the icing at it’s whitest we use the Wilton’s clear Vanilla Extract and no color Butter Flavoring. The usual vanilla extra is in dark brown color and when it’s added it will tint the shortening and the icing will not be in the purest white.

I saw a couple of recipes, where only butter is used or half butter and half shortening is used, but I have tried it only with shortening. As I have mentioned earlier I didn’t want to experiment too much at this initial stage of learning. I read quite a lot of reviews, that some people don’t like the greasy after taste that shortening gives and so they used butter instead. I felt that when the icing is consumed together with the cake you don’t feel the greasiness but you definitely feel it when you eat the icing alone. Also the vessels get very greasy and it’s messy to do the dishes in the sink. Better use the dishwasher. The taste is real good though, just like the bakery ones. I actually was experimenting with white cake recipes. So for the 3 cakes I baked during the course I tried 3 different recipes and felt that the icing really covers up even if the cake is not that good. Can you believe that this frosting is actually vegan?

My Notes1 You could use Butter Flavor All Vegetable Shortening. In that case you can omit the Wilton’s Butter Flavoring. I couldn’t find butter flavored shortening so I had to use the usual one and hence I added 1 teaspoon of butter flavoring. If using the extra teaspoon of butter flavoring, go slow while adding the water. Also look for trans fat free shortening. I was not able to find it and used the regular one and each serving has 0.3gm trans fat.

2 Icing consistency is key while decorating a cake. But don’t worry if you don’t get it right because fixing it is quite easy. If the icing is very thin add some icing sugar until yo get the required stiffness. If it’s too stiff add water (drop by drop) to dilute it.

3 Milk or water can be used while preparing the frosting but I read elsewhere that using water is better.

4 Icing keeps good for 2 weeks when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

5 The Wilton cake decorating course book which was supplied to us during the class, has a lot of useful information, tips and tricks organized in a neat manner. You can also find this in their site. The information in the website is spread all over, so I’ll give some important links in the next section.

Other Information Explore Wilton’s website for a lot of information about cake decorating. It’s very extensive. To help beginners I’m putting out a list of useful links here.

1 Wilton Course Details

2 Local Wilton Classes

3 Wilton’s Cake Decorating 101

4 Cake Decorating Accessories

5 Golda’s Kitchen
(An excellent retail and on-line baking/cake decorating supplies store based in Canada. They ship overseas too.)

6 Bulk Barn (Another amazing store in Canada with tons of cake decorating supplies and some locations offer the Wilton Classes too. You can usually find this store in big malls.)

7 Baking 911(Has extensive details on decorating cakes, cookies and more, with lot of tips and tricks)

8 Michael’s 40% off coupon (If you live in Canada, check this out. You can print this coupon and take it to the store and get 40% off on any one item. It’s really a huge money saver when you are buying a big ticket item like a professional cake decorating tool set. I got a $200 dollar set for $100 because they had a 50% off special that week.

TasteI’m not a fan of peanut butter. So far I have tasted only peanut butter cookies and nothing else baked using it. So I was not sure if I would like these peanut butter muffins. Surprisingly enough the flavor of peanut butter was not dominating. It had the perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter. The sweetness was right for us not as sweet as the store bought muffins. So If you prefer it sweeter add some chocolate chips or increase the quantity of sugar to 1 cup. Since I was making a vegan version I did not add chocolate chips but I don’t regret it at all.

My Notes1 Use dairy/non dairy milk of your choice.

2 As mentioned in the Procedure, either adjust the oven temperature or the baking time to get perfect muffins.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat and 8 inch square pan with cooking spray. For brownies I line the pan with aluminum foil and grease it with cooking spray, so cutting it is easy and also we can get perfect squares.

2 Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame. I melted the chocolate in the microwave oven, in a medium size bowl. Take care while doing so or else the chocolate will get burnt. So increase the time little by little. Stir it well, it should be smooth.

3 In the same bowl, combine the beet puree, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine, vanilla and unsweetened applesauce and whisk it well. This mixture should be smooth and creamy.

4 Stir in the oat flour, baking powder, chopped walnuts and salt with a wooden spoon.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked 35-40 minutes. I checked it after 35 minutes and felt that it was not done. Brownies should spring back when touched, but it did not. So baked it for another 5 minutes.

6 Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Since I lined the pan with aluminum foil I lifted it after an hour and I cooled it on a wire rack. After another 2 hours I was able to cut them into neat squares without any trouble. If baking it directly in the pan, it will take some more (actually a lot more) time for the brownies to cool completely and getting neat pieces will also be difficult.

Taste The taste was simply superb. The oat flour or the beet puree did not affect the taste at all. It tasted like any other regular brownie. The only difference I felt was in the texture, but it was nothing huge. The brownies were chewy and also pudding(y) in the middle. I don’t mean that it was in a semi-solid state, it had set properly, but the texture was a bit different than the usual brownies, which I think is because of the beet puree. Also the brownies are more reddish than brown. This did not stop my son or the rest of us from finishing it off.

My Notes1 I have used 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce instead of 2 egg whites mentioned in the original recipe. If you have extra beet puree you can use 1/4 cup of that itself. I had only 1 cup of beet puree so I used applesauce.

2 Oat flour is readily available in stores. I didn’t have that in hand, so I powdered quick cooking oats in a blender. Be sure to powder it finely, sieve it a couple times.

3 You can use all purpose flour too instead of oat flour.

4 To prepare beet puree you can either buy canned beets and blend it smoothly in a blender or do like what I did. I peeled and cooked the beets in a pressure cooker. Cut into small pieces once cooled and then blend it. I had prepared this a month back. So I put it in cup, covered with plastic wrap and froze it. To use the puree, thaw it in the fridge overnight and by the following afternoon it should be alright.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line the muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2 In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar.

3 Add all the remaining ingredients and beat until you have a smooth, liquid batter.

4 Using a ladle, pour the batter 3/4ths full. Approximately 3 tablespoons of batter for large cupcakes and 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of batter for the mini cupcakes.

5 Bake until risen and firm to touch. Approximately 12-13 minutes for the mini cupcakes and 15-16 minutes for the large.

6 Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Frosting

Frosting is optional. I did not frost the entire batch. Made a very small batch of chocolate ganache using 1/4 cup mini chocolate chip cookies and 2 tablespoons milk. Heat the milk, don’t let it boil. Add the warm milk little by little until the chocolate chips melt and is very smooth. The chocolate chips did not melt enough. So I heated some water in a saucepan and place the bowl of chips on the saucepan and kept stirring it with a whisk and it melted from the heat in no time. If you add excess milk, keep the frosting in the fridge until you get the correct consistency to frost the cupcakes.

Taste

I was pleasantly surprised with the good taste of these vegan cupcakes. Earlier I have baked something similar and it was literally awful and I had to throw the cake. The other recipe used more oil, soy milk instead of water and white vinegar. The soy milk gave a sticky texture, the use of vinegar was very obvious. So I was relieved to see a recipe with just 2 tablespoons of oil and water. That’s why I went with apple cider vinegar this time. I wouldn’t say that these cupcakes taste exactly like the regular vanilla cupcakes, but it’s definitely very good for a low-fat, egg free and dairy free vegan cupcake. The next time I will probably reduce the quantity of sugar by at least 2 tablespoons, especially if I decide to frost it.

As for the texture, it is not light. At the same time it’s not dense or moist either. It’s somewhere between light and dense. It’s solid and not crumbly, so I should probably try this in a round/square cake pan to make a good layered cake with icing and stuff.

My Notes1 The original recipe mentions that the measurement yields 12 mini cupcakes, but I don’t know how I got so many. Also the time mentioned to bake the mini cupcakes is about 20 minutes, but mine was done in 14 minutes. Actually had I taken it out a minute earlier the cupcake’s texture would have been even better/lighter.

2 It was a little sweet for me even without the frosting.

3 I forgot to refrigerate the cupcakes on the first day, so I felt it was sort of sticky on the top on the second day. I think the sugar released out moisture and made it sort of sticky. The inside was good though.

4 To make vegan ganache, use vegan chocolate chips and any other non dairy milk.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes.

2 While the oven is preheating, in a medium bowl sift the flours and salt. Add the sesame seeds.

3 Add the oil and blend well. Add water little by little to form the dough into a ball and easy enough to roll.

4 Divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll each half to 1/8 inch thick and cut into squares or sticks. Repeat the same with the other half too. I dusted some all purpose flour on the surface to roll the dough easily.

5 Place the squares on un-greased baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the crackers are crisp. The baking time depends on the thickness of the squares.

6 Store in a tightly covered container up to 1 week.

Taste The cookies were golden brown in color and very crispy. The first batch squares were thick and so I made the next batch paper thin. I preferred the thick crackers and my son liked both. You don’t get the raw smell of whole wheat flour or the soy flour. Also I felt it tasted even better the next day of baking.

My Notes1 I used black sesame seeds because I didn’t have the white seeds. I think the pack I had some impurities, so while eating the crackers we were able to feel it. So go with white sesame seeds or be sure to clean the black sesame seeds before using.

2 I used sunflower oil.

3 For the first batch I didn’t know how thin to roll the dough, so the squares were little thick and it took around 23 minutes to turn crisp. I did not flip the crackers but gave a slight shake twice or thrice in between. For the next batch I rolled the dough paper thin and it turned golden brown within 10 minutes. If it’s very thin be alert or else the crackers would burn.

4 The crackers were crispy even after 4 days.

5 Adding ground pepper or chili powder will spice it up.

6 Check out here for more healthy cracker recipes.

Potato Filling Recipe

1 Peel the skin, cut each potato into 4 pieces and cook it.

2 Heat oil in a frying pan and add the cumin seeds. Once it splutters add the onions and fry it until its soft.

3 Also add the green peas, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder and coriander powder and fry it for another 5 minutes.

4 Now add the cooked potatoes and mix it well, coarsely mashing the potatoes. Cook it for 2-3 minutes and switch off the stove. Add the lemon juice (if using) and coriander leaves and mix it well. The potato filling is ready.