5 Easy Vegan Baking Swaps

Vegan baking might sound daunting at first but it's really no different than normal Baking. Find out How in this post!

Okay, as most of you may or may not know, I've been lactose intolerant since 2007 and became wheat intolerant a few years after that. I can tell you, making something vegan is the easiest thing to do.... gluten-free on the other hand, that's where the standards have to drop just a little.

COW'S MILK

There is nothing in cow's milk that contributes to baking any better than literally any other plant milk. If you're making something savoury and don't want any nutty flavour opt for soy or oat milk. For my sweet baked goods I love using unsweetened cashew milk by Silk! Just swap it 1-for-1 with the amount of cow's milk that the recipe calls for!

CREAM

This is not nearly as tricky as it sounds. For most of my recipes I just use the dairy-free version of the original item. For example, if a recipe calls for cream I can do any of the following and end up with the exact same result. 1) Make cashew cream by blending 1/4 cup soaked or boiled (20mins) cashews with 1/2 - 1 cup of water, depending on how much you need and how thick you want it. I use a Vitamix which is one of the best tools in my kitchen. 2) Buy a can of coconut milk, refrigerate for 1hr, scoop out solid part of the can to get the cream! 3) Buy Silk Coffee Cream from the store for sweeter desserts! They have vanilla and hazelnut flavours too! 4) Buy coconut cream in a can at the store.

BUTTERMILK

I really haven't come across any recipes that require buttermilk as the ingredient. You can almost always find a recipe without it but if you want to veganize a non-vegan recipe with ease, simply add 1 TBSP of ONE of the following: apple cider vinegar (my preferred option), lemon juice, white vinegar, or lime juice to one cup of your plant milk of choice. Stir well and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

EGGS I absolutely love this one because unlike the other swaps above, the vegan swap doesn't look like an egg... I always get asked what I use as an egg substitute and if you do a quick google search you'll get a ton of options that I can't guarantee work as well as the three I'm about to list! You'll see search results come up for mashed banana, apple sauce, vegan yogurt, and probably more but I'm here to tell you that those swaps make it a lot harder than it needs to be. My TOP choice for baking is Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer. I get mine at Nature's Fare for around CAD $6 and it lasts a while because you only use 1TBSP of the powder to equal one egg. Next best option, still helps baked goods rise but I don't put as much trust in them as I do the Egg Replacer, is a chia seed or flax seed egg! Grind up 1 TBSP of flax or chia (or a mix of both) in a coffee grinder and mix it with 2 TBSP cold water. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until it's super goopy. It really does take on the texture of egg whites. My one IMPORTANT tip for ANY egg replacer, is try to avoid recipes that call for more than 2 eggs. I find they don't work as well in recipes that rely on eggs to do all the work... Find a better balanced recipe!

BUTTER

This might be my favourite one of all because this option works for any and all regular butter uses! Plain on toast, melted on popcorn, caramelizing onions, and all baking purposes! I don't know how we found this brand because it rarely comes up in google searches and it's not super well known yet but if you happen to stumble upon MELT Organics in stores, stock up! Melt comes in butter sticks (like the cow's milk stuff), as well as tubs! PRO TIP on the inside of every Melt stick box, is a coupon for $1 off your next MELT purchase... never ending supply of coupons for an amazing vegan butter that's already cheaper than regular butter in most stores! If you can't find Melt try Earth Balance! It works just as well, maybe even better, but it's a little bit more expensive in my experience.

Those are my top baking tips and you can veganize so much by just looking for a different product! I've taken my grandmas old recipes that call for so much butter and eggs and used these swaps without even having to blink an eye! Inspired to make something? Check out my Maple Cinnamon Carrot Cake recipe here and try these easy changes for yourself

Happy baking! If you come test these out tag me in your final product on instagram @KaitlynDickie

Kaits xox