Unless you are lucky enough to have a vegan bakery in your area, coming across dairy free cakes is impossible unless you are willing to travel to your nearest city.
Sweet Vegan
Unfortunately there is not a lot of call for such a bakery in my home town of Warrington. Thankfully, Emily Mainquist has come to my rescue with simple, Sweet Vegan recipes that you can create from home at a fraction of the cost. So you can set up your own bakery in the comfort of your own kitchen.
My very favourite recipe has to be the Granola. It seems an unusual choice with another 69 recipes to choose from, but I have been worried about my protein intake for a while. I was grateful to find a recipe that contains both nuts and oats to start my day off with a well needed protein hit. As a fan of frozen berries, it is the ideal accompaniment to my ordinary breakfast ingredients and gives it a lovely crunch.
Fresh Berry Pie is also well worth a mention- as an inexperienced baker, this simple and fruity recipe was a great starting point for me to gain my confidence in my sweet kitchen.
In the book, there is a dessert to match every family favourite, so there is no excuse to eat a dessert that is made with animal products when you can eat a dish that tastes just as good, without any residual guilt afterwards. (Well maybe if you eat the whole cake- you might feel some!) The point is; the guilt is not over using animal products to get the same flavours.
I always enjoy a cook book that has a hearty introduction in the front to get to know the baker a little better. Mainquist's book has an informative piece about why there is no need to include animal products in your baking and the effects it has if you do. She also reveals that she has followed in her mother's footsteps of baking, which was instilled in her from a young age.
Despite wanting to go to school to study food, she decided to take another path; this book is a result of self-taught baking- Mainquist is an inspiration to her fellow bakers and to us all.
Broken down into breakfast sweets, sweets in crusts, cakes of all kinds, cookies, brownies and buns and everything sweet in between nothing is left out form this collection. You can go crazy with chocolate, or keep it fresh with fruit, so there is an option for both vegans who want to really indulge, or those who are watching their waistline.
Beautifully photographed, this book is a must for any vegan kitchen book shelf.