- Gooey Sticky Toffee Pudding
Last Thursday evening I attended the Vegan Baking Workshop, which was run by Oscar Gillespie and Tehnuka Ilanko. I signed up for the workshop for two reasons: having just started coordinating this food blog I thought I’d best get involved in food events…and I was mightily curious to learn some of the secrets of vegan baking!
Ten women participated, so we split into three groups. We were given two delicious recipes to follow: Sticky Toffee Pudding and Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles! How amazing do they sound?
Oscar welcomed us and talked about CCF and why a vegan diet can be seen as low-carbon. Tehnuka then demonstrated how to make the sticky toffee pudding, explaining the importance of each step as she did so. I was impressed to learn that the reason butter and sugar are beaten together is that the sugar crystals whip up air pockets in the butter (or in this case vegan margarine), which then helps to lighten the cake!
We made the pudding first, and I think we all found the recipe to be clear and easy to follow. Unfortunately this didn’t carry on to the snickerdoodles, which, being an American cookie, had a recipe with American cups as the main measurement. This led to every group experimenting with amounts of ingredients…which of course eventuated into all the cookie mixes to be of a different consistency! But we all managed to roll them into balls, cover them with cinnamon and sugar, and pop them on trays to cook.
Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles
When the puddings came out of the oven we pricked them and poured the toffee sauce over the top…which sunk into the cakes making them deliciously gooey. We taste-tested each other’s food and discovered that even with a variation in recipes, everything was scrumptious! And luckily we’d brought containers to take the remainder home.
At the end of the evening we spent about fifteen minutes discussing the workshop and vegan cooking in general. A couple of ladies had questions about substituting dairy and eggs in baking, and once again Tehnuka impressed with her knowledge of baking by giving several examples of alternatives. In the workshop we had used soya milk and margarine instead of dairy, and the butter/sugar mix along with bi-carbonate of soda to help the pudding rise without eggs, but there are certainly many more options available.
I found the workshop to be fun, informative…and definitely yummy! I met some lovely people and learned quite a bit about baking substitutes, which I’m really happy about. In fact, I think that next time I make a cake I will try using coconut oil instead of butter, oat or almond milk instead of cows’ milk, and maple syrup in place of sugar. If I do, I’ll be sure to write about it on this blog.
So next time CCF organises a cooking workshop, be sure to put your name down – I promise you’ll love every minute!
If you enjoyed this post and if you have a moment then please leave a comment; we’d really like to hear from you!
Elaina
May 14, 2013