VEGAN BAKING

Any recipes for vegan tray bakes, especially brownies? Yes, I have googled, but loads come with mixed reviews - would rather use NZ tried and tested.

I can see no problems at all:

Just use margarine instead of butter and some soy milk or some other sub for milk and hey presto - all "vegan".

You can use all the sugar, flour and other carbs at your leisure and all will be good.

Jordan’s “Grandmothers” Mint Chocolate Mud Cake

http://www.invsoc.org.nz/jordans-grandmothers-mint-chocolate-mud-cake/ Under cook to make fudge style brownies. dust with icing sugar instead of chocolate icing.
Malteser Slice
http://likeavegan.com.au/2015/01/vegan-malteser-slice/
Chocolate Cake
http://www.chelsea.co.nz/browse-recipes/easy-vegan-chocolate-cake/ Various Vegan Cakes, Slices etc
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipes/tag-4479/vegan-cake.aspx?page=2

As a lot of recipes also cal for eggs,, what would you use in place of these?

Egg Substitutes
http://www.theppk.com/vegan-baking-the-post-punk-kitchen-shows-you-how/ http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/

You can sub eggs with ground linseed in water.
1 tablespoon ground linseed and 3 tablespoons water = 1 egg. This is from my "Mouthwatering Vegan" cookbook. She has some great recipes on her website, worth a look. http://mouthwateringvegan.com/ Her chocoholics cheesecake is fantastic, even non vegan/vegetarians love it, link below http://mouthwateringvegan.com/2011/12/10/the-best-ever-chocoholics-cheesecake/

I have used chia seeds: To replace one large egg, finely friend 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in a spice grinder. Place in a small bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of water. Allow to sit for 30 minutes before using in a recipe. The mixture will thicken to a gel-like consistency. Just before incorporating into a recipe, stir in a food pinch of baking powder.

This works well for loaves, muffins, cookies etc. Not so good for a sponge cake obviously. You might have to buy some vegan egg replacer for that. Not sure what it is made of though.

Substitute egg whites with Agar powder. Agar powder is also known as agar-agar, Kanten, Japanese isinglass, or Ceylon moss.
Mix 1 Tbsp agar powder in 1 Tbsp water. This is equivalent to one egg white, so increase as necessary for the recipe. Whip the mixture, then let it chill in the fridge. Then whip it again and it will be ready to use.

Good luck!

Why You Should Avoid Margarine, Shortening and Spreads

There are a myriad of unhealthy components to margarine and other butter imposters, including:

Trans fats: These unnatural fats in margarine, shortenings and spreads are formed during the process of hydrogenation, which turns liquid vegetable oils into a solid fatTrans fats contribute to heart disease, cancer, bone problems, hormonal imbalance and skin disease; infertility, difficulties in pregnancy and problems with lactation; and low birth weight, growth problems and learning disabilities in children.A U.S. government panel of scientists determined that man-made trans fats are unsafe at any level. (Small amounts of natural trans fats occur in butter and other animal fats, but these are not harmful.)
Free radicals: Free radicals and other toxic breakdown products are the result of high temperature industrial processing of vegetable oils. They contribute to numerous health problems, including cancer and heart disease.
Synthetic vitamins: Synthetic vitamin A and other vitamins are added to margarine and spreads. These often have an opposite (and detrimental) effect compared to the natural vitamins in butter.
Emulsifiers and preservatives: Numerous additives of questionable safety are added to margarines and spreads. Most vegetable shortening is stabilized with preservatives like BHT.
Hexane and other solvents: Used in the extraction process, these industrial chemicals can have toxic effects.
Bleach: The natural color of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is grey so manufacturers bleach it to make it white. Yellow coloring is then added to margarine and spreads.
Artificial flavors: These help mask the terrible taste and odor of partially hydrogenated oils, and provide a fake butter taste.
Mono- and di-glycerides: These contain trans fats that manufacturers do not have to list on the label. They are used in high amounts in so-called “low-trans” spreads.
Soy protein isolate: This highly processed powder is added to “low-trans” spreads to give them body. It can contribute to thyroid dysfunction, digestive disorders and many other health problems.
Sterols: Often added to spreads to give them cholesterol-lowering qualities, these estrogen compounds can cause endocrine problems; in animals these sterols contribute to sexual inversion.
I don’t eat much butter myself but I would select it as an option on any opportunity over these chemical and so-called healthier spreads. If you really want to use a healthy spread, try coconut butter or one of many healthy nut or hemp butters available. The further you stay away from chemical and genetically modified spreads made with GMO oils, the healthier your diet will be.

About the Author
Natasha Longo has a master’s degree in nutrition and is a certified fitness and nutritional counselor. She has consulted on public health policy and procurement in Canada, Australia, Spain, Ireland, England and Germany.

Re post #9. I'm not sure vegans care so much about what goes into the products that they use as substitutes to animal products as much as they do about using animal products.

Vegans are very pleased that processors have found a way to create artificial products that won't cause immediate illness.

In the meantime I think that the OP wants recipes that were specifically designed to be vegan, rather than using substituted artificial and manmade products for natural animal products.

I think this recipe for brownies might just fit the bill:

Brownies (to die for) - no butter/marg/oil/eggs! (Posted by kiwigoldie)
Ingredients
• 1 cup unsweetened apple purée/sauce
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 3/4 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup (70g) walnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 175°C and lightly spray or oil a 20x20cm baking dish.
Place apple purée in a medium-sized bowl. Sift in the cocoa, flour and baking soda. Add the sugar and salt and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix as this will toughen the brownies. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and the walnuts. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and bake for around 25-30 minutes or until the centre feels set and fudgy when a skewer is inserted.
Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before turning out. Cool completely before slicing into squares. If desired, dust with sifted icing sugar before serving.
I had these yesterday at a friends. they are from the healthy food website. are divine, moist and you cannot tell they have apple in them either.

Herve's Chocolate Mousse: (Note the whipped cream is optional)
8 ounces chocolate (we used 70% bittersweet — choose a high quality chocolate you love)
3/4 cup (6 ounces) water
ice cubes
freshly whipped cream for topping (optional)

Melt the chocolate and water together, cool it over an ice bath, and whisk till you have mousse.

I've made this several times. It is easy and can be used as a topping or filling with other baking if wanted. It is really nice with raspberry coulis.

http://food52.com/blog/2932-herve-this-chocolate-mousse?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+food52-TheAandMBlog+%28The+A%2BM+Blog%29%3E&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner

Im such a sucker for a brownie. Thank you that sounds amazing :)

Thank kiwigold. She posted it first.

Then there is the 3 ingredient Xmas cake which I got from here recently. I tried it. Not what I would call the best Xmas cake but still it is vegan.

The original poster didn't give times or temperature for cooking and neither did any subsequent poster (except 1) so I copied down all of their suggestions and found the temps and times on the net.

See next post

Thanks are more due to kiwigold who originally shared the recipe.

3 INGREDIENT CHRISTMAS CAKE
INGREDIENTS
1 kg dried fruit mix packet
2 cups orange juice - mix and sit for 10min
2 cups of Self Raising flour
METHOD
Add Flour to Soaking fruit & mix well
Put mix into a 20inch cake tin
Bake for 1½ hours
Note: 2 cups Flour & 2 Tablespoons baking powder
Pour alcohol over hot cake or brush with a little sherry or rum
Cook in 12 muffin cups – 125oC 45mins – 1hr in bottom of oven
Cooking temps (1) 180oC 90mins. Turn off & leave in oven for 30mins
(2) 130oC 2 hours
(3) Slow Cooker - Cook high for 4hrs then low for 4hrs
(4) 180 oC 1 hour until it springs back when lightly pressed
(5) 160oC 1¼ hrs then check and cook a little longer if required

Then there are all the variations suggested by other posters:

ALL THE VARIATIONS:
susieq9: 1 cup Orange Juice. 1 cup Strong Coffee or Tea. A few spices & essences. Bake 150C approx 2hrs.

willy911: 3 cups Juice. 3 cups Flour. Also add a bit of Mixed Spice and some Crushed Nuts. Cook an hour

gabbysnana: Should be Ginger Ale and fruit left overnight in the Ale to ferment. Gently pour 1 cup Brandy over the top when it comes out of the oven. Wrap and leave to mature.

nauru: Used half Brandy, half Juice. Left fruit to soak for 2 weeks in fridge. Added several spices & some Chopped Nuts with the flour. Used half wholemeal flour

jynx66: Swap half the orange juice for bourbon. Plenty of spices - Ginger, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Allspice.
Or: 1tsp each ground ginger & mixed spice, ½tsp each ground cloves & ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom seeds

winnie231: It works fine with gf flour or baking mix. Use either a self-raising variety or add 2tsp gf baking powder (Hansells). Also adds a mix of Ground Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg or Mixed Spice for extra flavour (1-2 tsp in total).

kay141: Has added chopped dark chocolate on occasions
I've used coffee alone. I made strong black instant and used that

karenz: Selection of Dried Fruit & Nuts from the pick and mix - had Pineapple, Mango, Pawpaw, big Golden Sultanas, Currants, Apricots, and some Slivered Almonds. Pineapple Juice instead of orange juice Added Cinnamon Nutmeg. Might add some flaked coconut next time.

Niffer13: I use red wine instead of the fruit juice. We still have 1/2 a cake left from last xmas It is really yummy the older it gets.

uli:Strong Earl Grey tea to soak the fruit.

I've made that recipe several times, and it delivers the decadent taste of a 'regular' brownie.

Re post #10

My post was not in relation to any of your's.

Having a vegan in the family who is health concious and very environmentally aware as are her vegan friends I feel your comments, ie.

" I'm not sure vegans care so much about what goes into the products that they use as substitutes to animal products as much as they do about using animal products.
Vegans are very pleased that processors have found a way to create artificial products that won't cause immediate illness."

Is just conjecture and contradicts your following comment.

"In the meantime I think that the OP wants recipes that were specifically designed to be vegan, rather than using substituted artificial and manmade products for natural animal products"

Which Is exactly the point of my original post and one we can agree on.

Snide, rude and inaccurate comments, from some posters, are very common on here towards vegans, vegetarians and those who have different ideas.

Edited or taken out of context quotes are also a common occurrence from the same posters.

I wasn't having a dig at you. I agree entirely with what you posted about margarine. Personally I wouldn't have it in the house and definitely would not recommend it in baking which is why I gave recipes that didn't have margarine or any artificial products.

I have noticed, however, that vegan posters in here are always keen to recommend artificial products such as cheese and margarine.

Btw. Some margarines do have animal fats in them, just not butterfat. This fact alone would take them out of the vegan category.

Sigh. And you say that I stalk you. Well guess what. It seems to be the other way round.

As I never mentioned you and haven't posted for several weeks, how can I be stalking?

I would so love your vegans to read a vegans book which is called "The vegetarian Myth" by Lierre Keith.

It is such an eye opener to see how vegans actually destroy the earth by eating annuals - rather than keeping perennial grasslands. Most vegans do not know about soil science, environment etc on a scientific level, so they "believe" rather than "know".

Buy it for them for Xmas - Lierre's path has been very thorny and she is well prepared to show you what reality is like - rather than her "religion" of being a vegan which ended up being a physical and mental desaster after many years.

http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Vegetarian-Myth/9781604860801

An interesting book but to say, that because the author had problems with veganism, every vegan will have problems is a fallacy.

Once again, that is promoting the one-size-fits-all theory.

I had a vegan girlfriend once, I caught her tasting some bacon from my fridge late one night :D very funny.

Where did I say that?
I never promoted that one book is a fit for all - just do NOT try to put words into my mouth that I haven't said. We will get along much better if you stop that.
And since we both would like to post here - the sooner you stop those aggressive posts the better.
Thanks.