What is a Plant-based Cake?

What is a Plant-based Cake?

A plant-based cake is a cake made with all or mostly plant-based ingredients. It will likely exchange the dairy and eggs for plant-based ingredients such as nut/seed/oat-based milk and buttermilk made by adding lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to the plant-based milk/yogurt.

How are plant-based cakes made?

A plant-based cake is made similarily to a regular cake. The only difference is that the egg replacement is often the first step. At plant-pastry, we spend the first 5-10 minutes allowing lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to curdle the plant-based milk. This step is key for having a moist and flavorful cake.

Every step afterwards is very similar. You often have two phases of ingredients: the wet and the dry. The wet phase often includes water-based, water-soluble, or liquid ingredients such as oil, melted plant-based butter, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. The wet phase is mixed together with the buttermilk and added to the dry phase.

The dry phase consists of you guessed it! All the dry ingredients such as sifted flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and any drying ingredients such as dried coconut, matcha, and spices. Everything is mixed together until just combined and then it is quickly placed into the oven.

Who are plant-based cakes made for?

A plant-based cake is often made for people who avoid eggs, dairy, and other animal by-products whether for health, ethical, or other reasons. Plant-based cakes are often assumed to be free of allergens, however, it is important to consider that most commercial kitchens may come into contact with allergenic ingredients despite the staff's best efforts. ALWAYS ask the baker if they can safely make your cake and tell them any concerns you might have.

Plant Pastry uses only plant-based ingredients, but cannot claim anything to be 100% dairy-free or egg-free. If you have a severe gluten, egg, nut, or dairy allergy please let the baker know before placing your order or while filling out the custom cake form.