BENGALURU :As the Christmas season’s here, many bakers in the city greasing their pans for something unique.
While some swear by eggs for fluffiness and by dairy products for moistness, they also have vegans to please. City Express spoke to a few bakers from the city to find out how they plan to balance the three.
Carrots: This place, well-known for the vegan food it serves, has poultry-free cakes always on the menu. “We are expecting more orders for carrot and beetroot cake, spiced banana and cinnamon cake, dry fruits and nuts cake for this Christmas. Red velvet cake, mix fruit cake and German chocolate cake can be an option for those who are looking for something different than the regular Christmas cakes,” says Susmitha Subbaraju, co-owner at Carrots.
What are their substitutes? Susmitha says, “We add oil in place of butter. Soy, cashew or coconut-based cremes are used.” Susmitha also informs us that it is not only vegans who order cakes from them, “Vegetarians and health-conscious people also opt for our vegan cakes,” she says. One has to place an order three days in advance to be able to get their Christmas cakes ready in time. The price range of the cake here is between `600 to `1,600 per kg.
Taantraa organic hand baking: Known for her handmade vegan and gluten-free cakes, Chaitali Raizada whips up wide variety of healthy cakes. Her customers keep coming back for almond-flour chocolate cake and rum-dipped nuts cake. Other cakes range from multigrain and almond flour cakes to nuts and seed breads and also nut butters (almond and peanut).
The health conscious can also opt for oats and coconut cookies. One can also pick and choose the toppings. If you trying to steer clear of white sugar, there are cakes made using dates. But as she doesn’t use blenders or mixers to made cakes, she takes limited orders.
What are her substitutes? She says, “Apple sauce, apple cider vinegar, flax seeds, bananas are used in vegan cakes depending on the recipe.” Anyone who is planning to order cake from her bakery should do it one day in advance.
Barleyz : Chef Mark from Barleyz, Koramangala, tells us that he rarely gets order for such special cakes but they are always ready for such orders.
All he needs is advance notice. “The guest just has to make sure that they inform us one and a half hour in advance as that is the time required to whip up a perfect vegan cake. These cakes are not available in the menu, but can be prepared on order,” he says adding that the cakes’ texture may not be as soft as the regular cakes.
It is not only vegans but Chef says that they keep getting such orders from people who belong to various communities like Jains and Gujaratis and also from people who are allergic or intolerant to various products. “Eggless chocolate cakes, mava cake and plum cake are a few favourites,” he says.
Lumiere restaurant:
Like Barleyz, the vegan cakes here are prepared only on order. Manjunath P R, co-founder of the restaurants says, “Fruit cakes and muffin cakes are the most ordered cakes at their restaurant. We use olive oil to get the right texture and taste,” he adds.