cooking a cake to impress a vegan man..update..the cake was better than the man

[edelC]

Ok, so i met this guy and things are going swimmingly, which given my history with men is worthy of an announcement of it's own.

I am going to go and stay in his house next weekend and my irish upbringing insists that I have to bring something along (it is the rules!!) so I thought about baking him a cake, because i cannot just bring a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine (he doesn't drink either)...

so i am going to bake a vegan cake. I looked at a cookbook and it all seemed straightforward until i went to my local (and only) health food shop. I got the sunflower margarine and soy milk but they have no egg substitute...

so what do i do. I vaguely remembered reading that flaxmeal can be used? But basically I won't have an egg substitute. I am a good baker so my questions are two fold.

Have you a recipe without egg beaters-type substitute, that you will share.
Are there any especial pitfalls to watch out for, when vegan baking, that are different to regular baking.

I don't really care what type of cake as long as it is drop dead awesome and very very impressive (I am still trying to impress him!) gloriously unhealthy and fattening is fine...just no cake mixes-we don't really do them in ireland.


EDIT...ok I think this is impossible, i have learned that he is also gluten and sugar free!...seriously is it even possible to bake something that would taste good??

[KerrieRou]

Yikes! I have a whole vegan baking cookbook, but not gluten and sugar free!

I found this one online....can eh have honey/agave nectar? Many times when someone says sugar free, it's only refined white sugar. Ask if he can have those, if not if there's a kind of sugar substitute (Stevia, splenda, etc) that he can have.

http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2009/02/gluten-free-vegan-sugar-free-chocolate.html

[p.kok]

I read somewhere that you can substitute eggs with mashed bananas. They are also very sweet so I guess you will not have to add sugar:)) But I'm not sure that would work in a recipe:) I also think that rice flour and corn flour are gluten free (I'm not completely sure:)), but I think you can buy other kinds of gluten free flour in health stores.

Do you really want to make cake or is anything sweet and delicious OK? I always impress people when I make Chocolate Chantilly, which is basically chocolate mousse made out off just water and chocolate. I still have no idea how that works, but it does, and the mousse tastes heavenly chocolaty and rich and all other kinds of awesome. I have left it in the fridge for quite some time and transported it around and it always stayed fluffy and great. So if you want to try and make that, here is the recipe

http://cafefernando.com/the-best-chocolate-mousse-of-your-life-under-5-minutes/

[edelC]

thanks guys..I did chat more with him about this, he avoids Gluten..because it doesnt agree with him, ditto sugar, but it is not as hard and fast a rule.

I was thinking of a GF flour mix, substitute the butter, I know you can use applesauce+stevia to substitute for sugar..but that plus mashed bananas seem as though they would be too watery for a cake...

some experimenting is called for!

[KerrieRou]

The flax works for the egg replacer. You can use stevia in place of sugar. Also, i've never had any problem using 1/4c apple sauce in place of 1 egg  =)

[CraftyChef]

If he "doesn't eat sugar", maybe a cake is the wrong thing to impress him with. I know lots of guys who don't really care for sweet stuff, never mind if they can or not. Do you ever see him eating sweet stuff? Maybe bring the makings of a meal rather than a cake?

[edelC]

To bring y'all up to date..

I actually suceeded in this and made a very nice cake-type thing. I made a shortbread type base with GF flour and stevia to sweeten with vegan margarine. Then I used some sugar free jam as a topping (once it was baked) mind you I hate that labelling as it is really 'refined sugar free' not actually sugar free, sugar is sugar whether you get it from conc apple or grape juice or sugar cane lmho..but he was cool with it.

then a kind of frangipani topping, ie almond flour, marg, flaxseed (in the place of eggs) soya milk (I think)...baked that on and topped it with flaked almonds

It was suprisingly nice, sweet toothsome and wonderful

which was more than I can say for the guy..he is already history..*sigh*...