4 Vegan Cake Recipes No One Should Miss Out On!

Eating vegan isn’t the grass and water diet that most people envision. In fact, it offers a varied and colorful array of delicious recipes. While we have a ton of meal ideas we could focus on, with spring dawning, we decided to compile the 5 best vegan cake recipes that we’ve tried. We promise you’ll love them as much as we have! And FYI – not all of them involve baking!

1. Lemon Blueberry

This amazing recipe is just, well, amazing. Its sweet and tangy taste and moist, delicate texture are sure to please! It also has an amazing lemon glaze to top it off, which really puts it over the top!. The recipe makes 8 slices, and as a healthy dose of fresh blueberries and lemon juice! There are also helpful replacements suggested, such as using vegan butter rather than coconut butter for a less “coconutty” flavor!

(pic comes from https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/09/lemon-blueberry-layer-cake/)

2. Vanilla & Berries Naked Cake

Delicious and with a warm, moist texture, this recipe is a must for really any occasion. You can get a healthy helping of fresh berries – as it calls for 2 whole cups! It also utilizes warm and delicious oat milk. Something that we personally feel just doesn’t get enough love. It’s perfect for baking! This is also a great recipe to share with any skeptics that you may know!

(pic comes from http://dearkitchen.net/vanilla-berries-naked-cake-vanilijeva-torta-z-jagodami/)

3. Chia Spice Frosted Vanilla

If you want a more sophisticated twist to your basic vanilla affair, try this. It’s made with much more beginner-friendly ingredients (AKA much easier to find than more specialized ingredients some recipes call for) and is as moist as any ‘standard’ baked treat. With a great base and an absolutely mind-blowing frosting, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t absolutely love this! The frosting bares special mention, as we all agreed that it was the most unique and sinfully delicious frosting we’d ever had!

(pic comes from https://thealmondeater.com/2016/11/vegan-vanilla-cake-with-chai-spice-icing/)

4. Raw German Chocolate

You may not have ever had treat quite like this before! Eating raw foods prepared as desserts and even vegan-friendly sushi can be a different experience. The creamy, crunchy texture isn’t quite what you may be used to, but it’s more than pleasant. The delicious flavors will transport you to a whole different universe. Proponents of the raw movement also say that you get quite a bit more out of your food when you eat it in its natural state, meaning that you won’t have to feel guilty over this chocolate treat!

(pic comes from http://12tomatoes.com/german-chocolate-cake/)

We hope this gives you some inspiration to try baking vegan. It can be just as yummy!

Happy Baking
Sharon

The post Guest Post : 4 Vegan Cake Recipes No One Should Miss Out On! appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

As the title states, this recipe needs no introduction! This recipe is world famous. Probably the most common doctored recipe out there.

This makes a super moist cake with good density. Not quite as dense as pound cake but a tight crumb. This cake can be a bit soft and “wet” and might form a crystallized sugar “shell” on the top when baking; that is normal. This will also extend the volume vs a regular box recipe. Good for dessert cakes, cupcakes, carving, buttercream or fondant cakes. Makes great cake balls with no binder needed. Seriously a wonderful recipe. (The carrot cake version is to die for.)

Recipe:

Ingredients

•     1 box cake mix 15.25 ounces
•     1 cup all purpose flour
•     1 cup granulated sugar
•     1-1/8 cup water
•     1 cup sour cream
•     1 tsp. clear vanilla flavoring
•     1 tsp. clear almond flavoring
•     2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
•     4 large egg whites or 3 whole eggs

Directions

1. Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl and mix well with whip attachment. Add remaining ingredients and mix with beater attachment on speed 1 – 2 until smooth and incorporated. Do not overmix.

2. Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 until done. Baking times will vary, but a 10 inch round cake will take approx. 60 to 65 minutes.

3. You can make this into any flavor by starting with a flavored cake mix, and adjust the flavorings as desired. May be doubled.

— NOTE: The water is reduced to 1 1/8 cup per mix for the now smaller 15 oz cake mixes. — I do not recommend Pillsbury for this recipe.

— NOTE: You can create almost any flavor cake with this recipe by starting with that flavored cake mix and changing the additional flavorings.

Let me know if you use this recipe!

Happy Baking!!

Sharon

The post Recipe Spotlight: World Famous WASC by Rebecca Sutterby appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

This a very sturdy cake, dense but not quite a pound cake, tight crumb, and super moist. Not as soft and wet as the WASC. Good for dessert cakes, cupcakes, carving, buttercream or fondant cakes. Makes great cake balls with no binder needed. A great multi purpose recipe.

Ingredients

•     1 box cake mix (Sharon uses Betty Crocker)
•     1 small box instant pudding in a coordinating flavor
•     1 cup sour cream
•     1 whole large egg
•     3 large egg whites
•     1/2 cup water
•     1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. oil
•     1 tsp. vanilla flavoring (optional)
•     1 tsp. almond flavoring (optional)
•     1 tsp. butter flavoring (optional)
•     other flavorings as desired

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in mixer at speed one or two, scraping down the sides, until just incorporated. Batter will be very thick. Fill pans just a little over half full.

2. Bake at 325 until center bounces back and toothpick is clean. Be careful not to underbake. The will take longer to bake than an undoctored mix due to the added ingredients.

Here are a few helpful notes about this recipe:

•  You can create almost any flavor cake with this recipe by starting with that flavored cake mix, a coordinating pudding flavor, and changing the additional flavorings.
• White chocolate flavored pudding will keep the batter more white in color, and vanilla will make it more yellow.
• Recipe may be doubled.

If you try this recipe, or have tried it let us know in the comments how it worked out for you. Happy Baking!!!

XX Sharon

The post Recipe Highlight: Sharon’s Sturdy Cake Recipe appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening (hi ratio is best)
• 16 oz. cream cheese
• 3 lbs powdered sugar
• 1 TBSP. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Mix on low speed for a couple of minutes. This makes a fairly stiff icing if you use 3-1/2 lb powdered sugar, a softer one you if use 3 lbs of powdered sugar. Freezes well.

Sharon’s Note:
** This is a crusting icing, but please note that all cream cheese icings are softer and less durable than American buttercream. I do not recommend using it under fondant, or for any other purposes where a sturdy icing is needed.

Let me know if you try it!

Sharon

The post Kathy Finholt’s Cream Cheese Icing appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Uncle Sam Cookies

Mini-Bomb Pop Cookies

Patriotic Oreo Pops

4th of July Cake Pops

American Flag Layer Cake

Star Cookies

4th of July Jell-O Shots

Happy Baking and Happy Fourth!

Sharon

The post Fourth of July Roundup! appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

• This cake is said to be the best of both worlds! Dense enough to withstand the weight of fondant, but has the mositre of a box cake. This heavenly blend is the result of “doctoring” the cake mix.

• You can make this into any flavor by starting with a flavored cake mix, and adjust the flavorings as desired. May be doubled.

The possibilities REALLY are endless!

Here is the Recipe as provided by Rebecca Sutterby:

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix 15.25 ounces
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1-1/8 cup water
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. clear vanilla flavoring
1 tsp. clear almond flavoring
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 large egg whites or 3 whole eggs
3/4 tsp salt (optional)

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl and mix well with whip attachment. Add remaining ingredients and mix with beater attachment on speed 1 – 2 until smooth and incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 until done. Baking times will vary, but a 10 inch round cake will take approx. 60 to 65 minutes.

— NOTE: The water is reduced to 1 1/8 cup per mix for the now smaller 15 oz cake mixes. — I do not recommend Pillsbury for this recipe.

There is a great instructional video on our site filled with additional tips and tricks and can be found here:

https://www.sugaredproductions.com/freevideos/?id=16

Just look under videos, or search  the site using the keyword “WASC”.

Let us know how this works for you! Happy Baking!

Sharon

The post Recipes 101: WASC Cake appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

For most of my cakes, I prefer baking with buttermilk over milk – I love the texture and taste buttermilk gives to a cake. However, although I love buttermilk, I don’t often love shopping for it.
At most grocery stores, it’s only available in 1L cartons – and sometimes you find it, sometimes you don’t, sometimes it has a long expiration date, sometimes a week or less! It can become quite a nuisance when you bake to order and you suddenly get a last minute request but you are out of buttermilk, or you buy more than you need and end up tossing out half the container because it goes past due. Yes you can freeze buttermilk – best to do it in small amounts which can thaw easily, but again that’s a nuisance.

Recently we brought in dry buttermilk powder – all the essence and qualities of buttermilk but in dry form just waiting to be reconstituted. Now I have buttermilk on hand whenever I need it – I can make a little or a lot depending upon my needs – no waste! And this is true buttermilk like the product from days gone by – it is the residue left over from making sweet cream butter, and then dried into powdered form. Today’s commercial buttermilk is cultured, i.e.: it is milk with an addition to it to create a buttermilk taste & texture. For more info about buttermilk, see this Wikipedia post.

So what can you use buttermilk for? It is excellent in baked goods; from muffins, to quick breads, to cakes – it gives an amazing texture & flavour to your baked items. Here’s a quick non-cake related recipe in which buttermilk is the star – Irish Soda Bread. This bread is VERY easy to make, takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, can be on the table in 45 minutes, tastes amazing and has 4 simple ingredients! It’s homemade and your family will think you hit a home run! Try it!

Irish Soda Bread
adapted from finecooking.com

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

To make 2 cups of buttermilk:
Mix together 6 1/2 tbsp (62.5g) buttermilk powder with 450mL water

Yields:
One amazingly delicious 6″-7″ round loaf

Serves:
1-8 depending!

Using the centre rack of the oven, pre-heat the oven to 450F and lightly flour a rimmed baking sheet.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together all your dry ingredients. Make a well in the centre of your flour mixture and pour in 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk. Using one hand, stir together, incorporating all the ingredients. If too dry, add additional buttermilk 1 tbsp at a time until the dough just comes together. This dough is soft, do not overwork the dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface, gently knead together and shape into a round about 6″-7″ in diameter and 1 1/2″ high at the centre point. Flip the bread round over so that the floured side is face up. With a sharp knife, score a cross in the dough – from one side to the other about 1/4″ deep.

Place dough on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 400F and bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap on the bottom – approximately 20-30 minutes.

Best if allowed to cool for approximately 2 hours prior to slicing and serving …. if you can wait that long!

Get creative: add raisins, herbs, chopped chocolate, caramelized onions, currants, dried cherries, crystallized ginger, olives – experiment & have fun!

———————————————————————————

With a tremendous sweet tooth and an exceptional eye for design, creating edible art is something Lisa knew she enjoyed and was good at for as long as she could remember. With the direction of Flour Confections Inc. turning, it was time to focus back to her beginnings and her passion. Baked & Beloved was born.

The post Baking With Buttermilk appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Today we have a free video for you! This video shows how to make what has come to be known as “hybrid” buttercream. This icing is the best of bath worlds. You get the texture of meringue buttercream, paired with the stability and piping ability of American buttercream. Be aware though, this buttercream does not crust.

These cakes were done with this hybrid recipe! (There are tutorials for these cakes in my online school).

The link to the video is here –>  http://www.sugaredproductions.com/freevideos/?id=17

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Sharon

The post FREE VIDEO: Hybrid Buttercream Tutorial appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Valentine Teddy

Valentine’s Candy Box Cake

Bakerella Kiss Cake Pops

Linzer Cookies

Raspberry Heart Shaped Rolls

Royal Icing Transfer Cookies

Hope these give you some inspiration for the big heart day!

Happy Baking!

Sharon

The post Valentines Day Tutorial RoundUp appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.

Did you make any caking resolutions for the new year? If so, I’d love to hear them.

Mine is to try to be neater when I work

One of my messiest jobs is when I make my American Buttercream. Powdered sugar everywhere! (You too?)

But sometimes I don’t want to use ABC; I want a lighter meringue-like buttercream. And when my lazy bone flares up, I don’t feel like going through the long process of making Swiss Meringue or Italian Meringue.

That’s when Hybrid Buttercream (HB) comes to the rescue!

I call it a hybrid because it’s a cross between a meringue and American buttercream.

It’s really the best of both worlds…

You get the light, fluffy, buttery taste and texture of the meringue type, but it’s much easier and faster to make.

No cooking!

No sugar syrup!

No hassles!

No grit!

And it’s even a bit more stable due to the little bit of shortening and powdered sugar in it.

I’ve got a FREE VIDEO for you this week on how I make my Hybrid Icing. I’ll show you step by step how to make it to get the best results.

It’s really easy, utterly delicious, and frosts and pipes beautifully.

These two cakes are examples of flowers piped with HB.

CLICK HERE to get to the video.

I’d love to hear your experiences with it; drop me a note if you try it.

Until then, happy caking!

Sharon

The post Hybrid Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugared Productions Blog.