Tori’s Bakeshop in Toronto is the first eat-in vegan bakery in the city. The shop is all-natural from head-to-toe, offering a huge selection of baked goodies from vegan cupcakes to gluten-free cinnamon rolls to raw tarts – all preservative and refined sugar-free! The adorable shop is green-friendly, too. Tori uses chemical-free cleaning products, a backyard compost and vintage-style staff uniforms made from organic hemp and cotton. We asked Tori to share some of her best tips and secrets to healthy baking with us and she was happy to oblige! Here, we share Tori’s favorite vegan ingredients, best batter tips and baking tricks she’s learned along the way. Get to baking!
Tori’s favorite vegan ingredients:
For eggs:
There are so many amazing replacements for this ingredient! Depending on what recipe you are making, you can almost always replace an egg with flax meal (mix with a little hot water to create a gel-like consistency). Fruit puree works great, as well – any kind under the moon: apple, banana, squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, prunes…the list goes on! These ingredients provide lots of moisture to the dessert!
For milk:
At the bakeshop we use three main milk alternatives: coconut, almond and soy (all organic). Milk is normally the simplest ingredient to replace. Try different brands – you will be very surprised how different each one is! When buttermilk is needed, swap in a mixture of your milk alternative and a bit of vinegar or lemon to curdle the milk. Curdling the milk creates the sour buttermilk flavor. Nut creams work wonders, too! Try cashew, almond or a blend of both, as well as non-dairy yogurt!
Best Tip: Experiment!
Experiment as much as possible. Vegan baking is a lot of playing around with recipes. Donʼt be discouraged; it will all be worth it when you vegan-ize one of your all time favorite childhood recipes or that perfect vegan dessert!
Advice for a Better Batter
Vegan batter and dough is normally a bit more moist than a non-vegan version, so make sure to keep an eye on your treats in the oven. A couple of minutes added to your baking time usually helps. When in doubt, the toothpick test never fails!
Products Tori Loves:
- coconut oil (flavored)
- cashew cream
- un-refined organic sugar
- agave
- apple sauce
- Earth Balance
- daiya cheese (Mmm, gluten-free biscuits with chives and cheese in the oven right now. Yay, Diaya!)
In Toronto? Visit Tori’s Bakeshop and see the shop yourself – better yet, take advantage of their upcoming green delivery service: the Tori’s Bakeshop bicycle!
