I've been doing a lot of vegan baking lately (I'm vegetarian, with vegan tendencies, but my girlfriend is strictly vegan). I tried vegan baking in the distant past, and was always disappointed, but the Internet has made it really easy to find good, proven, recipes and a lot more information about the science and behavior of foods when prepared in various ways.
I've been pleasantly surprised by how well my coconut oil-based cookies and biscuits come out. My current biscuit recipe (http://foodcite.org/recipe/amazing-vegan-southern-buttermilk... ) is as good as any I have ever made...and I'm from the south. I know biscuits, and have made and eaten a lot of biscuits in my life. Cakes and brownies are another story, thus far, and it's not the butter that's the problem ingredient; eggs are where the problems come in.
I'm really impressed with their experimental approach. I've done the same experiments with curdling non-dairy milks (to replace buttermilk in biscuits), and have done several experiments blending various oils and additional ingredients to replicate butter. Because I'm lazy I ended up simplifying back down to very easy to prepare ingredients, because if there are too many steps or ingredients, I end up cooking something simpler. But, in this case I could probably make myself mix up a big batch of this for the freezer.
I'm surprised at this. I'm not a vegan at all, and i find most of the time when i end up eating vegan variants of dishes that aren't normally vegan they're pretty terrible, but i've had some truly excellent vegan chocolate cakes and brownies. I don't know what the recipe was, but it's certainly possible to make a really good vegan chocolate cake.
Yes, my favorite chocolate cake ever was vegan (from The Green Planet in Houston, an incredible but now defunct vegan restaurant). But, I've never been able to make one that good. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that I haven't gotten it right yet.
Brownies, on the other hand, are a nightmare to veganize, for me. It may have to do with the kind of brownies I like, and it may just be that I've had enough bad luck that now my baking mojo is broken for making brownies. I've tried three batches in pretty quick succession, using quite different seeming recipes, and they all turned out awful; and awful in roughly the same way in all cases. Kinda like overly oily fudge, with some flour mixed in just to make it even more gross. I'm not sure, honestly. I've not tried it again lately, but will eventually. I love a good brownie. But, I was so disheartened by the first several attempts, that I've been avoiding it.
And, I can't think of a really good vegan brownie that I've ever eaten, and I know some quite good vegan cooks, and tend to frequent vegan restaurants and bakeries while traveling.
That wouldn't surprise me, and I do frequently add vinegar to my almond milk when baking to make it more like a buttermilk, even if the recipe doesn't call for it. The additional acidity when adding vinegar to a recipe that uses baking soda or baking powder can replace some of the effect of using sour cream (a very common "secret ingredient" in non-vegan chocolate cakes), which provides more leavening. It probably also alters the flavor in some way, though there are so many other competing and strong flavors, and the vinegar is such a small amount, that it probably doesn't do too much.
I don't think I've used vinegar in my chocolate cake attempts, however, so it's probably something I'll try next time.
You just told a vegetarian, who is tending towards veganism, to use blood instead of butter. Or did you mean his own blood? (which I guess would be okay for some vegans)
I would have never thought of that. I would have no ethical compunction against using my own blood for cooking. But, I really don't miss eggs in my baking that much. And, I'm not sure my guests at dinner would be enthused to learn that the food their eating contains human blood. I'll have to ask some vegan friends what they would think of foods made with human blood from a voluntary donor. That's sure to make me the life of the party.
I've been pleasantly surprised by how well my coconut oil-based cookies and biscuits come out. My current biscuit recipe (http://foodcite.org/recipe/amazing-vegan-southern-buttermilk... ) is as good as any I have ever made...and I'm from the south. I know biscuits, and have made and eaten a lot of biscuits in my life. Cakes and brownies are another story, thus far, and it's not the butter that's the problem ingredient; eggs are where the problems come in.
I'm really impressed with their experimental approach. I've done the same experiments with curdling non-dairy milks (to replace buttermilk in biscuits), and have done several experiments blending various oils and additional ingredients to replicate butter. Because I'm lazy I ended up simplifying back down to very easy to prepare ingredients, because if there are too many steps or ingredients, I end up cooking something simpler. But, in this case I could probably make myself mix up a big batch of this for the freezer.