baking vegan brownies (for the first time)
After my last vegan baking attempt gone wrong (RIP to the pumpkin cupcakes that refused to rise), I decided to dust myself off and give it another go. This time, I knew I had to find a vegan baking blog that was tried & true, so fate intervened when Little Blog of Vegan came up on my instagram feed. Her feed was filled with creative, plant-based desserts, and convinced me that vegan baking definitely offers just as many creative avenues for baking as regular baking. It was hard to pick which recipe to go with, but since I was still recovering from the pumpkin cupcake flop, I went with a simple 9-ingredient flourless chocolate cake (which looked more like brownies to me, but either way.. looked delicious).
The recipe called for….
3 tbsp of ground flaxseed (for the egg substitute)
1/3 cup of aquafaba (chickpea brine that you mix until it fluffs up like marshmallow paste)
100g of caster sugar (totally eyeballed this b/c I had zero gram measuring cups for some reason)
1 tsp of vanilla extract (favorite part of any baking experiment <3)
60g of dairy-free butter (I used oat butter w/ a hint of sea salt)
5 5/8 oz (oddly specific) of dairy-free dark chocolate — I used the Hu simple dark chocolate)
1/4 cup of coconut flour
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
After compiling my ingredients, I started following the directions and crossed my fingers. First was the flaxseed (or egg substitute) mix, where I mixed the flaxseed mix (which I got from the Vitamin Shoppe) & water. After mixing, I left it alone to thicken by itself.
Then, I moved onto the chickpea brine, another supposedly magical egg replacement. First of all, the smell. 🥴 No words. After draining the chickpeas (I think you can buy the brine separately to avoid this step), I started mixing with a hand-held electric mixer. The brine flew everywhere, so I had to put a paper towel over the bowl and wrap it around the mixer to avoid it going everywhere. This made maneuvering a little difficult, but it was worth it to save my kitchen from the rancid smell. I thought to myself, “It’s definitely time to invest in a Kitchenaid.” After it began getting foamy but not fluffy, I started to get a little worried, because it didn’t really resemble marshmallow paste like the instructions said. But then, after I started mixing in the sugar in small doses, the fluff appeared and I was shocked. I had no idea chickpea brine could turn into such a fluffy meringue. Petition to put this technique into every baking book ever… with a TW for the smell.
Then, I mixed my flaxseed “eggs” in with my microwave-melted chocolate & butter. The directions said to “drizzle it” into the aquafaba, but I couldn’t imagine the chunky mixture being drizzled like those Lindor chocolate commercials, so I mixed it up with my electric mixer for a minute or two to smooth it out. It didn’t get as smooth as I had hoped, but eventually, it was good enough to drizzle into my aquafaba.
Then, I measured my cocoa powder & coconut flour and sifted both into the fluffy mixture. I stirred it all together, being careful not too overdo it, since Holly warns that doing so can ruin the texture her example photos show.
Finally, I poured it into a circular baking tin with grease-proof paper (that I cut into a circular shape to fit it) and feebly tried to smooth it out as best as I could. the mixture was pretty thick, so it was tough to figure out whether or not it was evenly distributed everywhere, but I just crossed my fingers and stuck it into my 365° oven. Lots of finger crossing involved in this whole experience.
And here’s the final result! Not really a Pinterest-worthy picture or anything, but usually the less fancy desserts always end up tasting the best anyways. I cooked it for 40 minutes and when I took it out the first time, my toothpick came out with some chocolate still on it, so i stuck it back in for 10 minutes and it came out perfectly! It didn’t have the flakey top like i was hoping, but it had the perfect amount of moisture inside and crispiness on the outside. The chocolate really came through too! I got a lot of winning votes of approval from non-vegan friends & family too, so I’m excited to have finally gotten a win in vegan baking!
