Vegan Cakes

Last Saturday, as we coasted down 2nd Ave from one garage sale to another, Baby Z snoozing in the bike trailer, we spied a tent set up on a front lawn. Expecting more garage sale goodies, we pulled over onto the sidewalk to inspect the goods. Imagine our surprise when, instead of dusty romance novels and jazzercise videotapes, we found free vegan desserts.

Turns out Jen “JennyMac” McPherson was kicking off her new vegan cakes business by handing out free samples to passersby, and we lucked into be just such a passer. We sampled the goods and asked a bit about it:

I’ve been vegan for about a year now, vegetarian for a little over 5.  My addiction to cheese was the hardest thing to give up when going from vegetarian to vegan.

I’ve always loved to bake since I was a little girl.  My mom and I baked a lot together, and she had a bakery business of her own back in the day.  I have an art background (I graduated from SPU with a BA in studio art in 2005) and am pretty creative.  I just really like working with my hands, experimenting and trying new things. Other than baking, I only work part-time, so now just seemed like the right time to start.

I just started a couple months ago, and am learning as I go along. I bake from home, I have a website and customers can order directly from there, or call to place an order.  They can either pick up or I can deliver. I only sell directly to the consumer at this point. Eventually, I’d like to sell to the local shops.

The cakes were delicious, rich and not what you’d expect from vegan cakes. So, what’s the secret? How do you make tasty desserts without butter and cream?

It’s more simple than you might expect!  Instead of eggs I use baking soda and vinegar.  For milk I use soy or rice milk.  And for the butter I substitute with a vegan butter called Earth Balance that is delightful!  Many of my friends that have tried my cakes had no idea they were vegan and loved them!

I love lemon cake with a raspberry preserve filling and vanilla buttercream.  Just the right balance of sweet and tart. But there are some odd ones, too:  A customer requested a coconut cake with peanut butter frosting and a raspberry preserves filling.  A cake version of a PB & J sandwich!  She said everyone at the birthday party raved about it.  It smelled sooo good!

Local cooking, local business. Check her out at vegancakesbyjennymac.com.