We ask a London baker her top tips on vegan baking
This January, I decided to investage the world of vegan baking and put together a vegan afternoon tea. As I have been discovering veganism has grown almost four times between 2014 and 2019 with most of the larger London venues offering a vegan alternative. Some venues cite the reason not having a vegan option as it is too difficult to make but others are aiming to have all of their afternoon tea cakes as fully vegan. Makes sense with such a growing trend and to save on time.
This month I caught up with Sophia Butler who is the owner of Sugar Tea Room based in London. I asked her to share with us her top tips when it comes to vegan baking and she shared a carrot cake recipe.
Let’s chat with Sophia:
Tell me a little bit about your business and your love for afternoon tea
Sugar Tea room is a mobile tea room, I started in 2013 but only really focused on it in the last 5 years. I've always loved Afternoon tea. Since I was young, we'd have scones and tea in various department stores in London and my cousin and I would drink tea at home and dream of being at the Ritz. (We finally got to go when we were around 19, we were hooked!)
I've always loved baking so running a mobile tea room was perfect for me and seemed like a natural step into business. I hope one day to have a physical tea room too as it would be great to expand and meet my customers in a new tea room. I have already collected many teacups and plates, just need to find the right venue!
Have you seen a rise in vegan requests?
Yes, for sure! the last two years especially. Veganism is definitely on the rise, especially in London, so being able to provide top quality afternoon tea delivery which vegans can enjoy is very important to me.
Did you find baking vegan afternoon tea challenging?
I did at first, but then I found a great book with amazing recipes and understood what to do. At first, I was trying to find alternative products but actually, you can use vegan products you have at home to make cakes. Sunflower oil and vinegar for example make great subsitutions!
What would be your tips to making the perfect vegan carrot cake?
Mix all the ingredients with a spoon not a mixer, the mixture is runny so doesn't need much work. During the baking, make sure to bake it until its slightly golden brown on the top, the inside will be perfectly moist!
What about clotted cream, do you have any tips for a vegan version?
This is one thing which I haven't yet found! New products are coming on the market each month but no clotted cream as yet. I offer customers an extra jam instead which works well.
Where is your favourite venue to go for afternoon tea in London?
The Savoy and Fortnum and Mason are my two favourites.
Anything else you'd like to add?
If you want to try and make an Afternoon tea at home, its worth giving it a go. A few simple tools and a couple of recipes is all you need to get started.
Sophia has kindly shared her vegan carrot cake recipe with us. Please do tag @afternoontealondon and @sugartearoom on Instagram with your creations.
Vegan Carrot cake
What you will need:
Two 8 inch tins - oven 180C or gas mark 4
510g Self raising flour
335g demerara sugar
large pinch of salt
1 and a half tsp baking powder
4 teaspoonsmixed spice
150ml sunflower oil
5 tsp vinegar (white wine or cider)
420ml cold water
few drops of vanilla extract
150g carrots, grated - smaller the better
90g raisins (optional)
Method:
Add all dry ingredients above to a bowl then mix together
Add all wet ingredients to a jug and stir together (Put jug on scales and add each ingredient to it so you can weigh it more accurately)
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients the add the carrots and raisins
Add to the two tins and bake for 30 mins until the cake is firm to the touch and a knife comes out clean. The cake needs to be slightly golden on the top.
A quarter of this recipe makes 6 cupcakes.
To decorate, you can make buttercream using vegan butter/spread and icing sugar. (or use ready-made buttercream, the Dr Oetker one is technically vegan but not suitable for people with allergies which is why I make my own)