Vegan Whipped Topping
Jul. 4th, 2014 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acts_of_teklaFrom the Better Batter (Gluten Free Baking) website -- http://betterbatter.org/whipped-creamy-frosting-vegan
This recipe is a pretty good approximation of a whipped cream frosting. It's not really close enough to stand alone, in my opinion, but it's pretty darn good on cakes. One recipe will fill and frost a 2-layer 9-inch cake. After making it a couple of times and discovering that the website requires one to register to post comments, I decided to re-post the recipe with a few pro-tips.
5 Tbsp (about 2.5oz or 70.8g) flour -- SIFT THE FLOUR. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
1 cup non-dairy milk substitute - Be aware of the sweetness of your chosen substitute. I prefer plain soy milk.
1 tsp vanilla - Do not use if your milk substitute is vanilla flavored.
1 cup shortening - I've used regular Crisco and Earth Balance butter. The former results in a slightly greasy taste but the latter resulted in frosting that was off-white and not quite as stiff as I needed.
1 cup granulated sugar -- If you're really hard core, grind the sugar in a food processor to make the grains even finer. It's important that they dissolve completely in the shortening.
In a small saucepan, whisk (sifted! Any lumps will remain until the end and wind up on your cake!) flour into milk substitute. Heat (over low flame; using a double boiler is also a good idea), whisking constantly, until it thickens to the consistency of brownie batter. (This will seem to happen all of a sudden. Keep whisking until your hand hurts and you have to work to keep going! In this case, it's worse to undercook than overcook -- thicker flour mix will result in stiffer frosting, but thinner will result in runny frosting that falls off the cake.) Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It MUST be completely cool before you blend it with the shortening. (They mean it!) Whisk in vanilla (if using).
While the mixture is cooling, cream the shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. In order to remove the graininess you will need to blend this on high speed for 5-10 minutes. (Easy with a stand mixer. I used the paddle attachment, but a whisk attachment might have been better.) It’s essential that you make sure your sugar is completely dissolved into the shortening before proceeding with the next step. (It may still feel a little grainy, but keep in mind that graininess at this step will result in graininess in the final product and that it is pretty difficult to overmix this.)
Add the flour paste to the beaten shortening, and beat on high speed until it looks curdled – continue to beat past this point and the mixture will become like whipped cream. (This takes a little longer than it seems like it should, but have heart!)
Edited to add:
I tried it with Earth Balance again, and it really doesn't work. But I had the bright idea of adding something to thicken it, and it turns out that cocoa powder is a thickener. I added about 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, and voila! it thickened up nicely and is now a tasty chocolate frosting.
This recipe is a pretty good approximation of a whipped cream frosting. It's not really close enough to stand alone, in my opinion, but it's pretty darn good on cakes. One recipe will fill and frost a 2-layer 9-inch cake. After making it a couple of times and discovering that the website requires one to register to post comments, I decided to re-post the recipe with a few pro-tips.
5 Tbsp (about 2.5oz or 70.8g) flour -- SIFT THE FLOUR. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
1 cup non-dairy milk substitute - Be aware of the sweetness of your chosen substitute. I prefer plain soy milk.
1 tsp vanilla - Do not use if your milk substitute is vanilla flavored.
1 cup shortening - I've used regular Crisco and Earth Balance butter. The former results in a slightly greasy taste but the latter resulted in frosting that was off-white and not quite as stiff as I needed.
1 cup granulated sugar -- If you're really hard core, grind the sugar in a food processor to make the grains even finer. It's important that they dissolve completely in the shortening.
In a small saucepan, whisk (sifted! Any lumps will remain until the end and wind up on your cake!) flour into milk substitute. Heat (over low flame; using a double boiler is also a good idea), whisking constantly, until it thickens to the consistency of brownie batter. (This will seem to happen all of a sudden. Keep whisking until your hand hurts and you have to work to keep going! In this case, it's worse to undercook than overcook -- thicker flour mix will result in stiffer frosting, but thinner will result in runny frosting that falls off the cake.) Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. It MUST be completely cool before you blend it with the shortening. (They mean it!) Whisk in vanilla (if using).
While the mixture is cooling, cream the shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. In order to remove the graininess you will need to blend this on high speed for 5-10 minutes. (Easy with a stand mixer. I used the paddle attachment, but a whisk attachment might have been better.) It’s essential that you make sure your sugar is completely dissolved into the shortening before proceeding with the next step. (It may still feel a little grainy, but keep in mind that graininess at this step will result in graininess in the final product and that it is pretty difficult to overmix this.)
Add the flour paste to the beaten shortening, and beat on high speed until it looks curdled – continue to beat past this point and the mixture will become like whipped cream. (This takes a little longer than it seems like it should, but have heart!)
Edited to add:
I tried it with Earth Balance again, and it really doesn't work. But I had the bright idea of adding something to thicken it, and it turns out that cocoa powder is a thickener. I added about 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, and voila! it thickened up nicely and is now a tasty chocolate frosting.
