Just about everyone loves chocolate: young and old, protein eaters and vegetarians and, yes, vegans. In Vegan Chocoholic, prominent vegan author and chef Philip Hochuli takes up the challenge of making vegan desserts that offer appeal and intensity. There are recipes here for treats ranging from the basic to the complex:
Spreads and Jams
Biscuits, Muffins, Cupcakes and Brownies
Cakes, Tarts and Cheesecakes
Chocoholic Favorites
No-Bake Chocolate Treats
What do you find in these chapters? Our usual suspects:
Caramel Sauce
Best-Ever American Brownies
Chocolate Muffins with Liquid Centers
Chocolate and Orange Tart
Crunchy Chocolate and Cinnamon Granola
Spiced Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate and Hazelnut Pralines
Where do the vegan differences appear? In the list of ingredients. No butter. No eggs. Replacing them are oil [sunflower, rape], vegan margarine, soy milk and other vegan basics. With his established credentials, Philip has carefully researched and developed these recipes. The list of ingredients is typically about a dozen long. And the proportions have been honed. You’ll find measurements down the 10 gram and ½ teaspoon marks. The instructions range from one to six paragraphs, the shorter recipes easy to knock off and the longer one requiring some attention. The writing is always careful and easy to follow.
This post concludes with a typical recipe: Death by Chocolate, a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate cream filling. The picture is surely tempting.
Ah, how do these recipes taste? I’m writing this review to tell you this new book, released just last month, is ready for your sampling. I don’t believe I’d be the best person to comment on taste. I have too many years of butter and eggs and milk and heavy cream. With these different ingredients, there have to be resulting differences in the taste and texture of these desserts. For a vegan, used to those distinctions, I’m sure these recipes will be most welcome additions – providing physical beauty and surely high intensity flavor. Actually, I may succumb soon. I find some of the recipes very intriguing, a chocolate cake made with a teaspoon of white wine vinegar along with cocoa powder. That’s a pairing you don’t often see in recipes, but is the basis for those popular red velvet cakes that line store shelves now.
If you follow a vegan lifestyle, then Vegan Chocoholic will be a welcome dessert avenue.
