Thanks for the replies :D
Printable View
Thanks for the replies :D
ooh, the thought of piped frosting on these cupcakes makes my teeth hurt! i think i'll just be spreading mine, even though the piped frosting looks very pretty!
oh no! i've just moved house and was soooooo looking forward to baking some new vegan cupcakes to make my new home smell homely (and eat of course!). I spent an hour cleaning the grim looking oven to discover - it doesn't work! argh!! :( i have of course told the landlord but i doubt it will get fixed grrrrr
After chasing both the magazine publishers and Waitrose, I've finally received a response.
You'll notice that Katy thinks there are "too many vegan baking books around too".
I've forwarded this to the Vegan Society, but can't think what else to do.
This reply has annoyed me even more, though it's pretty much what I was expecting.
Quote:
Dear Est
Thanks for your recent letter to WFI and apologies for the delay in response. We are terribly sorry if you were offended by the Shelves of Shame in our July issue. This is a long running and popular slot in the magazine where we take a lighthearted look (not a review) at unusual books from the archives. In this case, we felt that in a market overwhelmed with cookery books of varying degrees of usefulness, some of them are not strictly necessary. This of course is a matter of opinion. If you read the article, it is no way derogatory towards vegans – in fact we go on to say “of course, omnivores will concede that vegans shouldn’t miss out.” What we are saying, and we stand by these comments, is that, in our opinion, it is not strictly necessary to dedicate an entire tome to what is essentially 75 variations on one basic cake. We would argue that a general vegan baking book, or even a general baking book, as there are far too many of those titles around too would be more useful.
But of course, that is just our opinion – which isn’t presented as anything other than subjective. We are glad that you enjoy the book and we are really sorry if our comments caused any offence, but we have no plans to review it in the future as our reviews section is for new books only.
Kind regards
Katy Salter
--
Katy Salter
Features Editor
Waitrose Food Illustrated
John Brown
136-142 Bramley Road
London W10 6SR
Direct: 020 7565 3187
Switchboard: 020 7565 3000
Fax: 020 7565 3076
www.johnbrowngroup.co.uk
That is a very annoying response!
What does she mean, 'it is not strictly necessary to dedicate an entire tome to what is essentially 75 variations on one basic cake'? Isn't that what all cake and bun recipes are whether they are vegan or not? :mad:
I love this book - I ordered it into Brighton library and made some gluten free choclate cupcakes for my first vegan cake and choclate meeting! However now there are two reserves on the book so may have to buy my own!
Liz x
Exactly. And a "general baking book" would hardly be more useful for... VEGANS. My grandma would say, "She's not the brightest button in the box!" :D
Anyway, the Vegan Society were fab. They replied in 2 minutes!! Katy's made me feel so arsey I'm going to write to Waitrose head office, and also email Isa and Terry in the hopes they'll complain to Waitrose too.
On a separate note, one of the many areas my company trains in is handling customer complaints effectively (structure of response, rapport, making sure the customer feels they've had the right outcome - and of course, spelling and grammar). I'd love to offer Katy a place on one of our courses! Nothing more satisfying than getting the help to where it's most needed... ;)
Agreed, and what about omni books like "500 cupcakes" 500!!!!!!!!!
And they are not the same recipe even the two gluten free recipes have differences to them. They obviously didn't open the book they just read the cover and based their opinion on that. Idiots.
Anyways, more cupcakes needed!
These are g-free choc cakes w/ oreo icing for my b'day
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/...32c102.jpg?v=0
I made the agave cupcakes and they were also g-free, here's one with custard
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/...0e1d41.jpg?v=0
Yum Yum! I made the cookies and cream cupcakes that look just like yours for a bake sale. They were a really big hit! I have not made any of the gluten free recipes though.
Ohhhh Kitteh, they look great! The one with the custard is making my mouth water :D
All my omni friends love the Oreo ones so I always make them for gatherings and the b'day boy (same day as me) is a huge fan. I would have done a giant cupcake cake but the restaurant wanted to charge us 'cakeage', ha! So I took cupcakes instead.
Thanks Roxy, I had tried Orgran custard and found it a bit perfumey and not like custard at all and then another brand was suggested to me and it's delish, Foster Clark.
nice cakes Kitteh! i wish we could get vegan Oreos in the UK! :(
Can you get the alternatives like Newman O's or Back to Nature? I don't like to have Oreos too often as I'll eat them all unless I use them on cupcakes, but I like having the option of using them.
we used to be able to get Newman O's through mail order but the company that did them have stopped importing them (and they were really expensive). never heard of Back to Nature.
:( I hope they give you UKers some vegan Oreos soon.
I baked these last week for our Spring vegan picnic, they are g-free vanilla w/ lemony buttercream, topped with a sml slice of lemon and a blueberry
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/...87ee59.jpg?v=0
And these I made this weekend for one of my best friend's birthdays. G-free choc and vanilla cupcakes, choc ones topped with strawberry buttercream and then vanilla ones are topped with lemony buttercream.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3165/...40e31d.jpg?v=0
Those are seriously awesome cupcakes, kitteh! MMMMmmmmmmmm :)
fab-looking cupcakes, Kitteh! i love the little candles you put in the ones in the bottom photo! :)
How cute are they!!! Those are gorgeous, well done you *drools*
0-M-G! I have just bought this book and it is AMAZING :D So far I have made the golden vanilla cupcakes with chocolate-fudgy frosting and the carrot cake cupcakes, which were absolutely delish. This book is a must for sweet-loving vegans. I just love it when I can prove to everyone that you do not need eggs and animal products for baking. I need to restrain myself and stop making more!
Noooo, don't restrain yourself! Bake more and post pics here! :D
I agree, bake more! I really want to try the carrot ones, I've had tofutti sour cream in my fridge for ages but am still yet to make 'em
I am definitely requesting it as a Christmas gift. :}
I made the mint cupcakes at the weekend, very yum:D
Good luck!
Mini Cupcakes I made for my friend's hens party - gf vanilla w/ vanilla buttecream, gf banana w/ lemony icing, gf chocolate w/ choc buttercream and gf choc w/ mint icing
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3270/...f20095.jpg?v=0
Close up of the choc mint ones
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/...c179da.jpg?v=0
This thread even makes my omni bf drool.
The apple cider cupcakes were outrageously good. I mean, seriously one of the best recipes in the book. Make them! Make them now! I used the vanilla buttercream frosting and the combination of the spicy apple and sweet vanilla was divine. Several people told me they were the best cupcakes I've made, although I'm still a bigger fan of the coconut lime. Still, these are a close second.
That said, they do require some extra steps and are a bit of a pain in the ass to make. Agar flakes are fairly expensive, as well. I had trouble finding soy milk powder for the caramel and had to buy this giant and expensive package. I recommend boiling the apple cider and agar flakes before doing anything else because you have to wait for it to cool down before you can mix it in with the rest of the ingredients.
The recipe actually makes more than 12 cupcakes. I took the leftover batter from the two batches I made, mixed it together, and made an apple cider cake out of it. It came out really nice, although the edges were a bit burned. If I took it out of the oven earlier, it would've been perfect.
Because I forgot to buy arrowroot, I decided to substitut cornstarch in the caramel recipe. While this did sort of work, there were chewy lumps in the cararmel, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Hmm. I still have agar flakes, icing, and cider. Maybe I'll make some election night cupcakes.
Cheers,
rant
I think the apple cider cupcakes are the ones I'm gonna try next. Made Earl Grey Tea cupcakes and Cappucino cupcakes a few days ago. So good.
I know what you mean, I made ginger cupcakes a couple of days back and the frosting was in danger of being larger than the cakes. I do like the look of swirls though, so I ended up just swirling flower shapes on the top and then sticking a piece of ginger in the middle. Looked pretty good, if I do say so myself, and wasn't too much frosting :)
My bf gave me my Christmas pressie early: a baby pink Kitchenaid Mixer! So of course the first thing we made were gf choc cupcakes w/ choc and banana icing. The KA made the icing so thick and fluffy, it was perfect!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/...a620fc.jpg?v=0
Hahaha, the bowl won't come off! I used it last night to make carrot cupcakes, washed the bowl after making the batter, put it back on, made the icing and now the bowl is STUCK! Eek!
Anyway, here are the carrot cupcakes, gf, iced w/ vanilla buttercream. They are deelish, my new faves!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/...892af7.jpg?v=0
I made candy cane cupcakes using the gf choc and vanilla recipes
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/...1d9b50.jpg?v=0