Question about using vinegar in cake batter...

C

cheezz

Well-known member
I am making a vegan coconut cake and it calls for 2 Tbl. apple cider vinegar. I know the vinegar is to react with the baking soda as a leavening agent. The recipe also has 2 tsp. baking powder.

Is the vinegar really necessary and/or is there an alternative??

The reason is, I am making this for someone who can't tolerate vinegar in any amount (health issues).

TIA!!

 
Are there any other acidic ingredients in the batter? How much baking soda does it call for? How

about substituting lemon juice for the vinegar?

Otherwise, You can try substituting the baking soda with more baking powder. Baking soda is 4x stronger, so you'd use the 2 tsp baking powder as listed, plus 4x the amount of powder per the listed baking soda. But, the results may not be satisfactory.

Besides lemon juice, Some acidic ingredients would be molasses, chocolate, coffee, plus the obvious dairy products, which you wouldn't want to use, since it's a vegan recipe.

Here's some info on replacing soda with powder:

http://www.ochef.com/364.htm

 
I can't use any acid...all of those things mentioned are on the no-no list smileys/frown.gif

Here are the cake ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) dairy free margarine, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 cups coconut milk (1 can)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

 
Well, you can try substituting with more baking powder, as I mentioned above, but

there's no guarantee you'll have good results.

Can you make another type of vegan dessert that doesn't have any highly acidic ingredients?
How about a vegan chocolate mousse pie with a graham cracker crust?

 
Wow...this is challenging. Whatever you do, I would either bake it in a shallow pan

so it doesn't have to work to rise before setting against the hot walls... or else try a gluten bread pan, which is narrow and high, so breads can set without the gluten to support it.

Is there some reason that you HAVE to use this recipe? Roost has a lovely gluten-free almond coconut tart. She lists ghee (but puts oil as a substitute), so I'm confused on how she considers that dairy-free. It's still fat from an animal.

http://www.roostblog.com/roost/vanilla-cream-pies-with-summer-berries-video.html

 
Can't have chocolate (I know...kill me now!) and can't have graham....

many, many, many restrictions. The ONE thing she can have is homemade yellow, white or coconut cake and coconut cake is her absolute fave. The family is vegan so am trying to think of their needs, too, otherwise I could leave in the dairy.

I plan to do cupcakes...will report back!

 
I found they are sometimes used interchangeably...the oil is more refined as

the 'butter' is expected to have some coconut particles in it. Learn something new every day!

 
Nasty nasty nasty!!!!!

I decided to do these tarts too. I bought the two young coconuts today, cracked them open and scooped out the flesh. I must say, they are small but I easily got 3 cups of liquid!! Now I know how they can hold so much liquid...the flesh is really thin - you can see through it at some points. It's so flabby and gross! I got brave and tasted some. NO hint even of a coconut flavor - I can see why she called it vanilla cream instead of coconut cream! Might as well eat a stick of Crisco {{shudder}}. All I can guess is that it will purée easily as this is not a cooked filling, nor does it have anything to thicken it.
Will let you know.

 
Hmmm....I'm thinking that using the vinegar shouldn't be a problem..

As it will ultimately be neutralized by the baking soda and the baking process. It's not like a glaze that soaks into the cake, or a sauce...If she can have homemade cake, and her family is vegan...they likely use a similar leavening process...?? If it's not a surprise event, call and ask someone in the family...??

 
Oh dear....thank you for such a vivid picture of what I have to look forward to.

I noticed she had a video on this recipe, so I watched it, expecting to see how to cut the coconut, scrap out the meat, etc. Especially since she doesn't say how much coconut meat? Isn't that the main ingredient?

So...this video. It's not a cooking video. It's a "big model eyes, soft music playing in the background, running my fingers through the ferns and picnicking on the perfectly manicured (obviously fire-ant-free) lawn with my handsome model-like husband" kind of video.

NOT what I was expecting.

I tried imagining publishing something like that with Larry. If anyone can figure out how to post a video, I can share his "French man Jean Luc smoking a stinky cigarette" video that I made in Quebec.

It won't have soft music in the background, but it does have me chortling.

 
Marilyn, this may or may not work....

try using
embed src="videoname.ext" height="200" width="200"/

inside the < and > symbols.

I have had spotty success with embedding videos on my web site.

 
okay...I'll give that a try. My video was on KodakGallery and they're shutting down.

"Supposedly" moving everyones photos to Shutterfly. We'll see.

Thanks.

 
Thanks, O. I've done this with a regular coconut. Putting it in the oven

helps the cracking process.

But these Thai ones look completely different. I guess so many raw recipes use them exactly for the reason that cheezz found: no taste.

I hope I don't regret this.

 
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