Have you ever baked a vegan cake and then found that it is crumbly and unappetizing? This happens quite often with vegan products, but there are ways to prevent it, so let’s find out what you should do.
If your vegan cake is crumbly, there’s a high chance that you have put the wrong kind of fat in it. Vegan butter sometimes results in cake that is dry, because the fats in it don’t always mix well with the other ingredients. In some cases, adding oil will help to ensure your vegan cake has an excellent texture.
In this article, we’ll be checking out what makes your vegan cake crumbly, and what you should do if your cake has turned out like this. We’ll briefly cover some of the top ways to use up cake that doesn’t taste great, too!
Why Do Vegan Cakes Turn Crumbly?
A few different problems can cause your vegan cake to come out too crumbly, including things like:
- Using the wrong kind of fat
- Skipping the dairy instead of finding a suitable substitute
- Turning your oven up too high
Often, cakes call for butter, which you obviously can’t use when making a vegan cake. However, you do need to think carefully about what you use instead. If you can, use a vegan cake recipe, so you’ll know which fat is required. If you don’t, there’s a risk that your cake ingredients will not bind well, and this can cause dryness.
Another common issue with dry vegan cakes is leaving out other forms of dairy. That might be tempting because if your cake calls for cream, soft cheese, or something similar, you can’t eat it – so just cutting them out is the easiest solution. However, in most cases, this will cause texture issues.
Finally, there is a chance that you have your oven turned up too high, as this will also make your cake dry out. More moisture will evaporate from the cake if the oven is dry, so you’ll find that the overall texture is drier and less pleasant.
Ensure you have the temperature set correctly, and consider knocking it down a little if you’re having problems.
How Can You Make Sure You Have The Right Kind Of Fat?
If you’re struggling with the fat, it’s generally best to find a recipe that is intended for vegans, rather than trying to adapt a non-vegan recipe. Vegan recipes will already have identified which kind of fat gives you the best results, so they work best.
However, if you want to adapt an existing recipe, you can do this, but you may have to be prepared to undertake a little trial and error. There are lots of fats you can use in vegan baking, including things like avocado oil and coconut yogurt. Sometimes, whipping aquafaba and stirring this into your mixture will help to make it moister.
It may take several attempts to get the recipe right, but if you try a few different fat options, and don’t just swap for vegan butter, you should manage to find the right one for the recipe. Adding a little extra oil often helps to combat dryness too, so this is worth doing when your recipe is persistently too dry.
Can You Save A Dry Cake?
In some cases, you can rescue a cake that is too dry by being generous with your frosting, or by pouring a liquid frosting over it. For example, if you have made a lemon cake, combining some lemon juice with powdered sugar and drizzling this across the top so that it soaks into the cake may be enough to make it less dry.
Vegan versions of buttercream frosting can also work well, especially if you get them nice and fluffy. Other alternatives include serving the cake with vegan ice cream or vegan custard or even drizzling a plant-based cream across the top.
You can also turn leftover dry cake into vegan brownies by blitzing up the cake in a food processor and then adding the ingredients to your favorite brownie recipe. Blend thoroughly until the mixture is smooth, and then bake the batter for rich and tasty brownies. These won’t be remotely dry, so it’s a great way to get rid of a disastrous cake attempt without wasting anything!
If you don’t want to use the cake immediately, it’s worth being aware that you can freeze cake scraps for use in a recipe later.
Conclusion
It’s unfortunately very easy for a vegan cake to end up too dry, but you can usually adapt non-vegan recipes by adding extra fat or dairy. You can also drizzle fruit juice across the top of some kinds of cakes, or add a thicker layer of frosting. You can use up dry cake scraps in a variety of creative ways!
