Vanilla Fruit Tart

Topped with blackberries, kiwi, strawberries and peaches. The base was a vanilla flavored yogurt/custard concoction. The crust was flaky and delicious, but the sides sort of collapsed while baking. I wish I had a larger tart pan so that I could fit even more fruit on top!

Vegan Oreo Chocolate Cake With Buttercream Frosting

Yes, Oreos are really vegan! I had tons of fun making this cake. There are four layers to it and I used a whole package of Oreo cookies in various parts of the cake. My carnivorous coworkers gobbled this up in minutes!

Lemon Coconut Bundt Cake

Recipe from Veganomicon. I substituted some of the grated lemon peel for orange peel, which added some additional flavor depth. Who needs eggs and butter when something tastes this good?

Yogurt Vanilla Pound Cake

Recipe from Veganomicon. Absolutely perfect and delicious! Slight hint of citrus and the sweetness was not overwhelming. I'm sure this was indistinguishable from a non-vegan pound cake and perhaps even better!

I was tempted to put a "healthy" spin to this recipe but resisted since this was meant to be dessert after all. Therefore no use of whole wheat flour or applesauce and no reduction of sugar. The recipe asked to use an electric mixer but I didn't want to over mix the batter so I just used a large wire wisk.

Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

Oh yeah, baby. These were really good. A common problem with baking vegan cookies is the texture. Without eggs, achieving the optimum cookie texture (crispy on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside) can be difficult. However, these turned out perfectly. I think I'm starting to convince my coworkers that vegan doesn't mean tasteless! The cookies were incredibly rich and chocolate-ly and just plain delicious.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Vegan cookie baking can be a tricky affair since the absence of real butter and eggs can ruin the crispy and chewy texture (they turn out more like muffins). Fortunately that didn't happen here and these were yummy! I used Earth Balance Margarine to replace the butter and instead of eggs I used a mixture of ground flax seeds and water. The flax seed mixture provided the required amount of moisture, protein and fat that eggs would otherwise offer.

Banana Walnut Bread

For baking quickbreads like this one, I usually replace the eggs with unsweetened applesauce. The loaf doesn't bake up as high, but you do end up with a very dense and moist bread. The original recipe comes from a modest 1940s cookbook that I picked up from a library book sale over 10 years ago. What a great find!