Ingredients & Values

Over my years of baking and creating plant-based cakes, I’ve so often been asked how I manage to make vegan bakes taste good. I always answer with the same one-word answer… ingredients. Of course, it helps to have an excellent recipe, partnered with baking skills and techniques, but if you have bad ingredients, you have a bad cake.

I place a significant focus on the ingredients and produce I use, researching and sourcing the highest quality, most delicious and responsibly sourced products I can get my hands on. If I can work with produce from an independently owned business I will, and when the fruits are in season I’ll be roasting them, or turning them into a compote or jam to layer between sponges.

Flour 

I source my flour from Shipton Mill, an English mill in the Cotswolds. The cake and pastry flour is organic and made using English wheat… it’s super soft and fine.

Sugar

I will always use fairtrade or ethically sourced sugar. A majority of the golden and browns sugars I use are from Billington’s. I use blends of golden caster, soft dark and light sugars in all of my sponges, adding depth to darker cakes and a soft sweetness to lighter sponges.

‘Butter’ & Oils

I always avoid products that contain palm-oil. Depending on the recipe, I’ll either use a vegan butter alternative or olive and sunflower oils from sustainable sources.

Chocolate & Cocoa 

Chocolate is my favourite ingredient. I will make sure to source fair trade chocolate and cocoa. I am currently on the hunt for a new chocolate supplier - so if you’re in the know, hit me up!

Vanilla  

I use responsibly sourced madagascan vanilla from Little Pod in all of my recipes… well the ones that contain vanilla.

Everything Else

As I bake on a very small-scale, I will use a mixture of suppliers for the rest of my ingredients. I will use seasonal fruits within menus and I am always on the look out for products from independently owned companies. I won’t deny that a rush to the local supermarket when I have ran out of something is very much the norm too.