With it being harder to find beef or chicken on store shelves (except pork products for whatever reason) you might want to consider trying out a vegan recipe. “Wait, That’s Vegan?!” has many new recipes that bring plenty of flavor. Author Lisa Dawn Angerame, founder of Lisa’s Project: Vegan blog brings a collection of recipes that will please many.

There are four chapters of recipes to get home cooks started: Breakfast and Brunch, Salads and Sandwiches, Main Dishes and Desserts.

Breakfast and Brunch dishes include French Bread French Toast, Mini Banana Bread Loaves and Chickpea Shakshouka with Avocados and Fresh Herbs.

Salads and Sandwiches have lunch ideas like Salt-Cured Beet Carpaccio, Eggless Egg Salad and The Tableside Caesar Salad.

Main Dishes offer Fettucine Alfredo, Better-Than-Takeout Pad Thai and Deep Dish Spinach Phyllo Pie.

Desserts end things sweetly with Coconut White Chocolate Creme Brulee, Classic New York Cheesecake with Berry Compte and Pecan Pie Squares.

I decided to try Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Mini Bundt Cakes (recipe follows.) Full disclosure: I did not know sugar could have any animal byproduct in it, so I used my sugar and powdered sugar I had on hand. I also used the semi-sweet chocolate chips I had on hand, which yes, would have milk in them. So let’s call what I ended up doing semi-vegan, or just eggless, butterless cake.

And these cakes were really good! I did not miss the eggs or butter! They were delicious and everyone liked them. I didn’t tell anyone in my family these were any different until after they ate them. My daughters said it was like when we accidentally visited a vegan bakery, we didn’t taste anything different.

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Reprinted with permission from Wait, That’s Vegan?! by Lisa Dawn Angerame, Page Street Publishing Co. 2019.

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Mini Bundt Cakes

Makes 6, using 6 (4×1.75″) Bundt pans

Chocolate Bundts

11/2 cups (188 g) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (22 g) cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (200 g) vegan cane sugar

1 cup (240 ml) cold water

6 tbsp (90 ml) sunflower oil, plus extra for brushing

1 tbsp (15 ml) apple cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 g) vegan mini semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup (60 g) vegan powdered sugar

1 tbsp (5 g) cocoa powder

1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp (18 ml) water

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Topping

Powdered sugar

To make the chocolate Bundts, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C, or gas mark 4). Lightly brush the Bundt wells with oil.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a big mixing bowl. Mix together very well, making sure there are no clumps. Add the sugar, water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Mix, using a hand mixer on low, until the batter is smooth. Add the chocolate chips and use a wooden spoon to incorporate.

Add 1/2 cup (120 ml) of batter to each Bundt well. If there is any excess batter, distribute it evenly.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Be sure you hit the cake and not a chip. Immediately run an offset spatula around the edges of the Bundts.

When the Bundts have significantly cooled, run the offset spatula around the edges again, and gently use it to work the Bundts out of the pan. Place them on a cooling rack, top side down, pretty Bundt side up. Cool completely.

To make the glaze, add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, water, vanilla and salt to a small mixing bowl. Use a silicone spoonula to mix together until smooth.

To decorate, dip the tops of three of the Bundts into the glaze, pressing them and gently angling them around to ensure the whole top is covered. Place them back on the cooling rack to drip dry.

Add a little powdered sugar into a fine-mesh strainer. Hold it over each of the remaining three Bundts and hit the edge of the strainer with your palm for a light dusting of sugar.

VARIATIONS

This batter can also be used to make other shapes and sizes. Here are the approximate yields and baking times:

1 (9-inch [23-cm]) layer cake, 45 minutes 1 dozen cupcakes, 25 minutes. 30 mini cupcakes, 15 minutes. Recipe doubled for 1 big cake, 60 minutes