Chefs now ruffle up vegan cakes, bakery items

Brown rice and rice milk, both organic, coupled with fresh apple juice baked with vegetable colours and vegan toppings can make for a delicious birthday cake, say new-age chefs.
With consumer tastes becoming ever more sophisticated, the demand for gluten free and vegan foods is now seen to be percolating even to bakery, patissiere and chocolate products.
"People nowadays prefer to have vegetarian, gluten-free cakes, patissiere and other bakery products. So to cater to their needs we chefs have no other option but to create products that are egg less and those which suit diabetics too," says Niklesh Sharma executive pastry chef at Malaysia-based Academy of Pastry Arts.

The academy recently launched its first set up in India and is poised to offer courses on pastry manufacturing
According to industry estimates, the cake segment occupies nearly 20 per cent market share following the bread category, which is approximately 78 per cent of the baked products market.
Fondant cakes, which are basically designer cakes topped with sugar icing, is a new trend that has cropped up.

Innovative chefs have come up with sugar free alternatives to fondants using organic unsweetened cocoa, palm sugar, turmeric, and beetroot.
These serve as substitutes to the sugar icing, say chefs who have made use of organic cashew nut cream to stick toppings on which makes the cake attractive and taste just like a fondant cake.

"Desserts or cakes that are eggless and made out of low sugar items are indeed a good option for vegans. We use olive oil as substitutes for eggs," says Tan Wei Loon, Asia Pastry Champion who was present at the launch of the pastry academy.
With over 30 million people in India diagnosed with diabetes, the focus now seem to be shifting to alternative options to satisfy the sugar rush.