Hi guys, today I’m baking from a kit?! Well, kind of. Today’s recipe was kindly provided by BakedIn. BakedIn is a subscription service that provides you with a recipe, all of the dry ingredients you’ll require to make it, as well as tools like skewers or baking paper.
Each box comes with a card saying what’s in the box and the extra ingredients you’ll require to make it, eggs, milk, butter etc. BakedIn offered me a choice of their previous boxes and set me the challenge of making the recipe using vegan swaps. The box I chose was for strawberry and almond squares, and I needed to swap out butter and eggs.
Vegan Swaps
Butter and eggs are fairly easy ingredients to swap, there are lots of things you can use to substitute both of these things. However, that can also cause problems. Sometimes a recipe just doesn’t work with certain swaps, and it can be a little hit and miss. I tried this myself using ingredients from my cupboard before I used the box and my first attempt was not successful. I used vegan butter as a simple swap and a mixture of bicarbonate of soda and apple cider vinegar for my eggs. It was greasy, the egg substitute was a little too good, they rose then popped, and just…didn’t work.
I knew my swaps were good, I had faith that the recipe was good. In this case, my first choice wasn’t the right one. The recipe called for 175g butter, melted, and 2 large eggs and I went back to the drawing board. As the butter was supposed to be melted, I switched it for sunflower oil the second time and used flax eggs. Flax eggs can leave a nutty taste behind, so they’re not often used in cakes, but as this was a nutty recipe, I didn’t think that would matter. And this time, it worked perfectly!
Why am I telling you I failed?
That’s simple, because it’s very easy to give up on a substitute and think that you can’t make a recipe work. 99% of the time, that’s not true. There’s almost always a way and there’s plenty of other options.
I cheated
One more thing, never give someone who creates recipes a recipe to follow. As I was checking on them baking, I realised about 10 minutes before they were done that if I removed them from the oven at that point, I’d have a chewy slice rather than a tray bake. The chewy slice sounded good to me and I took them out early. No regrets. One huge perk of vegan baking is that you don’t have to worry about raw eggs when you decide to remove something before it’s completely done.
Strawberry & Almond Squares Recipe
Their recipes are really simple, you get a step by step grid, with photos to make it as easy as possible. All of the ingredient bags are numbered too so it’s as easy as mixing bag 2 and 3 to a bowl.
Ingredients
In the kit:
- 35g granulated sugar
- 275g light brown sugar
- 200g plain flour, 5g baking powder
- 50g whole almonds
- 10g roasted flaked almonds
You will need:
- 200g strawberries
- 175g unsalted butter MY SWAP 130ml sunflower oil
- 2 large eggs MY SWAP 2tbsp ground flax with 6tbsp water
- 1 ½tbsp water
Instructions
- Start by making your strawberry compote. Remove the stalks from 160g of the strawberries and chop into roughly 2cm slices, then place into the saucepan with the granulated sugar and 1 ½ tbsp water.
- Bring to the boil, then simmer on a medium heat, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes. Stir occasionally, until the strawberries have broken down into a thick jam-like consistency.
- Remove stalks and chop the remaining strawberries into 1cm slices and stir into the compote, then simmer for a further 2 minutes. Transfer your compote into a bowl and set aside to cool whilst you make your cake mix.
- The instructions then tell you to grease a 20cm square tin and line, I’d skip the greasing when using the oil and just line the tin. Preheat oven to 180C. Mix the oil with the light brown sugar until smooth and combined.
- Beat in the combined flax egg mixture to the oil & sugar bowl. Roughly chop the whole almonds then mix them in.
- Spread the mixture into your prepared tin. Spoon the compote onto the mixture and use a skewer (provided) to create a swirl pattern.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, check at 40 minutes by inserting the second skewer. The top should look shiny and cracked slightly and be firm enough that it doesn’t wobble. Alternatively, remove after 35-40 minutes for my slices…
- Cool completely in the tin before slicing to prevent cracking. Decorate by sprinkling the flaked almonds on top.
Serve and enjoy!
You can subscribe to BakedIn or buy previous boxes here. Alternatively, they also sell mug cakes for single serving portions.
I think these boxes are perfect for people who love to bake but don’t have a lot of kitchen space for supplies or those who like to bake but don’t like searching for new recipes. What do you guys think?
Until next time,
Sophie
Yum – these look super tasty! I should try out this recipe once I have access to an oven again. Thanks for sharing!
-Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? The Chic Cupcake
I’ve tried a couple of Baked In kits before and thought they turned out well and were easy to follow. I like that you took on the challenge to create a vegan version, from the photo it looks like it was a success! Chewy strawberry and almond squares sound delicious! Hopefully there are vegan baking kits in the future, I’d defo give them a try! Thanks for sharing Sophie, great post! <3 xx
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com
As always, your photos are mouth-wateringly delicious. I absolutely love this post because I would never think to take a baking kit and swap out the ingredient that someone might be allergic to. These look so moreish, and that’s a great point about not worrying about raw eggs so you get a chewier bake (also my preferred texture). I guess these would also be good for pregnant ladies for the same reason, no raw eggs. Great post, Sophie, thank you for sharing 🙂 x
Lisa | http://www.lisasnotebook.com
I am always a fan of your recipes. This one looks so good, can you send over a box so I can try myself? *puppy eyes*
These sound and look very yummy. I am not a nut person so might trade it for chocolate chips or something. I need to bake more this year and practice haha! As I am not a very experienced baker at all. Thank you for sharing! This seems quite easy to follow! Xx
This looks like a really fun way to get into baking! I’m a big fan of baking but I’m sometimes not that confident with certain products so I’d definitely try a kit like this out. I love that you took yours out early, chewy slices sound utterly divine. And it’s so cool that you managed to make this work even with the vegan swaps, I’m impressed! As always your photos are stunning, how do you get your close-ups in such good quality?!
Beth x Adventure & Anxiety
It’s so cool that you managed to swap out some ingredients to make them vegan! They look and sound so delicious and even though it didn’t quite work the first time, I bet it was so great when they came out just right! xx
http://www.imjustagirl16.co.uk
oh i love baking kits! i like that you swapped things out and made it fit your needs. it’s nice to see that you didn’t give up on the first try because baking really is a science that takes practice. and like with everything practice makes perfect! i didn’t take into account the fact that you can take things out before they are “done” in vegan baking due to the eggs not being in them, what a tasty plus! great post! ❤️
mich / simplymich.com
Ooh I never thought about the whole substituting eggs thing and not worrying about it being raw! That’s such a good point. I looove bakes with almonds in and mixing fruity with it just sounds delicious. I’m usually a sucker for raspberry and white chocolate blondie – THEY are amazing! I’m definitely in favour of low effort bakes and to be honest am usually one to just buy a packet as I much prefer eating things to making them so these sound like a great idea for me. I am totally one to love chewy slices too, gimme!
Alice Xx
This just looks so good! And the idea of a subscription to get a kit of ingredients and the recipe delivered to you in a box is brilliant. I think it isn’t so common in where I live, but if BakedIn is available here I’m pretty sure I’ll try it out. It’s creative of you to substitute some ingredients and experience a little with the baking steps!
Tyas // https://wepsgallery.wordpress.com
I discovered recently that a good butter swap is to go half-and-half by weight with a nut butter and a vegetable oil. So 50g butter in a recipe can be replaced by 25g each of, say, peanut butter and olive oil. Like you note, there’s no such thing as an ever-reliable swap, but it’s fun trying out different versions.
I need to try flax eggs next as this is new to me. Not sure what it would be called in Spain though so might have to wait until we’re back in the UK
I’m not vegan so I’ve never actually thought about all the things you can substitute for eggs! These strawberry and almond squares look so amazing and yummy. That’s really great that you was able to make these without using butter or eggs! Xx
Oooh these sound so good! I love strawberry and almond together too!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
These look sooo delicious. Great photos, too! Thank you very much for sharing. Definitely saving for later. 🙂
These look super delish, like they’re making me hungry even though I’ve just eaten!! I love the idea of them being chewy slices rather than a tray bake too, good decision!
Oh wow they look amazing! I used to love baking before I switched to plant based and I barely bake now as I’m so disheartened when it doesn’t work but I’d never considered vegan swaps in the way you explained them. I usually just go for simple things like banana or apple sauce but after reading your post it totally makes sense why they wouldn’t always work! Totally going to try these sometime and BakedIn sounds so helpful
Oh my goodness, these look so tasty! I wish we had more baking kit options here. I guess we Finns love to make everything completely out of scratch haha.
✖️Jasmin
// overdosedoncaffeine.com
Oh wow these look delish! Love the idea of baking kits as they’re so easy xx
Gemma Etc. ❤️
These looks very tasty, I would probably do the same as you and take them out early so they’re more chewy – definitely taste better that way hehe. I love how simple this recipe is too, I can be pretty lazy sometimes when it comes to cooking and baking so something like this on those lazy days would be brill.
Chloe xx
http://www.chloechats.com
So delicious ❤ happy weekend !
It is neat that there is a subscription service for baking! I like that you can follow the recipe without taking a trip to the supermarket. I like that you tried to find different ways to swap the ingredients out to make it vegan-friendly. When you’re doing swaps, it makes sense that the baking time can be different. I love the level of thought you put into this! Glad everything worked out at the end!
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
I don’t think there would be any left with me around, looks so yummy!! Love strawberry anything :)) Happy Monday lovely x
These look delicious! I would have probably taken them out of the oven early too, I love chewy baked goods. I’ve tried a few baking kits in the past but not by ‘Baked In’. Home Bargains or Poundland are my go-to for baking kits.