Is Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix Vegan

Anybody who knows me knows I'k a die-hard Dolly Parton fan. Years agone, when I was working equally the head pastry chef at a restaurant in New York City, I bonded with my coworkers over Parton. One day, one of the prep cooks mentioned that he had found a copy of Parton's long out-of-print cookbook, Dolly's Dixie Fixin'southward at a flea market place. E'er since I had learned about the existence of a Dolly Parton cookbook, I had searched loftier and low for a secondhand re-create of my very own. Unfortunately, they go for near $200 used. Thankfully, boxed cake mix visitor Duncan Hines has come up up with something even better—and far more accessible—for professional and home bakers to savour.

Boxed cake mixes are my guilty pleasure. This confession may audio like blasphemy coming from a pastry chef, but these convenient food items accept their place. I ever go on a stash of boxed cake mixes at home for those moments when I am really craving cake but don't want to broil ane from scratch. Many cake mixes tin easily be prepared vegan with the right adjustments (applesauce instead of eggs, for example). So, y'all can imagine my excitement when Parton announced her collaboration with Duncan Hines and released two specialty cake mixes and frostings, which I eagerly sought out as soon as they striking the shelves of my local Walmart.

Parton'south iconic recipes are printed on the back of both flavor mixes—Southern Way Coconut and Southern Way Banana—then anybody tin can broil them just the way the legend intended us to. Granted, her ingredients aren't vegan, but that's where I put my professional skills equally a pastry chef to employ. Here's the not-so-hidden surreptitious: both of these cakes can be made vegan, and you don't need a culinary groundwork to pull information technology off.

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Dolly's Favorite Coconut Cake: vegan version

Despite the fact that the American S is nowhere near "tropical," a classic kokosnoot block is firmly ingrained in Southern baking culture. The dazzler most making this detail flavour vegan is that the constitute-based substitutions actually enhance the block's flavor and contribute bright moistness. For case, the coconut cake mix recipe called for i cup of milk. This can easily exist swapped for full-fat coconut milk, which means more coconut flavor and a richer, more tender crumb. The recipe as well specifically calls for Country Crock butter, so to stay relatively true to Parton's recipe, use a stick of State Crock Plant Butter. If you lot tin't find this specific brand, any vegan butter or even coconut oil should piece of work—the latter would bring out even more of that coconutty flavor. To replace the eggs, I wanted to apply something with a neutral season, so I went with Bob'southward Red Mill powdered egg replacer.

Per Parton's recipe, I baked the coconut cake layers in two eight-inch round cake pans at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until they passed the toothpick exam (if you stick a toothpick into the middle of a block and it comes out clean, it's done). Note: in the future, I will utilise six-inch cake pans for a taller cake. Good to know if you lot prefer thicker cake slices.

Onto the creamy, dreamy frosting. The box recipe suggests pairing the coconut cake layers with Dolly Parton'south Creamy Buttercream Frosting, which as well happens to be accidentally vegan. After frosting all sides of the cake, you cover the acme and sides with sweetened coconut flakes. The shredded coconut adds a perfect finishing touch that ties the vanilla frosting together with the kokosnoot flavour of the block. If you lot're feeling fancy, I'd recommend toasting some desiccated kokosnoot flakes in a pan on the stove for a few minutes to add to the coconut flavor's depth. Plus, it makes your kitchen odour incredible.

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Dolly's Southern Mode Banana Cake: vegan version

Veganizing Dolly's Southern Style Banana Cake is a little scrap more than of a process, but it's worth it. The resulting cake is a delicious combination of banana breadstuff and banana cream pie in cake form. It'll surely earn its place on your special occasion baking rotation. Like the coconut block, the batter calls for 1 cup of milk, ½ loving cup of cup melted butter, and iv eggs. Additionally, it needs one package of banana or vanilla-flavored instant pudding mix. Thankfully, both the Jell-O assistant creme and vanilla instant pudding mixes are vegan. Instead of a powdered vegan egg replacer, mashed banana stood in for the eggs in this recipe. The general rule of thumb for using bananas as egg replacers is one mashed banana for every egg, but in this instance, I found that three bananas worked perfectly. Once more, I swapped non-dairy milk for the cow's milk and Country Crock Establish Butter for the melted dairy butter. The 2 eight-inch block rounds baked for about the same amount of time as the coconut cake rounds (25-thirty minutes).

While the cakes are baking, set up the instant pudding. Typically, Jell-O instant puddings are made by calculation milk and setting aside to thicken for a few minutes. When I tried this with non-dairy milk, it never really thickened on its ain, so I warmed the non-dairy milk and powdered pudding mixture in a saucepan over medium heat for v to 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until it thickened into a pudding consistency. Just as you should let your block layers completely (yes, I mean completely) cool before frosting, yous demand to let the pudding cool earlier assembling your block. Rushing this will certainly lead to a melted, runny mess that would not do Parton justice.

To be articulate: the pudding doesn't substitute for the frosting in this block—it has both. The frosting recipe is absolutely heavenly, even with some major vegan tweaking. Parton's recipe uses i cup common cold heavy cream and ⅓ cup Dolly Parton's Flossy Buttercream Frosting. The foam gets mixed into a whipped cream until strong peaks class, so the buttercream is folded in. For my heavy cream substitute, I used State Crock's Found Cream Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative. It was my offset time using this cream and I was thrilled with how information technology came out, but don't be afraid to really whip information technology, or else your frosting volition come out loose. Alternatively, yous can effort Silk Heavy Whipping Cream, Nature'due south Charm Coconut Whipping Cream, or make your own coconut whip. Whatever you utilize, it's worth taking the actress stride. The whipped cream cuts the rich sweetness of the frosting making it light and refreshing instead of cloyingly sweet.

Onto the block assembly, just showtime, you need one more than ingredient. Like this cake's inspiration, the banana cream pie, Parton's recipe calls for Nilla wafers, which are not vegan. I went with brute crackers from Target, only Biscoff cookies or vegan graham crackers would also piece of work nicely. To gather this corrupt dessert, you lot layer instant pudding, cookie crumbs, and sliced banana between the ii cakes, frost the entire cake, and decorate the meridian with more fresh assistant slices and cookie pieces.

If y'all're less concerned about an aesthetically pleasing presentation, or if y'all desire to easily store leftovers, try assembling the cake into pint-sized or tall deli containers with lids. To practice and so, place a cut-out layer of cake on the bottom, top with pudding, bananas, and crumbled cookies, sandwich these sweets with another piece of block, then frost the top and add more banana slices and cookies. Now, you have a super portable and spoonable dessert to take to gatherings or requite away at the office.

So there y'all take it. You lot tin bake a cake just similar Dolly Parton, but vegan! I highly recommend the coconut block if yous want a simple and straightforward treat, but the banana cake is admittedly worth the actress steps.

For more vegan blistering tips, read:
8 Vegan Egg Replacers (That Actually Piece of work)
5 Vegan Assistant Breadstuff Mixes Worth the Hype
Vegan Hummingbird Block

Irene Dambriunas is a pastry chef and blistering teacher based in New York Urban center. You can cheque out more of her work on Instagram at @blackmetalpastrychef.

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