Bacos.

Hello,

I wanted to start off this post right by letting you know the most amazing thing:

BACOS ARE VEGAN.
Yep.
I said it.
I nearly cried when I learned this.
You better believe I’m buying Bacos like tomorrow.
I always just assumed that Bacos were bits of bacon, like the name would imply. But nope. Soy based.

Back to reality.
Had a couple of big wins recently.
I made some cupcakes.
Some vegan and gluten-free and sugar-free vanilla bean cupcakes.
Oh yeah, and they were yummy.
See, I’d been using a rice-based flour mix and my baked goods were coming out gummy. I never put it together that rice is gummy when it’s heated with moisture. Duh.
Recently, Gluten-Free Girl (Shauna) released a blog post that changed a lot of things. In it was a simple rule for an easy flour mix. It was liberating, to say the least. Go ahead and give a read (when you’re done here, of course) and go start baking gluten-free.

It was exciting to me the whole way through because the batter looked normal. :].
It’s certainly humbling forgetting everything I ever knew about baking and having to learn all new rules. The beauty with Gluten-Free Girl’s All Purpose Mix is that it weight for weight replaces flour is any recipe. That’s huge. So liberating. Grateful.

Anyway, the only photo that I got with my cupcakes is this one.

I know, tacky webcam photo. But still, it’s the only proof I’ve got.

So, now I’m working with what I’ve learned with the cupcakes and adjusting things until they’re perfect. I have to say that it’s pretty exciting to be making headway with these cupcakes. Making a cupcake vegan has always been easy, but adding gluten-free and sugar-free to that complicates things a little.

I thought I should add that I made these with Stevia in the Raw. The people that ate the cupcakes didn’t mention it but I tasted it. LICORICE. It’s fine if you like that sort of thing, but I do not. I threw it away. I was severely disappointed by the aftertaste. Don’t know if I’m going to do entirely sugar-free recipes. I’m a fan of agave and other syrups but it messes with ratios in all the recipes. It’s all a work in progress.

In other news:

$259 or just under 15% of the total goal has been raised. We’re trying to kickstart The Crue Cart. We have about a month to raise $1,800. It’s a lot for one person, but not a lot if a community gives together. Our desire is to have the vegan and gluten-free community come together to help a little cupcake stand get started. We’re taking no loans out, and we’re not seeking out major investors. Our success is entirely contingent upon the community we serve. It’s dangerous, but we like it that way. Know someone who can spare $3 (or more)? Send them to our fund raiser page. Thanks!

Thanks for reading, guys!
If you’ve got any questions about me or what I’m doing, PLEASE comment and I’ll answer them!

-Nannette