Vegan Dessert Recipes

Although vegan dessert recipes contain much healthier ingredients than their conventional counterparts, it's important to remember that even vegan desserts can be almost as unhealthy as regular desserts if they are consumed in great amounts.

Many vegans tell themselves that because it's vegan, it's healthy and may even help with weight loss. Not so!

Calories are calories unfortunately, and consuming sugary and starchy foods - vegan or not - in large amounts, will cause eventual health problems and weight gain.

Many natural vegan sugar substitutes are far less processed, containing minerals and fiber that slow the absorbtion of sugar, but the bottom line is that too much sugar, in whatever form it comes, will overtax the pancreas and can cause it to shut down eventually, causing diabetes.

If you have to rank desserts, then yes, vegan desserts are better than regular desserts, and raw food desserts are actually the best for you in terms of health and even weight loss.

For optimal health and weight loss, enjoy a piece of fruit or an herbal tea (sweetened with stevia (What's this?) to satisfy sweet tooth cravings, and indulge in a vegan dessert once or twice a week. You'll find that if you reduce the amount of sugar you take in, your craving for it will decrease over time.

So now that all the cautions have been given, let's talk dessert!

Vegan Dessert Recipes

Vegan dessert recipes fall into 3 different categories, each of which has its own unique conversion issues. Let's look at the vegan requirements for each type of dessert.

• Baked Desserts (cakes, cupcakes, brownies, etc.) - Many vegans, when making substitutions in dessert recipes, will substitute for butter, milk and eggs, but will overlook the problems in white flour and white sugar (which, by the way is not vegan!) Organic whole wheat pastry flour is very finely ground and makes a great alternative to white flour, which has no nutrients. Of the many available natural sugar substitutes, raw turbinado sugar is the best for use in baking. You can also throw it in a food processor to create a confectioners consistency for vegan frosting. For a complete list of common substitutions, check out the Vegan Baking page.


• Cream-Based Pies and Desserts - Most vegans like to use soft tofu as a cream substitute in recipes like vegan pumpkin pie, or vegan whipped cream. I prefer using coconut cream and coconut milk because of the health problems associated with non-fermented soy-based foods.


• Fruit-Based Pies and Desserts - These are definitely the healthiest types of desserts, if you don't overdo the sugar and keep the fruit relatively un-processed. When making these desserts, try to use fresh fruit whenever possible, frozen when you have to, and avoid anything canned. Fruit bases can be easily sweetened up a bit with just a small amount of agave nectar.

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