Bytes of Bengaluru: Just desserts – By shivani kagti, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Jan 19, 2020, 06.00 AM IST

Whether you are inspired by The Game Changers documentary to switch to a plant-based diet or suffering from lactose-intolerance, this list of home bakers and eateries offering vegan desserts is a keepsake. Free of dairy products such as butter, milk, cream and ghee as well as honey and eggs, now you can indulge minus the guilt. After much research and experimentation, these chefs and bakers have come up with vegan substitutes to create cakes, ice cream, mithais and more that taste just as good.

Carrots

Susmitha Subbaraju, owner of Carrots, one of Bengaluru’s first vegan restaurants, has seen a 200 per cent growth in footfall since they opened seven years ago. In this time, their choice of vegan desserts have expanded but their OCD – Obsessive Chocolative Disorder (vegan whole wheat brownie served with coconut and soy ice cream and dairy-free dark chocolate sauce) remains a hot favourite with five-six orders a day. This is closely followed by their dairy-free Tiramisu, Coconut Milk Pannacotta and Gulab Jamun (made with whole wheat bread, soy milk and nut powders).

Due to popular demand, Subbaraju has added Indian sweets to their specialty products list (available on order) with bestsellers such as barfi, besan laddoo and boondi laddoo. They also sell a rich Mysore Pak (minus ghee) that they source from Vijay Sweets in Coimbatore.

Where: Carrots, SLV Towers, 607, First Floor, 80 Feet Road, 6th Block, Koramangala
When: 12pm-3.30pm & 7pm-10.30pm (Mon); 11am-10.30pm (Wed-Fri); 11.30am-11pm (Sat & Sun); closed on
Tuesdays
How much: `250 for OCD; `50 for gulab jamun

Enerjuvate Café & Studio

Offering a mix of gluten-free, refined sugar-free and vegan desserts, one of their bestsellers include the vegan and gluten-free Enerjuvating Brownie made with almond flour, ragi, dark cocoa and jaggery. Replacing eggs with flax seed meal or chia meal and butter with oil, this tasty brownie is packed with flavour and fibre. Selling an average of 80 pieces across both their outlets, they also have a Sizzling Brownie version served with a coconut milk-jaggery-vanilla ice cream. Three months ago, the café also introduced gluten-free and vegan crepes, pancakes and waffles made with a special in-house blend comprising of rolled oats, rice flour, chia seeds and few other ingredients. Their Coconut Cream Pannacotta topped with fresh strawberry and chia seed compote and sweetened with jaggery is a must try.

Where: Banashankari & Koramangala
When: 11.30am-9.30pm (Banashankari); 11.30am-10.30pm (Koramangala)
How much: `160 for Enerjuvating Brownie; `250 for Double chocolate pancakes

Dittoo

This vegan ice cream venture by two architects-turned-entrepreneurs was launched in 2017 when one of the founders, Deeksha, realised that she was lactose-intolerant. “There were only sorbets and nice cream (ice creams made from frozen banana base) available for vegans. I started experimenting at home and it took me almost a
year to figure out the right consistency,” she adds. Using a base of freshly-extracted coconut milk and jaggery or raw sugar, they use fresh fruits and natural ingredients to flavour their preservative-free ice creams. Apart from supplying their hand-churned ice creams to several restaurants, they have also started taking orders online. They’re known for their unusual flavours such as Beetroot-Orange, Snowdew (orange-hibiscus-rose), Avocado, Banana, Rosemary-Lime and more.

VISIT: @dittooicecreams on Facebook
CALL: 7338454660
How much: `500 for 500gm

Crave by Leena

As the first runner-up in PETA’s 2014 Great Vegan Desserts Challenge, Leena Mathai is a professionally-trained baker and cake artist but she had to start from scratch when she decided to shift focus to vegan desserts in 2014. Offering a range of cakes, cupcakes, tarts, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and more, Mathai has noticed a 70 per cent jump in orders in the last year. Her signature products include Chocolate Truffle Cake, Tiramisu Cake and a Baked Blueberry Cheesecake for which she uses a cultured cashew cream cheese made in-house. She also makes and sells  Vegan butter (with similar taste and consistency as dairy butter). While she requires two-three hours’ notice for cakes and cupcakes, the cheesecake needs two days’ notice.

LOOK UP: cravebyleena.com to place orders or call 9900178678 When: 9am-8pm
How much: `1,500 onwards for1kg cake

JustBe Resto Café

Owner Nidhi Nahata eschews all processed and refined foods and instead relies on vegan sources such as nuts for vegan milk, butter and cheese. Among their bestsellers are the Carrot Beetroot Halwa and Waffle Fruit & Nut with Nice Cream. For the halwa, they use cashew cream and dates to add richness and flavour instead of ghee and sugar. The gluten-free waffle is sweetened with dates and jaggery and served with freshly made chocolate soy ice-cream.

Where: Justbe Cafe, 383/31, 13th Cross Road ,Sadashivnagar
When: 11am-10pm (Mon-thurs); 11am-11pm (Fri-Sun)
How much: `220 for Carrot Beetroot Halwa, `250 for Waffle Fruit & Nut

Homemade Beku

Yoga trainer and baker Ekta Minocha launched this home-based bakery towards the end of 2015 after adopting a vegan diet. Specialising in cakes, cupcakes, loaves, cinnamon rolls, pastries and Christmas cakes, her bestselling products include the Banana-Chocolate & Walnut Loaf, Chocolate Truffle Cake, Butterscotch Cake made with homemade butterscotch sauce and crumble as well as the Coffee-Walnut Cake. Orders need to be placed two days in advance.

How much: 300 onwards
VISIT: @homemadebeku on Instagram

Original Post => https://www.carrots-india.com/updates/