Vegan Victory

Chloe Coscarelli set out to change the image of vegan cooking and she appears to be succeeding, reports Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times (9/8/10). Chloe is managing this by daring to compete on the Food Network’s "Cupcake Wars" with a recipe devoid of any dairy products. She not only competed — she won — with cupcake flavors such as "chocolate strawberry shortcake, raspberry tiramisu and creme-filled chocolate orange." The prize was $10,000, but the real victory was something more.

"It was a huge risk," says Chloe, 22. "I think right now veganism is portrayed as that horrible stereotype of hippie food that doesn’t taste good and that’s bland." Colleen Holland of VegNews Magazine says Chloe certainly broke through: "I think the waves it created and the coverage it got showing that vegan food can stand up to traditional baking is enormous … It was a pretty big moment for getting vegan food out there and showing there’s no deprivation, and that it’s the same level of food that’s made with eggs, butter and milk."

What is Chloe’s secret? "I use a combination of baking soda and vinegar — it may sound gross, but it works chemically to bind the cupcakes," she explains. "If the flavor is there, it doesn’t matter what kinds of ingredients you’re using to hold it all together." For icing, she uses "refined coconut oil or nonhydrogenated margarines" and other ingredients, like fresh raspberries or pure dark chocolate, are vegan anyway. "I also like if you’re making cookie dough and there are no eggs in it, you can eat the batter," says Chloe. "That’s one of the benefits of vegan baking — you can always lick the spoon."