FAQ

Here are the answers to some of our most frequently asked questions!

TASTE AND TEXTURE

Will I tell the difference between vegan cake and cakes made with eggs, milk and butter?Obviously it’s down to an individual’s taste, but I have many people at the Old Bus Depot Markets each week tell me “You wouldn’t know this is vegan!” And I regularly receive great feedback from friends of the people who ordered the cake (usually non-vegans or allergy suffers) saying how much they enjoyed the cakes and wanting to know our secret. Which is extremely flattering, but I can’t give out trade secrets! ;)

What about gluten free cakes, do they taste different?
Gluten free cakes are widely expected to be hard, gritty and often tasteless. We’ve spent a lot of time perfecting our recipe to provide a light, smooth and tasty Vegan GF cakes. There are some differences in the texture of the cake (compared to our standard vegan cakes) because of the difference in texture of the gluten free flours to wheat based flour, we’ve tried our best to minimise the difference.

INGREDIENT QUESTIONS

Are your cakes suitable for people with egg or dairy allergies?
Everything we make is 100% egg and dairy free, guaranteed! So its definitely safe for people with egg and dairy allergies!

Do you use soy in your products?
All of our products contain soy. We’ve found it to be the most consistent for cake baking (we only use organic soy milk for baking and caramel slice). We also use tofutti cream cheese in our cheesecakes. We do offer some of our baked goods with a soy free option, at an extra cost.

What flours are in your gluten free baked goods?
We use a blend of: Maize Starch, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, Rice Bran and Guar Gum.

Are your gluten free cakes guaranteed 100% gluten free?
There is the possibility of atmospheric traces of gluten remaining as we are not a dedicated gluten free facility, we do take the extreme care when preparing our gluten free products. Everything is washed between use and we have specific mixing bowls and utensils for gluten free baking.

Do you use nuts?
Some of our items contain nuts and traces may remain in ‘seemingly nut free’ products. We wash and sterilise everything between use and exercise great caution to avoid cross contamination but advise trace elements may still be present.

What about Palm Oil?
Veganarchy has gone out of our way to avoid palm oil, even the palm oil that’s certified ‘sustainable’ (as the certification process has many flaws), by sourcing all of our products without palm oil. We’ve even had a vegetable margarine made specifically for us and our icing/buttercreams. And we’ve sourced cookies that avoid the use of palm oil for our ‘cookies n cream’ flavoured products and cheesecakes.

Do any of your products contain alcohol?
Some of our donut flavours contain alcohol; Creme Brulee donuts have bourbon in the coconut creme centre and the Rosewater Pistachio donuts also have alcohol.
Our cupcakes, cakes, cookies, slices and peanut butter cups do not contain alcohol, we use organic vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla essence to avoid this.

How can you make cakes without eggs or dairy?
We personally use a mix of organic soy milk and a vinegar to make a faux buttermilk which binds the cake; the vinegar also reacts with baking powder and baking soda to give the much needed cake rise.

ORDERING

How can I order?
Feel free to email [email protected] or head over to our ‘contact us‘ page and fill in our contact form. If you’d prefer to discuss your order over the phone, leave a phone number in the email and we will call you back asap!

How early should I place my order?
To avoid disappointment, 1 weeks notice for birthday/general occasion cakes/cupcakes and 2-3 months minimum for wedding cakes. Obviously the more notice the better as we are a boutique bakery and often are booked out well in advance. But don’t be discouraged in contacting us if it’s less than a week, I fit in last minute orders wherever possible. :)

SERVINGS

How big of a cake should I order?
When filling in our order form there is a section for the amount of servings required for a cake order, we can then recommend a cake size for you. Otherwise below is a good base.

Round Cakes
6″ 1 layer cake feed roughly 8 ppl $35
8″ 1 layer cake feed roughly 12 ppl $50
10″ 1 layer cakes feed roughly 16 ppl $65
11' 1 layer cakes feed roughly 20 serves $75

6″ 2 layer cake feed roughly 12-14 ppl $60
8″ 2 layer cake feed roughly 18-22 ppl $80
10″ 2 layer cakes feed roughly 28-32 ppl $100
11″ 2 layer cakes feed roughly 36-40 ppl $110

Sheet cakes
Cost is per serve, minimum 16 serves:

Single layer $4-5.
Double layer $7-8

NOTE: Gluten Free and certain flavours are extra. Costs vary from $8-$30 depending on size and layers

BBQ PRODUCTS

What are your BBQ products made from?
Our sausages are all handmade in Canberra from a mix of cannellini beans, gluten flour, nutritional yeast, soy, water and herbs and spices. This dough is made then rolled out, steamed and packaged. They are precooked and safe to eat from the package!
Our schnitzels are made from a mix of water, gluten flour, nutritional yeast, soy and herbs and spices. The dough is cooked and they are then crumbed in vegan bread crumbs.

How long do they keep?
All of our BBQ products have use by dates on them. They can be frozen and kept for 3 months, they must be used within a week of defrosting and 4 days after opening.

Do your BBQ products contain onion, garlic or soy?
All of our BBQ products contain onion, garlic and soy.

WHY VEGAN?

What is vegan?
Vegan is widely referred to as person who does not eat or use animal products. As a vegan running a vegan business I adhere to the same principles.

Why adopt a vegan lifestyle?
There are many reasons; the animals; your health; the environment; the people. See https://www.vegansociety.com/try-vegan/why-go-vegan for extensive detail of these reasons.

I’ve personally being vegan for seven years! And I am incredibly happy with the lifestyle I have chosen, the path it lead me (in the form of a business) and the life long friends I’ve made from a common goal and interest.

Animals are beautiful, intelligent and sweet friends that feel a wide range of emotions, simply put, they deserve our respect.

It took me a few months to commit to vegan because the thought was so daunting (changing the entire way I lived? Could I do it?) but I had an overwhelming sense of guilt knowing what was right (based on my morals and ethics) and living a life that contradicted those.

Befriending more and more vegans helped me realise it wasn’t hard or scary, but an important change in my life that would make me kinder, happier and healthier. With the encouragement, knowledge and wisdom of those around me I made the decision to change my lifestyle to a more compassionate one, and when I did it was easier than I thought. I’ve never looked back.