Since my vegan experiment last month turned semi-permanent, there haven’t been too many things I’ve missed. But then I remembered that it’s Easter candy season, and acknowledged that remaining vegan is going to be tricky.
See, I love Cadbury creme eggs. Always have. Something about the gooey inside against the harder chocolate shell is just heaven. But they aren’t vegan, so I thought they’d have to go.
But thanks to Tumblr (of course) I came across a recipe on VegWeb for a veganized version and decided to give it a try. The verdict? Well, you’ll see.
The only ingredient-related snafu I hit was the syrup. I couldn’t find brown rice syrup at any of the stores in my neighborhood, and I didn’t really want to use corn syrup. I got cane sugar syrup instead, which may or may not have contributed to the texture later.
Then it was time to start. The shortening and margarine (I used Earth Balance soy-free) go in with the syrup and are beaten together. In retrospect, it might have been easier to mix if I’d added the syrup after the fats so I didn’t have to do as much scraping to get syrup off the bottom of the bowl.
It started having a somewhat creme-egg-esque texture right away, which concerned me a little. I hadn’t added any powdered sugar yet, so it seemed inevitable that the consistency would change. I was right.
While I was mixing in the sugar (which I did one cup at a time. Though the recipe didn’t specify, I was wearing navy blue and wanted to avoid blowback), my beater broke. Seriously. There was this weird rattling sound inside and it smelled like burning. So I had to proceed by hand.
I have to wonder if some of my texture issues are because of this. I had about 2/3 of the sugar mixed in before I had to abandon the device in order to avoid having it spontaneously combust in my hand, so maybe it would have been smoother and more even otherwise.
This step seemed to go pretty well. the dough was hard enough to roll into a ball and didn’t get gooey in my hands. They had to freeze for two hours to set, so it was break time. Dance party?
After the required two hours of freezer time, I melted the chips. The recipe said to microwave them, but I decided to do it in a makeshift double boiler. I don’t know if that would have made a difference in the consistency of the chocolate.
The chips seemed to melt into a sort of fudgey texture, so I added some Earth Balance to smooth it out. It only helped a little. I also was either putting it on too thick or made too many balls, because it seemed to not be quite enough chocolate. I swear I didn’t eat much if it from the pan, either.
No, they aren’t pretty. The chocolate didn’t want to spread around them, and I came very close to just running out toward the end. They are decidedly not egg-shaped, or even smooth, but they are better than having no creme eggs at all.
Yes, I wrapped them in foil like the recipe said. I think the idea is that you can hide them so the kiddies can go on an egg hunt Easter morning. But really, it also keeps them from melting together and makes them portable.
The creme isn’t nearly as stretchy and gooey as Cadbury eggs, which could have to do with my beater malfunction (see the lump of sugar in there?), my syrup substitution, or any other unknown factor. That’s not going to stop me from chowing down, though.
See? Nothing, not even weird consistency or uneven chocolate, will stand between me and my creme eggs.
Verdict: moderate success. The aforementioned weird texture is tolerable when you consider that the taste is downright delicious.
13 replies on “We Try It! Vegan Cadbury Creme Eggs”
While they look yummy, I am so not into the layers of work and mess it would take. But now I need a cream egg.
It wasn’t too bad as far as work and mess. There’s a long wait time, though, because the insides have to be frozen before you can dip them.
I’m not even vegan and these sound fabulous!
Chocolate spreading issues beside, they were!
I wonder if the recipe you’re following is trying to make the newer version of Creme Eggs? A few years ago, the recipe changed and became less gooey. Your version above looks like the newer version, to me.
Totally weird about the chocolate. I always use a double boiler, not the microwave, and have never had that happen. In the microwave (before I had my double boiler), I tended to burn the chocolate.
They look delicious, and the process looks fun!
Well, the recipe site showed pictures, and they were definitely more like the older, runnier ones.
It looks like your chocolate seized up, which can happen if even 1 tiny drop of water gets in the chocolate. It makes it thick and sort of goopy, not smooth and liquefied. I always have the most success when I microwave chocolate to melt it, so that steam/splashes from the double boiler method can’t get into it. You just microwave it for 1 minute, then stir until it’s melted, microwaving in additional 15 second increments as needed.
Lecture aside…I love the idea of making this quintessential Easter candy vegan!
That’s a possibility. My “double boiler” is just a bowl over a regular pot, so it wouldn’t surprise me if some steam got in there.
They still taste awesome, and that’s the most important part.
The chocolate consistency would be due to the choc chips you are using. Most choc chips (at least in Australia) have some sort of additive that stops them from loosing their shape while being baked, which means when you melt them in a double boiler they get funky. Easiest thing is to get a block of chocolate and melt that down.
I’m not sure what would be causing the lack of gooeyness. Definitly partly the mixer malfunction. My gut is telling me that something that wasn’t gooey at room temperature when you formed it, isn’t going to be gooey after being frozen and brought back to room temperature. I think the right technique would be to make a gooey centre syrup type thing, freeze it in moulds, then coat the whole thing in chocolate, bring it back to room temperature and hope the chocolate doesn’t melt.
Just some additional thoughts. You did use powdered sugar (like the recipe said), but some powdered sugars have additional corn flour in it, some are just pure sugar. I’m not sure on the US terminology here though. I would also say golden syrup is a thicker consistency than corn syrup, but for me that substituion normally works.
They were Ghirardelli chips, dark (I forget what percent, but they were the only ones that didn’t have milk fat in them). I was kind of limited by what my bodega had that was vegan.
Dangit…now I want to go out and buy some Cadbury Creme Eggs… :S I’m not sure that microwaving the chocolate would have made a difference over the double boiler, but I could be wrong. I think you made the right choice in adding a little margarine though.
Yeah, it was even worse without it.