In recent years we have seen some significant changes to the pastry industry. In 2019, the global vegan dessert market was valued at $2.77 billion. It is expected to grow to $5.97 by 2027. With a growing market of plant based consumers, pastry chefs in Europe and beyond have been working hard to find alternatives to the core pastry ingredients; butter, eggs and milk.
Pastry chefs are known for their innovation and enjoy the challenge of using unique techniques, flavours and textures in their creations. The new challenge is to reinvent the pastry classics as well as totally new creations using plant based products.
Some chefs are going a step further and taking on the challenge of making plant based pastries and desserts that not only satisfy their vegan customers but also the non-vegans too. In Paris, Rodolphe Landemaine, the owner of the vegan patisserie chain, Land and Monkeys, has joined this mission. He believes that “People decide it’s good, and only after that can you approach the issues of ethics and environment as the cherry on the cake,” “If it doesn’t taste good, people won’t be open to those ideas”. For Landemaine, using plant based ingredients should not mean compromising on the flavour of his products.
At Classic Fine Foods, we have worked with a few passionate and innovative plant based brands to offer pastry solutions for chefs and bakers that will cater to their vegan customers without compromising on flavour, texture or appearance;
Be Better: Be Better offers a plant based solution to butter that really works. The company has collaborated with top chefs who have meticulously tested Be Better plant based butter in a variety of pastry recipes, with great success. Their plant based butter is a neutral tasting base ingredient that will not obstruct the key flavours in dishes. It is also identical to animal-based butter in behaviour and melting point, so there is no compromise at all.
Chef Jordi Bordas, a Pastry World Cup Champion and creator of the B Concept pastry school uses Be Better butter in his creations. He has said “What I like about working with Be Better is its neutral flavour as it respects the flavour of the main ingredients such as chocolate, hazelnut or tangerine.” As a well- respected pastry chef, Bordas explains that using plant base ingredients is not a compromise but an alternative solution.
Yumgo: Yumgo is a pioneer in the world of plant based eggs, offering professional chefs a solution to plant-based cooking without having to alter their recipes. Their plant based egg is made from only a few natural, vegan ingredients that create the same properties of egg. Yumgo offers a full range of products with liquid egg white, yolk and whole, for a solution to every type of recipe.
Chef Denis Drame, a European Pastry Cup Champion and Head of Culinary and Development here at Classic Fine Foods has been using Yumgo since we launched the brand last year. He has been amazed by the quality of this product and how easy it is to use.
With these brands and many more vegan-friendly pastry solutions, Classic Fine Foods is here to help chefs meet their customers needs and keep up with new market trends.
Check out TheTasteLab website for details of our vegan patisserie and other pastry and cuisine courses.
