Vegan Canelés de Bordeaux

A canele is rich, buttery and custard-like in a crunchy exterior. Can we replicate that with a vegan version? Yes…we…can.

To make 4 vegan canele

Ingredient List:

• 205 grams unsweetened plain oat milk
• 100 grams coconut sugar
• 15 grams vegan salted butter plus more for buttering the molds
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon orange extract
• 65 grams sprouted whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon bobs egg replacer
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• Sea salt

Step By Step Instructions:

In a small sauce pan, heat oat milk, vegan butter and coconut sugar until the sugar and butter are dissolved. Stir in vanilla and orange extracts. Be careful not to boil the mixture.

While the oat milk mixture heats, sift together flour, egg replacer, baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Slowly pour the oat milk mixture into the flour mix you combined earlier, stirring constantly as you pour to create a smooth, quite loose batter.

Cover the batter with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 24 hours or longer. Note that, for ease of pouring the batter into the molds, I mix and store my batter in a large glass measuring cup.

When you are ready to bake, remove the batter from the fridge and wait until the batter warms to room temperature. You will need to whisk it to loosen it as it will have thickened slightly.

Preheat the oven to 475°F

Melt about 1 tablespoon vegan butter in a small pan and pour into each of the 4 canele molds. Turn the molds or use a brush to coat the interior of each mold completely with butter. There will be a little puddle of butter in the bottom of each mold; that is okay.

Pour the batter, fill each mold about three-quarters full.

Bake the canele for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 55 minutes more.

Carefully turn out the canelé onto a cooling rack immediately after you take them out of the oven. Serve cooled. As they cool, their exterior will become crisp, giving you the perfect blend of soft, almost custard-like cake in the middle of the crunchy exterior. These do not keep well; they become soft (still delicious) quickly, so I make batter for a few batches to keep in the fridge so I can make these whenever I like.

COOK’S TIP: I am not a big fan of extreme accuracy in baking but this recipe is exact and exacting. If you follow it, no messing around, you’ll have gorgeous canale. Also, it’s important to have the right molds. I highly recommend copper but you can use other tins. I don’t recommend silicone molds for this recipe.