A vegan baker avoids the problems of dairy and eggs, but still becomes dependent upon ingredients she probably should not, given their ethical implications. I’m talking about things like margarine, which usually has palm oil in it — the production of which, despite the sustainability pledges of brands like Earth Balance, has been known to deforest regions and destroy animal habitats, along with Indigenous ways of tending the land. I’m also talking about coconut milk, cashews, and sugar itself, which are all from the Global South, and all can be sourced in quite extractive ways.
That is why, for me, moving to San Juan, Puerto Rico, opened opportunities and also saw me breathing a sigh of relief: I’d be at the source of so many of the ingredients with which I had a fraught relationship. Little did I know that it would change the way I bake completely: No longer do I decorate layer cakes with buttercream, because it would just melt, nor do I make cookies when I can feel too much moisture in the air. Instead, cakes are strewn with the petals of edible flowers, or flakes of coconut, or I spoon on a coconut milk dulce de leche, letting it drip down the sides.
Cakes are strewn with the petals of edible flowers or flakes of coconut.
Or I just don’t make cake at all, opting for no-bake flans and panna cottas that I set with agar powder and require just a pot and a whisk to make. Usually I flavor them with pumpkin puree or passion fruit pulp, but here I give the most basic iteration: coconut and lime, with a compote of carambola, or starfruit, which is tart and bright. (If you can’t find it, apple will work in its place.) I aim for organic and like spices from non-extractive spice companies, like Diaspora Co., while acknowledging it’s impossible to be saintly in our consumption in this messed-up world.
Coconut-Lime Panna Cotta
Ingredients
2 cups full-fat organic coconut milk
½ cup organic cane sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon vanilla extract OR the inside of 1 vanilla bean, scraped
½ teaspoon coconut extract, optional
½ teaspoon nutmeg, such as Diaspora Co. Anamalai Nutmeg
1 ½ teaspoons agar powder
Instructions
1. Combine the milk, sugar, zest and juice of the lime, vanilla, and nutmeg in a medium saucepan over low heat. Whisk and allow to come to a simmer, until all sugar is dissolved into the milk.
2. When sugar is dissolved, add the agar powder and whisk continuously as the mixture rolls to a boil. Whisk and keep it simmering for 30 seconds, until the agar has dissolved.
3. Pour the hot mixture into ramekins or a six-inch cake pan. Chill for at least 30 minutes, until solid throughout.
4. To serve, either use ramekins or pour out of the mold to plate and decorate with carambola compote, coconut flakes, and/or edible flowers.
Yield
4 servings
Carambola Compote
Ingredients
2 large carambola, or starfruit
½ cup maple syrup, agave syrup, or honey
Zest and juice of 1 lime
½ inch of fresh ginger, grated
Instructions
1. Slice off the ends of the carambola, then cut the fruit into thin slices, removing the seeds.
2. Place the sliced fruit, syrup, zest and juice, and ginger, in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring to combine.
3. Let cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until a thick syrup has formed and the fruit glistens like candy.
4. Use to garnish coconut panna cotta.
Yield
1 cup
Alicia Kennedy is a writer from New York based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She writes a weekly newsletter on food culture, politics, and media, and is at work on a book about ethical eating for Beacon Press.