Posted on 06/23/2013 4:30:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
When she couldn’t find "yummy" vegan baked goods, 12 year old Clara Polito took matters into her own hands and started baking her own. Now, at 16, Polito has her own baking company called Clara Cakes.
In the kitchen in her Atwater Village home, Clara Polito pulls out ingredients to bake chocolate cupcakes, one of the first recipes she wrote. Soy milk, cocoa powder, and flour sit on the counter waiting to be poured into metal mixing bowls. "I basically started baking when I became vegan because I wanted to have yummy tasting vegan baked goods, because I couldn't really find any otherwise. So I kind of created a vegan bakery in my kitchen, which was fun," says Polito about her start.
As she bakes, Beastie Boys blast in the background. There are iPod speakers on the dining room table. Concert posters cover her bedroom walls. Music plays a big role in Polito’s life. She started selling baked goods in 2010 at The Smell, an all ages venue in downtown L.A. It was a record release show for the band No Age. Her mom has supported her since the start, driving her to bake sales and concerts.
In her all white 50s inspired kitchen, Polito taught herself through trial and error. She read dessert cookbooks and watched vegan cooking tutorials online.
"I remember making cakes that would constantly taste like bananas because bananas are a common egg replacer, and so that always bummed me out,'" says Polito. "It definitely took a lot of practice to finally get everything tasting how it needs to taste."
Now, Polito has perfected her trade and has a range of original recipes that will make your mouth water. She plays on Girl Scout cookies with her “Not So Thin Mint” cupcakes, makes S’mores Bars, Lemon Pows, and her most popular dessert - The Inception Cookie, an Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie.
Clara Cakes does custom orders, pop-up shops, and now has desserts sold at Pizzanista in downtown L.A. Polito dreams of opening up a bakery. She says,"It’d be cool to open a bakery before I’m 20. I definitely want to be a teen. I want the timing to be right."
Chocolate Cupcake Recipe Ingredients (makes 1 dozen cupcakes): 1 cup soy milk 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar 1 cup flour 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup sugar 1/3 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Pour 1 cup of soy milk in a large bowl and whisk in vinegar. Let it curdle (it’ll take a few minutes and eventually will look like cottage cheese). While waiting for soy milk mixture to curdle, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add sugar, oil and extracts to the soy milk mixture and whisk until foamy. Add the flour in two batches. Beat until just smooth. Spoon the batter into the liners. Bake for 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Place on cooling rack until cool, then frost.
Vanilla Frosting Ingredients: 1/2 cup vegan butter or margarine 1/2 cup shortening 2-2 1/2 cups powdered sugar 4 tablespoons soy milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions: Combine ingredients and beat on medium speed until fluffy.
I agree about all the plant estrogens. Soy is not meant for the majority of humans...especially boys and people with low thyroids
While mowing down entire habitats to plant row crops that must be watered with water pirated from some ecosystem somewhere ...
*sigh*
Veganism is insanity, breathtakingly arrogant, profoundly reason-impaired and emotion-impaired. Look at vegans in the animal kingdom. The human body powered on a vegan diet is like a running a high-performance car on leaded regular gas. Physics is going to win every time.
You might start hating on vegans when they get your daughter or granddaughter to start eating just about the most stupid, poor, expensive, destructive way possible. Even a junk-food diet is better than a vegan diet. Go look at their kids. You can recognize a vegan child by the big gray circles under his eyes.
Self control, my ass. For some of these folks, it's a political fanatacism, and when it gets "hip" status, it threatens health in a big way.
I hate what Vegans do to people sappy enough to fall for it, especially young kids. Nutrition is math. Veganism is forcing math to accommodate something it cannot. If you try to raise a baby on a vegan diet, the baby will die.
Sorry, vegans lose my respect.
One thing I like about her is that she will never be on welfare. Sounds like she is a doer and not a taker. Heck she might even be a Republican someday after seeing the tax bill. I won’t go far enough to say a conservative, but Republican at least.
Vegan cuisine leaves me cold; Altarian is much better.
True.
I still treasure the copy I made of your mother's common sense eating practice.
Veganism is a false religion.
I tried a vegetarian diet years ago and I never felt worse or had less energy in my life. I discovered something about myself that I had not know before. My body needs protein, more protein than most people, to function properly.
Banana Cicada Bread:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry-roasted cicadas
1/4 cup chopped nuts
Directions:
For bread: mix together all ingredients. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350º for about 1 hour or until the bread tests done.
For cicadas:
Newly hatched cicadas make the best eating because their shells have not yet hardened. Mature females are the next best thing. Adult males have fairly hollow abdomens, while the females are fat-filled. (Males have a rounded back end females have pointed back ends.) Collect then in a paper or plastic bag early in the morning, just after they’ve emerged but before they’ve climbed out of reach.
Blanch in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. This solidifies their innards and gets rid of soil bacteria. Cook with them immediately or freeze them. Remove all hard parts (wings and legs) before using.
To dry-roast, place cicadas on a cookie sheet and roast for 10-15 minutes at 225 degrees. They should have a soft dry consistency, a bit like a nut. Roast longer, if still moist inside. When dry, grind coarsely and use as a nut substitute in baking or as in ice cream topping.
I would’t doubt it .. I don’t think diets or any medical treatments are a one size fits all...
My dad became a vegan after surviving prostate cancer at age 72... his PSA scores have never been as low as they are now. It may be an age thing...perhaps once your’re over 50 you don’t need as much protein.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.