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Callebaut chocolate, Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, the best cocoa, and the most flavorful and wholesome vegan ingredients make the Sweet Avenue Bake Shop more than just a traditional mail-order bakery. Under the guidance of Chef Danielle Vance, these top-notch ingredients are turned into delicious vegan coconut-chai cakes, chocolate-orange cupcakes, scones, cookies, and much more.
Danielle was inspired to create moist, tasty vegan baked goods after being disappointed by the commercially supplied cake at her own wedding—even the plastic bride-and-groom cake topper seemed eager but unable to escape the gooey, frosting-flowered boring white cake! Danielle combined her family's baking traditions and her love of old-fashioned treats and seasonal fruits with her training in design and photography to create vegan cupcakes, cookies, and other desserts that are as tasty as they are, well, photogenic.
Although Danielle has created a full line of vegan desserts, she is still known by family, friends, and customers as The Cupcake Queen. Danielle sees each mini-cake as "a little canvas." At a recent "cupcake meetup" in New York's Central Park, Danielle designed a series of New York City subway cupcakes that were decorated to match the red, blue, green, and yellow subway lines, featuring the subway lines' ubiquitous letters and numbers. Whether it's a dozen individually packed snickerdoodles or lemon-iced ginger cookies or a box of Dark Side of the Moon cupcakes, you can count on Danielle's vegan treats to be as tasty as they are compassionate to animals.
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Chef Spotlight:
Danielle Vance
Restaurant or Company: Sweet Avenue Bake Shop
Do you have companion animals? If so, can you describe them?
I have one really cute, chubby cat named Preston. He's responsible for most of the holes and scratches in our furniture, but I love him anyway.
How long have you been a chef?
I've been baking for years, but I've been doing it professionally for two years. Every year, I went through a month-long training session called "Christmas Cookies." My mother and I would spend much of December baking dozens of different types of cookies for Christmas. By Christmas morning, we would have amassed a pile of cookies that rivaled the presents.
What inspired you to become a pastry chef?
The major event that pushed me toward creating my business was the lousy cake served at my wedding. My wedding reception package included a wedding cake from a local bakery, which we thought was a great deal. We regretted it when we realized that this bakery was unable to design anything other than a stereotypical white, tiered wedding cake with white frosting flowers all over it.
What influences the desserts that you create? Do you focus on regional styles or seasonal ingredients?
A lot of my desserts are influenced by old-fashioned treats. There's just something about an old-fashioned yellow cake or chocolate chip cookie recipe that resonates with people, because we all grew up eating those things. I also like to incorporate seasonal fruits and berries any time I get a chance. I get a lot of inspiration just walking through the local farmers' market.
What is your favorite type of dessert to work with (e.g., candy, cake, ice cream, tarts, etc.)?
I especially love making cupcakes. I try to put as much detail as I can into one little cupcake. Each one is like a little canvas, and for me it's much easier to chase down inspiration on a small canvas.
Do you have a specialty?
My specialties are cupcakes and cookies. Both are fun to design, and it's my mission to provide vegans of the world with the same beautifully decorated, delicious treats that nonvegans have enjoyed from boutique bakeries for years.
What are the most important elements in cooking great vegetarian desserts?
The two most important aspects are making them look visually appealing, so people are willing to give them a chance, and making them taste as good as people remember from their favorite desserts.
What, in your opinion, does the future of plant-based cuisine hold?
Vegan and vegetarian cuisine is growing by leaps and bounds. You can find delicious vegan offerings everywhere these days—even in places you never would have seen them just five years ago. I hope to be able to contribute to this, because baked goods and desserts are one area that is still fairly underrepresented as a whole.
Do you have a favorite cooking method or technique?
Baking, of course! I like the precision of it and concentrating on turning my pile of ingredients into something totally different.
What is your favorite chef's tool?
My KitchenAid mixer is practically a godsend. No pastry chef should be without one; it's incredibly versatile.
What is your favorite ingredient to work with?
Chocolate. It can be mixed into almost anything and paired with anything from vanilla to chili powder. You can drink it, you can eat it whole, or you can top cupcakes with it.
In your opinion, what vegetarian dessert is most frequently poorly prepared and why?
A lot of vegan cakes I've had in the past have been pretty sub-par. They're rarely gorgeous looking, and they often have a bit of a cornbread consistency or a funny aftertaste. Vegan cakes just deserve to look and taste much better.
If you could eat only one dessert, what would it be?
The one thing I think I'd never get sick of would be a rich, delicious, chocolate torte cake topped with raspberry coulis.
Do vegetarian restaurants face any special obstacles that meat-based restaurants don't have to face?
A lot of people tend to prejudge and get turned off by the vegan label. Initially, people see my cupcakes and think they look great, but as soon as they notice the vegan label, they start to get suspicious. They wonder, "Does it taste like cardboard under that pink frosting?" People are taught that you must have eggs and milk in baking, and they don't realize you can make amazing desserts without those ingredients.
Can you give a great cooking tip for aspiring vegetarian chefs?
Start out small. Learn by studying traditional recipes and trying to veganize them. You'll learn what works and what doesn't. The basic concepts of baking still apply whether you're doing it vegan or not. Learn how to cream margarine and sugar, and that will translate easily into vegan ingredients. Baking is definitely a science, so once you experiment a bit, you'll learn the best ways to make different substitutions for different results.
What are some ingredients and tools that you recommend that vegetarians and vegans have in their kitchens to bake with?
Always keep flour and sugar around. They're the bases of 95 percent of the vegan desserts you'll ever make. You'll also need a good set of measuring spoons and cups, a couple of rubber spatulas, and a couple of mixing bowls. A stand mixer or electric hand mixer is fantastic, unless you have really strong arms. Almost anything else can be improvised.
Are there any newer vegetarian products on the market that you are particularly fond of?
It seems like they've come a long way with vegan cheese. I remember when this stuff was atrocious! Follow Your Heart/Vegan Gourmet makes fantastic, great melting cheese.
What are some good substitutes for dairy-product ingredients and eggs?
For baking, soy milk or rice milk is a must. Vegan margarine is also invaluable, along with vegetable/canola oil and applesauce. Among those ingredients, you can make clever substitutions to create almost any vegan dessert imaginable.
Orange-Cranberry Scones
Strawberry Mousse Cupcakes
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Chef: Scot Jones
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