Vegans can eat cake if it is made adhering to the most important principle of being a vegan which involves eating a plant-based diet that avoids all animal foods used in normal cakes such as dairy products and eggs. The cake should also be made avoiding all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty towards animals.
Non-vegans often struggle with understanding a vegan - confusion, perplexity and on occasion a heated debate can ensue as the “vegan” and their crossexaminer cover the issue of what it means to avoid the exploitation of, and cruelty towards animals. We hope the topic of whether or not a vegan can eat cake should be much less contentious! Fortunately, The Vegan Society, which has acted as the custodian of British veganism since 1944 offers a straightforward definition of veganism found in its Memorandum and Articles of Association written when it became a charity in 1979:
“A philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals." Additionally The Vegan Society are clear on the issue of cake “from curry to cake, pasties to pizzas, all your favourite things can be suitable for a vegan diet if they're made with plant-based ingredients.”
The non-vegan will almost certainly remark on the avoiding “as far as possible and practicable” component. This I expect is largely an acknowledgement that to completely avoid animal exploitation is currently nigh impossible as currently in the UK all medicine must be tested on animals before it is deemed safe for human use. Parenthetically when deciding on your vegan cake you can rest assured that we have not tested our vegan cakes on animals.
Veganism used to be simple – its protagonists foreswore the exploitation of animal life by man. Today there are “raw-vegans” who do not eat anything heated-up or cooked (Victoria’s Beckham’s Cake) and people who don’t eat meat and don’t use animal products but don’t call themselves vegans. Confused? We’ve uncovered which types of vegans can eat our vegan cakes and those that can’t.
Perhaps one of the most common and unifying reasons people pursue a vegan lifestyle is to want a more caring and compassionate lifestyle that avoids the exploitation of animals. Such vegans actively avoid wearing clothes made of animal fur, visiting zoos and seeking out cosmetics untested on animals. As sentient beings, ethical vegans simply do not believe it is our place to take from animals. Proudly we can indeed say that our Vegan cakes do not use any ingredients related to animals, therefore can proudly state that our Vegan cake to order can be eating by an Ethical Vegan as long as they are comfortable eating a cake made by bakers who also make non-vegan cakes in the same premises.
Some vegans avoid the ethical debates surrounding their lifestyle choices and choose to follow a vegan diet for health reasons. Such vegans choose the label of “plant-based” and continue to use animal products such as leather and silk. A plant-based diet is generally about eating foods that have been grown in the ground and preserve as much of the naturalness of the foods as possible. By eliminating dairy and meat products their diets consequentially exclude a substantial amount of saturated fats. While we can’t advocate that eating cake is quintessentially “clean eating” our vegan cakes do fit into the plant-based vegan diet.
Raw Vegans can eat cake just not ours! Raw vegans make a choice not to eat anything cooked or heated meaning their diets primarily consist of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains. Some raw vegans choose this diet for spiritual reasons while others choose it for its perceived health benefits. And you may have even heard of the “Raw Till 4” Raw Vegan that eat raw food until 4pm and them eat a cooked meal for dinner – if your vegan cake eater is one of these, our Vegan cakes are alright for an evening celebration!
High carb low fat (HCLF) vegans avoid fat and consume large quantities of carbohydrates from fruit, vegetables and grains. A HCLF may be happy eating a vegan cake depending on how the person feels about a cake entering their diet. Generally HCLF customers, like many health conscious people are happy to have a slice of cake on their birthday. It appears that newbie Vegans often start out their journey on this diet as it avoids the restrictions of stricter “raw” and “plant-based” diets.
In today’s world many people and our governments are actively trying to undo the damage to our planet and take better care of it. It’s become widely known that the breeding of animals - in particular livestock - is detrimental to our planet consequent of the supply chain surrounding it releasing vast amounts of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere and the deforestation that comes hand in hand. Environmentally conscious vegans try to reduce their impact on the environment by avoiding meat. Vegan cakes can be suitable for the environmentally conscious vegan if the bakery is working sufficiently hard on reducing its carbon footprint, which at Anges de Sucre we have come leaps and bounds in recent years with our recycling programs and responsible procurement.