Veg-Jing Out: Cake Republic Brings Vegan, Gluten-Free Desserts to the People’s Republic

Veg-Jing Out: Your weekly guide to a guilt-free lifestyle in the capital.

Despite the fact that plant-based meals have largely earned their rightful place in the mainstream dining scene, vegan and gluten-free desserts still face a fair amount of skepticism at best and outright derision at worst. Maybe it’s because decadent, indulgent treats rely so heavily on ingredients such as eggs, butter, and cream, or maybe it’s simply the fact that disrupting long-held dietary norms requires baby steps before they can be fully normalized. Whatever the reason, the idea that confections devoid of animal products are somehow less than is flat out wrong. Just ask Gorana Rudan and Neda Stevanovic, the sweet teeth behind Cake Republic, a vegan and gluten-free bakery based in Beijing. We caught up with Rudan to find out more about plant-based desserts and what it’s like running a small bakery in China.

First and foremost, please introduce yourself!
My dessert journey started last year when I founded Cake Republic with my friend Neda. Both of us are from Serbia and for some reason, Neda now lives in Shanghai. Until she comes back to our beloved capital, I’m inescapably forced to wear all the hats at CR at the moment. For a period of time, we called ourselves Daughters&Cakes, because lots of our cooking passion comes from our mothers. And like every good daughter, I blame my mother for excess interest in desserts, and the role they play in my life as something like a basic human right, something that’s given. As I was growing up, there was always something for dessert in our house, and the absence of it would indicate that something’s surely wrong. But when you progress from childhood into being a grown-up, you don’t shed excess fat that easily, and you can’t indulge like you used to. So we started our R&D into the healthy dessert universe.

And of course, please introduce Cake Republic!
CR is going to be one year old in a couple of months. From the very beginning, Beijing showed us that it has a huge appetite for tasty handmade and healthy food. Also, because of the rise of health-conscious eating habits, it is no longer difficult to follow a certain diet and enjoy good food. Healthy eating doesn’t mean that you have to skip dessert, on the contrary. Cake Republic’s desserts are featured at some of our favorite coffee shops and restaurants like Nugget Café, Camera Stylo, Side Street, and Nuage.

Why did you decide to start Cake Republic? Was there a dearth of quality vegan dessert options in the capital? If so, what’s the current landscape like?
When there was no choice - when the idea of soothing our cravings for healthy desserts inhabited us – we started CR as an all-natural, plant-based, and gluten-free project. We decided that there is a gap in the dessert market in the shape of our sugar-free treats. There is no strict definition of what healthy dessert involves, but for us, it’s like this: minimally processed food, so no animal products, no white flours, no starches, no refined sugars, no additives, preservatives and so much more from the standard list of “essential” baking ingredients. But it’s not just about what’s not in our desserts, it’s about carefully selecting nutrition-rich superfoods. Healthy desserts are having a moment all around the world, and Beijingers are slowly catching up. That being said, I haven’t noticed a significant change in Beijing’s dessert landscape, although many restaurants are including vegan options on their main menus. Food trends change because people change, and I can’t wait to see how the food scene in Beijing grows as more people become aware of alternative approaches to desserts and plant-based food practices.

Is it difficult to find ingredients for your recipes?
It is slightly hard to find organic ingredients that are reasonably priced, like fruits and nuts (which are our main ingredients). Other than that, nature provided us with an abundance of plants, of all flavors.

What advice do you have for folks who want to try making their own vegan desserts at home? What have you learned since embarking on this journey?
Mindful eating is what’s most important about indulging in a dessert. Sometimes, a few bites is all it takes to put you in a good mood. It’s of the essence to break up with diet culture and see food as fuel and pleasure, and not as a filler or a reward. Ingredients are everywhere around. For example, the all-mighty coconut is as versatile as cow milk is; people turned it into so many different products, which are minimally processed: coconut oil, cream, milk, flour, butter, desiccated coconut, coconut chips, raw coconut meat, coconut water, even coconut vinegar (which is fermented coconut water) can be a great addition in desserts. Fruits are also an amazing way to satisfy your cravings, it doesn’t have to be just fruit salad, make a mousse with coconut cream, jelly up with agar-agar, or make a sorbet. My favorite simple treat is baked apple with cinnamon, vanilla, and walnuts.

Following up on the last question, in the past, vegan and/or gluten-free desserts were met with skepticism and derision (though I would argue that’s certainly starting to shift in a big way). At any rate, what is the secret to making a decadent and indulgent dessert free from animal products and/or gluten?
Vegan and gluten-free desserts are inclusive and suitable for a diverse population. Investigating ingredients and opening your mind to new flavor pairings is the key! Perception of sweetness varies from person to person, so when working on a new dessert, the main question I ask myself is – how sweet does it have to be? We can definitely teach our taste buds to enjoy foods that are less sweet. Except for maple syrup, sweetness also comes from fruits, coconut water, and even some nuts, like tiger nuts for example. Puréed soaked nuts and coconut products provide a dreamy velvety texture, and sometimes it’s all it takes to create that indulging moment.

And lastly, what are a few of your fave plant-based restaurants (or menu items) in Beijing?
Someone said that eating at home is the new going out, so I tend to mostly cook at home. If I’m to order a dinner, it’d mostly be Moka Bros or Tribe, out of habit mostly, but also because I like their philosophies. In&Out has an awesome menu too.

To find out more about Cake Republic's menu and to place an order, contact Gorana Rudan (WeChat ID: gorana1987).

READ: Veg-Jing Out: Pebbles' Plant-Based Menu Expands, Magnum Brings Its Vegan Ice Cream to Taobao

Images courtesy of Cake Republic