Gluten Free Vegan Baked Things! Oh Yeah! Get Your Gob 'Round That!

Once upon a time, in a land of fantasy and wonder, there was a little community kitchen enigmatically named Made in Hackney. At the heart of this wondrous place was a rare creature that many had dreamed about but hardly anyone had claimed to have ever seen, or even to believe in the existence of, and it's name was Healthy Gluten Free Vegan Baking. I was a believer and after donning my best pinny, off I set to capture it.

I'd discovered there was someone willing to teach me the ways of being a gluten free vegan baking ninja and also bagged myself a sweeeeeeeeet discount from The Gluten Free London Club. My teacher in taming this beast was the rather deliciously named Jayne Totty.

I admit I walked into this situation with fantasies of being able to whip up some perfect, yet miraculously virtuous croissants or pain au chocolat, alas it was not to be. But what I did learn to make were a variety of biscuits, ranging from fruity to coffee choc, a pastry recipe which can be either savoury or sweet (yes, there will be pasties), and some muffins, gingerbread and an almond cake which had a beautiful love affair with some cashew cream and made the whole world happy.

The class was friendly and small, and as someone who is generally pretty pants when it comes to baking, I found it all rather easily digestible and may have even level-upped my skillz. Plus the price includes a delicious lunch (all of which I could eat) and the money goes to doing good things for the community and shizzle, so you should definitely go and try it.

I haven't tried making any of my bits alone yet, but I am feeling confident that I can at least knock up a good carrot and apple muffin, which will be useful for Massive Munch and work snacks, and I really want to give the quinoa bread a go, because finding gluten free vegan bread is hard, but this didn't actually seem too difficult either, so we'll see.

I liked it. Go and check out Made in Hackney, they do some good things and have a shop with some white stilletto'd quinoa (it's from Essex), and bag your own grains to get excited about- like a me as a weird kid in a savoury shop.

Anyway, here's some proof I ain't lying:

Look at those loaves! Phwoar!