Customer Reviews

Sinfully Vegan: Over 140 Decadent Desserts to Satisfy Every Vegan's Sweet Tooth

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

To begin: I love this book. Love, love, love. I do have one complaint, though. With 140 recipes, it's going to take me forever to try them all! Especially since I just want to keep making my favorites over and over again.

Anyway, I could gush for hours about how great the recipes themselves are. [The Richer Than Fort Knox Cake was a huge hit at my husband's workplace. Everyone was shocked that 1) it wasn't from a bakery, and 2) it was 100% vegan. And I always love showing people that you don't deprive yourself of good things by making vegan choices.] But before I get carried away, I'd like to point how how much I love the organization of the book. Each recipe is divided into simple steps, and recipes are subdivided into sections--like the cake, the frosting, the garnish, etc. Also, Ms. Dieterly includes serving info, prep and baking time, and nutritional information, and also notes whether the recipe freezes well. And for those with wheat allergies, all of the wheat-free recipes are specifically marked as such.

She has recipes for the following dessert categories: cookies and brownies; cakes and quick breads; Boston cream pies; pies and tarts; cheesecakes; puddings; donuts and candy; beverages and smoothies; and frostings, toppings, and crusts. Sadly, there are no vegan ice cream recipes. But I'll be so busy eating brownies and cheesecakes and donuts, I won't have time for ice cream anyway!

The ingredients she uses should be familiar to most vegan cooks, and I don't have any trouble finding them. However, if you're new to vegan baking or live in an area where it's difficult to find, for example, silken tofu, then the author provides an introduction to the vegan ingredients you'll need, as well as a list of mail-order companies from which you can purchase the necessary ingredients. And if you're still searching, a quick Google search can reveal numerous places on-line to purchase vegan foodstuffs.

Finally, I'd just like to comment on the writing style. I really enjoy reading the author's recipe descriptions and other comments. She's clear and informative, but also sounds like a friend who's hanging out in your kitchen while you're baking.

All in all, this is a great cookbook. Buy it and amaze your friends with your delicious--and compassionate--desserts.

I am an avid baker and vegetarian. I have recently begun experimenting with vegan desserts. I tried several of the brownie recipes and a cookie recipe in this book. They were all awful (poor in both taste and texture) and had to be thrown away. It is unfortunate to have to give this book a bad review, but I would hate for other people to waste their money as I did.

I would recommend the book "The Artful Vegan". There are excellent dessert recipes in the back (using mostly unprocessed ingredients). The German Chocolate Cake recipe in there is outstanding.

I purchased this book since my husband and I are vegan and the overwhelming majority of customer reviews for the book are enthusiastically positive. Unfortunately, I have found the book a big disappointment.
My first effort was for a peach dessert, and, when it did not turn out, I assumed that I must have chosen the one "loser" in the book. Then, this past weekend, when I prepared a holiday party for many friends (none of whom are vegan, but all brave souls who are willing to "try anything"), I decided to give the book a real trial. I prepared the "can't believe" brownies (doubled the recipe in fact), the Mint chocolate cake (with the mint frosting, which I also tinted pink and then sprinkled with crushed candy canes), and the Cinn-sational apple cake. Only the apple cake came out satisfactorily - I actually ended up throwing out the two chocolate ones the next day - nobody ate them and even my husband and I - both chocoholics - agreed that "they weren't worth the calories".
I am considered a good cook - and willing to experiment - and am confident that I prepared the recipes correctly. I expect my cooking to taste excellent - as well as being free of animal products. I enjoy eating too much to put up with food that is just tolerable since, after all, it is vegan. One shouldn't have to sacrifice taste for one's principles - life is too short! So, when I say that these recipes are disappointing, it is with regret - I truly hoped for delicious vegan desserts.
The peppermint frosting had the consistency of glue - and actually slid off the cake when pieces were served. Both the brownies and the mint cake had a "sharp" edge to their tastes and a too dense texture. The apple cake was acceptable only because of the maple syrup glaze.
In the past, I have made a vegan chocolate cake that depends upon vinegar and baking soda for leavening, and is so tasty that my colleagues at work (none of whom are close to vegetarian!!) actually request that I bring it in! I guess I am back to depending upon this lone recipe when I want to bake a good vegan dessert.
I am glad that the other reviewers of this book are so pleased with the recipes, and do wish that I could join them in enthusing about the desserts.I gave the book 2 out of 5 stars because the format of the book, photographs, nutritional analyses, and comments by the author are all attractive. In the end, though, one buys a cookbook for the recipes it contains, and, in that respect, "Sinfully Vegan" fails.
Opie Rosenfeld (Minneapolis, MN)

Along with "The Candle Cafe Cookbook," this is one of the two worst cookbooks I own. Every recipe that I tried was problematic, and a few were downright inedible.

The most interesting recipe I made was the infamous Cherry, Cherry Not Contrary Cake. It called for garbanzo bean flour, which I used against my better judgment. Combined with the cocoa powder, this tasted like a chocolate falafel cake. I might play around some more with this recipe (when I have a zucchini to use up), but definitely will be using whole wheat pastry flour instead.

The Mocha Madness cake was just lousy. The frosting was OK, but the cake itself had a strange flavor that I think resulted from the clash between the apples and the chocolate. I could only eat so much of this cake before I had to throw the rest of it away.

The most comical culinary failure in this book (yes, even funnier than chocolate falafel) was Mint Madness. The mint overpowered all of the other flavors, resulting in something that resembled a toothpaste cake. The only way I could make it edible was by slathering it with an equal amount of Soy Delicious chocolate ice cream. That seemed to counterbalance the mint, but only just barely. Also, Dieterly's love afair with xanthan gum goes terribly wrong in the Fluffy Mint Frosting. It lends an incredibly strange -- and not too appetizing in my opinion -- texture to the frosting.

By the time I made Just Peekin' Pie, I had already considered this to be a cookbook of dubious quality, but I had a hankering for pecan pie and this was the only recipe I had. As far as flavor went, this was a pleasant pie. However, its construction proved problematic. The nuts should have been chopped, not whole -- whole nuts were too difficult to pierce, which made the pie fall apart in one's fork. To eat this, you'd have to spear a sliver of crust first, then stick some of the filling on it, and finally pick up an errant pecan with the filling. Also, the pecans should have been on the top of the pie, not the bottom, to prevent plastic wrap from sticking to the filling.

Also present was a terrible pie-crust-baking tip: The author suggests weighting the pie crust with an empty pie plate filled with water. Only do this if you would like the top pie plate to stick to the crust sandwiched in the middle, tearing it apart when you try to remove it.

A big disappointment was the section on cheesecakes, which was the main reason I purchased this book in the first place. Every single one relied on store-bought soy cream cheese. People who live in areas without access to such a product (be they rural Americans or those living abroad) will find that entire section unusable. I myself have access to such cream cheese, but have been looking for cheesecake recipes that will allow me to make the entire thing from scratch. Pre-made cream cheese is "cheating" if you ask me.

The only recipe that I would be willing to make again was Peanut Butter Twist Brownies. It suffered from an excess of the peanut butter mixture, which was supposed to be marbled into the chocolate mixture. Because of the excess, it would not marble properly. That defect was merely cosmetic, though; if the brownie recipe from "Vegan Vittles" weren't exponentially better, I'd be making this brownie recipe all the time.

For me, making desserts has been the biggest vegan challenge.

Every dessert I have made from this book has been 1) easy and 2) good. The ingredients are standard, and the directions are simple and clear. The desserts taste and look like their non-vegan counterparts. Also, there is a wide variety of dessert types.

I highly recommend this book!

Let me warn you that the recipe for peanut butter cookies in this book is BAD. I made these and they came out really dry and tasteless. If you want a truly delicious recipe for vegan peanut butter cookies, as well as other treats, then buy Dreena Burton's book Vive le Vegan. Now that's a good cookie!! As a vegan I refuse to compromise taste and texture when it comes to baking, and I won't recommend a book just because it's vegan. It's really important that veganism not have a reputation for bad cooking. It IS possible to make truly delicious vegan treats, so if you aren't finding the right recipes, keep looking, and don't compromise!

That's right, recycling bin. I thought about selling it or even giving it away for free to the library or something, but I couldn't bear the thought of somebody toying with the idea of veganism going to the library to take out a book, trying these recipes, and then giving up, possibly running for their local bakery to wash the taste of this out of their mouth.

I have owned this book for several years, giving it many second chances. I have only been able to stomach making maybe a dozen or so recipes out of this book, but is it possible that I just happened to pick the 12 worst recipes? I doubt it, and even so, the cookbooks I love don't include even that many poor recipes. I want to know that whatever I am in the mood for and choose from a cookbook will be good. I don't like a baking crap shoot.

The books that have come to be my can't fail, go-to guides (ex: Vegan Cupcakes Take over the world, of which I've made over 30 successful recipes; the new Veganomicon, of which I've made 12 recipes from the desserts section as a recipe tester during production, all amazing) have a 100% percent success rate with each recipe that I try. I love to try a recipe and then know "from now on, this is the only (insert dessert type here) that I will make" etc. Recipes from the obove two books have become my staples, some have been made upwards of 15 times!

Most of the Sinfully Vegan recipes I tried weren't terrible (some were awful though), but they were just completely unmemorable. Each that I have tried, I have later found a recipe for the same thing that was infinitely better and exactly what I was looking for. Not a single recipe I made from this book did I plan to ever make again. For this reason, I would save you money and continue your hunt for the perfect vegan baking guide.

I bought this book because of the great reviews on this site but have been a bit disappointed. The cakes that I have made have been much too dense, almost wet and the chocolate chip cookies were gross. The cream cheese icing is way too soft even after refrigerating it for 2 days. The only good thing I have made from this book has been the cheesecake (yummy!) and the chocolate frosting.

For the most part, this is a good cookbook, as it gives you the basic concept for each dessert, but I've found that you need to use your baking intuition to make them taste REALLY good. I had to alter nearly every recipe in this book.

At first I made things exactly the way the recipe describes. Pretty much every recipe calls for maple syrup as opposed to actual sugar. I know that most vegans don't want to use processed sugar, but maple syrup isn't really any healthier. I didn't like the recipes when I made them with maple syrup.

First thing you need to do is replace the maple syrup with actual sugar. So if it calls for 1/2 cup maple, change that to 1 cup sugar. I've found that half sugar and half splenda works great too.

Some recipes call for weird flours, like garbanzo bean flour... just use regular all pupose flour and it still works.

Sometimes the flavors are weak, so you need to taste test the uncooked batter to see if it needs tweaking. For example, the Lemon Loaf, instead of 3 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract, I found that 1/3 cup lemon juice worked much better. Also, instead of 1 ts baking powder and 1/2 ts baking soda, I did 1 1/2 ts baking powder. And of course, instead of 1/2 cup maple syrup, I did 1 cup sugar. Once I made these changes, I found the recipe irresistable!

I could not have come up with these recipes on my own, but with proper tweaking they have become my favorites! Someone inexperienced with baking though, will probably have a hard time.

I'll admit that I only tried 3 recipes from the book - the chocolate chip cookies, pound cake and basic brownies. They were all pretty bad; I was surprised because the cover said that the author baked for a restaurant. Try baked goods (and other recipes) from Chef Brian McCarthy's Vegan Family Cookbook, Vegan Planet, or Isa Chandra Moskowitz's books.