Vegan: Sticky Fingers baker is winning the war against boring desserts

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View full sizeMelissa NymanDoron Petersan’s vegan treats beat the non-vegan competition on “Cupcake Wars” two out of her three appearances on the show.

Vegan: Sticky Fingers baker is winning the war against boring desserts

Butter and eggs have a long history in the world of baking, and play key roles in creating traditional dessert masterpieces. But vegan bakers in recent years have made great strides in finding plant-based alternatives like nonhydrogenated margarine, bananas and applesauce that do similar things when a batter goes into the oven. In the right hands, the results can be amazing.

But there are still a lot of vegan desserts out there that taste of sawdust and sorrow, like a recent grocery store cupcake I had that was the antithesis of pleasure. It was dry, leaden and tasted more of Crisco than chocolate. On TV’s “Cupcake Wars,” its baker would be ungraciously shown the door.

Recipe included with this story: Sticky Fingers’ Fudgetastic Brownie.

Washington, D.C., baker Doron Petersan knows how tough it is to impress the “Cupcake Wars” judges with plant-based goodies. She’s appeared on the show three times, and won it twice, bringing home $20,000. The prize money helped her build her business, Sticky Fingers Sweets Eats, and the attention led to the publishing this spring of her first cookbook, “Sticky Fingers’ Sweets,” which features 100 recipes for everything from sticky buns to pie, including her winning cupcakes.

vegan View full size“Sticky Fingers’ Sweets,” by Doron Petersan.Petersan heads to Portland this weekend for a book signing, complete with plenty of her pastries. We caught up with her to find out about the challenges of vegan baking, what it’s like to appear on the popular Food Network show, and to get her recipe for delicious fudgy brownies perfect for home cooks.

Why is there still a stigma about vegan baked goods?

I’m on the vegan side of things, and I see all these wonderful creations and get to taste all this great food. But I think perception is a strong part of people’s taste buds, and it’s also a difficult thing to let go of. So it’s one of those things we’re going to have to keep chipping away at, and the best way to do that is to get people to taste the products. That’s the only way to get people to change their minds. The more people who are making good, delicious vegan food and baked goods, the better.

What are some of the biggest challenges home bakers face when making some of your sweets?

Any challenges they’re going to come up against are the same with any type of baking — learning proper techniques, the nuances of baking, like using all your senses of taste, touch and smell, and looking for changes rather than just simply measuring, mixing and baking for a consistent period of time. I recently heard Jacques Pepin speak about creating cookbooks and how baking is the most difficult thing to re-create in a cookbook. When he was younger and in cooking school, he learned to cook without recipes and how to make it the same every time, based on taste, touch and smell. That’s interesting to me, because every time you make a recipe you can follow everything to a T, and there still can be something that’s slightly off. Maybe the water is soft instead of hard. Maybe it’s really muggy outside, or maybe your oven isn’t heating evenly.

A lot of people — myself included — have written the obituary for the cupcake baking trend. And yet cupcakes are stronger than ever. Why do you think it’s had such legs as a baking trend?

Cupcakes are here to stay! They’re inexpensive, they’re easy to carry around, they’re cute and they’re delicious. The economic roller coaster we’ve been on has helped keep cupcakes strong. People can go into a bakery, and maybe they won’t purchase the most elaborate cake, but they’ll purchase cupcakes at $3 or $4 a pop.

Was “Cupcake Wars” as hard as it looks?

It’s totally harder. What you can’t see are all the cameras going around and the chaos. And that studio is ice-cold. Other than the time we’re running around sweating with our heads coming off, we’re shivering. When we’re in front of the judges, of course, we’re so nervous, but we’re also shivering because it’s so cold.

The “Cupcake Wars” judges can be grumpy. Do you feel like you had something extra to prove because you were baking vegan cupcakes?

I think everything was really fair. The first time we were on, we were up against another vegan baker and two traditional bakers. They were very honest about our cupcakes and were holding us to the same standard as everyone else. There were some comments like, “If you want to do a vegan cupcake, then it has to be as good as the rest.” In the end, we came out ahead twice out of three times.

To fight all those calories, I understand you’re a competitive cyclist.

The minute you get on your bike, it becomes a part of who you are. Racing for me is a total release and it’s fun, and as stressful and competitive as it is, it’s still a really fun aspect of my life, and without it I would be 900 pounds.

And you do cyclo-cross, too. Are you one of those racers who gets excited the more muddy it is?

I’m definitely a mudder. I prefer the wetter, rainier courses. There’s nothing worse than a dry, dusty course. I’m so jealous of you guys (in Portland) with all that mud. I’ll see pictures every once in a while and it looks like so much fun.

– Grant Butler
Follow @grantbutler

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