The L-Plate Vegetarian

Sweet Delights

Well it’s pretty much plain sailing from now on, or is it…? You might think that with your main course out of the way the pudding is the easiest bit, after all how many desserts can you think of which contain meat?! Of course you’re right, but some innocent looking puddings, cakes, biscuits and yoghurts etc contain animal fats and/or gelatine.

Having said that, there are many more delicious veggie desserts out there to tickle your tastebuds, just be a little careful: look for the vegetarian symbol or check ingredients labels. Most supermarkets will say on the packaging whether their products are suitable for vegetarians but if they don’t, check for animal fat in cakes, gateaux and biscuits, as well as for gelatine in cheese cakes, mousses, trifles and yoghurts. Don’t worry though, you can still enjoy all of the above as many manufacturers use vegetarian alternatives to animal fat and gelatine.

Creme de la Creme

To state the obvious, cream is made from cow’s milk. Try a non-dairy alternative to single cream for example Sainsburys Just Pour from their Free From range. Health food shops have a wider range including Granose Soya Cream and Provamel’s Soya Dream, now available in Tesco and Asda – naughty but nice.

Cakes: we found that many of the cakes made by Mr Kipling; Lyons were suitable for vegetarians: amongst others try Almond Slices; Treacle Lattice Tart; Deep Filled Bramley Apple Pies by Mr Kipling; Rich Chocolate Roll or Milk Chocolate Mini Rolls. All supermarkets will stock their own brand cakes suitable for veggies, Asda has a particularly good range including: Bakewell Tart; Double Chocolate Muffins and the luxurious Lemon Drizzle Cake. Morningstar Farms produce the delicious Organic Carrot Cake and Organic Banana Loaf Cake. Zedz Foodshave both sweet and savoury treats in their wheat, gluten and dairy-free selection of muffins, such as banana, coconut & date flavourand apricot & ginger.

Biscuits: again, many of the main biscuit manufacturers cater for us veggies so the range is enormous, but here are a few tasters: McVities Home Wheat (milk and plain chocolate!), Penguins and Hobnobs; Burtons Mini Jammie Dodgers; Fox’s Crunch Creams; Chocolate Viennese; Raspberry Jam and The Favourite Selection – lots of different types of biscuits in one pack! Doves Farm do a delicious and organic selection including Ginger Jazz and Lemon Zest Cookies. You can also get loads of supermarket own brand biscuits. Co-op range is particularly good and includes Lemon Puffs, Stem Ginger Shortbread and Cherry Bakewell Luxury Cookies.

Ice Cream: there are lots of different ice creams available in loads of different flavours, just to give you an idea of the variety of them, Tesco do a wide range from Raspberry, Toffee Ripple, Cherrylicious, Creamy Caramella, Valencia Orange, Coffee, Brandy and Chocolatino to Organic Chocolate Chip and Organic Vanilla. Most of the other supermarkets make their own brand ice creams: Sainsbury Indulgence; Somerfield Real Dairy and So Good and all tub ice creams made by Marks & Spencer. Swedish Glace make an organic non-dairy ice cream so it is suitable for vegans as well; this comes in Raspberry; Strawberry; Chocolate; Vanilla or Mocha & Chocolate Ripple flavours. Tofutti ice cream is truly delicious and also vegan. You won’t believe that it’s made from soya because it’s so naughtily creamy. Try the chocolate flavour – it’s hard to beat. Find all of these in health food shops and some supermarkets. Don’t forget to look out for sorbets too.

Yoghurt: all supermarkets produce their own brand yoghurts and most are suitable for vegetarians, but watch out for very low fat, thick or custard-style yoghurts, as gelatine is often used to give them their thicker texture. Original Ski yoghurt is fine, but for a completely dairy-free option, try Provamel Yofu (from Tesco and health food shops), it’s available in Summer Fruits, Natural, Peach & Mango, Red Cherry and many other delicious flavours. Some of the Yofu range is organic and all of it is suitable for vegans.

Cold Desserts: we found loads, ranging from individual servings to puds big enough for the whole family! Cheese cake fans should look out for McVities Devonshire Cheese Cake in Blackcurrant flavour, Waitrose New York Cheesecake and Asda Chocolate Praline Baked Cheesecake. Alternatively, head for Marks & Spencer for their Raspberry, Lemon or Toffee Cheesecakes. You get two, so you can either share with a friend or save one for later! Other Marks and Spencer’s cold desserts include: Champagne & Strawberry Souffle, Zesty Lemon Meringue and Chocolate Layer Gateaux. Or try Somerfield Profiteroles or Asda Cappucino & Walnut Gateaux and Summer Fruit Meringue Roulade. And better still, Sainsburys fabulous Free From Toffee & Walnut Iced Dessert made from soya not dairy.

Hot Puds: there is now a lot of choice if you are a fan of the traditional English pud! Head to Asda for Jam Roly Poly; Lemon Curd Roly Poly and Spiced Apple Strudel. Marks & Spencer also have a good range including clotted Cream Rice Pudding and Sticky Toffee or Lemon Sponge Pudding! Co-op have three tinned sponge puddings; Chocolate, Golden Syrup or Mixed Fruit and all are equally good served with ice cream or custard. Also try the Heinz tinned sponge pudding range, they are absolutely gorgeous! And for the perfect custard to pour lovingly over them try Provamel’s egg-free custard – available in supermarkets. If you prefer something a little lighter look for the Waitrose range of ‘French Style Tarts’: choose from Apricot, Lemon, Apple or Pear, they’re all delicious.

Next Section: Drink And Be Merry!