As ‘Earth Week’ Continues, Virginia Bakery Says Why Not Sweeten Things Up

Cakes By Happy Eatery Celebrates Green Living with Vegan and plant-based treats

MANASSAS, VA, USA, April 24, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Earth Day has evolved into Earth Week, and for many, April itself has become “Earth Month”, and most of the culture, the general acceptance of embracing lower impact, green living is almost becoming commonplace.

“The goal of Earth Day was always that every day be Earth Day,” says Victoria Wu, one of two sisters who took over their parents’ popular bakery and café, Cakes By Happy Eatery, that is a staple in Manassas, Virginia. “Who says that doesn’t include the sweet treats that make everyday life more fun and enjoyable? You can work wonders with natural ingredients that taste and look great.”

Victoria and her sister and bakery partner Emily Wu-Rorrer both noticed a dramatic uptick in interest in vegan and plant-based alternatives in the last decade and have fully embraced the trend with recipes and ideas that are healthier and fun to eat and create.

Wu-Rorrer is a working mother and is sensitive to making more serious holidays like Earth Day fun and engaging for everyone in the family – especially the kids. “Creating and decorating delicious treats makes it easier for kids to get excited about this holiday,” she says. “Vegan and plant-based options are healthier anyway, but if it tastes good, the kids will buy in!”

The bakery is doing more and more dessert preparation with plant-based options and other healthier substitutions for more traditional ingredients: margarine, coconut oil, avocado, soy shortening, flax, olive, applesauce, or pumpkin puree are all used as butter substitutes in various recipes. Garbanzo bean flour, ground flax seed, chia seed, tofu, or aquafaba (garbanzo bean liquid) are all used as egg substitutes. Milk substitutes include soy, oats, rice, coconut, and other nut-based options.

“Chocolate literally grows on small tropical trees called Theobroma cacao or just cacao (pronounced ka-KOW) for short,” Wu says. “Eating plant-based food does not necessarily mean one has to be a vegetarian or vegan, but rather, incorporating more plant-based item to the overall diet and making healthier choices. Plus, if I bake three chocolate cakes and have you taste them, I dare you to pick the Vegan one — they’re delicious!”

Fun Earth Month theme options the Wu sisters recommend making with your kids during earth week include Dirt Pudding and worms (layers of chocolate cake and pudding topped with crushed cookie pieces and topped off with gummy worms; chocolate dipped pretzels with dark, white, or tinted chocolate dipped pretzels with the Earth Day colors of blue and green; and themed sugar decorated with the Earth Day symbols.

“A fun add-on to the cookie decoration activity is the ‘message cookie’,” says Wu-Rorrer. “Cut and ice heart shaped cookies. Using edible food-safe color markers, decorate and write a personalized message.”

The Wu sisters have adjusted to the many differences in diet preferences, which include the classic vegetarian diet, which can include animal proteins such as eggs and dairy. Pescatarians consume seafood, but no meat or poultry. The Flexitarians have a heavy vegetarian diet with an occasional meat/seafood dish, whereas Vegans do not consume any animal proteins or meats. For example, honey is not vegan food since the product source is from an animal — bees! There are number of delicious honey substitutes – in addition to maple syrup (which like chocolate comes from a tree), agave nectar and molasses work very well in various recipes.

“For this year’s Earth Month we’re seeing a lot of (dark) chocolate bark with dried fruit and nuts, vegan cookies with non-dairy chocolate chips, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, and so on,” says Wu. “You can’t go wrong with fruit pies or a cinnamon brown sugar vegan butter crumble. We also love vegan butter cups and Chocolate Vegan cake!”

Wu appeared last week on Fox 5 DC's Lion Lunch Hour to discuss all these and other options, with special attention to the bakery’s signature Chocolate Vegan Cake: https://www.fox5dc.com/video/1444832. For more information about vegan, vegetarian and plant-based desserts, go to www.cakesbyhappyeatery.com.

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About Cakes By Happy Eatery

Known regionally for their inventive, fabulous and versatile creations in the kitchen, Cakes By Happy Eatery was founded in 1984 by Woei and Fu-Mei Wu and have been Manassas since 2009. Two of their daughters – Victoria and Emily –operate the business today and have since 2000, although their mother Fu-Mei still comes in almost every day and is still the defacto matriarch. The sisters create and design custom cakes and dessert bars that showcase every kind of special occasion, event or season, producing pieces of art that taste incredibly delicious. Their full-service bakery includes an onsite café for dining throughout the day, and also operate a thriving catering business featuring cakes are baked from scratch daily and never frozen (besides ice cream cakes) by a team of very talented bakers and pastry chefs.

Victoria and Emily are both regularly featured as guests and dessert experts on NBC, FOX, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Maryland, DC, and is known for showcasing cutting-edge trends and creative recipes and presentation designs. For further information go to www.cakesbyhappyeatery.com

Richard Matthews
MCM
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