Golden Mean Vegan Café's Vanilla Coconut Cake: Great Vegan Cake Doesn't Have to be a Contradiction in Terms

By Ali Trachta Wed., Jan. 19 2011 at 3:54 PM

A. Trachta

We're just as pro-nutrition as the next food enthusiast. Quinoa is our side of choice these days over mashed potatoes. We can't live without kale in our salads, and slip flaxseed into our morning antioxidant smoothies as often as possible. But when we want to eat cake, we want to eat cake. The dessert course is not where we look to cut back. Hence our skepticism of the vegan, organic, wheat-free, no refined sugar Vanilla Coconut cake from Golden Mean Café in Santa Monica.

Vegan baking is certainly nothing new, but unless you actually avoid eggs and cheese (which was breakfast this morning so, no) we always thought, why bother? Man up and eat a real dessert. However, a recent accidental purchase of vegan chocolate chip cookies from Trader Joe's, which turned out to be delicious and somewhat lower calorie than your typical Toll House, made us rethink shunning the category entirely.

Hence our pilgrimage to the Golden Mean in pursuit of more vegan baked goods.

The café opened in April 2010 and specializes in vegan, organic cuisine. Owners Aaron Glassman and fiancée Anahita Tehrani tell us many of their customers are carnivores, originally dragged in by some meat-averse comrade, who continue to come back for veggie versions of their favorite comfort foods they feel less slothful after eating.

For us, comfort comes in the form of sweetness, so we put their coconut cake to the test. First thing, we were pleased to note that despite the lack of refined sugar, this cake was very sweet. Almost too sweet, some would say, though that's not a complaint we frequently employ. Golden Mean uses Sucanat, agave and coconut sugar in their baked goods, and they're doing their job. Second, even without real eggs and milk, dryness was not an issue in the least. A combination of egg replacer and coconut milk is used instead of the regular animal products, the latter of which provides massive moistness, enhances the coconut flavor and adds an additional "robustness" factor. In other words, the cake is quite filling, which can be a good thing should you choose to make it your lunch. (Not that we know anything about that.)

As for calorie count, Glassman was coy. He doesn't disclose an exact number (in fact he may not even know it) but insists it's lower than your average slice. Even if it weren't, it wouldn't matter. We're after great-tasting food, and this cake more than satisfies.

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Golden Mean Vegan Cafe

1028 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA

Category: Restaurant

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Ali Trachta, Golden Mean Vegan Cafe, Vanilla Cocoonut Cake, Vegan Baking

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HALLEGIRL

I love this cafe! Im not vegan but their coconut cake is my favorite cake of all time!

Jim

Aren't humans amazing? They kill wildlife - birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.

Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.

So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases.

Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.

Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and then call for Peace on Earth.

~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald's Factory Farm by C. David Coates~

_____________

Anyone can break this cycle of violence! Everyone has the power to choose compassion! Please visit these websites to align your core values with life affirming choices: http://veganvideo.org & http://tryveg.com

"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Arby Trent Darby, Ph.D.

So, what chemical do they use for sweetness if not "refined" sugar? Unless it's one of the very few that don't raise blood sugar significantly -- Splenda (sucralose), e.g. -- you have many of the same problems that sugar causes.

"...veggie versions of their favorite comfort foods they feel less slothful after eating." That statement seems to reflect a silly understanding of nutrition. You feel “slothful” after eating too much carbohydrate and fat. Protein, the ingredient of non-vegan desserts that is largely missing from vegan versions, tends to cause mental sharpness, not sloth. Experiment with the concept. Tomorrow morning have your eggs without cheese or other dairy, no bread or potatoes, and no sweetener other than, say, Splenda, and compare it to your normal carb-loaded fare (just a guess). I’m not saying live your life like this -- just check occasionally on how some people stay skinny.

Ali Trachta

Arby - good question. They use Sucanat, agave and coconut sugar. I'm going to add it to the post. Thanks!

lynn @ the actor's diet

i think golden mean vegan makes the best vegan desserts i've tasted - and i've tried a bunch! their cupcakes are great too - i've never tried the cake (but now i need to)