Gearing Up For Veganuary

I have spent the last couple of days stocking up on vegan items ready for the start of Veganuary tomorrow and I think I'm just about sorted. I don't get much time to prepare meals from scratch so I've opted for products that are quick and easy and that I can just bung in the oven when I get home from a busy day at work. Most of it is vegan junk food so if you you are looking for healthy this probably isn't the place for you. During the whole of January I will be blogging about the meals I eat and the products I use and hope that I don't slip up anywhere.

Until now I have maintained a mainly vegetarian diet with some vegan products thrown in. I already use almond milk on vegan cereal's and in tea and I use dairy free butter and spreads. Already being vegetarian has it's advantages as now all I have to do is cut out the dairy consumption and that's not something I tend to eat a lot of anyway although I must admit I had gone a little down hill during Christmas eating dairy chocolate.

While I'm here I'd like to say how excited I am to finally find 'Vegan Life' magazine in a branch of WH Smiths... I had been looking for it in the shops for ages after I had bought a one off copy at Vegfest. I think my quiet New Years Eve is going to be spent having a good old read.

Lastly I would like to share with you a great find, and if you are lucky you might still be able to get your hands on a copy in 'The Works.' It's the fabulous book by Ms. Cupcake called 'The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town' (bargain price of £5.99) which I intend on actually using. I'm terrible with cook books of any kind... I buy them but then they sit gathering dust but I definitely must make the effort with this one after sampling one of Ms. Cupcakes delicious cupcakes in her Brixton shop this year (one of my highlights).

Enjoy your New Year celebrations and I'll see you on the other side.

A Visit to Ms. Cupcake

I have nothing but good things to say about my visit to Ms. Cupcake, London's first entirely vegan bakery. This gem of a place is located on Coldharbour lane in Brixton, just a five minute walk from Brixton underground station. I took my 15 year old niece along with me to sample some of their top quality wares. On entering the shop we were greeted by a friendly staff team which immediately made us feel at ease. The first thing I noticed were a range of vegan sweet products in front of the food preparation area which I quickly got excited about, especially when I saw the packets of marshmallows. I haven't been able to eat marshmallows since becoming veggie so I knew I had to snap some of these up along with a couple of other items that caught my eye.

When we moved towards the cupcake display counter I knew that deciding on just one cupcake would be an impossible task but I managed it. There were so many amazing looking cupcake's with different coloured icing. It was like looking at a work of art.

I chose the 'apple custard crumble' while my niece opted for the 'red velvet' cupcake and we couldn't have been more pleased with our choices. We also couldn't resist ordering two milkshakes; one chocolate and one Oreo which were bought out to our table when they were ready. My milkshake was very chocolaty, just the way I like it. Unfortunately there was no seating inside the shop due to it's small capacity but luckily it was warm enough to pull up a chair outside.

We must have been there for about an hour having a good old chin wag and watching the world go by before reluctantly leaving. Being my first vegan cupcake experience I was pleasantly surprised at how similar tasting these cupcakes were compared to ones that contain dairy products. I would say that there was no difference in taste what soever, therefore I would happily recommend Ms. Cupcake to those who aren't vegetarian or vegan. I will definitely be back at some point to try out their savoury treats and cookies. Check out the website to find out what else they have to offer.