You don’t have to be a vegan to enjoy vegan food.
That’s our philosophy.
Aimee, who runs the Lucky Cat Company in Brighton, takes it one step further.
‘You don’t have to give up good things just because you’re a vegan.’
‘I swear my vegan friends and I spend more time talking about food, trying different dishes and enjoying new tastes than my meat-eating friends!’
A vegetarian almost all her life and vegan for more than 20 years, Aimee has established her own little world of vegan treats.
Lucky Cat makes sweet, creamy fudge, cheesecakes, tiffin and other delights without any animal products.
The Sweetie Witch
Aimee, aka The Sweetie Witch, stands among her bubbling pots in her Brighton kitchen, dreaming up a range of flavour combinations which she mixes with the help of a few power-tools!
Using coconut milk and coconut sugar instead of refined sugar gives a smooth consistency with no granulation. And her flavours are wonderful – salted caramel, peanut butter, chocolate, vanilla, mint… the list is endless.
Pork Belly’s a bit of a fudge purist. He likes it creamy and smooth, not crumbly, and has never found a vegan version that meets his criteria.
Until now.
Aimee is delighted that more people are making the effort to become vegan-friendly, even if they can’t give up animal products altogether.
‘I’d never claim fudge is healthy, but mine uses fantastic ingredients which are more sustainable, and I make sure all my packaging is environmentally-friendly too.’
So whether you’re fully vegan, just beginning to dabble with plant-based alternatives or simply fancy a delectable treat, look out for Lucky Cat Fudge.
How to find Lucky Cat Fudge
It’s stocked in a number of shops across the country and if you’re in Brighton you can visit Aimee’s stall at Brighton’s Open Market, London Road, just a 6 minute walk from Brighton station.
Find her on Facebook for her latest news
Not into fudge?
Here are a few more vegan treats to try.
We’re based in the UK so have featured ones we can buy here, although we’ve seen some amazing vegan desserts on our travels in America, despite the huge emphasis there on the dairy industry.
Chocolate
My downfall is Divine! I can resist most chocolate these days, but Divine’s fair-trade, dark, vegan options are simply stupendous.
Divine trades with cocoa farmers directly, and it’s these farmers who own the largest share of the business, so the company puts its profits where its mouth is.
We don’t believe you should ever feel guilty for eating any food, but it’s nice to indulge in a little something that gives your conscience a healthy glow. So when a choccy treat is on our table, it’s most likely to be Divine.
Biscuit butter
You know those little biscuits you get with your coffee in smart cafés? The ones based on the delicious speculoos biscuits so beloved by the Dutch? Don’t they taste amazing?
It may surprise you to learn they are vegan – and so is the Biscoff caramelised biscuit spread, made by the same people, Lotus. So now you can have it by the spoonful on your toast or straight from the jar, and it’s available in most supermarkets.
Warning – it’s seriously addictive!
Vegan ice cream
Naturally, our list of treats includes plenty of ice-cream. Vegan options are pretty well covered nowadays with plenty of plant-based alternatives in supermarkets and cafés, but many are over-priced, over-sweet and a bit bland.
We love the vegan choices at both Boho Gelato and JoJos in our home city of Brighton.
But what about when you’re on the beach and have a hankering for an old style Mr Whippy? In our home city we have the V360 Plant Based Café which has a reasonably priced and tasty version with either an Oreo or mint thin instead of the traditional flake.
Tofurei in Norwich, Norfolk has just launched a vegan whippy style ice cream made for them by Ronaldo’s. Using soya beans grown in East Anglia makes it even more sustainable.
Instant cake mix
Pork Belly believes in cooking from scratch and making every cake unique, but now and then he will cheat with a cake mix to knock together a quick treat.
One of his favourites is Betty Crocker’s Devil’s Food cake mix. There are no animal products in the mix itself, and all you have to do is use an egg alternative or experiment with aquafaba.
The cake comes out rich and delicious and with their shiny dairy-free chocolate frosting no-one will even guess it’s vegan.
Alpro Greek style plant-based yogurt
It is just sooo rich, creamy and delicious that we’ve included it as a treat, but I confess to having it most days for breakfast! Even Pork Belly, who loves a traditional yogurt, adores this one. Some Alpro yogurts are thin and to be honest a little synthetic, but this captures the essence of a traditional Greek yogurt.
So…
Is there someone near you who makes wonderful vegan treats? Or have you found an unexpected gem in the bagging area at your supermarket check-out?
We’d love to know. Drop us a line in the comments below, so we can try them for ourselves.
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