Uk Icing Sugar (Brand Leader) Not Vegan Friendly!!
Decorating By shelbell2482 Updated 25 Oct 2010 , 8:20pm by shelbell2482
Recently I had to make a vegan cake for a frinds little girl.
I did some research as never done one before. I got my ingredients all vegan friendly, and was hoping to do her a lovely sugarpaste (fondant) covered cake until I noticed on the icing sugar box it says, 'May contain traces of egg' So I went on their website to investigate (the brand is the UK leader - the one with the shiney cutlery on - you know the one)
Now I searched their website and revealed nothing to help me, nothing about the egg traces or the method in which they make their product, So can not clarify one way or the other.
I did however come across some other interesting useful information from other sites that I googled. Apparently when making icing / confectioners sugar 'some' companies use animal bone char to grind the sugar up into a powder which if any vegan was to know they would never eat the stuff. I phoned my local health food shop to see if they had any alternative, but was told that the icing sugar I was using IS vegan friendly, I quickly informed the shop owner that it contains 'traces of egg' and the method in which it is made. She was astonished to hear my findings. Just thought it may be of interest. Worth looking into a little more I think.
Unfortunately not, In the end I got some dairy free milk chocolate all vegan friendly, melted it and poured over the top of the cake. I used some melted white chocolate to pipe circles on top of the milk chocolate (all still warm) and flicked the circles outwards to make stars. Looked ok once dried, nothing spectacular but the little girl was so happy she finally had a birthday cake she could eat, she'd never been able to eat one before, her mum used to buy a cake from the supermarket, she would blow out the candles and her mum would cut it up for the guests to take home but she could never have any.
I am told she ate until she could no more!!!
I would love to find an alternative icing sugar I could use but not getting anywhere! Any ideas?
i know it is possible to make your own icing sugar, if you have a strong enough blender, But im not sure if regular sugar is vegan or not, That would have to be checked out first :/
Wow, I didn't realise that vegans would be put off by a 'may contain traces of...' warning! In all actuality there are probably no traces of egg in there whatsoever...but the company puts that on there just IN CASE, so that if someone consumed their product and had a severe allergic reaction to the tiniest, tiniest amount that happened to make its way into one packet, then they'd covered themselves legally.
I could never be vegan - what a nightmare it'd be trying to find products you CAN eat!!
I know its each to thier own on choices of what food we eat and dont but I really feel for this child as it is down to the parent and not the child to be a vegan/veggie etc. How cruel to be given a birthday cake blow the candles out and not be allowed to eat any!!!
I know its each to thier own on choices of what food we eat and dont but I really feel for this child as it is down to the parent and not the child to be a vegan/veggie etc. How cruel to be given a birthday cake blow the candles out and not be allowed to eat any!!!
Totally agree! 
I know its each to thier own on choices of what food we eat and dont but I really feel for this child as it is down to the parent and not the child to be a vegan/veggie etc. How cruel to be given a birthday cake blow the candles out and not be allowed to eat any!!!
I couldn't agree more!
Allergies are one thing. Of course an allergic child would have to be kept safe from consuming something that could/does contain ingredients to which they're allergic, but being a vegan is a CHOICE being made by the parent FOR the child.
Nothing whatsoever would have happened to that poor little thing had she eaten a piece of her "contaminated" birthday cake from the grocery store.
Now, instead of some nice birthday memories, she gets to recall everyone being able to eat her cake, but HER............. 
Rae
Now there are some folks who are vegan/vegetarian for religious reasons so it isn't always a "choice" in the purest sense of the word. Some denominations of Hinduism require vegetarianism altho some don't. You wouldn't think twice about doing a kosher cake if you lived in an area with a large observant Jewish population and I have done vegan cake for my Hindu business partner and her father - it was delicious and they were very appreciative that I took the time to make something that was consistent with their religious observances.
For some, veganism is a moral choice.
Isn't chocolate made with dairy? That wouldn't be vegan.
I was in Chipotle today and it occurred to me that the employees don't change gloves when they put together the vegan salad. Traces of meat could be on those gloves. It made me wonder what vegetarians think of that or if they even notice?
Just to clear one thing up.
The child I made the cake for is serverely dairy and egg intollerent so it was easier to make her a vegan cake. Once I mentioned to her mother about covering the cake with fondant as it only had icing sugar in it, she said she couldn't have it due to the egg trace in it, so i of course checked this out.
Again, all the chocolate I used was 'dairy free', I got it from the allergy free range at my local supermarket.
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