Vegetarian smarties

[CrumbDel]

Hiya all,

I haven't formally introduced myself just yet but I hope to be poking around here quite a bit. I'm doing some urgent research for my cake business which caters for vegetarian/Muslim/Jewish etc people and completely alcohol free.

I was recently informed that Smarties are not suitable for vegetarians and upon contacting Nestle directly I have been informed that they contain animal rennet *big fat grumble and sulk* - there goes my childhood memories and treats!

Anyway, I used Samrties on my cupcake truffles but I now need an alternative and I'll be honest, I'm pretty much a dunce when it comes to vegetarianism despite being one (unofficially!! - I'm Muslim so don't eat meat or things unless they say halal, if you know what I mean...) I want to know if there are any alternatives to using Smarties. I don't know where to look and I'm hoping one of you lovely, bright people might be able to help me out

Thanking you all

[Sue]

Hello CrumbDel

Welcome to Healthypages.

Maybe you could substitute those 'forbidden' childhood sweeties for carob coated raisins.? They might be an even nicer topping for cupcake truffles.

all the best

[CarolineN]

Hi there and welcome!

There are all sorts of things you could use to decorate your cupcakes. You can pipe your decorations with fudge or royal icing. There are plenty of books which can explain how to make them and it's great fun learning and experimenting - you can pipe flowers, beads, teardrops, leaves, stars - and because you make the icing you know exactly what is in it.

There are silver sugar balls and various other shapes and sprinkles available to use for cake decoration to buy. A search for cake decorations on the web comes up with an amazing selection.

Another thing you could do is make sugared flowers - using edible flowers coated with edible glue or egg white and sprinkled with sugar and air dried.

The possibilities are endless and you can have great fun creating your own designs!

[CrumbDel]

Thank you for the welcome ladies

Hiya Sue, thank you for the reply. Can I just ask, what is carob? Sorry, I genuinely haven't got a clue. I'm not sure raisins would work well on this unfortunately but I will keep an open mind

Hi CarolineN and thank you for the reply. All the piping and different toppings isn't an issue as I already make them but I'm specifically after coloured chocolate buttons to decorate my cupcake truffles. (not that I'm promoting it here) but if you pop along to my website or facebook page you'll see that it's a cake ball but I've decorated it to look like a tiny cupcake and the decor is a chocolate smartie. I quite like it so would prefer something along those lines. It's different to all the other decorating I already such as making my own flowers, gold and silver balls etc

Whilst I'm here can I also ask about different types of vegetarians...
I make marshmallow cupcakes and can now get marshmallows suitable for vegetarians but I need to know if my cakes are suitable for vegetarians.
If my cakes contain butter, eggs and milk would some vegetarians eat them? I know vegans are very strict no egg, milk, cheese, etc but is there a name for vegetarians who DO eat egg, milk and cheese?
Is there another name for vegetarians who don't eat egg but eat the other stuff? Is there a name for vegetarians who have milk but not the other stuff etc?

If that makes sense. Sorry if it sounds really silly but I'm hoping I can just say "I cater for such-and-such type vegetarians" rather than explaining it all like this and waffling :P

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[Angelic Light]

You can get vegan "smarties" here:

Vegan Store: Whizzers

[CrumbDel]

Angelic light... you are a star!!! Sorry for the late reply, off to order some now, will let you know what I think Thank you xx

[lovemyveggies]

Originally Posted by CrumbDel

Whilst I'm here can I also ask about different types of vegetarians...
I make marshmallow cupcakes and can now get marshmallows suitable for vegetarians but I need to know if my cakes are suitable for vegetarians.
If my cakes contain butter, eggs and milk would some vegetarians eat them? I know vegans are very strict no egg, milk, cheese, etc but is there a name for vegetarians who DO eat egg, milk and cheese?
Is there another name for vegetarians who don't eat egg but eat the other stuff? Is there a name for vegetarians who have milk but not the other stuff etc?

If that makes sense. Sorry if it sounds really silly but I'm hoping I can just say "I cater for such-and-such type vegetarians" rather than explaining it all like this and waffling :P

Hi there - as far as I know there are 4 main types of vegetarian:

• lacto-ovo vegetarian - doesn't eat meat/fish/poultry but does eat dairy and eggs
  
• lacto vegetarian - doesn't eat meat/fish/poultry or eggs but does eat dairy
  
• ovo vegetarian - doesn't eat meat/fish/poultry or dairy but does eat eggs
  
• vegan - doesn't eat any animal products at all

I hope this helps :-)

[Angelic Light]

You're welcome, how did you get on? X