Swedish Students Develop Vegan Mud Cake Mix

Engineering students at the University of Lund in Sweden recently developed a vegan mud cake mix as part of a Food Technology course. The students were inspired to create the mix—which is also gluten-free and only requires the addition of oil and water to create cake batter—after they noticed a lack of plant-based options in Sweden. The students found that their engineering skills came in handy as they explored options for replacing eggs and gluten on a molecular level. The final product is comprised of fiber-rich psyllium husk used as a binding agent (instead of eggs) and a mix of almond and toasted chickpea flour. “The vegan market is growing, that is obvious,” project participant Anna Telfser says. “In addition, this product only contains natural ingredients,” he continues, “something for which there is high consumer demand.” Students all over the world are creating innovative products in the plant-based industry, including those currently enrolled in UC Berkeley’s plant-based meat class—the first of its kind offered in a university setting.