Philip Khoury has worried for a while that the word “vegan” comes with negative connotations to many people. He’s seen it play out first-hand in Harrods food halls, where he’s worked for the past five years.

Some of his earliest creations didn’t sell when they put “vegan” in the name. When they took it out they became bestsellers.

Of the 20-odd vegan (he prefers the term plant-based) products he’s launched since becoming head pastry chef at the British institution, he rarely lets on to his peers before they’re tested.

“Sometimes you have to bring an idea to life, so people can taste it first,” he says. “I’d only reveal the bake was plant-based after the tasting was done, and the product signed off. I think the look on their face said it all.”

The 33-year-old, who has called London home for the past five years, is determined to make his new way of baking accessible for everyone, rebuilding family favourites and even some Australian favourites, lamingtons and Anzac biscuits, from the ground up.

He says you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy plant-based cakes and pastries, and dairy fans simply have to get over the stigma. His approach has captured the imagination of Britain’s foodie culture.

‘I’d only reveal the bake was plant-based after the tasting was done, and the product signed off. I think the look on their face said it all.’

If you pay even the slightest attention to the food scene in the UK you can’t hide from the boy from Oatlands, near Parramatta, at the moment. In the past month, he’s had a guest spot this month on Bake Off: The Professionals, rave reviews in The Times, heralded in the cooking pages of the Financial Times, and an appearance on the BBC TV’s much-loved Saturday Kitchen. He now gets recognised in the gym!

All the while Yotam Ottolenghi is raving about his chocolate fudge cake, a recipe using simple ingredients that is nonetheless radical because it contains no eggs or dairy and no unnecessary substitutes. It’s one of many reimagined plant-based recipes in his debut cookbook A New Way to Bake, which is selling like plant-based hotcakes and already into a second print run. It’s being translated to German next year.

Khoury’s secret to plant-based baking is to not only strip back the recipes to the most foundational elements, but to make it easy to make at home - but more importantly, remaking them with quality ingredients.

“Nearly all the recipes I could find called for margarines made from refined oils or hydrogenated fats or substitute ingredients only accessible in certain markets, along with other chemicals and additives,” says Khoury, who was honoured with an innovation award for “setting the standard in organic, natural, and seasonal pastry” at the prestigious La Liste awards in Paris earlier this month.

Khoury focuses instead on ingredients that are “natural” or “in their purest form” such as unrefined oils, nuts and plant-based milks, reformulating classic recipes with their wide-ranging properties in mind. To make vegan cream he whisks soya milk, with a little sugar to replicate the lactose found in milk, and adds coconut oil. To provide a golden colour and a little richness to his pastry – made with flour, olive oil, salt and water – he adds a bit of cooked sweet potato.

He says family favourite recipes now considered traditional were actually, not that long ago, hailed as new. Moist sponges and cakes evolved from breads that were enriched with honey and milk, and later sugar, butter and eggs. Eventually cooks found that if you beat the eggs or butter you could incorporate air, which then led to the creation of something that resembles cakes as we know them.

“The reason you have to use so much butter in baking is that the gluten in the flour and the eggs gel together and become tough, so you end up having to use extra fat to make it soft again,” he says.

“But if you remove the eggs and replace them with water – after all, eggs are 90 per cent water – you have to reduce the fat content by 60 per cent anyway.”

Ultimately, he says, the removal of eggs and dairy often results in a simpler recipe. The mousse top layer in his two-tone chocolate cake, for instance, contains three ingredients: plant-based milk, sugar and dark chocolate. These are mixed and refrigerated then whipped.

The high fat in the cocoa butter delivers the aerated mousiness you expect from eggs. The sponge base contains flour, sugar, extra-virgin olive oil, dark chocolate, plant-based milk and baking powder, whose leavening qualities render the fluffy texture that otherwise comes from beating butter and eggs.

Khoury, who worked at Peter Gilmore’s Quay Restaurant before ending up as head of research and development with acclaimed patissier Adriano Zumbo, describes himself as “flexitarian” – a person who has a primarily vegetarian diet but occasionally eats meat or fish. He was driven towards plant-based baking through his concerns about climate change while feeling helpless during the pandemic.

“I just felt a bit like ‘what can I do about it as someone who just makes cakes?’ ” he says. “So I wanted to lead by example. It’s not about eliminating dairy but showing people there are other ways.”

Khoury is more enthusiastic about this than evangelical. He set out three years ago to write a bible for plant-based baking – the one he wishes he’d had when he started out. All 80 recipes are broken down into simple, digestible steps and tips, with QR codes for those who’d prefer to watch.

“I’m not saying this is the best way or the right way,” he says. “It’s just more ways to enjoy some of your favourite cakes.

“I think ultimately, if you are interested in baking, these are just more things that you can add to the repertoire. It’s a new way to bake.”

Banana tatin cake recipe

This banana cake is like any upside-down cake, where the fruit is cooked with caramel or muscovado sugar underneath the cake, which soaks up the excess syrup from the cooking fruit. This is one of those impressive to eat but simple to make teatime cakes that can be whipped up easily. It’s great as a slice of cake or warmed slightly and served as a dessert with a scoop of ice-cream or pouring cream on the side.

INGREDIENTS

• 80g muscovado sugar (1)
• 5 whole bananas
• 300g bananas, peeled
• 100g muscovado sugar (2)
• 200g plant-based milk
• 10g vanilla bean paste
• 50g extra virgin olive oil
• 240g plain flour
• 10g baking powder
• 1 tsp (4g) bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ tsp (1g) salt
• ice-cream, cream or fresh whipping cream to serve (optional)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional) and line the base of a 23cm springform tin with baking paper. Sprinkle the muscovado sugar (1) in an even layer onto the baking paper in the tin.
2. Before peeling the five bananas, lay them flat on a cutting board and cut them in half. Peel off the skins, then arrange the banana halves, flat-side down, in the tin, starting on one side of the tin so the bananas line up concurrently – trim if needed.
3. Mash the 300g of banana in a large bowl, then add the muscovado sugar (2), milk, vanilla paste and olive oil and mix to combine.
4. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to another large bowl and mix gently with a whisk to combine and “sieve” the flour. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold in until just combined.
5. Pour the batter over the bananas in the lined tin, then cover the batter with kitchen foil and fold the sides over to capture some steam.
6. Bake for 30 minutes with the foil on, then remove the foil and bake for another 5–10 minutes so the top dries out and gets some colour.
7. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin set on a wire rack, then run a sharp knife against the edge of the tin to release the sides.
8. Turn the cake out onto a plate so the banana is on top and serve on its own or with ice-cream, cream or a dollop of whipped cream. This cake keeps well in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days.

Makes a 23cm cake

A New Way to Bake: Re-imagined Recipes for Plant-based Cakes, Bakes and Desserts by Phillip Khoury, Hardie Grant, RRP $55.