Sharon Valencik is the author of the book Sweet Utopia. Sharon is currently hard at work developing the sequel to Sweet Utopia, called World Utopia. She recently took time out to give us more background on her decadent creations! For more information about Sharon, visit her at: http://www.sweetutopia.com/
Sweet Utopia is filled with beautiful pictures of your tasty vegan desserts, how important was it for you to include so many more pictures than other vegan cookbooks?
Having lots of pictures in the book was so important to me so that I could show everyone how scrumptious looking these desserts really are! One of my goals for the book was to provide beautiful, delicious, simple desserts that also happen to be vegan. No sacrifice for anyone who wants great dessert. Showing the natural attractiveness of the desserts is really important. If you can tantalize people this way, they’ll be interested in making these desserts.
Coming from a lineage of artistic chef matriarchs, how difficult was it to create the decadent desserts yet still keep them vegan?
Creating methods and techniques for vegan desserts definitely was an interesting process that involved a certain level of expertise, plus a lot of experimentation, creativity, trial and error, because you can’t just replace eggs or other ingredients. But now that I’ve done all the work, it’s easy for people to follow my simple directions to produce great results.
How important is travelling for you in order to be creative with the food and desserts you prepare?
It’s very important for me to step outside day-to-day life to explore new creations with ethnic twists. I get ideas everywhere and then reinvent them into new vegan desserts. My goal is always to bring fresh ideas into desserts, while keeping them simple to make at home, yet exotic enough to be a breath of fresh air.
How important is it for non-vegans to stick to the ingredients you list for the integrity of each dessert to come together as you intended?
It’s very important because I worked very hard to pin down ingredients, quantities and techniques to ensure the success of the recipes, while keeping them simple. I provide substitution tables for certain ingredients in the book, so those can be used as needed.
Do you take a particular creative philosophy in mind when incorporating dimensions of tastes you want to imbue in your desserts for unfamiliar palettes?
My philosophy is simple–it’s all about maintaining familiar tastes while maximizing deliciousness.
What can we expect from your second book World Utopia?
You can expect a colorful, beautifully photographed book filled with gorgeous, exciting, yet simple recipes inspired by my favorite international dishes. Lots of tapas, (appetizers or small dishes), which I love, and of course, international desserts. And fun spice combinations!