Some Tips on Baking Eggless Cakes
January 11th, 2016
You may be a fan of cakes and cookies, but you may have to forego biting into a piece if you have special dietary requirements. This is the situation of some people, who cannot consume eggs for some reasons.
For these people, there are eggless cakes. These include vegans, vegetarians and those, who have allergy to dairy products. Such cakes are made with egg substitutes both natural as well as commercial.
To successfully replace eggs in a recipe in a baking recipe, one must basically understand its role in the recipe. The function of eggs in baking is to moisten batter or to act as binders or leavening agents.
- Binders: If eggs are binders in the recipe, it can be replaced by Soy Lecithin, Arrow root, Flax seed mix, silken tofu, pureed vegetables or fruits and vegetarian Gelatine powder without flavour (Agar Agar). The measure is ¼ cup of substitute for every egg replaced. For binding, recipes generally call only for one egg. Most ingredients like softened tofu, pureed fruits and apple sauce might be used instead of eggs to bind the dry ingredients into dough. Lack of binding agents might cause baked goods to be crumbly and dry.
- Leavening: If eggs function as leavening agents, yogurt, butter milk, commercial powders of egg replacers and baking soda can be used instead. You can swap eggs for 15 ml of baking soda mixed with 15 ml of warm water. Baking soda is a mix of cornstarch and baking powder, which creates bubbles of carbon dioxide when exposed to liquids. This effect cause baked goods to rise and become light and fluffy.
- Moistening: If eggs are intended for moisture, pureed fruit, fruit juice, water or milk can be used.
Common egg substitutes in baking are:
- Commercial egg replacers
- Flax seed meal
- Silken tofu
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Fruit puree
- Condensed milk
- Yogurt/ buttermilk
- Lime juice/lemon
Eggs act as a binder for other ingredients. They also serve as leavening agents that infuse air into batter or dough to help them rise. Without eggs, baked goods are seldom light and fluffy. Eggless baking can yield wonderful results if you add the correct replacements for eggs.
A commonly used substitute for eggs is commercial egg substitute products. According to the manufacturer, ingredients of commercial substitutes can vary from each other. Most products contain egg by-products like egg whites and are usually used to reduce fats and calories in the recipe rather than function as a substitute for eggs. Hence, they are not suited for vegans and those with dairy allergies. For diary free replacements, one can go in for ingredients like xanthan gum, tapioca flour, potato starch etc.
Here are some tips for eggless baking:
- Preheat oven and place cake pan in centre
- Avoid over beating the batter without eggs lest cakes sink in middle
- Allow cake to cool at least for 10 minutes before removing cake from pan and turn into wire rack.
- Sour curd can be used for self raising flour for the baked cake to rise.
- Agar is a good alternative to 1 or 2 egg whites in recipes. Whisk well and use.
These are some ways in which you can bake eggless cakes. If you are not confident about baking cakes yourself, go in for online cake ordering and wait for cake delivery. Reliable websites will make the process simple and efficient.