If you’re the kind that loves baking, then here’s a question to you, “Can you bake without eggs?”. For those of you who don’t have an answer to that, we’re going to blow your minds.
Substituting eggs for other ingredients allows you to experiment with your baking skills while discovering new flavors. This is an important skill to have in case you want to whip up something for your vegan friends. If not vegan, this can be quite useful to those with egg allergies as well.
And so, we will show you how to make a cake without eggs with tips and tricks to make sure you pick the right alternatives.
Why Are Eggs Necessary?
We totally understand why you might be hesitant in terms of using substitutes for eggs. However, if you look closely, you can see that there are other substances that can imitate the functions of eggs in a cake mix. Let’s see why we need eggs in the first place.
Acts as a Leavening Agent
The protein content of egg whites is quite high, which is ideal for baking. This is necessary for the light and fluffy feeling you get on your cakes. When you start whisking the egg into the batter, air pockets are created inside the mix (you will notice bubbles surfacing).
Inside the oven, these air pockets expand and give your cake a nice gentle lift.
Upon cooling, these pockets help keep the shape of the cake stable. This is why good cakes don’t crumble or lose their shape once you cut into them.
Moistens the Batter
This is another important trait eggs have that makes baking a breeze. The gooey texture of the egg whites allows you to mix all the powdered ingredients together.
Adding egg whites along with the yolk, gives the batter a liquid texture. Unlike cookies or biscuits, cakes need to be easy to swallow, and so, the oil and eggs help create a moist texture.
Binds the Ingredients
The liquid texture of eggs lets you whisk the batter easier. Once all the ingredients are placed in the bowl, adding eggs will create a thick liquid texture. This property is called binding. As the name suggests, a binding agent is anything that brings all the ingredients together.
If you stop using eggs and don’t use a proper substitute, your cake is bound to be doomed. What you might notice is that the cake would not be able to maintain its structure without the tin.
Furthermore, it is likely to break apart if you put a knife through it. And so, you need ingredients that can act as binding agents and bring your batter together.
How to Make Cake without Eggs
Let’s look into some of the other everyday items we can use as alternatives when making a cake.
Peanut Butter
Jam-packed with protein, one scoop of peanut butter will give you as much as one egg! Don’t think you’re only limited to peanut butter. Any other butter made from nuts will work just fine.
Cashew, almond, or peanuts, take your pick carefully as the butter will have an effect on the taste. For cakes, the flavor of peanut butter goes well with almost all base flavors. Whether it be chocolate or vanilla, you could always use that subtle hint of peanuts.
Protein Powder
As we stated earlier, the use of eggs gives your cake structure and stability. The core chemical that is responsible for it is protein. And so, we can easily substitute it for protein powder. This is an everyday item for those of you who really put in hours in the gym.
Now don’t directly put the powder into the batter because that would be counter-productive. For each egg, mix 1 tablespoon of protein powder to 3 tablespoons of water. This mixture should be just perfect for your strengthening the structure of your cake.
What’s more, you can also make cakes of different flavors depending on your protein powder. We suggest you use unflavored powder because that captures the true taste of cakes.
Ground Flaxseed
Flaxseeds are great companions to have when cooking frequently. You should have a small container of ground flaxseed lying around somewhere. Don’t worry if you don’t as they are easily available and affordable.
Similar to the protein powder, the ground flaxseed contains a lot of protein inside. All you need to do is mix it with water in a 1:3 ratio and stir until you have a thick solution. This will substitute one whole egg and act as a very good binding agent.
Tofu
When it comes to choosing alternatives, you can’t go better than tofu. This is a great option if you want that fresh-baked smell on your cakes.
The fact that tofu does not affect the taste allows you to keep the smell and taste more focused on the icing or frosting you put. You could bake a chocolate cake and use tofu, but nobody would ever be able to guess!
Baking Soda
Regular bakers don’t even need to go out to the store to get this. Baking soda has always been a common ingredient when baking any cake or cookies. And to go with it, you would need vinegar, which is also readily available in most kitchens.
For every egg, use a mixture containing 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Believe us when we say it will be nostalgic. You would be reminded of the times you made a volcano for a school project.
This fizzing increases the number of air pockets within the batter, creating a nice lift on your cake. This also influences the stability of the cake without having any sort of taste.
Fruit Puree
Fruit Purees are great substitutes for eggs in a cake batter. Not only will they give you a new sense of flavor, but it also gives off a refreshing vibe! Some tried and tested fruit purees include bananas, applesauce, avocados, and even pumpkin.
While adding newer sets of nutrients into your cake, you can also mix and match flavors. Banana and chocolate are well-known combos that people have tried, so make sure you give it a shot. You can easily mash bananas and avocados and mix them in with the batter if you don’t want off the shelf purees.
Yogurt
The thick texture of yogurt is perfect when you need to make your batter runny and easier to whisk. While greek yogurt is known to add a special taste of its own to your cake, regular yogurt should work fine. The creaminess of the liquid enhances the strength of the cake and keeps it moist.
Aquafaba
Okay, this might seem crazy, but what if we told you that you could use the liquid in canned beans to substitute eggs. You would probably seem surprised or make a face of some sort, but trust us because we’ve done our research.
This liquid is actually called Aquafaba, and it is highly rich in proteins. Once your beans or peas are submerged in the liquid, many nutrients move out into the liquid. Using a few spoons of this will moisten your cake and bind all the ingredients together.
What’s more, you will hardly get a hint of beans on your cake. We should warn you that the use of Aquafaba from chickpeas will influence the taste of your cake. Other than chickpeas, any other canned liquid will work just fine.
Conclusion
Knowing how to make cake without eggs is a crucial skill to have if you love baking. All the alternatives we mentioned work great when you want to bake a cake. At the end of the day, it all depends on your personal preference in terms of flavor. The availability of the ingredients also plays a role in driving your choice.