One of the biggest questions people ask when they're getting started with vegan baking is: how do I bake without eggs? You may be wondering how to make an eggless cake, or how to replace eggs in any recipe.
That's why I wrote this guide to vegan baking without eggs — because as the founder and owner of the award-winning vegan bakery, Curious Cat Bakery, I know a thing or 2 about making an eggless cake that still tastes good.
How to replace eggs in a recipe
The first step to baking without eggs is figuring out how important eggs are to your recipe, and whether they're replaceable. Anything more than three eggs is going to be a real challenge.
Next, you have to figure out the purpose of eggs in that recipe, and whether they're there as a binder to hold ingredients together, to add moisture, or add structure to help the cake rise. That will help you find the right egg replacer for your recipe. I walk you through that process in this video.
How to make a box cake without eggs
If you're looking to make a quick and easy vegan cake, you may consider making a box cake. Some box cake mixes are accidentally vegan, like the Betty Crocker yellow cake mix. You can use egg alternatives with these box cake mixes, with varying results.
One egg replacement you can try is club soda. I used one cup of club soda. If you use a liquid egg replacer like this, it's best to reduce other liquid ingredients in the cake to balance things out, so I omitted the water. This was the best egg replacement that I found.
I also tried applesauce and homemade vegan buttermilk as egg alternatives, but those both resulted in cakes that were too moist. You can watch the results of my vegan cake experiments here.
Best and worst egg substitutes
When it comes to the most common egg substitutes, I've tried them all! And I've figured out which are the best (and worst) ones.
Bananas
I'll start with bananas. Anyone who follows me knows I'm not a fan of using bananas in vegan baking. I would not recommend these as an egg substitute, unless you want your cake to taste like bananas or are trying to make it healthy. The same goes for pumpkin puree.
Applesauce
Applesauce is also a common egg replacer. It's great for things like muffins and denser cakes like zucchini bread. It gives your recipe a lot of moisture, but it's not going to help with structure or height.
Flax Egg or Chia Egg
The next egg substitute is flax egg or chia egg. They are a bit expensive and harder to find, and can result in a dry cake.
Baking Soda and Vinegar
My personal favorite egg replacer for making vegan cakes is a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. It will give your cake a lot of height, and there will be no vinegar taste.
I made a YouTube video walking you through the pros and cons of these egg substitutes and more. You can watch it here.