A slice of Caramel’s own eggless chocolate cake.
I have fond childhood memories of cooking with my mother and magically beating sticky egg whites into shiny, stiff peaks that then became airy and tender cakes. As an adult baker who doesn’t want to consume animal products, several late-night impulsive bakes and a few sugary failures taught me that some cakes can be just as enjoyable without this ingredient.
Why do we use eggs for baking?
For a baker, eggs are multitasking champions. Their yolks contain fat, which adds richness and flavor to the batter, and protein which binds both the water and fat elements, so has an emulsifying effect and makes the batter smooth and velvety.
Protein is also the main compound in egg white. Beating the egg whites stretches their proteins and creates a scaffold for the trapped air bubbles, which ultimately helps keep the cake rising and airy while baking.
So removing eggs from a cake recipe puts you at risk of making a crunchy, flat and limp dessert. To avoid this unintended fate, attention must be paid to the actions of all missing eggs.
Egg Alternatives and Why They Work
In my experience, a combination of baking soda, baking powder, and vinegar can ensure the fluffiness of a cake, while a slightly larger amount of fat, such as butter or oil, helps provide the richness and smoothness that egg yolks typically provide. .
There are other options to mimic the binding ability of eggs, including using 3 or more tablespoons of applesauce or mashed bananas for each egg, one teaspoon of ground flax seeds, and 3 tablespoons of warm water. Contains a naturally gel-like mixture of. However, for the simplest of batters, I’ve found that the right ratio of fat, liquids, and flour can be sticky enough on its own to keep an eggless cake from falling apart.
When I’m baking for a crowd, I often choose a simple eggless chocolate cake, which I bake in a rectangular dish, top with chocolate ganache and cut into squares and serve. On more ambitious days, I divide the batter between two round pans and use it as a starting point for a showstopping two-layer cake.
Best Eggless Chocolate Cake Recipe
I start by mixing non-dairy milk with apple cider vinegar or white vinegar, then let this mixture freeze while I sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a mixing bowl. Curing the milk breaks down some of its proteins, which helps keep the cake soft and moist. The acidity of the mixture means that it will react with the baking soda and this reaction will add air to the cake, and therefore make it rise.
In another bowl, I whisk the sugar, oil, more milk and vanilla. Next, I add the dry ingredients and whipped milk mixture to this bowl, first adding some flour mixture, then some whipped milk, then more flour mixture and so on until I run out of mixture. In which my last mixture is curdled milk.
Once I’ve mixed the batter enough so that there are no dry streaks left, I pour it into a greased pan lined with parchment paper and send it to bake at 180°C (350°F) for at least 30 minutes. I give. It’s important not to overmix your cake, as mixing too much or too vigorously will cause the gluten – the protein in wheat flour that makes bread chewy – to form too much structure too early in the cake making process. , resulting in a stickier and less tender cake.
I’m a nervous baker, so I always check the cake after 25 minutes – if it’s springy when touched and a knife comes out clean after piercing a hole in its center, the cake can leave the oven.
I recommend waiting 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan and placing it on a cooling rack. And no matter how good it smells, avoid adding your favorite toppings to this eggless dish until it’s completely cooled.
Vegan Chocolate Cake Ingredients:
What you need for one 23cm x 33cm rectangular pan or two 23cm round pans:
1 cup or 240 ml almond or other non-dairy milk
1 tablespoon or 15 ml apple cider or white vinegar
2 ¼ cups or 280 grams flour
1 cup or 100 grams cocoa powder
½ teaspoon or 3 grams baking soda
1 teaspoon or 5 grams baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons or 9 grams salt
1 ½ cups or 300 grams white sugar
¾ cup or 175 ml vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups or 360 ml almond or other non-dairy milk
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