February 14, 2022 - 4:25pm
Cake batter that has no eggs but must use milk
Hi All, I have spent the past 9 years perfecting all of my baking to accommodate my son’s severe food allergies.
He recently passed a baked milk challenge and I am to bake cakes with at least 1 cup of milk in it. Unfortunately I cannot use eggs because he is allergic to them. I have spent the past week trying to make a moist cake that has milk and no eggs in it. I have had no success. They are dense and aren’t cooking all the way through.
Help please! Thank you for any insight!
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I haven't baked it but this one looks good: https://mommyshomecooking.com/egg-free-vanilla-cake-recipe/
1) Not sure what flour you are using, but you could try a specialized cake flour instead of AP flour. Cake and pastry flour has less protein and more starch and yields a softer crumb.
2) Animal-friendly (vegan) diets use an "egg replacer" product that you can find at health food stores. It is usually a mix of tapioca starch and potato starch and typical application calls for about a teaspoon added to your flour.
3) There are also other techniques for making a dough softer using tapioca starch. One method is from China called the "Tangzhong" method. Basically you take a small bit of tapioca and some water and heat it lightly on the stove until it turns into a gel. You mix this gel thoroughly into your dough and it creates a softer, lighter crumb. The theory is that the gel helps bread dough retain more moisture. I have used it for some sandwich breads and rolls and they indeed turn out very soft.
Now (3) is a bread technique but I think that if you are using an AP flour then adding a bit of tapioca flour could help soften the overall crumb. This would require experimentation and you might just try looking for a good vegan or GF cake recipe that uses tapioca in the crumb itself.
I've used the 'juice' from canned chickpeas to make eggless meringues before, eg. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-meringues
Think it should work for cake too but have never tried.
Aquafaba is a perfect egg replacement.
If the cake compliments these flavours you can also use applesauce or banana. Then there's flaxseed or chia egg replacement.
I believe a tangzhong can work very well too.
These should give you something to work with,
25 Delicious Eggless Cakes & Desserts - A Baking Journey
Here's my favourite childhood cake recipe. It was from a Fry's Cocoa recipe booklet. The original recipe just didn't have eggs! This has been recopied several times and includes my mother's notes. I assume it's 1 tsp vanilla, not a tbsp. It makes a small cake and I used to double it as a matter of course. I normally used different icing, too.
Cocoa-Banana Cake ( egg free and can be dairy free)
Sift /mix together:
½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp salt (optional)
Blend together:
3/4 cup milk or soy milk
½ cup mashed banana
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vanilla
Make a well in centre of dry ingredients. Add the liquid ingrediets and beat with a fork until smooth (about 2minutes). Pour into a prepared 8" square (2 litre) pan. Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until done. Cool completely.
Cocoa Banana Frosting
Melt 2 tbsp butter or margarine in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in 1/4 cup cocoa and ½ tsp vanilla. Alternately belnd in 1 ½ cups sifted icing sugar, 2 tbsp mashed banana and 1 tbsp milk until frosting is smooth. Let stand until spreading consistency. Stir occasionally.
Note: For plain banana cake, substitute corn starch for the cocoa.