Eggless Red Velvet Cupcakes with Creamcheese Frosting

 

 

 

 

I love making cupcakes for my friends. And I love my eggs. But in a group of friends especially in India, there is always a die hard vegetarian who wants nothing to do with eggs. As a host you never want to disappoint any of your guests let alone this dear friend. As much as I may be confident of my baking skills, I always feel nervous about one thing. And that is baking eggless cakes. They have sunk on me far too many times.

 

 

One must acknowledge the importance of eggs in baking before wanting to eliminate or replace this one single ingredient. Eggs bind, aerate, thicken, emulsify, aid in setting, add flavour, stability  and color to baked goods. Besides being a core ingredient, eggs also are used as fillings, toppings and glazes. Recipes without eggs are far and few and not without a reason. Having said that, if there is a will or a hungry person there is a way to food.
 

To overcome this, I read a lot about egg replacers. I read that you can either add curd, condensed milk, buttermilk, flax seeds or apple sauce instead of eggs depending on the recipe. I myself have tried a few of these options many times but though the outcome is decent, it never tastes the same nor is it a perfect guarantee to your cake not sinking. So I decided to try out the Orgran's "No Egg"  Natural Egg Replacer. I actually easily found it at a local shop in Matunga. You can also buy it online from The Gourmet Company or Foodesto. I was apprehensive at first so I went through the list of ingredients in it and was ok with it. It also was very easy to use. You just have to add 1 tsp of this powder to 2 tsp water and whisk to replace 1 whole egg. The packet also gives a recipe for egg free meringue. Now thats something I am really curious to try. Meringues without egg whites!! Sounds interesting.
 

I decided to try it out on my favourite red velvet cupcakes. To really test it I kept the recipe exactly the same the only difference being I substituted 2 whole eggs with 2 tsp egg replacer and 4 tsp water. Honestly I really wasn't disappointed. The cakes did not sunk on me and were really light, moist and well formed. I was really happy. With a little more practice to boost my confidence in the product, I will be able to offer my bakes to my dear vegetarian friends as well. :) Now thats a reason to smile about.

 

 

 To get the complete recipe click on the link for Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. Just replace the whole eggs with 2 tsp replacer powder and 4 tsp water. The recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting remains the same.