Vegan egg alternative / egg replacer

[Mr Flibble]

Most recipes suggest using vegetable oil as a binder, which does work to an extent. Personally I've set to see a recipe using normal household stuff for burgers that will cook well on a BBQ. Generally the moisture content is too high and their either fall appart or cook poorly.

I have got some 'egg replacer' from Holland & Barrett which I have used as an ingredient to make cakes rise

Eggs don't make cakes rise, they act as you say above as a binding agent. From wikipedia:

Cakes normally combine some kind of wheat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat) byproduct, a sweetening agent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetener) (commonly sugar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose)), a binding agent (generally egg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_%28food%29), though gluten (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten) or starch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starch) are often used by vegetarians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian) and vegans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegan)), fats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat) (usually butter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter) or margarine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine), although a fruit puree can be substituted to avoid using fat), a liquid (milk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk), water (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water) or fruit juice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_juice)), flavours (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavouring) and some form of leavening agent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavening_agent) (such as yeast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast) or baking powder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_powder)).

I personally believe from my own research that eggs in cake are rather redundant. I can only assume that they were traditionally included as an extra source of protein not as a good ingredient for successful cakes.

[fiamma]

I've made kidney bean burgers a couple of times where I mash the beans and add couscous and breadcrumbs as a binding agent - seems to work well! You need to leave the mixture to stand though, about five minutes, and add enough liquid so that the couscous softens.

[Jamie]

I just got my first EnerG or whatever it is off of veganstore.co.uk... I haven't actually used it it yet though. It says it can be used for making a merangue 'topping' and also in quiches. Has anyone ever tried either of these and does it turn out any good? I can't quite picture it working in a quiche: eggs are usually a feature of a quiche, whereas this will be just some sort of binding agent... I haven't had a good look at it yet so sorry if these are stupid queries! ;)

[Tigerlily]

I'm not a baking expert, Jamie, but I think tofu would be better for merangue and quiches. I think the powdered egg replacer is best in cakes, cookies, and stuff that need an egg or two to "bind" the ingredients.

[Leanne]

When I was at school I chose to do Food Technology for my GCSE. I was currently vegetarian when I started this subject so I chose to do vegetarian food, but half way through I turned to vegan and I learn't a great way to make cakes instead of using eggs, my teacher suggested using 1 banana as a substitute for 1 egg and that week I made the cake with bananas and it was great! So yeah.. Bananas! And, it makes the taste even more sweeter!!

[DancingWillow]

yeah, i use bananas as egg substitutes all the time:) i've made so many different kinds of brownies and cakes with bananas.

however, if you're planning on using bananas, keep in mind that the taste of the bananas will be very noticeable in the cake.

another egg substitute is ground flax seeds with a little bit of water...i've been meaning to try that.

[harpy]

Hi Leanne - it's good your school was so helpful about letting you do veg*n food for your course. Not sure they all would be! Did you find it easy to adapt the course material?

[Hemlock]

Excellent! I'll try that! I don't like using egg replacement powder because it makes the food rubbery so I'll always go for the natural version.

[Barley]

In fruit cake/madeira type cakes I just don't use anything to replace the eggs - I keep the mixture quite stiff - never really had a problem.

[xwitchymagicx]

It isn't that secret. :p

[Risker]

I used banana a year or two ago to make pancakes, not suprisingly it made banana flavoured pancakes, they weren't very nice - pancakes shouldn't taste of banana.

[Jamie]

apple baby food works too - I have a recipe for apple cinnamon muffins that also works well as a cake (it's in La Dolce Vegan I think), and I use 'apple sauce' (it's just pureed apple, it's handy to buy the baby food jars/tins of it rather than DIY!) and of course it doesn't affect it since it's an apple flavoured thing anyway.

There is a whole list of things in LDV that can be used in place of eggs. Tofu is another one - silken I think!

I'd like to try the flax seeds sometime too - can I just use a pestle and mortar to grind them into powder? I have a P&M that's not been used yet! :o

[DancingWillow]

yeah, you can grind the flax seed with a P&M and then add a little bit of water (i'm not sure of the ratio of flax seeds to water, but i'll try looking it up)

and i've tried the apple sauce too and it does work very well. risker, i think it would work well for you if you don't like using a banana in your pancakes (i personally prefer a banana over apple sauce in my pancakes)

[x-SaRaH-x]

:O

This is one major thing I have had trouble with since becoming vegan a year ago.
I just can't make caked like I used to! I've tried the egg replacer but it really doesn't work!!

I have so much trouble trying to make cakes :(

[Gorilla]

there are loads of great vegan cake recipes, Sarah. have you got any cookbooks?

[Elahiya]

there is also the alternative of:

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons water
Simply add all four ingredients and whisk together until foamy [about a minute or so].

This is perfect for any sort of recipe. I've found this is equivalent to about 2 whole eggs.

or:
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon tapioca flour
1 tablespoon coconut oil (http://vegweb.com/glossary.shtml#Coconut%20Oil) (or other oil but coconut is best)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Mix the flour and baking powder. Then add the oil and water and beat until it forms peaks. This is best for sweet pastries like cakes and cookies. Another option is to add a teaspoon of protein powder. This equals 1 egg. Double or triple for multiple eggs.

i also heard that for binding you can use 1 tablespoon soya flour, 1 tablespoon tomato puree, 1/2 banana, 3 tablespoon apple puree, 1/4 cup pureed tofu or corn flour
to rise you can also use 1 tablespoon soya flour with 1 tablespoon water whisked unti foamy, in cakes soya milk instead of water, for pancakes sparkling water instead of stil water, 1/2 banana (or 3 tablespoons apple puree/2 tablespoons flour/2 tablespoons water with 1 1/2 teaspoon oil) with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

[Anouk]

i have a question about eggs alternative as well. since my mom really loves baking (and she ain't vegan), she sort of needs a bit convincing before making vegan recipes, and last time it really didn't work out well, so here's my question:

how to replace beaten egg whites in recipe? it's supposed to make sweets light and fluffy and egg replacer doesn't work well.

another question - how to replace only egg yolks? they're usually mixed with sugar etc before adding the egg whites snow :/.

thanks for help, much appreciated :)

[Elahiya]

i remember there were some instructions on the package of the orgran egg replacer. but i don´t have one around at the moment, unfortunately. maybe anyone else?

[harpy]

I'm no baker, but I believe people use baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to "raise" a cake mixture in a similar way to beaten egg whites. Egg replacer or soya flour would probably do instead of the yolks, and I believe some people use fruit puree.

You might be better off getting hold of a few vegan cake recipes and asking your mum to try those first, as I think that would be easier than adapting egg-based recipes. I know you said it had gone wrong before but there are some cake recipes here on the forum which I expect people have tried out and will answer questions about.

[mjnewbould]

My experience is that vegan cake is much nicer and moister than "normal" cake. Also it seems to be much easier to make, less messy and quicker. You just need to buy a good vegan baking book or - of course follow the recipes in this forum-(well as other people have already said)- I think most people here have found "Vegan Cupcakes rule the World" absolutely fantastic - it does not use "Egg Replacer" and the recipes just work perfectly

[Elahiya]

i remember bicarbonate of soda as a good rising agent as well! i heard it is commonly used at muffins for example, that´s why they tend to rise so well.

or if you can´t get a book, there are loads of recipes at vegweb.com. i´m sure you´d find somthin suitable there!