As a professional recipe developer focused on baking, I am more aware of the cost of eggs than most folks. Try making a custard tart that calls for eight egg yolks, then testing it three more times. That’s two dozen eggs for one recipe. Ouch.
Many common bakes and desserts don’t need eggs: shortbread cookies, most bread, almost any fruit pie, even my go-to ice cream recipe. But what about those recipes that truly rely on eggs?
When thinking of transforming a bake into something eggless, I first thought of an egg-heavy bake like a custard tart. But then I realized that those treats celebrate eggs. What about a bake that needs eggs for structure but not really for flavor? Enter the birthday cake. Even folks who rarely bake will whip up a birthday cake for someone they love.
My dad’s birthday is just two days before mine, so we often celebrated together when I was a kid. We usually requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and mom always delivered. She whipped up a box of yellow cake mix and frosted it with a tub of chocolate frosting. Now, I make it from scratch: a rich yellow butter cake with lots of egg yolks, a generous glug of vanilla and a secret dash of almond extract. My homemade version scratches that nostalgic itch. Unfortunately, this homemade yellow cake typically involves several eggs. Let’s change that.
Eggs do a lot in baked goods, especially cakes. The proteins provide structure to the cake and help it rise. The natural lecithin in egg yolks emulsifies ingredients. For yellow cake, egg yolks also add a deep yellow color. Eggs contribute to the volume of a cake, too. So an egg-free cake needs more of all of the other ingredients to make the same amount of sponge. Since we were going egg-free, I decided to go plant-based. Why? Because eggs are the hardest ingredient to substitute in vegan baking. If we’re spending all that effort to take out the eggs, let’s go all the way.
Without eggs for structure, you cannot add as much of the good stuff — fat — as you would in a normal butter-based birthday cake. In addition to dialing back the fat, I swapped in arrowroot flour (also known as arrowroot starch) for some of the flour, which Joe Yonan uses in the vanilla cake from his new book “Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking.” Arrowroot yields the fluffiest result, but cornstarch works in a pinch.
To compensate for the lack of my favorite baking ingredient — butter — I grabbed mild avocado oil for mild moistness and a can of coconut milk for its heady, tropical flavor and additional fat. Many plant-based cake recipes call for a combination of vinegar and baking soda, but that combination lends those cakes a dark crust and an unattractive greyish crumb. Plus, why use baking soda and vinegar when baking powder does the same thing? Baking powder is, essentially, baking soda plus a powdered acid that, when combined, activates and helps a cake rise.
Getting the right color turned out to be the easy part. Instead of egg yolks to give this cake its golden color, ground turmeric lends a sunny hue without artificial food coloring. If you don’t have any turmeric, leave it out, and you have a lovely white cake.
As always, I implore you to weigh your ingredients for the best results.
Egg-Free Plant-Based Yellow Cake
Yield: One 8-inch round two-layer cake
Time: About 1 hour, plus cooling time
Ingredients:
420 g (3 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
40 g (1/3 cup minus 1/2 teaspoon) arrowroot flour/starch
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
400 g (2 cups) sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 13.5-ounce (400 ml) can of full-fat coconut milk (about 1 2/3 cups)
150 g (3/4 cup) avocado oil, or any neutral-tasting vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the pan
60 g (1/4 cup) water
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the middle position.
2. Grease two 8-inch round metal cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
3. Whisk together the flour, arrowroot powder, baking powder and ground turmeric in a bowl for 30 seconds.
4. Whisk together the sugar, salt, coconut milk, avocado oil, water, vanilla extract and almond extract in a large mixing bowl until combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk until combined but not quite perfectly smooth. Avoid overmixing.
6. Divide the batter into the prepared pans.
7. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until well risen, lightly browned on top, and the cake springs back when gently pressed in the center, about 33-38 minutes. Avoid opening the oven door before 33 minutes — this cake collapses more easily than cakes made with eggs.
8. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then cover them with a plate or baking sheet to cool completely. Cooling the cakes in the covered pan helps retain moisture and prevents the top, bottom and sides from turning crunchy.
9. Run an offset spatula or butter knife around the edge of the cake pan, then invert the cakes onto a cutting board and remove the parchment paper.
You can make the cake a day ahead of time, wrap it in plastic wrap and set it at room temperature until you are ready to frost the cake.
Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients:
250 g (about 1 1/2 cups) chopped chocolate (about 55%-70% cocoa)
150 g (1 1/2 cups) powdered sugar
40 g (about 2 tablespoons) light corn syrup
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
227 g (1 cup) plant-based buttery spread (like Earth Balance), margarine, or regular butter (for a non-plant-based cake) at room temperature
Directions:
1. Melt the chocolate. I typically do this in the microwave. Put the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and cook in 30-second bursts on full power, stirring between each zap, for about 2 minutes total. Once most but not all of the chocolate has melted, stir until the remaining bits melt from the residual heat. You can also put the chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl and set that bowl on a pan of simmering water. Stir constantly until the chocolate has just melted. Be sure no water gets into the chocolate. Set aside to cool for at least 5 minutes while you mix the rest of the frosting.
2. Add the powdered sugar, corn syrup, boiling water, vanilla and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine and dissolve the powdered sugar.
3. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer in a large bowl) and beat until fluffy and light, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the powdered sugar mixture and beat until smooth and creamy, another 3 minutes.
5. Turn the mixer down to the lowest speed and drizzle in the melted chocolate until just mixed through. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl and beater, and stir in any streaks of butter or chocolate.
Assembly
Sprinkles or shredded coconut (optional)
1. Place one of the cakes right-side-up on the serving platter or onto a cardboard cake round on a plate or cake stand.
2. Dollop about 1/2 cup of frosting on top and spread it to the edge but not down the sides. I prefer to use an offset spatula, but use what you have.
3. Flip the other cake so the flat bottom side faces up, and put that on top of the first layer.
4. Put about 1 cup of frosting on top of the cake and spread it out to cover the top layer, pushing any excess frosting over the edge of the cake.
5. Spread the remaining frosting around the sides of the cake.
6. Decorate with casual swoops and swirls.
7. If the frosting becomes too firm (which can happen with plant-based butter substitutes), carefully blow a warm hair dryer onto the cake to soften the frosting.
8. Top with rainbow sprinkles or toasted shredded coconut — and candles, of course.
Martin Sorge is a freelance writer.
