8 Awesome Egg-Free Cakes ...

1. Eggless Chocolate Cake

Who doesn´t love chocolate cake? This has to be one of the yummiest egg-free cakes, with its delicious chocolate glaze. Some chocolate chips would make it extra gorgeous!

Ingredients:
85g Butter, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
300g Self Raising Flour
100g Caster Sugar
25g Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Chocolate Glaze:
100g Dark Chocolate, broken into pieces
3 tbsp Golden Syrup

Directions:
Heat oven to 160C/ fan 140C/ gas 3 and grease a 20cm round cake tin
Tip the butter, syrup and vanilla into a heatproof jug, add 300 ml boiling water and briefly whisk with a fork to combine

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl, then in tip in the butter mixture. Stir until you have a smooth batter, then scrape into prepared tin. bake for 50 - 55 mins until the cake is well risen and springy to touch. Cool in tin for around 15 mins before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

To make glaze, put chocolate and syrup into a small glass bowl with 3 tbsp of water, and microwave for 30secs on high until melted and smooth. leave to cool, then pour over the cake before serving

2. Cinnamon and Apple Cake

Cinnamon and apples are one of those perfect combinations. They make a wonderful cake! As I don´t like sultanas, I´d use an alternative dried fruit such as chopped dates. Fortunately, this recipe is easy to tailor to your own preferences.

Ingredients:
250g (9 oz) plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
200g (7 oz) caster sugar
100g (4 oz) butter
350g (12 oz) apple sauce or purée
2 tablespoons treacle
150g (5 oz) sultanas

Directions:
Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas Mark 4. Grease and flour fluted or straight sided tube pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until fluffy. Mix in apple sauce and treacle.
Gradually add the flour mixture and beat well to moisten. Fold in the sultanas.
Pour into prepared tube pan. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean. Cake will not rise to top of pan. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan and cool on wire.

3. Raspberry No-Bake Cheesecake

Cake or cheesecake? Who cares about the difference, when you end up with a mouthwatering creation like this! It´s so simple too, when there´s no baking involved. Vegetarians can use a gelatin substitute.

Ingredients:
180g sweet plain biscuits
90g butter
250g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 (397g) tin condensed sweetened milk
80ml lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g frozen raspberries (or other fruit)
4 sheets gelatin

Directions:
Crush the biscuits to a fine crumb. Use any method you wish, eg: put in a plastic bag, wrap in a tea towel and hit with a rolling pin; crush in a blender or mixer; or put in a narrow high sided container and hit with pestle from your mortar and pestle.

Melt butter and mix into biscuit crumbs. (Optionally add a few drops of vanilla to the melted butter before adding to biscuit crumbs.)

Line a spring form cake tin with baking parchment and lightly grease outside of tin with butter.

Tip biscuit crumb mixture into the cake tin. Even out with flat side of a knife then press down with the bottom of a glass or the back of a spoon. Place in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Part way through the base setting and chilling in fridge you can start on the filling. Put cream cheese in a good size bowl and beat to soften. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk while stirring. Add vanilla to lemon juice and then stir into cream cheese mixture.

Pick out the best looking berries and set aside. Puree the rest then pass through a sieve to remove seeds.
Dissolve three sheets of gelatin in a couple tablespoons of water.
Add 1/2 the dissolved gelatin to cream cheese and 1/2 to the berry puree.
Pour berry puree into cream cheese mixture and stir to form a swirling pattern. In other words, do not blend the two fully together and let it form a marbled look.
Pour cream cheese mixture into cake tin, in one fluid motion if possible.
Drop reserved raspberries onto the cheesecake, cover with cling film, and chill for 12 hours.
Carefully unform cake tin and loosen cake from the sides.

4. Lemon and Apricot Cake

Lemon cakes are a perennial favourite. So if you want to make eggless cakes, here´s a lemon version. For extra taste and texture, the recipe adds dried apricots, but you can probably substitute the dried fruit of your choice.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white self-raising flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind/zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

Topping:
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5.
Grease a 2 lb loaf tin.
Melt the butter, and mix it in a bowl with the sugar.
Add the sour cream and beat well.
Add the sifted flour and salt, alternately with the milk. Mix well.
Fold in the lemon rind, lemon juice, sultanas and apricots.
Pour into the tin and level the surface.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

Topping:
Stir the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
While the teabread is still hot, spoon the topping over it.
Allow to cool in the tin.

5. Mango Cake

Vegan recipes are perfect if you want to avoid eggs while baking. By definition, vegan cakes are all egg-free cakes! Try this tasty teatime treat to tickle your tastebuds …

Ingredients:
12 oz (340g) self raising flour
1 heaped dssp soya flour
1 heaped dssp corn flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 oz (170g) margarine
1 cupful of caster sugar
6 dssp of mango puree
12 fl oz (340ml) soya milk
Mango Icing
2 oz (55g) margarine
4 dssp mango puree
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 oz (170g) icing/caster sugar
1 oz (30g) cornflour, sieved

Directions:
First make the cake: preheat the oven to 175C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
Sift the flour, soya flour, corn flour and baking powder, and mix together.
Blend the margarine, caster sugar and mango puree together and add the dry mix. Pour in the soya milk and blend together thoroughly. The mixture should be quite thick.

Grease two cake tins and pour in the cake mixture. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Leave until completely cold.

Mango Icing:
Put all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
Boil rapidly for 1 minute exactly.
Place saucepan in cold water and beat until cold.

6. Oaty Banana Cake

You can´t go wrong with banana cake either, and this recipe is pretty healthy as far as cakes go! It has no refined sugar, the sweetness coming from the bananas and raisins. What a wonderfully healthy treat!

Ingredients:
1 lb (450g) very ripe bananas, mashed
2 oz (50g) brazil nuts, roughly chopped
3 fl oz (90 ml) sunflower oil
2 fl oz (60 ml) water
4 oz (115g) raisins
4 oz (115g) rolled oats
4 oz (115g) wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.
Mix all the ingredients together. The consistency should be soft and moist.
Spoon into a greased and lined 900g/2lb loaf tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes before turning out.

7. Gingerbread Cake

I´ve tried an eggless gingerbread cake before, albeit a different recipe, and it worked amazingly well. Or perhaps it´s not so surprising, given the use of treacle as one of the ingredients. You end up with a gorgeous sticky gooey ginger cake!

Ingredients:
2tbsp treacle
110g (4oz) vegan margarine
110g (4oz) caster sugar
250g (9oz) self-raising flour

1. 5tsp Baking Powder

Pinch of salt
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
Warm the treacle, margarine and sugar in a saucepan until melted together.
Tip into a mixing bowl and sift the flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
Fold together using a spatula and pour into a buttered loaf tin.
Bake at 160ºC for about an hour.

8. Chocolate Cupcakes

Finally in our egg-free adventure, here´s a recipe that kids will love. With allergies on the increase, lots of youngsters have to avoid eggs, but they don´t have to miss out on cakes! These cupcakes make great treats just because, for birthday parties, or school parties!

Ingredients:
125g non-dairy sunflower margarine For the chocolate icing:
220g granulated sugar 125g icing sugar, sifted
45ml (3 tbsp) soya milk 60ml cold water (approx)
45g desiccated coconut 50g cocoa powder, sifted
300g self-raising flour, sifted
180ml orange juice
60g cocoa powder, sifted

Directions:
Place 24 paper cup cases into two 12-hole bun tins.
Cream together the margarine and sugar in a large mixing bowl, until light and fluffy.

Stir in the milk, but do not worry if the mixture curdles. You may want to use an
electric hand whisk to mix in the milk.
Stir in the desiccated coconut, then stir in half the flour and half the orange juice and mix well. Mix in the cocoa powder.

Stir in the rest of the flour and orange juice until combined. You may want to use an electric hand whisk to make sure there are no lumps of flour in the mixture.
Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared paper cake cases.
Bake in a moderate oven at 180°C (Conventional Electric Oven) for about 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven, until cooked and when a skewer is placed into the middle of the cakes it comes out clean.
Cool the cakes on a wire rack.
To make the chocolate icing add the icing sugar and a little water into a small bowl and stir until the icing sugar has dissolved. Add the cocoa powder and stir until smooth and there are no lumps.
When the cakes are cold, spread the tops of the cakes with the chocolate icing.

When you´re used to baking with eggs, making egg-free cakes can be a little daunting. The mixture can turn out different from what you´re used to, but with a little practice you´ll soon learn to judge how to bake with confidence. If you make eggless cakes, what tips can you pass on to get fantastic results?

bbcgoodfood.com, allrecipes.co.uk, allrecipes.co.uk, eggless.com, vegansociety.com, vegansociety.com, cakebaker.co.uk, askamum.co.uk

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