6 votes

How to keep my cake from getting crumbly

The month of May brings my birthday and wedding anniversary, so we usually end up making a cake or two. We don't usually do anything fancy. Usually a store-made cake. But this year with the pandemic, we ended up just getting some boxed cakes - Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines. Those sorts of things.

The problem is that they call for eggs and I'm allergic to egg yolks. (Not egg whites, oddly enough - just egg yolks.) So I've found some egg substitute. It works pretty well considering there's no egg in it. But I've found that when I use it in cakes, sometimes they turn out just fine, and other times they end up falling apart.

I know that eggs can be used for flavor, as a rising agent, as a binder, etc. but it's not clear to me how to tell which thing it's being used for in a given recipe. So my question is, in the case of a cake, are there other things I could substitute for egg yolks? The stuff I'm using has potato starch, baking powder, and psyllium husks. I guess the baking powder handles the rising aspect and the psyllium husks are probably like a binder? Are there other things I could be using?

3 comments

  1. [3]
    Akir
    Link
    I don't have any recipes to share, but I can lay down some science that might give you a hint. The egg whites are mostly proteins while the yolks are largely made of fats. Can you use egg whites...

    I don't have any recipes to share, but I can lay down some science that might give you a hint.

    The egg whites are mostly proteins while the yolks are largely made of fats. Can you use egg whites safely? Simply separate the yolks from the eggs in your recipes, use the whites and replace the yolks with butter. That should help a little.

    Psyllium husks are frequently used in gluten free recipes to replace the binding action of gluten, so it should help. Xanthan gum is another that might help. You could even try developing the gluten in the flour, but it might make your cake s bit bready.

    3 votes
    1. joplin
      Link Parent
      Yes! Thank you for that! One of the cakes we made turned out better than the others. It used butter rather than oil, so perhaps that's why? In any event, I will definitely give this a try next time.

      Can you use egg whites safely?

      Yes!

      Simply separate the yolks from the eggs in your recipes, use the whites and replace the yolks with butter. That should help a little.

      Thank you for that! One of the cakes we made turned out better than the others. It used butter rather than oil, so perhaps that's why? In any event, I will definitely give this a try next time.

      2 votes
    2. joplin
      Link Parent
      I just wanted to say thanks for this! We actually made another cake this week and I tried this technique out and it seems to have worked. I also let the cake bake a little longer which I think...

      I just wanted to say thanks for this! We actually made another cake this week and I tried this technique out and it seems to have worked. I also let the cake bake a little longer which I think also helped.

      2 votes