Substitute for Eggs

Asked by ankitachandak. Answered on 22nd January 2013

Full question

Is there a substitue for eggs when making desserts?

What is the substitute for egg in forgotten pudding? Thanks, Janrini.

I wonder if you could help with with a list of egg free cakes, pancakes or any sweet dish. Main courses are easy to find but I find it extremely difficult in finding puddings that don't contain egg. I have a three year old grand daughter who has an extreme allergy to eggs and it seems so unfair that she cannot enjoy the delights of cakes and puddings. Many thanks Zena

Our answer

Unfortunately it really depends on each individual recipe as to whether you can use substitutes for eggs. In desserts such as mousses you may sometimes be able to substitute whipped cream for egg whites and to thicken custards you can use cornflour (cornstarch) instead of egg yolks. For example, Nigella's Liquorice Puddings from Nigellissima are thickened with cornflour only (see related recipe link).

For cakes it is diffcult as eggs provide leavening as well as moisture and sometimes mashed bananas or apple sauce may act as a substitute, but not always and you may need to increase the amount of chemical leavening in the cake batter. Bananas would probably work well as a substitute for Scotch pancakes or American-style pancakes.

We regret that we are unable to offer substitutes for Nigella's recipes but there are lots of vegan websites which offer advice on substitutions, as well as good egg-free recipes.