Excellent eggless bakes

Eggless baking can be quite challenging, as eggs are binding ingredients that hold cakes together.

There are ingredients you can substitute for eggs, and the Angela Day team tested a few recipes which used, for example, vinegar and yoghurt.

We found that the muffins produced were no different from those made with eggs.

Cakes were quite fragile, but the texture was moist.

Using fruit such as apple sauce or mashed banana helps to give cakes and loaves a moist texture.

We did find that adding extra raising agent in the form of baking powder or bicarbonate of soda prevented the products from having a heavy texture.

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we fed these bakes to colleagues in the office - and no one realised that they were eggless.

CRANBERRY AND ORANGE MUFFINS

Makes 9

500ml flour

10ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

125ml castor sugar

grated rind of 1 orange

125ml dried cranberries

100ml oil

250ml plain yoghurt

50ml orange juice

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into a bowl. Add the orange rind and cranberries.

Combine the oil, yoghurt and orange juice and add to the dry ingredients. Mix gently until combined. Take care not to over mix.

Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake at 200?C for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

750ml flour

500ml sugar

20ml baking powder

3ml bicarbonate of soda

125ml cocoa powder

500ml hot water

'ml oil

5ml vanilla essence

50ml vinegar

Icing:

125g butter, softened

375ml icing sugar

30ml cocoa powder

5ml vanilla essence

30-40ml milk

Sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Combine the hot water, oil, vanilla essence and vinegar and pour over dry ingredients. Mix well.

Divide the mixture into two 20cm, base-lined and greased cake pans. Bake at 180?C for 20-30 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan before removing.

Sandwich the cakes together with half the icing and spread the remaining icing on top.

Icing: Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.

BANANA CAKE

750ml flour

15ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

125ml light brown sugar

125ml chopped nuts

375ml milk

500ml ripe, mashed bananas

125g butter, melted

5ml vanilla essence

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Stir in sugar and nuts

Mix the milk, bananas, butter and vanilla and stir into the dry ingredients.

Pour mixture into a greased 23cm ring pan and bake at 160?C for 40-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on to a cooling rack. Drizzle with glace icing if desired.

DATE AND NUT CAKE

125g dates

300ml water

250ml light brown sugar

80g butter

5ml vanilla essence

500ml flour

10ml baking powder

5ml bicarbonate of soda

50g pecan nuts, chopped

Combine dates, water, sugar and butter in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.

Stir until sugar dissolves.

Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Allow to cool. Add vanilla essence.

Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and add to date mixture. Stir in nuts.

Spoon into a greased and lined 13x23cm loaf pan and bake at 170?C for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan, five minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

LEMON CREAMS

Makes 24

250g butter

125ml icing sugar

5ml vanilla essence

125ml cornflour

500ml flour

pinch of salt

Lemon butter icing:

80g butter, softened

finely grated rind of one lemon

300-400ml icing sugar, sifted

little water or lemon juice

Cream butter and icing sugar until smooth. Add vanilla essence.

Sift together cornflour, flour and salt and add to butter mixture. Add a little extra flour if the mixture seems too soft. Knead well.

Pinch off pieces of dough the size of a walnut and roll into balls. Place on a greased baking sheet and flatten with a fork. Bake at 180?C for 10-15 minutes or until pale golden brown.

Cool on a cooling rack. Sandwich two biscuits together with lemon icing and dust with icing sugar.

Lemon icing: Cream butter and lemon rind until soft and add icing sugar and a little water to make a spreadable consistency.



Note: The lemon rind can be substituted with grated orange rind.

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Dear Angela Day,

Q Why are your dry ingredients in ml?


A Measuring cups are easier than scales



My mother is 76 this year. She loves cooking and is a very good cook. She also loves trying out new recipes, especially yours.

However what frustrates her beyond words is when the recipe calls for something that is not in liquid form - flour, salt, sugar etc - and the measurements are given in millilitres.

Who has gone to great lengths to dissolve flour or salt or whatever to work out how much it is in ml? Why can't you just say, so many grams of flour and so many grams of salt, etc?

Hillary Lane



Dear Hillary,

I am sorry your mom feels frustrated with the way our recipes are printed.

But dry ingredients can be measured in millilitres as easily as liquids.

Not everyone has a scale, and the problem with a scale is that unless it is electronic, it may not be accurate as it relies on the eye to judge the amount.

At any supermarket or kitchen shop, you can buy inexpensive measuring cups. Made of stainless steel or plastic, they ucome in sets to quickly scoop out one cup (250ml), half a cup (125ml), a third of a cup (80ml) or a quarter cup (60ml) from a container of flour or sugar.

They're easy, accurate and make less mess, and most of our readers find this an acceptable method.

Angela Day

• This article was originally published on page 9 of The Star on February 01, 2010

Source : Babynet