Egg substitutes
How to replace whole eggs with aquafaba
A whole egg in a cake is there to bind the batter and carry moisture, and 45g of VERY AQUAFABA does that job in its place. No whipping is needed for that: the aquafaba goes in with the wet ingredients. The one adjustment is the water. Aquafaba is about 90 to 95 percent water against 75 percent for an egg, so the other liquids come down by 5 to 10 percent and the bake runs until the centre is set. Updated: .
How much aquafaba replaces one whole egg?
Use 45g of liquid aquafaba per whole egg, weighed. With powder, make it up first at 2g per 30 ml of water and count the same 45g of made-up aquafaba. A recipe with three eggs takes 135g. The egg-white rule is different: 30g per white, whipped when the white was whipped.
So the first question is which job the egg was doing. If the recipe separated the eggs and whipped the whites, treat the whites as whites. If the eggs went in whole, as in most cakes, cookies and muffins, use the whole-egg rule below.
How does the aquafaba go into each bake?
| What you bake | How the aquafaba goes in | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Cakes, cookies and muffins | Mixed with the sugar before it meets the fat | A more stable emulsion |
| Cookies and brownies | Added directly, unwhipped | Binding and moisture |
| Brioche and sweet rolls | Unwhipped, with the liquids of the dough | Softness and keeping quality |
| Sponges and génoise | Whipped at 4 to 6 °C, then folded in gently and promptly | The air |
For fat-rich batters, combine the aquafaba with the sugar before the fat goes in; that order builds a steadier emulsion. The baking method goes through each type of bake, and the baking guide settles the format question for a bakery.
How do you adjust the water?
This is the step that decides the crumb. Swap whole eggs one for one without touching the liquids and the batter comes out loose and wet, and the centre stays soft after the usual bake time. Reduce the milk or water by 5 to 10 percent, or add a little dry ingredient, and bake dense cakes through before you pull them.
Replacing only the whites, as in a meringue or a macaron shell, needs no adjustment at all. The egg ratio puts the three numbers side by side: whole egg, white and yolk.
When the bake goes wrong
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Loose, wet batter | Whole eggs swapped one for one, water not reduced | Reduce the milk or water slightly, or add dry ingredients |
| Wet centre | The extra water lengthens the bake | Bake fully before you pull it |
| Flat sponge | The foam stood waiting, or was folded too hard | Fold in promptly and gently |
| Weak foam | Aquafaba too warm | Chill to 4 to 6 °C before whipping |
| Weak binding from frozen stock | Thawed aquafaba not homogenised | Thaw overnight in the fridge and stir before weighing; never refreeze |
Changing the moisture of a product changes its water activity, so a bakery that reformulates a line re-checks shelf life after the change, and records the quantities that worked in the test batch rather than carrying a general adjustment into every product. For a first try, the baking recipe is the place to start.
