Shivesh Bhatia - Eggless Baking With Shivesh

I had grown up eating cakes with eggs, and had seen my mum and nani, who have had a major influence on my baking style, use eggs in all their baking. Even the international bakers I followed used eggs in all their recipes. But, slowly as my blog grew and more viewers tried to recreate my recipes in their kitchen, I started getting questions about substitutions, or if one can skip eggs altogether while making desserts. Initially, my answer was always no because I believed a cake without eggs would turn out to be a heavy, dense brick, not the soft, fluffy confection we all love. Gradually though my views about this changed, and I took it up as a challenge to try and bake beautiful desserts without a primary ingredienteggs. Back then, who would have thought that I would end up writing a book on eggless baking! To be honest, its not something that has happened overnight.

Ive spent a large part of the past few years experimenting with eggless recipes and desserts in my kitchen. Its been a long, but rewarding, process of learningand unlearninga lot of things. Most importantly, Ive realized that you cant simply take a recipe that contains eggs and blindly replace them with whatever is at hand or just skip them entirely. It doesnt work like that. Commonly found egg substitutes some of which, like yogurt, flax seeds, aquafaba, buttermilk and apple sauce, I have used in this bookwill work differently in different recipes. For instance, mashed bananas might be a great substitute for eggs in a cake, but try using them as a replacement in macarons and youll end up with a disaster! And while yogurt has become my go-to ingredient for eggless cakes, it just does not work in cookies; instead, a flax egg does the trick.

While experimenting in the kitchen, I learnt some new aspects of baking as well. For example, a sponge made with yogurt is very light and soft, so it works really well for cakes I want to layer and frost. But for loaf and Bundt cakes, I prefer using condensed milk because it gives the cake a better structure. I believe in having reliable base recipes in place that you can play around with. My basic eggless sponge recipe, tart shells and cheesecake recipes work as strong foundations that I, and you, can build upon. Once I have a fluffy eggless vanilla sponge recipe that I know I can keep going back to, I can use that to make a pistachio cake or a strawberry cake, or even an elaborate six-layer rainbow cake! A cheesecake recipe you trust can be used to make cheesecake bars or cheesecake brownies or mini cheesecake cups.

Once you have nailed your base recipe, the possibilities are endless. As someone who grew up eating and baking cakes with eggs, I was never going to settle for anything that didnt taste good enough. The recipes Im sharing with you in this book are not just great eggless recipes; theyre great recipes in general! The cakes youll make will be as fluffy as the ones with egg, the cookies equally addictive and the cheesecakes just as creamy and delicious. And I promise you, the macarons, lemon tarts, doughnuts and cupcakes are all going to be second to none! If youve ever felt restricted because you dont use or consume eggs, I hope this book opens up a world of possibilities for you and encourages you to experiment in the kitchen, to bake memorable desserts that make you and everyone around you happy! This is one of my favourite cakes from this book, and I had so much fun both baking and shooting it! I visualized this cake long before I got to making it, and Im so happy with the way it turned out. It is absolutely perfect for celebrating a special occasion! INGREDIENTS For the cake 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 cups yogurt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cups caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing cup confetti sprinkles For the buttercream 1 cups butter 3 cups icing sugar 2-3 drops pink gel food colour To top cup sprinkles METHOD Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease three 6-inch round cake pans with oil and line them with parchment paper.

In a bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder and set aside. Put the yogurt in a separate bowl, sprinkle the baking soda over it, mix it together and set it aside to foam up. Whisk together the caster sugar, vanilla extract and oil in another bowl until pale and thoroughly combined. Now add the yogurt and mix well. Gently fold in the dry ingredients and mix until everything is well combined and there are no large flour pockets in the batter. Do not over mix at this stage.

Lastly, add the confetti sprinkles and fold them in. Equally divide the batter into the three prepared cake pans and bake for 3035 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely before filling and frosting them. To make the buttercream, use an electric mixer to whip up the butter till it is light and fluffy. Sift in the icing sugar in three batches and whip the mixture till the frosting becomes light and fluffy. Add the gel food colour and whisk again till it is evenly incorporated in the frosting.

Place the bottom cake layer on a plate/cake board/ tray and spread a generous amount of buttercream over it. Place the next layer on top of this, making sure its levelled, and repeat. Frost the sides and top with the buttercream. Make a half-shell piping pattern with a small, closed star nozzle along the top and bottom edge of the cake. Decorate with assorted sprinkles. This cake is inspired by the classic Banana Split Sundae. This cake is inspired by the classic Banana Split Sundae.

Its got layers of the yummiest banana cake (delicious on its own too), filled with strawberry compote and covered with whipped white chocolate frosting. Dont you love the chocolate drip and the over-the-top retro look? INGREDIENTS For the cake 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup yogurt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cups caster sugar 1 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing 1 cup mashed bananas 1 teaspoon vanilla extract For the frosting 2 cups white chocolate, chopped 2 cups whipping cream 1 drop yellow food colour For the filling 2 cups strawberry preserve (see p. 108) For the drip 1 cup milk chocolate, melted 2 tablespoons vegetable oil To top Sprinkles Cocktail Cherries METHOD Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease four 6-inch round cake pans with oil and line them with parchment paper. To make the cakes, whisk together the flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Put the yogurt in another bowl and mix in the baking soda.