I have great news! I have finally gotten my head around this whole egg free baking thing. First it was the pancakes and now these Strawberry and Coconut Cupcakes. My life is now complete. Would you like to know the trick? Because I’m happy to share! Ok, fine, I’ll tell you. It’s tapioca. Or arrowroot. They both work great. Once they’ve been added to liquid they have a stickiness that works as a brilliant binder. Crisis averted. You’re welcome.
Egg Free Baking Tips
To be honest, I never really tried to bake egg free before because I had no need. But since we found out that Frankie is a allergic I have been trying some of the common egg substitutes. One that I can say fo sho is a complete fallacy is chia eggs. I mean, what the heck is with that? If you haven’t tried using chia eggs then basically what happens is that you’re left with a crumbling awful mess. Even worse then if you hadn’t used any egg substitute at all. Is anyone else with me here?
What I have found works quite well is linseed eggs. To substitute one egg, combine 1 tablespoon of linseeds with 3 tablespoons of water and whisk for a few minutes. I’ve used linseeds in place of eggs in this waffle recipe. They worked really well.
I’ve got to tell you, egg free baking ain’t easy. Eggs are GREAT at not only binding but helping the bake to rise as well. This is fine in biscuits and slices because you don’t need much rise. In cupcakes, however, it’s nice if they’re fluffy. I have combated this issue by adding extra baking powder. Instead of using 2 teaspoons per cup of flour, I have used 3 teaspoons. Simples.
Egg Free and Gluten Free Baking
The next great debacle is when you are trying to do egg free baking AND gluten free baking. That’s a major challenge right there. Gluten, as much as it makes my belly feel shite and all, is GREAT for helping a bake to bind. It holds it all together. Like glue (hence why it has glu in its name). Take away the glue and the whole thing falls to pieces. That’s why tapioca flour or arrowroot flour are so great (and commonly used) in gluten free baking. I generally add about 1/4 cup per cup to cup and a half of whatever gluten free flour you’re using. Just a note, the pre-blended gluten free flours probably already contain it so just check the ingredients.
Have I lost you yet? If you take one thing away from this rambling rant it is this. Tapioca or arrowroot flour are great for binding, making them perfect for gluten free and egg free baking.
The end.
Enjoy!
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Ingredients
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca or arrowroot flour
- 3 tsp baking powder aluminium free
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/3 cup coconut or rapadura sugar
- 1 cup plant based milk (eg. coconut, almond, cashew)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil melted
Strawberry Chia Jam
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries roughly chopped
Coconut Yoghurt Frosting
- 2 cups coconut yoghurt
- 1-2 tsp pitaya or beetroot powder or natural colouring
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with cupcake papers.
- In a large bowl mix together buckwheat flour, tapioca or arrowroot flour, coconut sugar, baking powder and almond meal.
- Add melted coconut oil and plant based milk and whisk together until well combined. Set aside while making the strawberry chia jam.
- To make the strawberry chia jam, place strawberries in to a small saucepan and heat on low, stirring frequently.
- Once the strawberries have begun to break up and become liquified, add the chia seeds and stir through. Remove from the heat.
- Place about two spoonfuls of cupcake batter into each cupcake paper and top with a dessert spoon full of strawberry chia jam.
- Top the cupcakes with the remaining mixture and place in oven for 22 minutes. After 22 minutes, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
- Once cupcakes are cooled make the frosting. To make the frosting simply whisk together the coconut yoghurt and maple syrup with your choice of colouring. Place into a piping bag and pipe onto each cupcake.
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