Clever baking ingredient substitutions and hacks will make your mom life so much more yummy! Learn how to bake anything anytime! Find the right ingredient substitutes for your baking endeavor with baking hack #1 and a free ingredient substitutions chart.
Oh, you crave some warm cake fresh from the oven! You managed to make the kids stay away from the kitchen for one second. You dig out Grandma’s failproof recipe for homemade lemon pound cake and heat up the oven.
…
You have no eggs…
Baking party spoiled.
Sometimes you really crave homemade sweet treats. But you can’t always run out of the house to drive to the supermarket before you start the actual cake preparation. There’s a pile of laundry, hungry kids, and about a thousand other tasks waiting. Will you ever be making homemade cookies and cakes again?!
Don’t let a missing egg bring you down! All you need is an ingredient substitutions chart for baking. It will help you find baking ingredient alternatives instantly so you can bake anyway or find vegan baking substitutes for your favorite recipes!
Or, if you have more time, you build a lasting baking pantry from scratch, no-refrigeration needed!
In Morocco, I longed for cheesecake but couldn’t find Quark that we use in German Käsekuchen while cream cheese was too expensive. Also, I didn’t find fancy stuff like hazelnuts, self-rising flour, or all-spice anywhere.
What now? Don’t bake? No way! Out comes the Baker’s ingredient substitutions chart I created. It’s one of my most used baking hacks.
A word of caution, though: Don’t go crazy with baking ingredient substitutions. Instead, stick to the original recipe as much as you can. Baking is science. Too much improvisation and your sweet treat might end up in the trash can.
With that being said, we are ready to dive in!
Ninja Baking Guide Strategy# 1: Baking Ingredient substitutions
You want to bake, so bake! For me, it is relaxing and I don’t want to be dependent on eggs in my spare time.
The missing egg
Regarding the missing eggs on Sunday (the day German supermarkets are closed), there are several baking substitutes for eggs. You can easily substitute eggs with bananas or unsweetened apple sauce. Those are almost always in my home and a vegan baking substitution for eggs. Use one banana for substituting two eggs. Bananas will also make the cake moist and tasteful. Or use 1/4 cup apple sauce instead of one egg.
The best Butter substitute in Baking
I love butter and in Germany, I always have some in my fridge. It freezes well, too. However, in Morocco, I would only use butter from the Netherlands because I didn’t like the taste of Moroccan butter. Unfortunately, imported butter was not always in the store and expensive, too.
Thankfully, you can substitute butter for vegetable oil like sunflower oil in muffins or other similar batters. Just make sure to use a little less oil. It should be 80% of your butter amount, e.g. 90 ml or 6 Tbsp oil for one stick (115 g) butter. Vegetable oil is a vegan replacement for butter and a healthy butter substitute.
Margarine can be a great substitute for butter if you like the taste of margarine or if you want a solid vegan butter substitute. Use a margarine that does not have a strong taste. I sometimes replace half of the amount of butter with margarine.
There is no substitute for butter in cookies if you ask me. Most margarines are too soft to use for shortbread. While some kinds of margarine and shortening do work in cookie dough the taste will suffer a big deal.
Different Milk substitutes in baking
If you ran out of milk, use water and a bit of whipping cream instead. But you may look for a vegan or lactose-free milk substitute for baking. Then you can choose from vegan milk substitutes such as almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk. Keep in mind that some milk substitutes leave a taste in your baking goods!
Sweet and spicy ingredient substitutions
Honey is an expensive treat in Morocco. That’s why Moroccan homemakers often make a simple sugar syrup and use it to replace honey.
And the mysterious allspice? I use a mixture of cinnamon, clove, and a little bit of ginger instead.
Look at the complete table of Clever Baking Ingredient Substitutions below!
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Baking Ingredient Substitutions
Ingredient Substitution List | |
Missing Ingredient | Substitute with |
Basics | |
| Egg, whole | half a banana |
| Or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce | |
| Or 2 Tbsp vinegar + 1 tsp baking powder + 1 Tbsp potato starch | |
| Or 1 to 2 egg yolks + 1 Tbsp water | |
| Butter | same amount margarine or shortening |
| Or 80 ml vegetable neutral oil for 100 g butter | |
| Or replace some amount butter with applesauce | |
| Flour, self-rising | same amount plain flour + 1.5 tsp baking powder per cup flour + pinch of salt |
| Cake flour, one cup | 3/4 cup plain flour + 2 Tbsp cornstarch |
| Cream of Tartar | double amount vinegar or lemon juice |
| Yeast, fresh, compressed | 1 envelope (7 gram) dry yeast |
| Raisins | Dry, chopped fruits |
| Nuts | Other nuts, prepared the same way |
| Baking powder | Half the amount baking soda |
| Breadcrumbs | Crushed crackers or cornflakes |
| Gelatin | Agar-Agar |
Sweets | |
| Sugar, 100 g | Honey or syrup, 80 g |
| Brown sugar | sugar + molasse |
| Honey | corn syrup |
| or maple syrup | |
| or sugar + water | |
| or caramel syrup, homemade | |
| Corn syrup | Caramel syrup, homemade |
| Or sugar + water | |
| Or glucose, liquid | |
| Maple syrup | Corn syrup |
Dairy | |
| Butter (don’t replace in cookies) | same amount margarine or shortening |
| Or replace some butter with applesauce | |
| Or 80 ml vegetable neutral oil for 100 g butter | |
| Buttermilk | Yogurt |
| same amount milk + 1 Tbsp lemon juice per cup. Let sit for 5 minutes. | |
| Sour cream | |
| Half and half | Skimmed milk mixed with heavy or whipping cream |
| Milk with 2 tbsps melted butter per cup. | |
| Heavy cream, not for whipping | Mix milk with 1/3 melted butter. E.g. 2/3 cup milk + 1/3 cup melted butter. |
| Mascarpone | Creme Fraiche |
| Ricotta | Cottage cheese |
| Yogurt | Buttermilk |
| Milk | soy milk or coconut milk or almond milk or a mixture of water and cream |
Remember, you will not need that many substitutes if you have a well-equipped and organized baking pantry in your home. Learn about the 12 must-have items that go in your lasting baking pantry in this post!
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Jessie says
This is so handy. I didn’t know about the substitute for eggs. I’ll definitely be keeping this in mind.
Buheri says
I tried baking an egg less cake.It was a fail, I substituted it with a banana.It never worked.I am not sure where I went wrong with it.
Carolin Eichholz says
I’m afraid it depends on the kind of recipe you use if it will turn out fine without eggs.
I usually turn to vegan recipes if I have no eggs. In this recipe for coconut muffins applesauce is used instead of eggs. They turn out fine everytime.
Vegan Coconut Muffins
Ingredients
240 g (1.5 cups) flour
2 Tsp Baking powder
pinch of salt
360 ml (1.5 cups) coconut milk
5 Tbsp Apple sauce without sugar
225 g (1 cup) sugar
vanilla aroma
100 g coconut flakes
Instructions
Heat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin baking tin.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix coconut milk, apple sauce, sugar and vanilla aroma.
Mix dry and wet mixtures. Add coconut flakes afterwards.
Put batter to baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.