Ditch The Eggs In Your Next Mug Cake And Thank Us Later

If you can't find the time to make your favorite chocolate chip layer cake, you might want to consider grabbing your favorite coffee mug and relying on your trusted microwave to help you create a quick, rich dessert. Homemade cakes made exclusively in coffee cups — more popularly known as mug cakes — are single-serve desserts made with a small list of ingredients and cooked in a handful of minutes without turning on your oven. Yet making the perfect mug cake requires just the right measurement of each ingredient. 

Since the ultimate chocolate cake doesn't require any eggs, do you really need to add a whole egg to your single-serve microwavable chocolate cake mix? No, you don't. One entire egg added to a 10 or 12-ounce mug can leave your simplistic cake tasting like custard, and might also make your mug cake too wet when incorporated into the other ingredients. There are many ways to make mug cakes without eggs, but let's first explore what role eggs play in cake batter and if they're actually useful in single-serve cakes.

Considering the fact that traditional sheet pan vanilla cake requires four large eggs, these protein-rich orbs must play a critical role in the combination of your favorite cake's ingredients. In cake batter specifically, eggs bind all of your recipe's ingredients together, which effectively maintains the shape of your cake upon baking. The emulsifying proteins found primarily in egg yolks also help combine liquids like vanilla and milk with any fats used such as oil or butter. Specific egg proteins also serve as leavening agents when vigorously mixed with the other ingredients. Having just the right amount of egg or eggs in your cake batter makes all the difference, since too many can lead to a heavier cake.

This is why you can leave eggs out of the picture when hand-crafting your next single-serve cake recipe. While some mug cake recipes still recommend using egg yolk for added moisture, there are successful ways you can make mug cakes without any egg at all. As a matter of fact, some cake connoisseurs prefer their mug cakes egg-free. 

If you decide to skip the eggs in your next homemade mug cake, the only thing you need to keep in mind is that you may want some additional toppings to give your individualized cake more flavor. Feel free to get creative and add your favorite cake or ice cream toppings such as chopped candy bars, chocolate or caramel sauce, and even nut butter to give your egg-free mug cake an additional element of moisture.

If you're wary of omitting that precious egg in your next personal cake, you can add a straightforward leavening agent as a safe substitute. Many mug cake recipes use baking soda, baking powder, or a combination of both to achieve the right airiness and proper rise. 

If you want a more nutritious egg replacement, you can also use chia seeds. Not only are these tiny black seeds high in B vitamins as well as magnesium and phosphorus, but just 2 tablespoons contain almost 5 full grams of protein. To replace one egg with chia seeds, mix 1 tablespoon of chia seeds together with 2½ tablespoons of water and let the mixture firm up for five minutes before using.