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I'm trying to make a cake that requires a meringue mixed into the cake, but without the egg. Unfortunately I'm allergic to chickpeas, so I can't use the standard aquafaba substitute. I usually substitute eggs with a mix of water, oil, and baking powder, but I don't think the cake texture will be right if I do that for this cake.

The relevant steps are

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and 5 tablespoons superfine sugar together until pale. Whisk in the browned butter (scraping to include the solids, if you like), then whisk in the Marsala until incorporated. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sift over the batter and gently whisk to combine, smoothing out the lumps as best as you can.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the wire whip on medium speed, or an electric beater, or simply a whisk and a bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 5 tablespoons superfine sugar while beating to form a shiny meringue with stiff peaks, 5 to 7 minutes. Gently fold ⅓ of the meringue mixture into the batter, followed by the rest, then fold in the strawberries, using a slotted spoon to add the berries to the batter, leaving any strawberry juices behind.

I'm willing to use a commercial egg replacer if that would work better, but I don't think the egg "whites" and egg "yolks" come separated. It doesn't need to be super close to meringue texture as long as the final cake comes out fine, since I'm mixing it into the batter anyway.

How should I replace the egg yolks and the egg whites in this cake?

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    Are you allergic to chickpeas specifically, or to a variety of legumes?
    – FuzzyChef
    Commented Dec 1, 2023 at 22:06
  • I'm also allergic to peanuts, but no other legumes (for example, I can have soy).
    – ksimplex
    Commented Dec 1, 2023 at 23:26

1 Answer 1

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Use aquafaba from some other kind of beans. White kidney beans seem to work well.

Chickpea aquafaba is the most popular because it's the most neutral-tasting, and is a bit easier to work with. But other beans make their own.

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    I haven’t tried with meringues, but have successfully made Aquafaba pancakes with both red kidney beans and black beans. For anyone at all concerned about aesthetics, though… the latter make your pancakes turn out gray. Red don’t really affect the color for pancakes that badly, but may for meringues. Commented Dec 8, 2023 at 5:58

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