Battle the Egg Shortage With These 10 Egg-Free Baking Recipes

It’s a bad time to be a baker. Since early 2020, egg prices have risen by 16 per cent for a dozen – and that’s if you can find them at all, with supplies nationwide dented by outbreaks of bird flu and the impact of the slow migration from caged to free-range chickens.

You could adopt an egg-laying chook of your own to keep your baking projects in motion. Or, you could simply steer clear of eggs altogether until they cease to be a luxury. We’ve gathered 10 egg-free recipes to round out your eggless baking arsenal, from gold-dusted chai cheesecake brownies to chubby soufflé pancakes and hot cross buns to make in the lead up to Easter.

Though this brownie recipe calls for eggs, scroll to the end and you’ll find an explainer for how to make them egg-free. The result is a brilliantly moist batch of brownies spiked with the richness of coffee and the spice of chai. And if you’re short on time you can even make the base recipe using packet mix.

French cuisine is notorious for lots of eggs. Not this caramelised show stopper by legendary French cookery writer Ginette Mathiot, which only requires around an hour of hands-on time to yield a gorgeous mosaic of bronzed apples on a shortcrust base.

With its biscuit base layered with a faux caramel (dates, peanuts and seed butter) and dark chocolate, these choc-caramel slabs are worthy homemade replacements for a Twix bar. The mix of nuts, fruits and 90 per cent dark chocolate even makes it feel a little virtuous.

Biscuits are a go-to if you want to tick off a baking project but don’t have much time. But though biscuit recipe ingredients lists are often short, they typically contain eggs. Not these delicate, buttery beauties from Australian Japanese cookbook author Emiko Davies. Shot through with matcha, they melt in the mouth and taste even better the next day.

Not only does this chocolate babka from Philip Khoury – the former head pastry chef at London’s Harrods – contain zero eggs, it’s completely plant-based, making it the perfect recipe to keep under your belt when baking for vegan friends. You’ll end up with an elaborately layered show stopper that is certainly not a lesser babka.

You’ll be a happy little Vegemite when you learn these savoury biscuits contain precisely zero eggs. They take a school lunch staple, Vegemite and cheese, and pack them into crumbly biscuit form with a fancy sesame seed edge.

There’s an alchemy to nailing the perfect Anzac biscuit and a lot of it comes down to timing – even a minute too long in the oven means you might lose that chewy-crunchy balance. Here, Black Star Pastry’s group head chef shares how to get them exactly right. One thing you don’t need to achieve this nostalgic classic? Eggs.
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Usually no eggs equals no soufflé – oeuf is key to achieving that signature soufflé airiness. Not if you have the recipe for these soufflé pancakes from Shannon Martinez in your back pocket. They get their height from soda water rather than egg whites, and ring moulds are essential for maintaining their extremities. And sure, they may not actually involve baking, but they’ll curb your yearning for soufflé till eggs become a staple once again.

What the egg shortage means for our hot cross bun cravings, we don’t know – it’s often used in recipes for these fragrant little bundles. Best to bake up a batch of these naturally egg-free babies just in case; the two types of chocolate it uses only sweetens the deal.

Love a time-consuming baking project, but all the recipes for glorious layered cakes, lush puddings and fancy French patisserie call for eggs? We know the sourdough-obsessed days of 2020 are long gone, but why not give it a crack anyway? This deeply detailed recipe will satisfy your urge to bake and leave you with a sourdough starter that will yield plenty of future loaves.