Different food hydrocolloids and biopolymers as egg replacers: A review of their influences on the batter and cake quality

Egg is one of the major components of cakes; however, it is the most expensive ingredient in cake formulation, which has a high cholesterol content and may cause allergy. Therefore, finding cost-effective and health promoting ingredients for partial or total replacement of egg is an important topic in the production of various cakes. In this study, the influence of a wide range of egg replacers (legumes, pseudo-cereals, pulps and pomaces, oilseed meals, milk proteins, marine proteins, hydrocolloids, and emulsifiers) on the rheological and functional properties of cake batter as well as their effects on the nutritional, physical, organoleptic, and microbial properties of the final products are reviewed. In conclusion, egg-reduced or egg-free cakes have good nutritional properties; however, their organoleptic and functional properties may be impaired by some egg replacers. The use of hybrid egg replacers, such as proteins together with hydrocolloids and emulsifiers, is suggested to achieve high quality cakes.