Yeast as egg replacement in cakes - does this affect the texture?

[RockingMyFiftiesNot]

We have a vegan guest this Christmas. I bought a Vegan Christmas cook book. A lot of the cake recipes seem to use yeast instead of egg (or at least I can't see any other egg replacements).

If you have used yeast in cakes, does it affect the texture - ie is the cake more 'bready'? Or the flavour?

Thanks

I’ve never heard of yeast as a replacement.

I’ve used apple sauce & I’ve heard of Aquafaba & chia seeds being used with success.

minimalistbaker.com/make-chia-egg/

proveg.com/plant-based-food-and-lifestyle/vegan-alternatives/egg-alternatives/

Yes I've seen lists of various egg replacement - those you mention, also ripe banana, flax seeds but never yeast. Am intrigued!

I'm not vegan but my son us allergic to dairy and eggs so I do quite a lot of vegan baking. I've never used yeast as an egg replacer. Most of my recipes use soy milk/cider vingegar "buttermilk", apple sauce or mashed banana for binding, though I do use commercial egg replacer sometimes. I've got a friend who is a professional baker who uses flaxseed in her absolutely delicious vegan cakes but I think that needs a bit more skill. I would imagine a cake without egg but containing egg would be more bready in consistency yes. Not to say tgat it wouldn't be nice though. As it's a Christmas recipe I'm imagining it might be a bit like stollen?

I’m really enjoying the ground flax egg substitute these days. Impressed.
Yeast won’t affect the flavor much as cakes generally have sugar vanilla or cinnamon which would dominate.
Try making one

As it's a Christmas recipe I'm imagining it might be a bit like stollen?

That's what I thought, but I wouldn't want these specific cakes to have that Stollen like texture. Recipes using yeast include a chocolate-orange bundt; Black Forest cake; chocolate Yule log; gingerbread; and carrot cake.
Maybe I just need to try one ahead of time to see what I think and then adapt the recipe to use another replacer if I don't like it.

Thanks all

@fallfallfall

I’m really enjoying the ground flax egg substitute these days. Impressed. Yeast won’t affect the flavor much as cakes generally have sugar vanilla or cinnamon which would dominate. Try making one

Sorry wasn't ignoring what you said - I was midway through my last response and the phone rang. Will give one a go if I have time and report back.

Another question. I'm not vegan and don't need to bake for vegans very often so not going to buy an expensive bag of flaxseeds. If I use aquafaba, do you use it straight from the tin or do you whisk it first a little bit - i don't mean as much as if making aquafaba meringue but just to thicken it a bit? Thanks.

Sorry I’m not vegan, I bought the ground flax specifically for an amazing recipe. It was a cheap bulk buy at Costco. Sized to feed an army.

minimalistbaker.com/fudgy-vegan-double-chocolate-beet-muffins/

That's a lovely sounding recipe

No positive responses re yeast in cake yet - but worrying!

'Bit worrying' that should have said. Weird that all the cake recipes in this book use yeast, yet no one else has heard of it. Will give it a go well ahead of when needed and report back

Can you find any reviews of the book?

I tried a vegan apple cake with yeast and it was only nice while still warm. By the time it was cold it was solid and unpleasant.
The recipe I’ve used extensively and with the most variations is Jamie Oliver’s vegan vanilla cupcake recipe. It’s a guest post thankfully, as baking is not his strong point, never mind vegan.
Anyway, I’ve baked the cupcake recipe as half a dozen different cakes for a garden opening, and they were all successful. Think; lemon drizzle, chocolate gateau, coffee and walnut, Dundee, sticky toffee , Jaffa, etc. It’s a fantastic basic cake , also quite a large cake so won’t fit into two regular size sponge tins.

We use Free and Easy egg replacer, I get it from asda. Works fine, no funny taste. I get it because eggs don't agree with me!

I've never heard of yeast!

I've used lemonade, banana, apple sauce, aquafaba and egg replacers - they've all worked out well.