The big news these days is the high price of eggs.  And, it’s predicted that they will continue to rise.  We asked Chef Terry John Zila for some tasty recipes that don’t need any eggs.

Links:

• Terry John Zila Catering
• Terry on Facebook

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake:

1 ½ cups unbleached white flour
⅓ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold brewed coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

For the Glaze:

½ pound bittersweet chocolate
¾ cup hot water or milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray an 8 inch square or 9 inch round baking pan with baking spray.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl and set aside.
3. In a 2 cup measuring cup, measure and mix the oil, water or coffee and vanilla.
4. Pour the liquid ingredients into the sifted dry ingredients and mix the batter with a whisk.
5. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. Pale swirls will occur where the vinegar and baking soda react. Stir just until the vinegar is even distributed throughout the batter. Pour into prepared pan.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Set aside the cake to cool.

To make the glaze:

1.  Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl in a microwave at 1 minute increments until chocolate is smooth when whisked. About 3 minutes total.
2. Stir the hot liquid and vanilla into the chocolate until smooth.

Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake. Refrigerate the glazed cake for a minimum of 30 minutes before serving.

Vegan Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp cornstarch
8 tbsp vegan butter, melted
¼ cup lemon juice 
Zest of one lemon
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup vegan yogurt 

For the lemon glaze:

Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tbsp)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, sugar and salt.
3. Whisk the butter into the flour until incorporated, a few seconds.
4. In another bowl, mix the yogurt, vanilla extract and lemon juice and zest until combined.
5. Add the liquid mixture to the flour in two batches, mixing thoroughly with a spatula after each addition. Make sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition. If using a stand mixer, mix for 20 seconds after each addition.
6. Prepare a loaf pan by coating it with cooking spray and placing a piece of parchment at the bottom to make unmolding easier.
7. Scrape the batter into the pan. It will be quite thick. Smooth the top wth the spatula.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. The top will crack, but that’s typical of pound cake batters and actually gives your cake a nice look.
9. Cool the cake on a rack for 10 minutes, then unmold it and continue cooling it on the rack.
10. Once the cake has nearly cooled, prepare the glaze by mixing the confectioners’ sugar with the lemon juice and vanilla, if using. Drizzle it over the pound cake and reserve some glaze to drizzle over individual slices.