Box Cake Hack
No eggs? No Problem!
Please allow me to show you How to Replace the Eggs in a Box Cake Mix!
I am in quite a few Foodie & Cake Decorating groups on Facebook and so many people have been asking “How to Replace the Eggs in a Box Cake Mix?”
I often torture myself and read through the comments section only to see all the answers that even you are probably saying out loud right now!
“Use Flax!” “Use Applesauce!” “Use a can of soda!”
Believe me I have tried all of those and while technically they all “work” the real question is, “are they good?”
Of course you already know my opinion or I never would have taken to the test kitchen to figure out how to properly replace the eggs in a box cake mix.
And after it was all said and done I am here to tell you that you can still make a box cake mix and expect it to come out exactly as it was intended, maybe even better with this quick fix!
And it’s not with flax eggs, bananas or applesauce and please for the love of all things good in this world it is definitely not a can of soda!
So listen, I know I know I know those things technically “work” but anyone who has done those social media “hacks” can attest to the fact that indeed they do not produce great results!
After all they don’t call them “hacks” for nothing!
The results vary from heavy, rubbery, dense and all of them flat.
My adjusted cake box trick will give you light, fluffy cakes and cupcakes that are not heavy, gummy or falling apart!
With just a few tweaks with ingredients that you already have in your pantry added to the ingredients that are already in the box you will be amazed at the results you bake up!
Now before you get upset with me from what I’ve said so far, hear me out!
CLICK HERE FOR THE DOUBLE FUDGE CUPCAKES RECIPE PICTURED HERE!
I have gotten some pretty heavy flack for this box cake fix straight out of the gate.
Many people berated me for using a store bought egg replacer as the fix it.
They just really wanted me to continue advocating for those other handy items like the can of soda as the ultimate fixer upper for a veganized box cake.
I cannot do it though!
I cannot advocate for something that while yes technically it works, but the result is quite awful in my opinion!
So yes I did use a store bought proprietary blend egg replacer for this hack with the ultimate of ultimate results!
Specifically The Plant Based Egg by Freely Vegan.
While I do love that egg replacer the best, I am biased since I did have a hand in developing it for the wheat line for my friend Deborah who created it;
Please note that I did not receive any monetary benefit for helping to develop this product so there is no nefarious intent behind my promotion of it.
I have used other egg replacers in this hack with great results.
I have used Bob’s Red Mill in same quantity as well as the tried and true “flax egg” with also great results.
So again while I love The Plant Based Egg by Freely Vegan in 90% of my recipes since it’s advent, I do understand that not everyone can get it and just plain may not want to buy it.
You can of course use another proprietary blend egg replacer of your choice and I am confident you will get equally great results as long as you follow the other ingredient adjustments!
Check out the full video tutorial on YouTube for a visual explanation!
Keep in mind I am using Duncan Hines box mixes as this is the only 100% vegan verified box mix
By the way, I have also hacked the box brownie CLICK HERE FOR THAT!
- 1 Yellow Cake Box Mix
- Vegetable Oil ⅓ cup
- Water 1 cup
- Plant Milk *I use soy milk ⅔ cup
- All Purpose Flour 1 cup
- The Plant Based Egg egg replacer 2 Tablespoons
- Baking Powder ½ teaspoon
- ***I have recently started adding an additional ½ cup of sugar and 2 Tbs applesauce to these above listed ingredients~ and let me tell you~ WOW! So good!
- Mix all the dry ingredients into the box cake mix and proceed as directed on the box
- 1 Chocolate Cake Box Mix
- Vegetable Oil ⅓ cup
- Water 1 cup
- Plant Milk *I use soy milk 1 cup
- All Purpose Flour 1 cup
- Natural Cocoa Powder ¼ cup
- The Plant Based Egg egg replacer 2 Tablespoons
- Baking Powder ½ teaspoon
- ***I have recently started adding an additional ½ cup of sugar and 2 Tbs applesauce to these above listed ingredients~ and let me tell you~ WOW! So good!
- Mix all the dry ingredients into the box cake mix and proceed as directed on the box
I haven’t bought box mixes in years, that is, since someone enlightened me about your youtube channel more than 5 years ago. I’m so excited to try this recipe though. there are so many people that doctor the cake mixes and there are people whom are allergic to eggs this looks perfect.
I’m one! I discovered I was egg allergic this summer, and my now deceased husband used to be a Well know chef, who taught me all he knew. I cook for a lot of folks, and was really afraid to disappoint all the folks who count on me for wonderful tasty meals.
Thanks Gretchen for helping me deliver tasty, egg free meals and desserts!
Wow! This cupcake in the picture looks so delicious. I really like your post, keep doing the amazing work.
Hi Gretchen,
I don’t have the plant based egg replacer, but will be buying some today after seeing your blog. In the meantime, can I use Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer and if so, is it a 1-1 substitution?
Hi Ginny! Thanks! Yes, while I do prefer the Plant Based Egg – the Bob’s will work, same quantity
Hiya, how do I get the plant based egg on the uk? ?
Hey there, we are currently trying to get it to UK Amazon, it takes a while for all that to happen. But once it is, I will annoucne! Thanks for the interest in supporting a small business venture!! 🙂
I used EnerG and followed the same recipe. Worked fabulously.
Do you prepare the egg? Or just put in try powder?
You have changed my life! My son is anaphylactic to both milk and eggs, so we cook vegan desserts a lot. Up until this point, I have just accepted the fact that my cake and cupcakes will always fall after baking and be “delicate” in texture (ie, they fall apart). But no more. I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and they rose beautifully and did not fall. The texture was like….cake! There were not a million crumbs everywhere. They were perfect! Can’t wait to try the chocolate and also the brownie box hack. Thank you!!
Hi Gretchen,
Thank you for amazing hacks , big fan!
Would this recipe work with pudding mix added to the box mix ?
I have not tried that, but I imagine it would work fine!
I know I’m pushing the envelope but if I wanted to doctor up your doctored version cake mix like making the vanilla cake into a lemon blueberry cake, would I be able to add blueberries and vegan lemon gelatin to this recipe or to make a strawberry cake add some strawberry purée and gelatin? Does that mess the ratios up?
Thank you for all you do❤️.
I haven’t tried those things so your guess is good as mine! But please let me know if it works! (Although I hope you mean agar and not gelatin LOL)
I used pudding and always do. Was amazing.
I really loved reading your posts, you are doing amazing. Keep it up.
Hi Gretchen!
I want to make their White boxed cake mix. Would I be able to follow the directions for the yellow cake for the same results? Or will that only work for the yellow cake? My son is allergic to eggs and milk so I am hoping I can use this hack to make him some cupcakes this weekend. Thanks for all your knowledge!
yes it will work!
Hi I’m Patricia Joseph,
I love this product. It opened up a new door for me. I wanted to know if I could add strawberry puree or strawberry juice to the mix?
Great, I have not tried that- but I would sub it in for the water (or a portion of the water/fat) if you do it. Juices & purees have a tendency to make cakes slightly gummy, and why I would opt for subbing it with the water/oil vs just adding it straight in
I tried the boxed yellow cake hack using the Bob’s egg replaced and the cupcakes rose beautifully and had a very soft fluffy texture but I felt as if the flavor and sweetness of the cake was lost due to the additional one cup of flour. Is this step necessary? Would you add more sugar or vanilla to the batter to fix this issue?
Yes that’s true, while I prefer the less sweet (I think my old age is not allowing me to tolerate much sweet nowadays…) especially when icing cakes with buttercream, this less sweet cake was right up my alley, but this is purely preference & opinion, so that said~ the added flour IS necessary yes. You can add more sugar if you like to balance it out (singularly with the chocolate cake box hack, by adding more cocoa since I thought the added flour drowned out the chocolate flavor), but the structure of the cake that normally is helped by the egg matrix, is now put onto the flour to do that same job.
I would add up to 1/4 cup sugar to balance this for you
This is my new favorite recipe. So much easier than dealing with coffee grounds and what not. This was such a huge hit with my non-vegan, very opinionated, chocolate loving family. Thank you for sharing this!
Well, I have not a boxed cake mix since I started following you at the bakery but I may give it a try with the brownie mix. I usually make your brownies so I don’t know that a mix would save me any time, but I’m thinking my granddaughter might really like this idea. This blog is the one I was reading that had me pondering the egg replacer question I mentioned to you earlier. Thanks again for your unwavering diligence to make us better bakers.
Hi Gretchen,
I use the box mix all the rime but have never added eggs. Instead replace it with yogurt. What does adding the all purpose flour and baking powder do?? Just wondering!!
Yes! There are definitely alternatives to making the box cake without eggs, as I mentioned in the first few minutes of hte video, people use applesauce, flax meal and even cans of soda! !LOL
But are they AS GOOD AS THIS ONE!??
The added flour gives structure (same as the coagulated eggs would) and the baking powder adds a bit of rise (same as the eggs do)
My daughter who can’t boil water that gave me the task to make cupcakes for work baby shower.
One of girls has a egg allergy and usually has to pass on dessert, cause has eggs in it. I tried several recipes. Need less to say all failed. I was determine to make these cupcakes. 4 weeks and time running out. I came across your recipe. It came out beautiful. No rubbery texture. And feel folks that didn’t allergy would eat. Only thing I did different was added 1/4 cup of sugar to the batter. Thank You, Thank You. I had even called around town to find eggless cupcakes, no one made them. If your reading this post, follow the instruction to the T, and you will have eggless cupcakes.
YAY! thank you for the feedback!! So glad you had great success!! (yes I can see how the sugar would please many people, as the extra flour drowns it down a bit, I think in my “old age” Im getting sensitive to lots of sugar LOL)
Mine had fall apart… what could have happened… I felt disappointed
Uh oh! Hmmm, the first thing I always look to is MEASUREMENTS (CLICK HERE) is it possible you were heavy handed in the flour measure?
But how did it taste? Was it dry and crumbly or still moist and just did not hold together?
Did you use the recommended egg repalcer?
Its hard to tell exactly WHAT happened, but those are the places I would start to try to solve
Hi,
I tried both recipes and followed them exactly with regards to the amounts. The first thing that I noticed was both batters were very thick. Second the cupcakes came out dry, with the chocolate one being more so than the yellow cupcake ones.
Question- should there more liquid, such as maybe a little more oil?
Note: I used the same ingredient as listed except for the egg substitute, which I used Red Mills egg replacer.
Hmm, I have not had to adjust this recipe at all since I’ve published it. I use it often (Since Im very lazy in my old age and use box cakes often LOL) I would suggest perhaps you are heavy handed in your flour measures?? CLICK HERE FOR MORE
The egg replacer does it need to be put in dry or add the water to it and let set? I didn’t notice if you put it in with the wet mixture
Thanks
This particular egg replacer can go straight into the dry ingredients (another reason why I love it! )
I used Duncan Hines white cake and followed exactly what the yellow cake recipe said except i accidentally used 1 cup of milk instead of 2/3 cup. Also I used “Neat Egg” egg replacer. They turned out PERFECT! So delicious and as promised, exactly as intended! I am so happy I found this recipe! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
YAY! awesome! thanks for the feedback!
I am so excited to have found this, My brother can’t have eggs or dairy. I have Ener-g egg replacer. do you know if it would be the same equivalent as the one noted?
Hi There, The EnerG egg replacer has added leaveners in it, so I tend to stay away from that one. I am sure it would work, but maybe don’t add the extra baking powder that I add here?
I spent a good (almost) two hours searching online for ways to replace oil in cake mixes (and eggs), trying to find DHines directions for replacing the oil with applesauce. I’ve made it that way lots of times (with applesauce to replace the oil) and everyone loved it, never guessing my “trick”. But with being hunkered down with Stay Home/Stay Safe, I have been using what eggs we have judiciously. AND the oil! Finally gave up on what I searched for, and found YOU on google. I was overjoyed! I have plenty of egg replacer, used in my Gluten-Free (for me) baking, but never tried it in anything else. Can’t wait to try your method. Still searching for the DHines instructions, though. Rather than replace eggs, I’d prefer to replace the oil. The DH boxes in my pantry don’t list the oil replacement instructions…. Thank you for posting the great video, and I now have other baking “tricks” in my repertoire!
YAY! awesome!!
My niece, who will be 3 in August, is allergic to
Wheat
Cows milk
Eggs
Nuts
Coconut oil
She drinks soy milk and loves the silk soy yogurt.
Loves strawberries, apples and those little oranges
I’d to make a small cake and other desserts for her birthday. Do you have a recipe with easy to find ingredients?
Thank you so much 💕😃
Hi Yes sure, how about this VANILLA CAKE option here OR THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE
Hi! I am so happy to try this! Whenever I tried the other methods but I always got a wet gummy cake. Would you be able to give in grams versus cups for your measures? For example the flower, the oil?
Hi Great thanks! I think you will love it, I will update the post to reflect the grams measure when I get to my desktop computer, but if you can’t wait that long you can always GOOGLE the conversions
We currently use Ener-G egg replacer. I use 1tlbsp instead of 1 1/2 tsp to replace an egg as I’ve found it doesn’t seem enough to hold structure enough, especially when I’m trying to replace 3 eggs. My cupcakes don’t rise and they are fairly crumbly using this egg replacer.
I was excited to see a plant based egg replacer you recommended until I saw the ingredients-flaxseed. My child is allergic to egg, nuts, or seeds. We found out about seeds bc he tried ground flax in a smoothie, so we know it’s a no go. Any suggestions of what I could do to help my cupcakes puff up & have a more cake texture but not using that plant based egg replacer? Should I try adding some psyllium husk (it’s in your plant based egg replacer), baking powder, & your other hacks to my batter?
You can go ahead with the EnerG egg replacer but be sure to make the adjustments that I have listed here to help the structure & rise.
So simply: use your EnerG 1 Tbs is good, but also be sure to add the flour (and cocoa if you are making chocolate cake box) but since EnerG has baking powder in it already you do not need to add my recommended addition.
I see you use Ducan Hines boxed cake mix Do your measurements only applied to that particular brand or to other brands like Pillsbury and Betty Crocker?
Correct! I only used DH because they are truly vegan, I made sure of it and it is 100% verified! So I cannot sya whether it would be the same with those other brands, I would say yes if the total weight listed on the box is the same!
This recipe is legit! This is the first time I’ve used this recipe for veganizing a boxed cake mix. I’m not much of a baker, but with the help of my mom and Gretchen’s recipe, I made delicious chocolate cupcakes. I literally jumped up and down at how perfect they turned out. My other attempts at box cake mix cupcakes turned out tasting horrible and ugly. I followed Gretchen’s instructions to a T. I used a Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix, adding all alterations. It came out to be 24 cupcakes. Although I used a different egg replacer, (Ener-G Egg Replacer), I stuck to Gretchen’s recommendation of 2 tbsp of egg replacer. My cupcakes look just like the ones in this video! Fluffy! I’ll be coming back for more recipes! ❤️❤️❤️
Did you place ener G in with dry mix. Not as directed in the box with water ???
My son’s birthday is this weekend and since I’m not doing a birthday party this year, I still wanted him to have a cake as he’s never had any due to his food allergies. So since no other kids will be eating it I want to make one. Of course I waited until the last minute to gather the ingredients and unable to order your recommend egg replacer, I’ve been to several stores and everyone is sold out of the Bob’s Red Mill, I was only able to find Neat Egg…will that egg replacer work.
Yes that should work!
Hi Gretchen, I have a Betty Crocker cake mix I purchased a long time ago thinking it was fully vegan, but after watching your video I realised it likely isn’t truly vegan, but rather than throw it away and waste it, I figured I would still make it up anyway using all the vegan ingredients, including the same PB Egg.
So this box mix is the “BETTY CROCKER DELIGHTS SUPER MOIST PARTY RAINBOW CHIP CAKE MIX”. It requires 1 Cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3 eggs. So more oil than the Duncan Hines. The weight is slightly different, mine is 432g, the DH mix is 468g.
Would you suggest I follow your replacements same as the yellow cake mix for my rainbow chip mix, even though they are slightly different in weight and oil? With the exception being the oil perhaps, where I follow the box using 1/2 cup. But otherwise the flour, plant based egg, soy milk etc. added would be the same as your suggestion. Let me know what you think or how you would tweak it. I really trust your judgement rather than myself winging it! Thanks in advance.
Hmm, hard to say as I am going to be guessing too.
I have only configured the recipe to work with the Duncan Hines one I show in the video.
I would not worry so much about the 1/2 cup vs 1/3 cup oil nor would I worry too much about the 36g of cake mix differential. But I think I would add an additional 1/4 cup flour to the 1 cup I already add to the box mix, this will make up that 34g difference and compensate for that couple Tbs added oil as well, The plant milk (1 cup) I would leave the same.
let me know how it turns out!
Hi Gretchen. I followed your instructions exactly and the cakes overall turned out very nicely, especially in terms of structure. I made one 8-inch round cake and used the other half of the batter for cupcakes. The round cake had risen nicely and didn’t collapse, it had a nice dome top with great stability. I was able to pick it up once cooled and easily wrap it in plastic wrap. Normally it would crumble to mushy pieces, as it has done in the past when not veganised correctly. Ironically this ended up being crumbled up anyway to make cake pops and it worked great. The cupcakes were the ones I tasted on their own before frosting, and they were a bit bland as the extra flour had “watered down” the flavour noticeably, but this is to be expected, and I know you touched on this in your video. That being said, redeemable by adding a generous layer of sweet frosting. The cake pops have frosting mixed in (I used your buttercream recipe) plus a white chocolate coating, so they had plenty of sweetness added back to be just right. Wanted to report back in case any others have similar queries in the future. Thanks for your help as always 🙂
Hi Gretchen, this is such a great post! I have a question, I have a recipe that I’m trying to make vegan. It asks to cream the butter and sugar and then add in egg whites straight from the carton. I was going to use aquafaba but I don’t know if I should do something to the aquafaba before adding it to the batter? Some sites say to whip it to stiff peaks, some sites say to whisk it until foamy. Do you have any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Hey thanks! I have done it both ways and have found little difference in the results to be honest. Funny, I am in the middle of a giant video explaining all the differences in the results from one egg replacer to another! 😀
Stay tuned I will be posting it to Youtube ASAP!
I usually like to use milk instead of water called for and a dollop of sour cream. Do you think that will have an effect in finished result. ??
I’m Wfpb, so oil doesn’t work. I was eager to try your extra sugar, just wondering whether I can bump up the applesauce and be good to go. Thank you!
I have not tried that! I’m not sure how it would go, but if you do try, please let me know! 🙂
*Maybe test just a 1/2 box?
So if I use ener-g egg replacer, I only need to use 1 tbsp of it and the baking powder is not required? ^_^
I would say probably yes to that, I tend to stay away from EnerGy Egg because it is mostly leavener with starch. I don’t love it. While my fav is the Plant Based Egg by Freely Vegan, I have used Bob’s Red Mill with good results as an interchange. I don’t want to say “don’t use the energy” but since I have not tested that one, and it is very different that the ones I typically use I’d hate for you to waste your ingredients. On the same token I think it would work?? But yeah, cut that baking powder in half now
Ok, thank you, gretchen.
I have a betty crocker cake mix for carrot cake. it asks for 1 cup water, 2/3 cup oil, and 3 eggs. what changes do you think I would need to make? should I add more flour, or reduce the oil that is asked for on the box mix?
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/d9fd20ca-cfba-4238-86a0-15b8444d1536.931650ded3691a5fa6cbc844c932b285.jpeg
Maybe the amount of oil will not make much of a difference? 🙁 Should I just use 1/2 cup of oil, which is what Betty Crocker mixes usually call for? Or should I use the 2/3 cup? I know there is only around 35 ml in the difference, but I know how precise baking is. >,<
I used the recipe for the yellow cake mix (including extra stevia and applesauce) for my daughter’s first birthday. I used Annie’s confetti cake mix. (It was much cheaper to do it this way than to make the cake from scratch, and buy enough naturally-colored sprinkles.) They turned out amazing! And they stretched two boxes of cake mix to yield a 2-tier 6″ cake, and 26 cupcakes. From now on, this will be my go-to recipe.
Wooo! Awesome! Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
Can these substitution work on duncan hines strawberry cake?
Just tried this with the DH lemon cake box. Did 1/3 cup lemon for one of the 1/3s of water. Didn’t mix for 2 mins like the box says, just about a minute, till blended with no large lumps. Amaze balls!
Thanks for all you do Gretchen!
If using Bobs red mill egg replacer do I still add Baking Soda?
It’s baking POWDER, but yes.
I’ve tried using flax egg as a substitute, and my memory is that the cake turned out really dry and heavy, and the bits were weird. You end up with something equivalent to cornbread and not cake. I’ve used substitutes that ended up making part of the cupcakes gummy. I think the Bob’s red mill stuff does this. I also have the added benefit of trying these while living in a high altitude, which also creates the problem of cake not baking all the way through. Egg substitutes fortunately work wonderfully in cookies, but I’m still looking for something to recreate the cakes I used to make when using eggs. Having to over-bake an entire cake so that part of it isn’t “raw” just isn’t fun.