How to Make Egg Free Cupcakes Using a Cake Mix

What would you think is one of the biggest challenges for those of us with food allergies? Do you want to take a guess?

Some people upon finding out that my son and I are gluten intolerant, or my grandsons are allergic to peanuts and eggs will say something like, "How do you even eat? What do you eat for breakfast?" ( it's funny, but that is a common one), or " How do you even go out to a restaurant?" Well, we pretty much have those things covered. We have our routines, we know what we like, and we know what to avoid. Eating at home is easy to manage, and we know which restaurants we can go to and what to eat there.

But if you said "Going to a party"  is our biggest challenge, then you would win the prize ( if I had a prize to give you, ha ha)!

Parties are all about food, and if you are not the one throwing the party it can cause some concern. You want to be gracious and kind, but it's also pretty important to find out what food will be served! You don't want to be nosey, and you don't want to come off as a martyr, but you do want to eat something while you're there... so what do we do?

The real secret to managing food allergies at parties is this - we bring our own food with us. Just in case. It can be a lifesaver to have a couple of cupcakes in your purse or bag, especially at a birthday party. Birthday parties for kids are THE events of childhood, and no one wants to be thought of as a party pooper - that's the worst! But is there anything more sad than a little child at a birthday party, eyes all lit up at that beautiful birthday cake, and being told "Sorry, you can't have any of that"?

My grandson is allergic to eggs, and that could make life hard for him at most birthday parties. And I know he's not alone - lots of children have to deal with egg allergies. So I have done a little reading and a little experimenting to find an easy way to make egg free cupcakes using  a cake mix.  Degustabox sent us a Pillsbury Purely Simple cake mix and frosting mix this past month, and it was the perfect thing for my egg free cupcake idea that I wanted to try. It has no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, which is something I pay attention to now. Seeing how food can affect my family - for bad or for good - has made me aware of what we put into our bodies in general, and I prefer it to be something that will do us good!

How to Make Egg Free Cupcakes

I found several ideas online that others have tried but I had to experiment a little to get cupcakes that were light and fluffy, just like regular cupcakes with eggs. Perfect cupcakes are moist with a fine crumb, and eggs are what is normally used to achieve this texture. When eggs are not used, cake can be really coarse and dry. I've tried replacing egg with applesauce or canned pumpkin in some muffin recipes with good results, but for cupcakes I wanted them to be especially fluffy and finely textured.

So what did I use?  Club soda, and butter!

The Pillsbury Purely Simple cake mix calls for ½ cup butter, 1 cup milk, and 3 eggs.

I just added 12 oz. of club soda ( or 1 and ½ cups), and ½ cup ( or 1 stick) of softened butter, and that's it! No eggs needed to achieve a light and airy texture - the club soda definitely lightens the batter. I just mixed it as recommended on the package in my Kitchen-Aid mixer for 1-2 minutes. The club soda foams up slightly, and helps the cupcakes to rise beautifully in the oven. I used ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins that were lined with cupcake papers. I also made some using silicone baking cups that I sprayed with cooking spray first - both turned out really well. The Pillsbury Purely Simple cake mix made 18 cupcakes.

I tried using just club soda alone to replace everything - eggs, butter, and milk - but the flavor was best when I used club soda with the butter. If you have dairy allergies, I'm sure you could omit the butter and replace it with oil and have great results.

I tried this with a different brand of cake mix and it worked just as well. If you try making egg free cupcakes with any cake mix, I would love to hear about it - your experiences could be so helpful to others! Please leave a comment and share with all of us 🙂

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