Silken tofu, as the name suggests, is a much more delicate and softer form of tofu because of its high water content. It’s creamy and custard-like, so it makes for a great addition to desserts, sauces, smoothies, and stews. You can even make soft, vegan scramble eggs with silken tofu.
One reason why silken tofu is popular in vegan and vegetarian cooking is because it can mimic the texture and binding characteristics of eggs. When blended or mashed, the tofu is almost exactly like beaten eggs. In baking, besides being as good as a binding ingredient, silken tofu also contributes to moisture and tenderness. Despite being a soy-based product, silken tofu doesn’t impart any distinct flavor to the finished dish. Your chocolate cake will taste exactly like a traditional chocolate cake, and you won’t be able to tell the difference.
Silken tofu is also a very nutritive product because it's rich in protein, iron, calcium, and other essential nutrients. So, you’re getting a lot more in terms of nutrition when you use silken tofu, and you’re not even sacrificing on taste or texture. Here are some recipes that you can try and test out to see if silken tofu is your favorite egg substitute:
Ingredients:
Instructions:
A chiffon cake mold is necessary for best results. Preheat the oven to 165 C.
Ensure that you’re using chilled eggs for this recipe, then separate them into yolks and whites.
Add the yolks along with drained silken tofu, 4 teaspoons of sugar, cooking oil, and vanilla extract in a food processor. Blend until smooth.
Transfer into a mixing bowl, then sift and fold the flour into this mixture.
In another bowl, whisk the egg whites along with some lemon juice until you get soft peaks. Incorporate 4 tablespoons of sugar into the meringues.
Add the meringues into the cake batter in batches until well-combined and fluffy.
Pour the cake batter into the chiffon cake mold, and pop any visible air bubbles.
Bake in the oven for 50 minutes at 165 C. Insert a skewer or toothpick in the cake to test for doneness.
Once the cake is done, drop it on your kitchen counter from a distance of 10 cm. This step will prevent the cake from shrinking.
Invert the pan immediately and let the cake cool down like this.
After an hour or two, the cake should be cool to touch, so you can run a serrated knife around the edges of the cake and de-mold it
Ingredients:
For the cake:
For the chocolate frosting:
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 165 C and grease two cake tins.
Sift all the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, and sugar - into a large mixing bowl.
Drain the silken tofu, then puree it in the food processor.
Create a large well in the mixing bowl, then add the hot coffee, canola oil, vanilla extract, milk, and the pureed tofu.
Using either a handheld electric beater or a whisk, bring all of these ingredients together. The batter will be slightly soupy, but don’t worry about it.
Pour it into your prepared cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. You can also bake the cakes one at a time if you have a small oven.
Once the cakes are done, let them come down to room temperature.
For the chocolate frosting, first create a syrup with hot water and sugar. After the sugar has fully dissolved, bring the liquid to a boil, then take it off heat.
Mix the dark chocolate chips into this to get a smooth and glossy sauce. Let it cool down.
In the meantime, whip the silken tofu with vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.
Then slowly pour the chocolate sauce into the whipped silken tofu, and refrigerate it for a bit.
Use one chocolate cake as your base, then spread the chocolate frosting on it. Sandwich with another chocolate cake and use the leftover frosting.