Creamy, eggless cheesecakes
Candice Chua wanted to eat all the sweet things she could find on social media. She loved browsing the pages of popular breads and cakes that would pop up on her feed. However, her online explorations would always end up in disappointment. She has egg allergies, which makes a lot of popular cakes a no-no to her.
“Since I was kid, I would get rashes when I ate food that had eggs in it, like bread or cakes. What my family would do was to let me have just a little taste,” she said, so she didn’t feel deprived of any food growing up.
Her family adapted to her allergy. They would order fried rice without the egg and they learned to check the labels when buying bread. Fruits and pudding were her go-to desserts whenever she was craving something sweet.
The rise of vegan choices gave her more and more options. But temptations were plenty during the lockdowns.
She and her friend would often talk about trendy food, and her curious sweet tooth needed to be satiated. She started making frozen, no-bake desserts—banoffee, frozen oreos, cookies, banana bread, and carrot cake.
“You were either a plantita or a baker. I tried both and I wasn’t as successful as a plantita,” she said, laughing. She found an eggless recipe for cheesecake and decided to give it a try. Before this, her experience in baking was limited to her high school Home Economics class. She knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as combining ready-made ingredients and freezing them.
What really spurred her on was her siblings’ love for cheesecake.
“My family and I were surprised at how well the first cheesecake turned out,” she said. “I don’t know if my siblings are biased but they tell me it’s better than the ones they’ve tasted.”
Sour cream as substitute
Her recipe uses sour cream as a substitute for eggs, giving it a creamy texture. She also tried making cinnamon swirls and other baked goodies.
She opened No Eggs Allowed (@noeggs_allowed on Instagram, Viber business: No Eggs Allowed) in 2021, and it has remained a hobby for her until now. It is something she does over the weekend, hence she requests customers to place their orders three days in advance.
“I use premium ingredients so it tends to be costly. Once I get the right mix, I want to keep the same standard for each cheesecake I make,” she said.
She also buys some ingredients fresh so the heads-up is necessary. On weekdays, she works in the family business of providing fire safety equipment to buildings.
Chua also has only one oven. For Christmas orders, she recommends that customers place their orders on the first week of December so she can line up the schedule. She suggests trying the Mango Pecan Cheesecake and Coffee.
“I want people like me who have egg allergies to be able to enjoy desserts as well,” she said. “I know how hard it is to want desserts but to not be able to have them.”
She added, “But No Eggs Allowed is more than that. Our cheesecakes would please even the regular cheesecake lovers.”
