Structure and Lift

• Eggs leaven batter and give structure, which makes it imperative you use the required number of eggs in a cake recipe. Eggs help bind the dry ingredients together at the same time their proteins capture extra air for leavening and their liquid evaporates, giving even more lift.

Measure Precisely

• Precise measurements are essential to successful baking because of how the ingredients interact with one another, a process known as "baking chemistry." The process begins when the ingredients are first mixed together. Typically, eggs are blended with other liquids, such as water or oil, and then added to dry ingredients to create the cake batter. As the eggs are beaten into the mixture, their protein holds onto some of the air incorporated by the mixing process. This "capture" provides extra air that will expand when heated through baking, causing the cake batter to rise.

Eggs Come in Five Sizes

• Using eggs correctly in baking requires knowing their sizes. Eggs are sold in five standard sizes: small, medium, large, extra-large and jumbo. When it comes to the baking process, recipes are created on the basis of using large eggs. A large egg weighs about 2 ounces, equivalent to 3 1/4 tablespoons of liquid. If large eggs aren't available, it's possible to substitute different size eggs in a recipe, but it requires doing some math to get it right.

Kitchen Math Is Crucial

• Compared to a large egg, a medium egg is equivalent to 3 tablespoons of liquid, so it would be necessary to add 1/4 tablespoon of water to get the same quantity of liquid. On the other hand, and extra-large egg contains 4 tablespoons of liquid, so it would be necessary to reduce other liquid in the recipe by 3/4 tablespoon to compensate. The differences in volume of egg sizes becomes even more important with recipes that call for two or more eggs. That's why it's crucial to do the math.