The Egg in Baking

Throughout my whole learning experience in a Culinary school I didn't learn much about baking, not that I was not paying attention in class but my course leans more on cooking. We did a little bit of baking but we really didn't have a formal "baking class day". So I am studying and practicing more on baking now and has set the cooking aside for a while.
To be excellent in baking you have to discipline yourself in following all of the procedures and measurements of anything that you want to bake. If you follow all the procedures accordingly especially on cakes or any other easy to bake food it would come out as if you're a professional baker/pastry chef! :)
In the baking world there are a lot of questions that I want to ask and facts that I want to learn but I'm just taking it a step at a time. Some of those questions were - What are the purposes of eggs in baking? Can we still have a perfect cake even if we use only the egg whites or only the yolks when the procedure says whole eggs?

hmmm..
I know that eggs are used as binders. Without eggs cakes would become dry. Flour, sugar, butter etc wouldn't combine well without eggs. Also, cakes and other pastries wouldn't be that tasty anymore.
2nd question - from what I know, If the recipe calls for whole eggs then you should use whole eggs. IF you use only the yolk in cakes, the batter would still have the same consistency but it would be more yellow in color rather than putting the whole egg in. IF you only use the whites, still same consistency but the cake usually comes out lighter in color. Remember, 1 yolk equals 2 egg whites. Yolks also make cakes denser, whites make cakes more soft and springy. So it's the battle of colors and textures?? physically yes, but the nutritional value of each cake would be very different. Yolks contain more cholesterol (good cholesterol) and other nutrients and vitamins.  White being the protector of the yolk contains less.



Here are 7 facts that I found online 

1. The yolk is smaller than the egg white.
2. Yolk is known to be a primary source of food for the developing embryo. The egg white functions as a protective cover for the yolk.
3. The Yolk has more nutritional value than the egg white.
4. The yolk contains more than half of the egg’s proteins.
5. Egg white does not come with cent per cent nutrients when compared to the egg yolk.
6. Calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, folate, thiamin, B6, B12 and panthothenic acid is seen more in yolk than in egg white.
7. Another difference that can be seen is that the egg yolk contains a major share of copper, manganese and selenium. The egg white has between 50 and 80 per cent of potassium, protein and riboflavin.

http://www.differencebetween.net/object/comparisons-of-food-items/difference-between-egg-white-and-yolk/

Photo from Google images