Here's the recipe for an easy eggless sponge cake that can form a base to pretty much any party cake or birthday cake you want to put together. My cake recipes usually don't have a story attached to them. Wait, that's not true. There is a story but it's usually just one line - "I felt like eating cake so I baked one and ate it all". However, this eggless sponge cake recipe has a slightly longer story behind it.
I have the habit of taking pictures of recipes from cook books to try later. Mostly, these pictures just stay in my phone album, forgotten and hardly ever looked at again but this cake recipe came out of that dungeon one day.
Flashback: I was in Gurgaon some time last year and walked into some random book store that had every single Nita Mehta book every printed. When I first saw it, I thought I would buy half of them and come back but I got so overwhelmed that all I did was browse through half a dozen of them, click a picture of one recipe, and leave without buying any.
Over a year later, this cake happened because I was trying to sort through my phone pics and free up some space on the memory card and I chanced upon this recipe I had taken a picture of ages ago.
Before I give you the recipe already, one more thing. I am not a fan of cake recipes with oil instead of butter. I am wary of them, and often insist in my head that I can taste the oil and it's not good and butter is the food of the Gods and that's what we should always always bake with.
This cake is an exception though. You really can't taste the oil, even if you are paranoid and dramatic like me.
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes one 8" cake
Source: Originally from Eggless Desserts by Nita Mehta (also adapted from Sharmi)
Ingredients:
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour / maida
1 cup of plain thick curds / yogurt (not too sour, at room temperature)
3/4 cup of sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup but that would make it on the sweet side)
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of any neutral oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 tsp of vanilla extract / essence
How to Make Eggless Sponge Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease an 8" cake pan (or loaf pan) with some butter or oil and set aside.
2. Beat the yogurt well removing any lumps and add the sugar to it.
3. Beat well and add the baking powder and baking soda to it.
Beat again and set aside for 5 mins until you see small bubbles on the surface of the mixture.
4. To this, add the vanilla extract and oil. Mix well until the ingredients are combined.
5. Sift in the flour in three batches into this mixture.
6. Gently fold the mixture using a whisk or rubber spatula (or even a wooden spoon) until you see no more streaks of flour.
7. Pour into the prepared pan...
... and tap it firmly on the counter top a couple times to get rid of the air bubbles.
8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins until the top turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with dry crumbs.
Cool completely before cutting and serving.
Notes:
- To make a vegan vanilla sponge cake, replace the yogurt with applesauce. A reader tried this and got great results!
- This recipe can be used to bake basic sponge cakes that can be layered and frosted. You can also bake them into loaves or cupcakes
- If you find that your cake is browning too much on top and not cooked inside, cover the cake pan with aluminium foil and slit it on top a bit to let the heat out
- To make this an eggless chocolate sponge cake, replace 1/3 cup of the flour with cocoa powder and sift them together before adding to the wet mixture
- The cake stores well outside for up to two days and in the refrigerator for up to 5 days
I have the habit of taking pictures of recipes from cook books to try later. Mostly, these pictures just stay in my phone album, forgotten and hardly ever looked at again but this cake recipe came out of that dungeon one day.
Flashback: I was in Gurgaon some time last year and walked into some random book store that had every single Nita Mehta book every printed. When I first saw it, I thought I would buy half of them and come back but I got so overwhelmed that all I did was browse through half a dozen of them, click a picture of one recipe, and leave without buying any.
Over a year later, this cake happened because I was trying to sort through my phone pics and free up some space on the memory card and I chanced upon this recipe I had taken a picture of ages ago.
Before I give you the recipe already, one more thing. I am not a fan of cake recipes with oil instead of butter. I am wary of them, and often insist in my head that I can taste the oil and it's not good and butter is the food of the Gods and that's what we should always always bake with.
This cake is an exception though. You really can't taste the oil, even if you are paranoid and dramatic like me.
Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe
Preparation time: 15 minutesCooking time: 30 minutes
Makes one 8" cake
Source: Originally from Eggless Desserts by Nita Mehta (also adapted from Sharmi)
Ingredients:
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour / maida
1 cup of plain thick curds / yogurt (not too sour, at room temperature)
3/4 cup of sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup but that would make it on the sweet side)
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of any neutral oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 tsp of vanilla extract / essence
How to Make Eggless Sponge Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease an 8" cake pan (or loaf pan) with some butter or oil and set aside.
2. Beat the yogurt well removing any lumps and add the sugar to it.
3. Beat well and add the baking powder and baking soda to it.
Beat again and set aside for 5 mins until you see small bubbles on the surface of the mixture.
4. To this, add the vanilla extract and oil. Mix well until the ingredients are combined.
5. Sift in the flour in three batches into this mixture.
6. Gently fold the mixture using a whisk or rubber spatula (or even a wooden spoon) until you see no more streaks of flour.
7. Pour into the prepared pan...
... and tap it firmly on the counter top a couple times to get rid of the air bubbles.
8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-35 mins until the top turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with dry crumbs.
Cool completely before cutting and serving.
Notes:
- To make a vegan vanilla sponge cake, replace the yogurt with applesauce. A reader tried this and got great results!
- This recipe can be used to bake basic sponge cakes that can be layered and frosted. You can also bake them into loaves or cupcakes
- If you find that your cake is browning too much on top and not cooked inside, cover the cake pan with aluminium foil and slit it on top a bit to let the heat out
- To make this an eggless chocolate sponge cake, replace 1/3 cup of the flour with cocoa powder and sift them together before adding to the wet mixture
- The cake stores well outside for up to two days and in the refrigerator for up to 5 days
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