Actually... let me make that - How to make a good eggless cake!
My mission to find a good, basic eggless cake recipe goes back years. Many of Mr Ladybird's family don't eat eggs, and as an avid baker I have always been on the lookout for baked goodies that they can enjoy without eggs, but without sacrificing on flavour and texture. I can't tell you how many eggless cake recipes I've tried in the past only to be disappointed by sometimes bad/sometimes mediochre results. It is quite a challenge to create a tasty eggless cake that exhibits all the qualities you'd expect of a nice cake - good flavour, texture, height and crumb. I thought it an impossible task - until now! The result is a little denser than your average cake, but certainly a good result nonetheless...
Last week I came across a basic eggless cake recipe that struck me as being a little different to those I'd trialled in the past. Unlike others that included vinegar, yoghurt, egg replacement powders and a myriad of other ingredients, this one was a little different. The secret ingredient...?
Sweetened condensed milk!
I was so pleased with the result that I knew I had to share this recipe with you straight away. This recipe is one I've slightly adapted from a fantastic blog I've found called Divine Taste - well written posts with great recipes, and always accompanied by beautiful food photography.
This is a useful recipe to know in case you ever need to make an eggless cake - be it because of someone's allergy, personal preference, or even if it's because you don't have any eggs left in your kitchen! Using a good quality vanilla extract makes all the difference here - so please don't use the artifical stuff (i.e. vanilla essence) if you can avoid it. It is well worth paying a little more for real extract. You can get creative with this recipe too. You could even adjust the baking time and use the batter to make eggless cupcakes. This time around I simply cut it into 2 layers and sandwiched it with warmed strawberry jam and whipped cream before showering the top with icing sugar.
Basic Eggless Cake
Recipe adapted from Divine Taste
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda / sodium bicarbonate
1 tin (395g) sweetened condensed milk
100g unsalted butter, melted
175ml milk/water (I used 175ml low fat milk)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Grease and line the bottom of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper. Preheat your oven to 100-120 degrees celcuis.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and sodium bicarb into a bowl and whisk to combine and ensure the mixture is uniform.
3. Add the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla essence and milk/water into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients one at a time, using an electric hand mixer, whisk or spoon to mix until the batter comes together and there are no lumps. This shouldn’t take more than a minute with an electric hand mixer/beater. Be careful not to over beat the mixture as this could result into a hard cake.
4. Inrease your oven temperature to 150 degrees celcuis and pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for
50 - 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and use as required.
Have you ever tried making eggless cakes? If you know of any good recipes, why not share your links here!
Ladybird x
PS - I thought I might also mention that I had a media mention on a UK news site earlier this month! You can read the full article here.
