Eggless Basic Sponge Cake

On the birthday of one of my nieces, I have made it a routine to visit her in the evening after office and after her school and take something for her. It is usually some toys or stationery and sometimes a cake from a baker.

This time, however, since she had exams the following day, there was no formal ‘cake-cutting’ party, but a small get together of the family. Since I’ll be looking for an opportunity to bake cakes, I decided I’ll carry a cake for her - a simple one, with no decorations. And it had to be eggless.

A search into my linked blogs pointed me to Madhuri’s lovely blog where I had seen this eggless sponge loaf and drooled over some time back. After seeing the ‘tastymonials’ I knew this will be the recipe that I’ll try. I followed the recipe as is and the cake was in the oven in less than 20 minutes. And at the end of next 40 minutes, the kitchen was smelling so good! The cake looked lovely!!

I had used a second small pan to make a smaller one for ourselves, along with it. I couldn’t resist but cut the other one and taste it ;). It did taste great, with no tinge of curds or oil, which were the main ingredients used. Yay! I had a reliable basic sponge recipe now!!

It got over in no time, with cousins, and nieces having bite after bite :)

Thanks Madhuri, for a wonderful recipe!

Preparation time : 15 min
Baking time : 35-40 min

Ingredients:
All-purpose flour/Maida – 1 1/2 cups
Sugar – 3/4 cup (The original called for 1 cup)
Baking powder – 1 1/4 tsps
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Thick curd – 1 cup
Cooking oil – 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence – 2 tsps

Procedure:
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F. Grease a standard-sized loaf-pan and set aside. I used 2 small pans - one heart shaped and one star shaped
• Powder the sugar and in a bowl, mix the curd and sugar till the sugar dissolves.
• Stir-in the baking powder and baking soda into the curd mixture. Mix well and set aside for 2-3 minutes. The curd will turn frothy and start rising and increasing in volume.
• In the meanwhile, sieve the flour thrice and set aside.
• Add the oil and vanilla essence to the curd mixture. Stir gently so that the air in the mixture is not lost.
• Next, gently fold in the flour. Don’t stir very vigorously; do it very gently. The batter should have a dropping consistency.
• Pour the batter into the readied pan and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.
• Lower the temperature to 180C/350F, and bake for another 35-40 minutes, till the toothpick inserted comes out clean
• Once it is done, using a pastry brush, gently brush the top of the loaf with milk and keep it back in the oven for 2 minutes at 200C/400F. This is what gives the loaf that wonderful glazed finish on top.
• Once done, remove from oven and let the tin cool on a wire-rack for 10 minutes. Run a serrated knife around the edges and upturn the cake from the tin and let it cool on the wire-rack for a good amount of time before you can slice it.
• Once fully cooled, slice the cake with a serrated knife and enjoy it with a cup of tea or as is!

Notes:
• Do the measurements of the ingredients accurately - the first time I made it it was extremely good. The second time, however, I was a bit more lenient in the addition of oil and it turned out to be more. The half cup measure mentioned here is just perfect - does not leave any oily smell or feel and at the same time keeps the cake moist enough. Do not increase it even by a teaspoon.