This easy Eggless vanilla cake recipe makes a perfectly moist and flavorful sponge every time. It’s delicious to enjoy with a homemade strawberry glaze, or use as a base for many cream cakes and gateau. Here you’ll find my step-by-step instructions, video with photos, plus expert tips for making a no-fail vanilla cake for your next celebration.
About Eggless Vanilla Cake Recipe
Vanilla cake is a classic cake that most people love. While there are many ways this cake can be made, my recipe is egg-free and gives a soft and moist crumb.
Most of the times when I make Eggless Cakes, I use the mixture of vinegar + baking soda. The reaction of vinegar with baking soda releases carbon dioxide and this aerates the batter which helps in leavening the cake.
This vanilla cake made without eggs uses the same reaction principle. It is a perfect no-fail recipe that works every time. Along with vinegar and baking soda, I also use yogurt and melted butter to make the cake fluffy and tender.
Table of Contents
Yogurt gives a lovely soft crumb to the eggless vanilla cake, and butter makes each bite terrifically rich. I use this cake as a base to make various frosted cakes like Strawberry Cake and Eggless Pineapple Cake. But you can enjoy it as a simple tea cake.
I have also shared an easy recipe for homemade strawberry jam glaze in this post. In a word, the sweet strawberry glaze makes the cake awesome. It is always a hit whenever I serve this vanilla cake for dessert or at gatherings!
How to make Eggless Vanilla Cake
Preparation
Before you make the eggless vanilla cake recipe, get all your ingredients ready.
Make sure all of them are at room temperature, except the butter that can be cold or straightaway removed from the refrigerator.
1. First add 1.5 cups of all purpose flour with 1 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt into a sieve placed over a mixing bowl.
2. Sift the dry ingredients once or twice. Set aside.
3. Grease a 7.5 or 8 inches round pan with some butter. You can line the pan with parchment if you prefer.
One of my ancient (but really sturdy and well-seasoned) baking pan in the photo below.
4. Heat slightly more than ½ cup of butter in a small pan or bowl on medium-low heat until it just melts.
5. Measure the melted butter in a ½ cup measuring cup. Set aside. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 to 20 minutes before baking.
6. In another bowl add ¾ cup of raw sugar (or white sugar), 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, ¼ cup of curd (yogurt) and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.
Note: Beat the curd separately in a bowl and then add. Also use fresh curd and not sour curd.
Tip: Swap with white vinegar or lemon juice if you do not have apple cider vinegar.
7. Add ½ cup of water.
8. Whisk briskly until all of the sugar is dissolved and the curd gets evenly mixed. It should be like buttermilk, slightly off-color and foamy.
It is important that you beat the curd before adding as mentioned above so that you don’t have tiny lumps of curd in this liquid mixture.
9. Now add ½ teaspoon of baking soda to the wet mixture.
10. Stir until the baking soda is mixed evenly. The baking soda will cause some bubbling in this wet liquid mixture.
Make Cake Batter
11. Add the liquid mixture and melted butter to the dry sifted ingredients.
12. Mix very well with a wired whisk. Break apart any lumps by tapping them with the whisk. Be careful not to over-mix the batter.
13. It should be a smooth batter like in the photo below.
Tip: If the batter becomes too thick or look dry, add some more milk or water (at room temperature) to get it to the desired consistency. Depending on the flour texture and quality, you will need to add more or less water.
14. Pour the batter into the greased pan. Tap the pan on the countertop a few times so that any extra air bubbles are released and the batter spreads itself evenly in the pan.
You do not need to even the batter with a spatula. The batter spreads on its own.
Bake Cake
15. Place the cake pan in the preheated oven on the middle rack. If using an OTG or a regular oven, heat both the top and bottom heating elements.
16. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top crust is golden.
Tip 1: The baking time varies with various oven type and the temperatures are not the same. Thus this eggless vanilla cake recipe can take less or more time to bake in your oven. Keep an eye on the cake as it bakes so that it does not brown too much.
Tip 2: Remember not to open the oven door until ¾ of the cake is baked. Opening and closing the oven door many times can make your cake sink or collapse.
Tip 3: When the cake begins to get golden and you see that is browning very quickly, then cover the top with an aluminium foil or butter paper and continue to bake.
17. Check the doneness of the eggless vanilla cake with a bamboo skewer. It should be clean with no sticky batter on it.
18. Place the pan on a wired tray or rack and let the cake cool to room temperature. Let the cake cool completely before you spread the jam glaze on it.
Make Jam Glaze Icing
This eggless vanilla cake is delicious as-is, no toppings needed. However, a fresh fruit jam, buttercream icing or rich chocolate ganache are yummy options to make the cake an extra special sweet treat.
Before you frost the cake, make sure it is cool and not at all hot.
To make an easy jam glaze,
1. First add ½ cup of any sweet fruit jam of your choice in a small skillet or pan. I have used Homemade Strawberry Jam to make this recipe for topping the cake.
2. Now add 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch or arrowroot flour or cornstarch, plus 3 tablespoons of water (or more if needed) and 1 tablespoon butter.
You can use any type of starch-based edible thickener that is available to you. All the three starches that I have listed above thicken the glaze nicely.
So include any one of them for thickening the glaze. In the below photo, the white colored flour is tapioca starch.
3. Place the pan on low heat and begin to mix.
4. Keep stirring until all of the ingredients have melted together and evenly combined.
5. Simmer on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes until the glaze thickens, stirring often. Do not boil or cook the mixture down too much.
Set aside and allow the jam glaze to cool slightly, so that it is warm and not hot.
Frost Cake
1. When the eggless vanilla cake cools, remove it gently from the pan. Place it on a board, tray or plate or a cake stand. A rotating cake stand makes applying the glaze easiest.
Place some of the jam icing on top and use a spatula to spread the glaze evenly on top and sides of the cake.
2. Sprinkle some unsweetened desiccated coconut on top. You can even spread it at the sides.
Coconut is optional and you can skip it, if you are not a fan of coconut.
3. Cover with a large steel bowl, taking care that the coconut and icing do not touch the bowl. Let the glaze cool completely and set.
Later slice and serve. You can also keep in the refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours and then serve.
Note that the butter solidifies when cooled in the refrigerator. This make the texture of the cake slightly dense.
So let the cake come to room temperature before serving. Or you can warm it lightly in your oven at 90 degrees celsius (195 degrees Fahrenheit) for some minutes.
Ingredient Notes & Variations
- Flour: I recommend that you use unbleached and/or organic flour. This recipe works well with both all-purpose flour as well as unbleached pastry flour.
- Butter: You can use a neutral oil in place of butter. For butter, use unsalted butter. In a pinch you can opt for salted butter, but omit adding that pinch of salt in the recipe.
- Jam: Any sweet jam works well for the glaze in this eggless vanilla cake recipe. My favorites are orange jam, mango jam, pineapple jam and of course strawberry jam.
- Vinegar: If you do not have apple cider vinegar, use white vinegar or swap vinegar with lemon juice.
- Sweeteners: To make the eggless vanilla cake less sweet, you can add ½ cup of sugar. In place of sugar, you can also use jaggery, coconut sugar or palm sugar. But the color of the cake will change and become dark. The taste with these sugars will also make the cake taste different.
- Leavening ingredients: My recipe includes both baking powder and baking soda. They are not replaceable with each other. To get the best results, I suggest to follow the proportions mentioned in the recipe. Do make sure that both baking powder and baking soda are fresh and within their shelf-life.
Baking and Storage Tips
- Baking time: The baking time varies with oven types, temperatures inside the oven etc. So it can take less or more time for the cake to bake in your oven. Keep an eye on the cake as it bakes so that it does not brown too much.
- Storage and reheating. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days, in a sealed container or box. When you refrigerate this cake, the butter in it solidifies and the cake becomes slightly dense. While serving, lightly warm the cake in your oven at 90 degrees celsius (195 degrees Fahrenheit) for some minutes.
My Popular Eggless Cakes Recipes!
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Eggless Vanilla Cake Recipe (Moist & Flavorful Sponge)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour or pastry flour – 180 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
Wet ingredients
- ½ cup melted butter – unsalted
- ¼ cup Curd (yogurt) – 62 grams
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup raw sugar or white sugar – 150 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Jam Glaze Icing
- ½ cup strawberry jam or any sweet fruit jam
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch or arrowroot flour or cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons water or add as required
- 1 tablespoon Butter – unsalted
Instructions
Sifting dry ingredient
- First sift the all-purpose flour with the baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl or pan.
- Keep everything ready as you have to be quick enough to mix the batter.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Grease a 7.5 to 8 inches round pan with butter or a neutral tasting oil.
- You can also choose to line the baking pan with parchment and then grease it with oil or butter.
Measuring butter
- Take slightly more than a ½ cup of butter and melt it in a small pan on stovetop or microwave it in a bowl. Simply melt the butter. No need to heat it.
- You need to get about ½ cup of melted butter. So measure the melted butter in a ½ cup measuring cup. Set aside.
Mixing wet ingredients
- In another bowl take sugar, curd (whisked), apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract. Add water.
- First beat the curd separately in a bowl and then add to the other wet ingredients as this helps it to mix evenly without having any tiny lumps.
- Whisk briskly till all of the sugar is dissolved and the curd gets evenly mixed.
- Add the baking soda to this wet liquid mixture
- Stir until the baking soda is mixed evenly. The baking soda will cause some bubbling in this wet liquid mixture.
Making vanilla cake batter
- Add the liquid mixture and melted butter to the dry sifted ingredients.
- Mix very well with a wired whisk. Break apart any lumps by tapping on them with the whisk, but be carefully to not over-mix the batter.
- You should get flowing batter with medium to medium-thick consistency. If the batter looks dry or thick to you, then add some milk or water as needed to thin it.
- Pour the batter in the greased baking pan.
- Tap the pan on the countertop a few times so that extra air bubbles are released. You do not need to even the batter with a spatula. The batter spreads on its own.
Baking eggless vanilla cake
- Place the cake pan in the preheated oven on the middle rack.
- Keep the heating in both the bottom and top elements of the oven on if you are using an OTG or regular oven.
- Bake the cake at 180 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top crust is golden. Check the doneness of the cake with a bamboo skewer. It should be clean with no sticky batter.
- While baking, If the vanilla cake browns too quickly on the top, then cover the top with an aluminium foil or butter paper.
- Place the pan on a wired tray or rack and let the cake cool to room temperature.
- Once the eggless vanilla cake cools, you can serve it as it is or use the cake to make pastries or gateau.
Making jam glaze icing
- Take ½ cup of any jam of your choice in a small skillet or pan. I have used homemade Strawberry Jam. Add tapioca starch or arrowroot flour or cornstarch, water and butter.
- Place the pan on low heat and begin to mix the glaze ingredients.
- Keep stirring until all of the ingredients have evenly combined.
- Simmer on low heat until the glaze thickens, stirring often. Do not boil or cook the mixture too much. Set aside and allow the jam glaze to cool slightly, so that it is warm and not hot.
Frosting vanilla cake
- When the eggless vanilla cake cools, remove it gently from the pan.
- Place it on a board, tray or plate or a cake stand.
- Place some of the jam icing on top and use a spatula to spread the glaze evenly on top and sides of the cake.
- Sprinkle some unsweetened desiccated coconut on top. You can even spread it at the sides. Omit coconut, if you are not a fan of it.
- Cover with a large steel bowl, taking care that the coconut and jam icing do not touch the bowl. Let the glaze cool completely and set. Later slice and serve. You can also keep in the refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours and then serve.
- Note that the butter solidifies when cooled in the refrigerator. This make the texture of the cake slightly dense. So let the cake come to room temperature before serving. Or you can warm it lightly in your oven at 90 degrees celsius (195 degrees Fahrenheit) for some minutes.
Video
Notes
Ingredient Notes
- Flour: I recommend that you use unbleached and/or organic flour. This recipe works well with both all-purpose flour as well as unbleached pastry flour.
- Butter: Use a neutral oil in place of butter. For butter, use unsalted butter. In a pinch you can opt for salted butter, but omit adding that one pinch of salt in the recipe.
- Jam: Any sweet jam works well for the glaze. My favorites are orange jam, mango jam, pineapple jam and of course strawberry jam.
- Vinegar: If you do not have apple cider vinegar, use white vinegar or swap vinegar with lemon juice.
- Leavening ingredients: My recipe includes both baking powder and baking soda. They are not replaceable with each other. To get the best results, use the proportions mentioned in the recipe and make sure that they are fresh and within their shelf-life.
- Sweetness: To make the vanilla cake less sweet, you can add ½ cup of sugar. You can also use jaggery, coconut sugar or palm sugar.
Baking and Storage Notes
- Storage and reheating. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days in a sealed container. When you refrigerate this cake, the butter in it solidifies and the cake becomes slightly dense. While serving, lightly warm the cake in your oven at 90 degrees celsius (195 degrees Fahrenheit) for some minutes.
- Baking time: The baking time varies with oven types, temperatures inside the oven etc. So it can take less or more time for the cake to bake in your oven. Keep an eye on the cake as it bakes so that it does not brown too much.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Eggless Vanilla Cake recipe from the blog archives was first published on November 2013. It has been updated and republished on January 2022.
Thank you so much dassana for all the wonderful receipts posted here. I especially love the eggless vanilla and chocolate cake recipe. It was explained so well that I could make it easily and it came out absolutely great. My two teenage sons just loved it. I never imagined that I could bake as well as I cook but you made it possible.
welcome jayashree and thanks a lot for this beautiful comment from you. glad that your sons loved the cake. happy cooking and baking 🙂
Can i add atta instead of maida
you can add atta instead of maida. but with atta you will need to add more water to get the medium flowing consistency of batter for this recipe. this is because atta absorbs more water then maida.
Hi, tried ur recipe it came out gud.I was already making eggless cake from quite long using Nita Mehta recipe. But at the end everyone will say it’s like we are having gulab jamin. I hv LG convection microwave. So my Frnd told to try in otg, only then cake comes out gud like crumbling texture. But now it is not possible for me to buy otg as I hv no place to keep . I tried ur recipe it came out superb. But it took 20 min more as per recipe. But no worries every machine works differently. Gud job done.
thanks a lot rupinder. in fact i have nita mehta’s cake cookbook, but till now i have never tried even one single recipe. cakes do come out well even in a convection microwave oven, but for a better even texture an OTG is good. in the microwave convection oven which i used to use earlier, cakes would turn out good, but at times there would be too much browning on the top crust.
baking time varies from oven to oven. so no recipe will have a specific baking time 🙂
Thts true dassana . For me baking is easy in convection but to my satisfaction I thought of texture. Rest in house no one notices they just finish it if they like.
My kiddo loves choco lava cake. Do u hv recipe for that? My vanilla cake got finished that day itself. Kids hv 4 days leave so now making eggless black forest cake thru ur recipe only.
agree rupinder. regarding choco lava cake, i tried three times to create a good recipe, but something would always go wrong. once the chocolate pieces inside the cake did not melt and all of us had a good laugh 🙂 so once i manage to develop a good recipe, i will share it. happy baking 🙂
I tried so many recipes from u r web site it was really good thank u
thanks sirisha.
thanks komal for sharing this feedback. glad to know that your kids and their friends loved the cake.
My vanilla cake doesn’t come out white as it should be. Though I keep temp at 170 and place the tin on one rack down from center…. But starts turning brown after 10 minutes.. And by the time it is done, sides are too crusty and it has a big dome. I have tried so many recipes including yours too. Chocolate cake comes pretty perfect. Could you please suggest remedy…
poorti,try baking with only the lower heating element on. also then keep in the centre rack. this way the base will be evenly baked and the top will also not be too brown. hope this helps.
Hey dassana
I have tried your recipes and their tastes are amazing and my husband also love what ever I made with your recipes
Thanqq very much
thanks a lot divya for the feedback on the recipes. glad to know.
this is a really good cake its really tasty…..although it only makes a small portion
thanks shreya 🙂 for positive views. You can double the quantity and make a large portion then.
Hi Dassana,
As zillions of people said in comment, I’m nothing different. I’ve tried so many recipes from your portal and it never failed. And not only I passed the recipes but got appreciation as well from my family and guests.
I was trying to bake eggless cake since ages and I was never successful the way I am today after following yoir recipe. For me your site is known for authentic Indian recipes and hence it never came to my mind to check your site for cake recipes. However after continues failed attempt I thought of giving last try for egglesscake ans EUREKA. Your site keep my confidence alive to bake a peefect eggless cake.
2 minor confirmations.
1. You mentioned substitute of oil can be made for butter. So i would like to know, does oil also need to be warm while mixing sugar in it? I used oil without warming it. Used as-is.
2. For yogurt, you mentioned 4 tbsp in ingredients table, but while step by step instruction it is mentioned as 3 tbsp. So what should be the exact measurement of yogurt? I’ve used 4 tbsp n as said it turned out a big hit
Once again thanks so much for helping to keep a cook alive inside me. Loads of love n great wishes to both of you ?
Uday
thank you very much uday for your encouraging words and also for your kind wishes 🙂
1. oil can be at room temperature. no need to warm it. what you did was right.
2. thats a typo from me. its actually 4 tbsp. thanks for letting me know. i will change it.
I am really a very big fan of yours ma’am.
Thank you so much for your recipes.
If it was ever possible I would personally cook and serve you one of your own recipes as my regards.
thanks so much saurav for you respectful and kind words, this means a lot to us 🙂 god bless you.
Nice recipe… I made it in microwave n it took just 5 minutes to cook n tastes really good.
thanks shona for sharing this. never knew this cake can be made in microwave too 🙂
Can I use eno instead of baking soda?
shona, you will need to give a try. but you can use.
Cake was great in taste.just like to ask why my cake always sink n uncooked in the middle?
rakhi, cake sinking in the center could be due to the following reasons – over mixing the batter, opening the oven door many times, the cake should go immediately in the oven after its mixed, uneven temperatures inside the oven, quality of baking powder and baking soda. also open the oven door when the cake is 3/4th done. the cake has not cooked from the center and thus it has sunk from the center. always before removing the cake from the oven, check with a tooth pick in the center as well as sides. the tooth pick should come out clean.
I tried again n dis time
perfect cake would b small to describe it.cake was nice spongy,icing was also perfect
pleased to know this thanks rakhi for your kind words 🙂
Tried 4th time..asusual awesome …soft to eat.yes as deepa said measurements in grams will be helpful pls post that.also pls post blueberry eggless vanilla cake.blue berry is very good for health and kids can eat without excuse.also post drumstick dal receipe.
thanks again san. i will add in some time. i only get dried blueberries and not fresh ones. will that do? then i will add blueberry muffins. i have already posted drumstick dal. its a very old post of mine and needs to be updated. recipe link here – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/drumstick-dal-recipe/ and there is one more goan style drumstick dal – https://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/goan-dal-recipe/
you can reduce or halve the proportions of the dal in the recipe above.
hi… itried this recipe…but the batter turns out like a cookie dough… why is it like dat?also can u please give the measurements in grams…?
okay… just add more water. depending on the quality of flour, addition of liquids can be less or more. i will update the measurements in grams.