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.
Hi. Thanks for the lovely recipe of eggless cake. I use milk instead of water in that.
I make chocolate cake, vanilla cake for my kids. They just love it.
Thank you so much. You r great. Keep doing your great work.
Thanks
thankyou vidhya and you are welcome 🙂
hello mam, i tried ur vanilla cake recipe it tasted very good…. but mine is a hallowgen oven of Usha company.. it became brownish on top and in center it was not baked at all…. i hd set d time for 15 min and 170 degree… again when it was not baked again i kept for 15 min and 170 deg.. but though it was not baked completely …. i dont know what to do.. plz help 🙁
the heating from the top is too much and thats why the top has got browned. cover the cake with aluminum foil from top and bake again for some more minutes. the top won’t get browned more and the center will also bake.
Hi Akhila
Try next time baking it on 150 degrees or less& halfway if u see ur cakes r abt to brown then just cover it wth aluminium foil.
Thanks
Dear…. DASSAAAANAA
Thaaank you very much for d wonderful recipes, love n respect to you frm my princess too. I hv also tried ur chocolate truffle recipe n it was also amazing, it glazed like mirror!
Thanks once again n keep posting….
Love n Regards
pleased to know this Shraddha 🙂 and you are welcome.
hii…. superb recipes mam…i was successful in banana cake recipe…. but am failing in regular vanilla cake. instead of yogurt and vinegar what can i use. and one of my cousin told instead of egg v can use one medium size banana and 1/2 cup of curd nicely smashed and mixed with batter, i tried it also but my cake is not baking inside completely. can u help me plzzzz……..
thanks akhila. from what you mention, it looks like you are mixing or folding the batter too much. just fold lightly and the cake will be baked well. when the batter is too much mixed, then the batter becomes doughy, thick and looses aeration. thus the baking is not even. there is no alternative for yogurt. but for vinegar you can use lime or lemon juice.
tq mam.. surely wil try with yogurt and wil not mix d batter very much. the batter should not b very thick nor thin right mam…
welcome akhila. not mixing too much or not folding too much is the key to get light, soft, fluffy cakes. the batter should have volume. if the batter does not have volume and begins to look heavy or flat this means that it has been mixed too much. in the recipe, the batter has a medium consistency.
Hey! This is a wonderful cake recipe. Tried this last night.. The taste was fab! But, the crust was a bit hard and can you tell me how to prevent the top from browning too much? Before the cake is baked the top gets quickly browned the becomes hard.. ? Thank you ?
thanks ranjini. if the oven temperature is on the higher side or if the top heating element is used or the cake is kept close to the top heating element, the crust will get baked too much and become hard. this also happens in a convection oven. just cover the top of the cake after 10 to 15 minutes of baking with an aluminium foil and then continue to bake.
Thank you ? This was helpful. I have a convection oven. Will the cake be baked completely if I cover with a wrap?? Also, could you please tell how I can take out the whole cake from the tin without breaking.. A few chunks remain at the bottom every time and even yesterday ? Thank you. ?
thanks ranjini. use an aluminium wrap and bake. yes the cake will be baked completely. grease the tin very well. once the cake is baked, then wait for it to become warm or cool down. then with a butter knife, gently loosen the edges at the sides, without slicing or cutting the cake. invert the cake on a plate or tray and tap gently on the base of the pan on all sides. the cake slids down on the plate. lift the cake gently and place it in the right position.
Hi I jus want to know how many minutes my micro wave oven has to be pre heated in convection mode to bake cakes. By default it pre heats to jus 4 to5 minutes and then gives a beep sounds.my LG micro wave is 26th capacity. Thanks
this happens with my oven also. i manually set the preheating in the oven. i just set the temperature and allow the oven to be heated for 10 to 15 minutes. then i stop the oven. place the pan and again set it to the same temperature.
Hi I will def try this recipe…could you please suggest a good oven for baking
hi liny, i have just used one oven for baking and that is philips and i am currently using it also. i have not tried using any oven. so i am unable to help you.
Hi, got to read your recipes quite recently! I have just started baking and your recipes seem easy to follow! Not started investing on bakewares so have limited options! The vessel is have for cake is pretty small (in depth).how do I make the same recipe less in qty?
anjali pleased to know you started baking 🙂 you could reduce the quantity of the ingredients into half and then try in your cake pans.
i have tried this today,very nice cake for a veg one. i like that the cake is crunchy around and soft inside, i have cut it in half horizontally and added whipping cream with strawberry in the middle,and added some grapes and cream on top. it’s yummy
diya, glad to know this. thanks for sharing your positive feedback and variation.
Tomorrow will be my husband’s birthday and I will make this cake definitely. Hope that it would be good
all the best and happy baking.
Hi Amit,
For the glaze, Can I use corn flour instead of corn starch as I m unable to get it? And can we make pineapple jam glaze?Please reply. Want to make it today.
Regards
Vishnupriya
if you live in india, then corn starch is labelled as corn flour in the packets. i hope you are referring to the this corn flour that we call in india. yes you can make glaze from pineapple jam.
Step#3,with photos,says to use 4tbsp yoghurt.
But,
Step#3,without photos,says to use 3tbsp yoghurt.
Which is correct? Or doesn’t it matter? How did the commenters make this cake,using 3 or 4 tbsp? Pls let me know.
both are fine sandhya. thanks for pointing it out. does not make much difference. i will make it to one measure now.
Good as I read it will try soon ?
Can I use salted butter for this veg cake recipe.
As I’m unable to get unsalted butter.
Please reply soon
smita, you can use but there will be a very faint taste of salt.
Hi Amit,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful veg cake recipe. I tried it twice. Only thing I changed in ur recipe is using whole wheat flour instead of maida. It came out perfect both the times.
Today I am making it for the third time but I made a small mistake. I forgot to add sugar and added it last minute, directly to the batter. Wanted to know if it is alright to do so. Your prompt reply would be of gr8 help.
But anyways it is too late to ask…..:)
welcome vishnupriya. its better to add it first. now nothing can be done. thanks for sharing positive feedback and variation.