Eggless Sponge Cake
Updated: June 18, 2024, By Swasthi
This Eggless Sponge Cake is super soft, light, fluffy and airy, the way it should be. It is a vanilla flavored cake which you can use as a base cake to decorate or frost. This recipe is easy and simple enough for beginners, trying to learn eggless bakes. In this post I share step by step photos and video to make a 7 inch square cake and cover it with melted chocolate.
A classic sponge cake is made with eggs, flour, sugar and butter. They have a very light, fluffy and airy structure as a result of beating the egg whites to incorporate air. Making an eggless sponge cake is easy, quick and turns delicious. But it cannot be compared to a real sponge cake made with eggs.
About Eggless Sponge Cake
I always set lesser expectations with the eggless versions and somehow this recipe yielded me the best. I am completely satisfied with the way it turns out, without being sticky or gluey like a lot of eggless and vegan versions.
This recipe does not use butter or condensed milk like this No Egg Cake recipe. It does not require you to use a stand or a hand mixer. The batter is made by simply mixing the dry and wet ingredients with a spatula or whisk.
I have baked this Eggless Sponge Cake in an oven but if you do not have one, you may bake this in a pressure cooker. However in the absence of both, use a heavy bottom pot/pan and bake using the dry heat technique, shown in this Pressure Cooker Cake post.
Ingredients & Substitutes
- Flour: Use organic or unbleached all-purpose flour. It is the same as maida (in India) and plain flour. Using wheat flour will alter the flavor and texture of this cake. If you do not want to use all-purpose flour, check out this Ragi Cake.
- Oil: This recipe requires neutral flavored oil. I use organic virgin coconut oil. Using olive oil or sunflower can impart strong flavor to your cake. So avoid such oils. You can’t substitute oil with butter because oil helps to make the sponge in this recipe.
- Sugar: Use organic sugar. I get asked about the yellowish color of my cake. I guess it is the sugar. I use organic cane sugar. Refined sugar may give a lighter color.
- Vanilla: I use vanilla extract. It is different from vanilla essence. Vanilla extract is pure and essence is artificial and you only need a few drops of essence. Using a lot can overpower the flavor and can give bitter taste to your cake.
- Yogurt: I use fresh homemade yogurt (meaning it has whey and is not strained). If you use store bought yogurt make sure it is fresh smelling and not sour/tart. If you use Greek yogurt, use 3 parts yogurt and 1 part milk (for 1 cup curd called in the recipe).
- Leavening agents: You need baking soda and baking powder both for this recipe. Do not substitute one for the other and they do not make 1:1 substitutions.
For more Cake Recipes, you can check
Eggless chocolate cake
Eggfree fruit cake
Eggless banana bread
Eggless chocolate banana cake
Photo Guide
Step by Step Photo Instructions
1. Grease a 7 or 8 inch cake tray and line it with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 340 F – 170 C for at least 15 mins. Add curd to a mixing bowl. I use fresh homemade curd made using full fat milk. It is of semi solid consistency, not very thick nor runny and isn’t sour.
2. Add sugar and vanilla extract. I use organic sugar.
3. Mix very well until the sugar dissolves completely.
4. Pour oil and mix until the mixture is smooth and uniform. Make sure there are no lumps of curd.
5. Add baking powder.
6. Add baking soda.
7. Mix well gently. The soda begins to react with the curd. The mixture turns thick and frothy.
8. Place a sieve over the bowl. Add the flour in 2 to 3 parts. First add ½ to ¾ cup of the flour.
9. Mix gently just until combined with a whisk or spatula to your convenience.
10. Do not over mix.
11. Add the rest of the flour and sieve.
12. Begin to mix gently.
13. The batter will be thick at this stage.
14. Add in 2 to 3 tbsps of milk.
15. Mix gently. The batter is of a ribbon consistency. If the batter is thicker than this the cake may turn out dense.
16. Transfer to a greased and lined cake tray. Brush the top with some milk. This helps the cake top to turn golden and prevents drying up. Knock the tray to the counter few times.
17. Bake it for 25 to 30 mins. Mine was done at 30 mins. The timing may vary depending on your oven and the size of your cake pan. When the cake is done, a skewer or a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
18. Cool the cake for about 10 to 15 mins on a wire rack, to prevent sweating at the bottom. Invert it on a wire rack gently.
19. Remove the parchment papers and cool the cake completely.
20. I went ahead melting some semi sweet choco chips. You can also use any other chocolate. I used about 2/3 cup of semi-sweet choco chips with ¼ cup of milk. I did not use sugar. The sweetness from the choco chips was good enough.
21. Microwaved it for 2 mins at 700 W. Stir well with a spoon until smooth. I also added ¾ tbsp. vanilla extract.
22. Cool the melted chocolate and the cake as well. Spread a generous amount of it with a spatula.
23. I made 2 cakes. So I placed another one over it.
24. Spread more melted chocolate as desired.
25. Smoothen with the spatula. IYou can keep the cake in fridge for 15 to 20 mins to get a smooth finishing.
Slice the eggless sponge cake and serve.
This soft, fluffy and delicious eggless sponge cake can be used as a base to make any decorative cakes.
Related Recipes
Eggless Sponge Cake
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour / maida about 190 grams (organic flour)
- ¾ cup sugar (organic sugar)
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup oil (I used virgin coconut oil)
- 1 cup curd / yogurt (do not use sour curd)
- 2 to 3 tbsps milk
- ¾ to 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Choco chip to spread
- ⅔ cup choco chips , semi sweet
- ¼ cup milk
- ¾ tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preparation: Grease a 7 or 8 inch cake tray. Line a parchment paper or dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 340 F – 170 C for at least 15 mins.
- Mix the wet ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, stir together fresh curd, sugar and vanilla extract, until sugar has dissolved completely. Make sure there are no lumps of curd. Pour oil and mix well until combined.
- Activate the leavening agent: Whisk baking powder and baking soda with the wet ingredients, until the mixture turns thick and frothy. (for about a minute)
- Make the batter: Place a sieve over the bowl. Add ½ to ¾ cup of flour to the sieve. Sieve it well. Mix gently until just combined. Place the sieve back on the bowl. Add the rest of the flour in 1 to 2 parts. Sieve and gently mix until there are no streaks of flour seen.
- Transfer to pan: The batter will be slightly thick. Add 2 to 3 tbsps. of milk and mix in. The batter at this stage is of the ribbon consistency. Pour this to the cake tray. Brush lightly with milk on top to get a beautiful golden color. Gently knock the pan to the counter a few times.
- Bake the cake: Bake for 25 to 30 mins. Do adjust the time depending on your oven and the size of your pan. It took exactly 30 mins for me in a 7 inch square pan. When the cake is done, a tester inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake for 10 to 15 mins in the pan, placed over a wire rack.
- Invert it over a wire rack gently. Cool completely before slicing or frosting.
- Melt chocolate: Melt the choco chips together with milk in a microwave for 1 to 2 mins. Stir well until the mixture turns smooth and is of spreading consistency. Cool down completely and spread over the cake. If you want you may chill for 15 mins.
- Slice eggless sponge cake and serve.
Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
Iโm Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโs Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
Follow Swasthi’s Recipes
Comments
Hello ma’am, Your recipies are so perfect. I have already tried many of them.
Could you tell me how much gram sugar is equal in 3/4 US cup?
Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Can you use butter milk instead of curd?
The spongy texture comes from the curd
I made this today with soya yogurt and oat milk for my family and they absolutely loved it. It’s really light and fluffy. And so easy to make. I also added seedless raspberry jam underneath the chocolate frosting to make it more fruity.
That’s really nice to know Maria. Thank you for sharing back
This is a very good and fairly easy recipe. Thank you so much. It came out very soft and spongy and described.
Glad it worked for you. Thank you
Deserts ka recipe chiye sir
good and precise recipe
Thank you
Amazing recipe! Thank you so much for your patience to write each and everything in a detailed manner. I am a huge fan of your recipes. One question though: what does it mean when you say US Cup=240 ML? Because for all purpose flour you mentioned 1.5 cups equivalent to 190 grams of flour?
Thank you so much Vasudha,
It means, the measuring cup size is 240 ml, which is the standard US cup size. A lot of countries follow different cup sizes like 200 ml, 250 ml etc. For this recipe, yes it is 1.5 cups which is equal to (250ml +120ml) or 190 grams if you weigh it on a kitchen scale. 1 cup flour weighs about 125 grams. Hope this helps
Got it. Thank you so much..
Absolutely easy and brilliant recipe – loved how well it came out. Thank you for the recipe !
I tried this cake and it was awesome. My family loved it …Thanks so much for sharing this recipe
Glad to know Rekha.
Thank you
Hi, I have just tried it. However, the cake wasn’t cooked even though I put it in the oven for 35mins in an 8inch tray. The cake was still uncooked in certain places. Any tips or ideas on what went wrong?
This cake turned out amazing!! Best eggless cake I have ever made, it was super fluffy and moist. In case anyone was confused like I was about how long to leave the baking soda and yogurt to get frothy, I left it about 6 minutes. Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
So glad to know Leena
Thank you!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful detailed recipes, not one day goes by without visiting your website!
In all the current cake recipes can I make two following changes?
1) replace maida with wheat flour
2) replace sugar with jaggery
Also would greatly appreciate if you could add more cake recipes with a combination of eggs jaggery and wheat atta as am trying to feed my fussy kid eggs by hiding them in recipes which he likes like cakes etc. and replace sugar and maida due to my health issues.
Am sorry for a long request..
Hi,
Very happy to know! Thank you!
1. Yes you can replace maida with wheat flour. Make sure you add a few tbsp of more liquid while making the batter
2. You can make chocolate based cakes with jaggery and I don’t suggest the rest because wheat flour and jaggery will taste more like a appam (South Indian nei appam). I have tried a lot of cake recipes with jaggery and wheat flour but it is very hard to please the kids. But yes any cakes, muffins etc made with cocoa will be fine with jaggery and wheat flour.
Check out these Egg recipes. Your kid may like something from that. I have one egg butter masala and it’s a kids’ favorite. Hope this helps.
Thank you very much for the detailed explanationโฆ in the sponge cake recipe comments you had replied that 4 eggs can be replace with one cup curds.. here can I do the opposite that is replace one cup curds with 4 eggs?
Hi,
It depends on the recipe. For most recipes 1 egg = 1/4 cup (4 tbsps) yogurt works well as a replacement. But for this recipe I haven’t tested it so not sure. You can halve the recipe and try. It may work
Great recipe. My son has an egg allergy so I’m always looking for eggless recipes. This was the best eggless sponge I’ve ever had. Thank you!
Glad to know Danny
Thank you!
Hi Swathi,
Can you please mention the ingredients in grams so that it will be more precise & easy to work with.
Thank you
Hi Swaathi,
The cake turned out to be delicious!! However the top part dint brown at all.. It was completely done, light, fluffy and tasty but the top part was still in pale yellow colour. . Can you please tell what could be the reason. . Thanks!!
Hi Logita
Did you brush it with milk before baking? This is what gives the color. Also it may depend on the sugar, not sure but I think organic sugar helps in the color as it is less refined.
I tried out this cake n it came out very well… it tasted too good…. thanks for the recipe…. but one problem was the cake had raised up nicely but when I took it out n let it to cool.. it got shrink a bit… what may be the reason?
Hi Neema
Measure the leavening ingredients correctly. Too much leavening can cause that. Also overmixing can cause that
Hi Swasthi, after the success of apple cake I made this one and it turned out very good. I made once with maida and sugar and once with wheat and jaggery powder. I would still prefer the first one but wanted to try a healthier version for my son who asks me to bake frequently:)
Your eggless baking is perfect, please keep on posting more cakes and muffins. Thank you
Warm regards
Dhanya
Hello Dhanya
So happy to know! Thanks for leaving a review. Yes I will share.
The first rime the cake was awesome. I tried the second time for a bigger batch and doubled the quantity of the ingredients for the cake. There was a wierd taste to the babke. Could it be the baking soda or baking pwder since i double that too.
Hi Anu,
The only reason could be that you swapped the quantities of baking soda and powder by mistake. If you double the recipe you need to double the leavening agents too. But sometimes it can be the brand of baking soda itself. I always double this recipe since this makes a small cake. Hope this helps
Hi Swasthi,
Your recipes are very nice. I am planning to bake a rainbow cake for my daughter. She wants to have 6 layers for her 6th birthday. I want to use this recipe however I am going to be baking in 6 inch round cake tin. Can I make the same batter and divide it into the two 6 inch tins. So basically I will be making 3 batches of the same recipe for 6 sheets. Do you think it will work or will the layers be too thin?
Hi Tina,
Thank you! This cake is extremely light so I feel baking the batter in 3 pans will be risky as they may break. I think you should double the recipe and bake in three – 6 inch pans. To have six layers, bake in 2 batches. But I am not sure if the cake will be sturdy enough. I have made only 3 layer cake with this. Halve the recipe and try a small cake first so you know the texture. Hope this helps.
I tried your eggless cake,it’s taste is good but it was flat not fluffy, what could have been wrong,please advice. Thanks
Hi Bina,
I guess one of the leavening agents did not work. Did you check the expiry date & measure them correctly? There can be no other reason.
I followed the recipe but added more milk (6tbsp in total) to make sure I got the ribbon consistency as you showed and my cake turned out great. Had I not done that…it would have been more dense I think. Also I read something about โscoop and measureโ, it is basically the principle that flour compresses as it sits so I weighed it but you can also scoop into cup measures to ensure itโs not too packed. Just my thoughts ?
Hi Elvira
Glad to know it turned out good. Yes for best results, it is good to weigh or scoop and measure. Thank you!
I have been baking cakes for many years now, but with condensed milk, which come out well. Last week looked up for eggless carrot cake recipes without condensed milk and chose to try yours. That turned out fine too so thank you. Now want to try this sponge cake. I want to bake two together. How long do you suggest to cook in the oven? Change temperature or same?
Hi Heena
Glad to know! Double the recipe and use 2 cake pans. No changes required. I suggest using a hand or stand mixer since that would be a lot of batter and can form lumps. However if you still want to use a whisk or a spatula then add the flour in 3 to 4 batches. Note that overmixing can make the cake gluey. Hope this helps.