Here's a great recipe on how to make a scrumptious milk and butter-free sponge cake.
In Spain, it's normal for people to make their sponge cakes without the use of butter/ margarine, or milk!
What do they use instead then? you may ask yourself.
I was working in a nursery when a mum came up to me and offered me a slice of her son's birthday cake in the playground. Me, being a faithful lover of cakes and biscuits ate it all up there and then in front of all the preschoolers. And let me tell you, it was the yummiest cake ever! Yes, more scrumptious than my popular homemade banana and raisin cake.
I just had to know how this slice of palatable heaven had been created. The mum in question, 'Mrs Wowwzers-This-Is-So-Tasty' (Name changed) told me with a huge smile that it was the first time she had ever baked such a cake, and that the recipe in question had been given to her by a Spanish friend.
Beaming with delight, Mrs Wowwzers-This-Is-So-Tasty informed me that the cake contained absolutely no butter or margarine, and no milk.
No butter or milk included in this recipe?!
I didn't even know such a feat was possible! I was brought up in the U.K with the solid belief that all cakes had to contain butter or margarine. My old recipe books were full of evidence.
So, come on, tell us - what was the magic ingredient that replaced the butter?
Some of you may already know or have guessed by now. Maybe some of you have always been using this substitute ingredient all along? Please let me know if you have, as it was new to my ears and all the people that I knew.
"Olive oil!"
Yes, Mrs Wowwzers-This-Is-So-Tasty informed me that Spanish people were accustomed to putting olive oil in cakes instead of butter or margarine.
And then she astounded me again with yet 2 other surprising ingredients.
The cake also contained a pot of natural yogurt. Who would have thought - not me! And to astonish me further, she told me that bicarbonate of soda was also added to the plain flour instead of baking powder or self-raising flour.
You can probably tell that I'm not a regular cake baker right?
To me, all cakes were made using self-raising flour, eggs, butter, milk and sugar. Not once did it occur to me to be adventurous and use olive oil and baking soda.
Thank you Mrs Wowwzers-This-Is-So-Tasty for enlightening me and sending me on a path to messing up the kitchen counters and experimenting with items that were at the back of my cupboards.
I've since been making this moist, butter-free and milk-free sponge cake on all types of occasions. And, to be honest, they've never quite matched the high standard of Mrs Wowwzers-This-Is-So-Tasty's that day in the nursery playground. But, it just gives me an excuse to keep baking and eating it as I strive to match her one.
Follow the easy recipe below and please, let me know how you get on!
Follow and download this simple recipe for this butter-free and milk-free cake...
Recipe for Mrs Wowwzers-This-Is-So-Tasty’s butter and milk-free sponge cake
Ingredients...
3 medium-sized eggs.
1 cup of natural yogurt (I used a small 125g pot).
1 yogurt cup measure of olive oil
2 yogurt cup measures of sugar (brown or white).
4 yogurt cup measures of flour (wholemeal or plain).
1 heaped teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.
Method...
Separate the egg whites and beat them until the liquid is fluffy and white.
Add in the egg yolks and whisk it all together.
Add in all the other ingredients: Measures of sugar, olive oil, flour, yogurt, and bicarbonate of soda.
(Squeeze in fresh lemon juice if you are doing a lemon cake).
Optional: You can either leave the mix like this or add any other ingredients that you may prefer. Such as one mashed banana. Mixed dried fruit. Crushed pineapple pieces. Canned cherries. Etc.
Now give it all a good mix.
Grease a cake tin - and pour in the mixture.
Place in a preheated oven at 180º for 40 mins. or until it is golden brown and baked all the way through.
Test it with a skewer if needed.
You can download the recipe for our butter and milk-free sponge cake...
TIPS!
Be adventurous and experiment...
Sometimes I sprinkle in raisins, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I add a squeeze of lemon juice. And sometimes I add in crushed almonds. It's entirely up to you - it's now your butter and milk-free creation. And as you'll see in the method, you don't even need weighing scales or measuring cups!
Also try our absolutely, delicious and classic Pineapple Upside Down cake.
If you want to go all out and start baking healthy, gluten-free and dairy-free baked goods, then you need this book...
Bakerita
By Rachel Conners
Over 100 recipes for the modern baker.
Easy to make dairy-free recipes. Refined sugar-free. Gluten-free.
BTW, I turned my butter-free cake into a birthday cake by icing it and adding sprinkles!
Volia...
This 'MAKE A SPONGE CAKE
WITHOUT BUTTER OR MILK’
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