Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake | Soft, Fluffy, Perfect for Icing

This is the sponge cake recipe you’ve been searching for! No eggs, no butter, just curd + oil = super soft, fluffy vanilla cake. It rises tall, has no eggy smell, and stays soft for 4 days. I’ve tested this 20+ times to get the perfect curd:flour ratio. Use it as birthday cake base, trifle, or just eat plain with tea. Follow 2 rules: 1. Bake immediately after mixing, 2. Don’t overmix. That’s it!

Soft eggless vanilla sponge cake with curd + oil. No eggs, no butter. Perfect base for birthday cakes. Foolproof recipe with exact measurements.

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake | Soft, Fluffy, Perfect for Icing

Prep Time: 10 mins

Bake Time: 30-35 mins

Tin Size: 8-inch round cake tin

Ingredients:

- Maida/All-purpose flour: 1.5 cups (190 g)

- Plain curd/Yogurt: 1 cup (250 ml), fresh + room temp

- Powdered sugar: 3/4 cup (150 g)

- Baking powder: 1 + 1/4 tsp (5 g)

- Baking soda: 1/2 tsp (2 g)

- Oil: 1/2 cup (120 ml) - neutral oil

- Milk:  1 tbsp (135 ml), room temp

- Vanilla essence: 1.5 tsp

Method:

1. Prep: Preheat oven to 180°C for 10 mins. Grease 8-inch tin + line bottom with butter paper.

2. Sift dry: Sift maida, baking powder, baking soda twice. Keep aside.

3. Cream wet: In bowl, whisk curd + powdered sugar till sugar dissolves completely. No granules. 2-3 mins.

4. Add liquids: Add oil, milk, vanilla essence to curd mix. Whisk till smooth.

5. Combine: Add sifted dry ingredients to wet mix in 2 parts. Fold gently with spatula/whisk. Batter should be smooth, thick, ribbon consistency. Do not overmix.

6. Bake immediately: Pour batter in tin. Tap 2 times. Bake at 180°C for 30-35 mins. Do not open oven for first 25 mins.

7. Test: Toothpick inserted at center should come out clean.

8. Finish: Brush top with 1 tbsp milk while hot for soft top. Cool in tin 10 mins, then on wire rack 1 hour. Remove paper before slicing.

Note: For cooker, bake on low flame 35-40 mins with salt + stand. Remove whistle + gasket.

Notes & Tips:

No resting time: Mix wet + dry, pour, bake immediately. Resting kills the rise in eggless cakes with baking soda.

Curd tip: Curd must be sour + room temp. Use 3/4 cup for 1.5 cups flour. Too much curd = sour cake, too little = dense cake.

Oil vs Butter: Oil keeps sponge soft for 4 days. Butter makes it drier next day. For birthday cakes, oil is better.

Sugar: Must be powdered. Granulated sugar won’t dissolve and makes cake grainy.

Overmixing = enemy: Fold just till no dry flour. Overmixing = gluten = hard, flat cake.

Dry cake fix: If cake bakes dry, it’s usually 3 reasons: 1. Overbaked, 2. Less milk/curd, 3. Oven temp too high.

For layer cake: This recipe makes 1 tall 8-inch cake. For 2 layers, bake in 2 tins for 22-25 mins each.

As I always mention select a pan such that the batter is close to 3/4th of it or slightly above 1/2 of it. And the time for baking depends on the cake pan and oven too mine got baked in exactly 35mins.

Also, after the batter is ready, don't allow the batter to sit for more than he preheating time as baking soda reacts faster. I have a reader who gave me this tip as her cake went hard as she kept the batter for 30mins after mixing.