Eggless Vanilla Cake

Recipe contributed by: Dhara Balwa

There are two dishes that I can brag about having the perfect recipes. One is the Veg. Biryani( recipe to come soon) and the second is this vanilla cake. And I have a very faithful following of friends and acquaintances who can testify (at least they say that to me) that it's the best they have ever had. This cake is soft, moist, not-too-sweet perfect vanilla cake. The secret? Club soda. It gives the cake a wonderful rise and keeps the cake soft too. You can use this batter to make cupcakes, decorative  and 3D cakes too as shown in the image below. I insist that you try this recipe once. You won't be disappointed.

Serves: 14-15(though in my home, six of us do finish the cake)
Prep time:15 min Bake time: 36-40 min
Difficulty: Medium



Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

1 1/4 cup All purpose flour
1/4+ 1/16 tsp.(roughly estimate the 1/16) Baking powder
1/4+1/16 tsp. Baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Wet ingredients:

1 can 14 oz. Sweetened condensed milk
1/8 cup Milk
1+1/4 stick(10 Tbsp) Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1/4 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 can club soda, room temperature (We will be using only part of the contents)

Method:

1) Pre-heat the oven at 365 degrees F and prepare a 9 inch round cake pan by coating it with melted butter/oil and dusting it with all purpose flour

2) Combine all the dry ingredients and sieve the mixture 2-3 times. Please note this step is very important in many cakes as sieving produces air and makes cake more fluffy.

3) In a big and deep container, add condensed milk, milk, butter and vanilla extract and beat it at high speed until everything is combined well. This may take 2-3 minutes.

4) Divide the flour mixture roughly in three parts and add each part one at a time in the wet mixture. Beat well until everything is combined well and the thick mixture looks like light pastel yellow in color.

The oven should be preheated by now. Do the step 5 when you are ready to put the cake mixture in oven. Also note that though I have mentioned to use the butter at room temperature, the texture does change depending on the season and so I haven't given the exact measurement of club soda. You have to use your judgment. But please use room temperature club soda

5) Add the club soda in the cake mixture gradually. Fold in the soda by stirring very gently. Usually I use anywhere between 1/3 to a little less then 1/2 of the can. Add only as much to get a cake mixture like consistency.

6) Once the batter is mixed well and uniform in consistency, immediately pour in the prepared cake pan and bake it in the oven for 36-40 min.

7) Insert toothpick in the middle to check the doneness of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, it's done.

8) Once baked, take the cake out of oven and let it stay in the container for 2-3 min. Flip it out and cool it on cooling rack. Or if you are like me, I enjoy this cake nice and warm with a cup of hot cinnamon and apple tea.

If you are planning to frost and decorate the cake, wait for the cake to cool completely.