With little one’s first birthday fast approaching, I have been trialling cake recipes which are not only dairy and egg free but aren’t tasteless. Replacing dairy in conventional cake recipes is fairly easy as there are a number of dairy free milk and ‘butter’ options such as Pure spread or Vitalife. However finding egg free batters which do not require egg replacements are trickier.
The first recipe I’ve tested is from a 1980s Home Baking book by Marks and Spencer, found for me by my nanny (as in grandmother). Details of the book are at the bottom of the post.
The recipe requires you to replace the dairy with your preferred dairy free options. It is egg free though. Originally the recipe is for a sandwich cake. I halved the amounts below to create enough batter to make 6 cupcakes, however the recipe posted is for the original sandwich cake recipe.
Ingredients
50 g cooking fat (I used 50g of vegetable oil instead)
50 g golden syrup
250 ml milk (I used Oatly)
175 g plain flour
25 g cocoa powder
50 g sugar (I used caster sugar)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tsps baking powder
1 tbsp wine vinegar (white)
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
Method
1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7, 220 C.
2. Grease two 18cm/7inch cake tins. (I lined a muffin tin with 6 cupcake cases)
3. Melt the fat (vegetable oil) and syrup in the milk (Oatly) in a saucepan over a moderate heat. Stir until the ingredients have combined. Allow this to cool.
4. Whilst this is cooling sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl.
5. Pour in the cooled liquid and beat well. (I used an electric mixer)
6. Add the vinegar, water and vanilla. Beat the mixture again.
7. Pour the batter equally into the two cake tins (or cupcake cases).
8. Cook in the centre of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. (I found the cupcakes took 18 minutes)
9. Cool a little in the tins before cooling fully on a wire rack.
I didn’t top the cupcakes with icing as it was a trial to test out the sponge recipe. I am testing out dairy free ‘healthy’ cupcake frostings, so I’ll keep you posted on my results! The original recipe suggests using jam as a filling for the sandwich and dusting the top with icing sugar.
Important bits
Dairy, egg and nut free
Freezable
Total make time less than an hour
Makes 1 sandwich cake (half the recipe makes 6 cupcakes)
Original recipe from Home Baking by Elizabeth Pomeroy ISBN 0 906320 44 5
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