I came up with this recipe by myself recently by attempting some experimental baking recipes inbetween jobs getting dinner ready, and basically just winged it to see what would happen, after wondering if it was possible to make a cake without eggs.
The result turned out quite well, so I am writing it down here for the benefit of anybody who wants to make cake when they are short of ingredients, or they want cake but have an egg allergy, or they have other weird eating habits such as being a vegan.
Just like cooking anything else, the first 2 jobs you need to do is wash your hands properly before you start, and to turn the oven on to pre-heat it so that it is at the correct temperature by the time you’re ready to baked.
You’ll need to set the oven to 230°C (446°F, so call it 450°F-ish) to bake this thing.
To get a picture of how pre-heating the oven is progressing, just turn the dial down to see how far it goes before the light flicks out to show it has reached that temperature, then turn it back up to the required temperature until it is ready.
The list of ingredients and other kit you will need to make these is pretty straightforward and basic. It is so simple that you may only have 2 items to wash-up afterwards. This is what you will need:
- White Self-Raising Flour (or “White Self-Rising Flour” as the Americans call it)
- Granulated White Sugar (about a palm-full or two)
- Whole Milk
- Lard or Cooking Oil
- Salt (Optional)
- Baking Powder (Optional)
- Raspberry Jam or Strawberry Jam
- Ramekin Dish or Earthenware Oval Pie Dish type ovenproof bowl
- Fork
- Butterknife
The process is also pretty simple and basic:
- Plonk the Ramekin Dish on your work surface
- Pour in the Flour and Sugar into the Ramekin dish until it is about half full
- Add shavings of lard or a drizzle of Rapeseed Oil or Sunflower Oil
- Stir the Ingredients a little bit
- Add the milk until it is about half-way
- Keep stirring the ingredients together. If they are as sloppy as a mug of milky coffee, fold in some more flour until it starts to get as gloopy as a bowl of porridge (Oatmeal).
- Use the fork to gently whip-up the ingredients like when putting the froth on a cappucino, but don’t over-do it, and put some air into it.
- Stick the mixture into the oven, and leave for about 30 to 35minutes. Start checking it after about 25minutes. You can probably turn the oven down a bit to 180°C to 200°C at this point (356°F to 395°F, so call it 350-400°F I guess)
- When it is ready, use oven mitts or a folded tea towel to extract from the oven, and put the dish on either a wire baking rack or a wooden chopping board so you don’t screw-up the worktop with heat damage.
- While it is still warm, stick the butterknife into the top of the cake to check that it comes out clean to confirm the cake has actually cooked properly.
- Use the knife to cut a slit across the top of the cake while it is still hot, and use the blade to stuff the raspberry jam or strawberry jam into the slit. You May want to gently open it out a bit first.
- The cake is now pretty much ready to either eat straight like a regular cake, or put it into a bowl and cover with proper British Egg Custard / Cornflour Custard.
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