Baking Eggless Challenge#2: Eggless Victoria Sponge

Phew!! This January flew so fast, the first month of the new year gone in the blink of an eye. A major part of this time was spent in zeroing in for a pre-school for my toddler. Being hyperactive she gets bored pretty quickly....and keeping her wits challenged all the time has become a challenge for my dim-wits 😃😃. She has become extra clingy too!! Her "terrible twos" have started and are giving me one hell of a time. Hence pre-school seemed to be the best option to siphon off her extra energy!! Anyways! back to the topic now...we baked cookies for our first challenge (you can read about it here), so for the second challenge of Jan. month Gayathri gave us a basic sponge cake recipe, also called Victoria Sponge.

and we successfully did it....yay!!! Though I intended to click it after dressing it up properly as a Victoria Sponge, complete with layer of Jam and cream, but due to time constraints was unable to. But, even without those accompaniments, it still tasted awesome on its own! These moreish crumbs will attest to the taste...it was yumm and vanished off the plate on the very first day!! Can you believe it??!!....Lolssss...

Now, for the recipe....

Original Recipe and Challenge Announcement: here

Yield: 7"X2" round Cake Pan

Pre-preparation: 1. Line and grease your cake tin;

                           2. Pre-heat Oven to 160℃ (for Fan-forced Oven); or, 180℃ for normal convection models)

Ingredients:

Please Note: My 1 Cup is 8oz./237 ml

1 Cup Self-raising Flour (I used McDougalls Supreme Sponge)**see TIP

1/4 Cup Condensed Milk

1/4 Cup Full-fat Milk

100 grams Unsalted Butter (1/2 Cup minus 1 Tablespoon)

4 Tablespoons Caster Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract/Vanilla Bean Paste

1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

1/2 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar/ Apple Cider Vinegar

Method:

1. Cream together condensed milk, butter, sugar and extract in a bowl till light and fluffy;

2. Add in flour in two batches, and fold till evenly mixed;

3. Add in vinegar and Lemon juice and mix evenly.

4. The batter will be very thick and you will need to spoon it into your pan;

5. Bake at 160℃ (for Fan-forced oven; or 180℃ for normal convection models) for first 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 140℃ (for Fan-forced oven; or 160℃ for normal convection models) and continue baking for 35 minutes more. My 7"X2" springform tin got baked in exactly 45 minutes total time (including the first 10 minutes at higher temp.);

6. Check with a skewer, a few moist crumbs should stick to your skewer. If no crumbs are sticking, that means it is over-baked. If the centre is still liquidy, bake for 5-10 minutes more;

7. Take your cake pan out and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. After the pan is cool to touch, demould it and take the cake out and cool it on your cooling rack. Eggless cakes lack structure, and so shouldn't be cut immediately on cooling or after taking them out of oven, they will crumble instead of slicing. Best way to evenly slice them is keeping them in the fridge for 2 hours/overnight and slicing them thereafter. You can store them, wrapped in saran wrap/cling wrap in fridge, for 1 week.
TIPS: If you don't have self-raising flour, you can make your own by adding 1.5 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt to 1 Cup All-purpose Flour. Whisk till evenly mixed. This yields 1 Cup Self-raising Flour.

And here I leave you with this slice of deliciousness to sweeten up your afternoon/evening teas....a light, spongy and moist cake!!

Happy Baking friends!! and take care....till next time! Byeeee!!