Eggless Vanilla Cake with Honeycomb Frosting | Birthday Cake

ETA – This is my 100^th recipe of this year! One of the biggest achievements for me this year – considering how I neglected this blog over the last three years 🙂 Here’s to many more recipes!

Today is my dear husband S’s birthday 🙂 Although he doesn’t like to make a big deal of his birthday or to celebrate it in any way, I would take the opportunity to make it special every year. Last year, we were on a trip and I missed making a cake. We both are not very fond of the store bought cakes or pastries – especially the large sized ones. We settle for a small piece of a cake but that doesn’t count as a birthday cake, does it? This year I wanted to make a cake for him and had been planning it since a day. I was particularly looking for an eggless cake recipe given the fact that our parents don’t like egg based cakes. Also, I wanted to keep it less chocolaty and hence decided on making a vanilla cake.

I found a number of recipes that were supposedly fool-proof – I spent enough time reading through the comments of each of the recipes to know if they really were fool-proof. One such recipe was from Sharmispassions and from the number of people having tried it since the recipe has been up – I knew I found the right recipe. My base cake recipe is from her blog and indeed it was a huge success. I followed her recipe to the T and it turned out perfectly – moist, super soft, crumbly – just as how a sponge cake is supposed to be. May be the next time, I will cook it on lesser temperature as I thought the cake browned a little more than required in the bottom. Nevertheless, this recipe is a keeper for sure. With such minimal ingredients, this has to be one of the easiest cakes one can make at home.

The idea for the honeycomb frosting on top is from Seema’s Amchibong blog. I have always been amazed by Seema’s cooking blog. It’s a little sad that she doesn’t update her food blog anymore. Seema – pls pls get back to blogging 🙂 This honeycomb pattern turned out to be so cool and the tempered chocolate added to the taste of the cake. I used store bought whipping powder to frost the cake and applied the honeycomb chocolate pattern on top. S was surprised to see the cake and my early morning efforts really paid off! 🙂 Here is the recipe for the fail-proof eggless vanilla cake and the frosting.

To make Eggless Vanilla Cake with Honeycomb Frosting

Servings: 4-6
Time: 10 mins prep time + 40 mins bake time + 10 mins frosting time
Difficulty: Medium
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What I used –

For the cake -

Maida/All Purpose Flour ,1 and ½ cups (200 gms)
Plain Yogurt/Curd , 1 cup (250 ml)
Granulated Sugar , ¾ cup (165 gms)
Baking Soda , ½ tsp
Baking Powder , 1 and ¼ tsp
Cooking Oil, ½ cup (125 ml)
Vanilla Essence , 1 and ½ tsp
Milk , 1 tablespoon (just for brushing the top)

For the Frosting –

Whipping Cream Powder, 1 pack
Cooking Chocolate, 50 gm
Bubble Wrap, as per the dimensions of the cake

How I made –

Preheat oven at 180 deg C for about ten mins. Prepare a baking dish by buttering/oiling it and dusting it with some flour. Alternatively, a baking sheet can be lined inside the baking dish.
Sieve the all-purpose flour/maida and set aside.
In a bowl, take the curd/yogurt along with sugar and whip it on medium speed for 2-3 mins until it’s creamy.
To this mixture add the baking soda and baking powder – mix well. Let the mixture rest for 5 mins. The mixture turns frothy and bubbly.
Add oil and vanilla essence to it and mix well. Slowly add the flour in spoon after spoon and mix well.
Whip the batter on medium for 1-2 mins until its glossy. The consistency of the batter is thinner than the regular cake batter. Pour it into the baking dish.
Bake the cake at 200 deg C for 10 mins and then on 180 deg C for 30-35 mins. On inserting a knife or fork through the center of the cake, it should come out clean. Remove it from the oven. Apply some milk on top of the cake roughly ten mins before it would be done cooking. This gives a beautiful golden brown coat on top of the cake as well.
Let it cool down for ten mins before running through a knife and inverting it onto a plate. Let the cake cool down before it can be frosted.
To frost the cake, prepare the whipped cream as per the directions on the pack of whipping cream powder. Set it in the fridge for ten mins. Apply it evenly on top and on the sides of the cake using a serrated knife.
Meanwhile, melt the milk chocolate in microwave at high for 30-45 secs.
Apply it evenly on the bubble wrap (measure it according to the size of the cake).
As the chocolate turns semi-solid, apply the bubble wrap on top of the cake and press gently.
Set the cake in the refrigerator for 10 mins. Slowly remove the bubble wrap in such a way that the chocolate is stuck to the whipped cream frosting.
Decorate the cake with rest of the whipped cream, chocolate shavings on the sides and set it in fridge until it’s required.
Birthday cake is ready! 🙂 Serve as it is and check how soon it vanishes 🙂

Note –

The oven temperatures and timings differ of different makes of oven. Keep an eye on the cake all the time. I might have to cook it on low temperature as the cake slightly browned in the bottom – no impact to the taste though.
Instead of the whipping cream powder, if you can get fresh whipping cream – use it. Any other type of frosting can be used too.
Keep the cake refrigerated as fresh cream can melt in room temperature.

PS – I was in a hurry to get the cake done and hence don’t have step wise pictures. Will update the post with the pictures the next time I make it.

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Honeycomb Frosting | Birthday Cake