This eggless condensed milk cake is a rich, soft vanilla cake that you can enjoy with a cup of tea.
The eggless sponge cake recipe uses condensed milk as an egg substitute to create the cake's base, which means it's not only rich and creamy but also really easy to make. The best part? This sweet treat is simple to make and will be ready in no time!
Eggless Vanilla Cake
When you're looking for a classic cake reminiscent of soft, light and fluffy - a sponge cake is the first choice, right? Made using just 4 ingredients - flour, sugar, butter and eggs.
The secret to this recipe is condensed milk which helps to achieve the same texture in a simple eggless sponge cake.
It's soft and rich, with a vanilla flavour that's just right. It's the perfect base for any of your favourite desserts—whether you're looking for something simple or elegant.
Why Condensed Milk is used in a cake?
Condensed milk is the main ingredient that makes this cake so delicious, but it also serves another purpose: as an egg replacer. Check out my top picks as an egg substitute.
Condensed milk has a consistency similar to eggs. It reacts with leavening agents to create air bubbles resulting in an excellent texture in this eggless vanilla cake recipe similar to those made using eggs.
The flavour of condensed milk is deep and rich, so you'll know you're eating something special when you take a bite!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter (softened) - I prefer using Unsalted Butter when it comes to baking any cake recipes. You cannot use vegetable oil for this recipe.
- 1/4 cup (55 gms) Caster Sugar - Caster sugar dissolves easily when creamed with butter and hence advised to use the same.
- 1/2 cup (160 ml) Sweetened Condensed milk
- 1.5 cups (180 gms ) Plain Flour/APF/Maida
- 2 tbsp cornflour - You can skip this if you are using cake flour in place of all-purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 3/4 cup Milk - Whole milk or low fat milk any can be preferred.
- 1 tsp Vinegar - You can use lemon juice in place of vinegar.
- 2 tsp Vanilla
You can print the recipe from the recipe card given at the end of the page.
Step by Step Instructions:
Pre-preparatory Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 360°F (180°C).
- Oil or Butter the base of the two, 6-inch cake pan, line it with parchment paper and dust the sides with some flour set aside.
- Add vinegar and vanilla essence (or vanilla extract) to warm milk. Mix and set it aside for 5 mins to curdle. This is your DIY Buttermilk.
- Sieve the dry ingredients and keep them ready.
Step 1 - Creaming the Butter
- In a large mixing bowl start by creaming the softened butter until creamy. Do remember to scrape the bowl every now and then for even creaming. This would take around 2-3 mins using a hand mixer depending upon how soft your butter was.
- Then add the caster sugar and beat along with the butter until light and fluffy for around 5-8 mins. Do this step well as this is what will incorporate air into the batter.
- Finally, add the condensed milk and beat it well.
Step 2 - Prepare the Cake Batter
- Add 1/3 of the sieved dry ingredients and GENTLY mix using a spatula.
- When you can still see some bits of flour un-incorporated add half of the prepared buttermilk (milk+vinegar) mixture and mix that too.
- Repeat the above two steps until all the flour and buttermilk have been used up. You would add dry ingredients in 3 stages and wet ingredients (buttermilk) in 2 stages.
Step 3 - Baking
- Transfer the cake batter evenly to the prepared cake pans. Smooth the top and bake in the preheated oven of 180°C for 25 to 30 mins.
- If baking in one pan it would take a little longer to bake. The temperature remains the same, the time duration would be 30 to 40 mins.
Step 4 - Cooling
- Once the cake is cooled let it sit in the cake pan itself for another 3 mins and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Slice and store only when it is cooled completely.
Storage Instructions
It is always best to cling wrap a cake and then store it to retain the moisture in it.
Cling wrap the cake and leave it on your countertop for about 3 days. Put it in the fridge to store for a week.
This eggless vanilla cake freezes so well. Simply wrap in cling wrap and freeze for about 3 months.
What is the texture of the cake?
This eggless vanilla sponge cake recipe yields a light and dense cake base. It has a close resemblance to an eggless pound cake. I would suggest serving this cake as a tea cake; plain on its own. Or use this recipe to form the base of travel cakes.
You can also use this plain vanilla cake as a base for birthday cakes to go along with buttercream. If using whipped cream I would suggest you opt for an oil-based vanilla cake.
This would also make an excellent base for tres leches cake. Check out our eggless chocolate tres leches cake.
Baker's TIPS:
- As a general rule of thumb, for an eggless cake recipe, do remember to preheat the oven, line the cake tin well and also remember to slice and store as mentioned in the post.
- Do not use melted butter it won't mix with the sugar to create air pockets. Butter must be soft to touch. Do check the video recipe to understand the consistency.
- Vegetable oil cannot be used in this recipe. Check out our Gulab Jamun Cake recipe which makes an excellent eggless sponge recipe using oil.
- Beat the butter and sugar well to create air pockets until the butter is visibly white and creamy. This would take around 10 to 13 mins depending upon the type of hand mixer you are using.
- Gently fold the dry and wet ingredients, ensuring you do not deflate the batter. And stop when you no longer see any dry flour left out. Over-mixing would result in a dry and tough cake.
- Add nuts or tutti-fruity to the cake batter to get a crunchy texture.
- Bake the cake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Over-baking would cause the cake to dry out faster.
- For best results allow the cake to cool completely before slicing.
Serving Suggestions
Serve the eggless condensed milk cake warm or at room temperature freshly baked for best results.
To serve, cut the cake into slices and serve with ice cream, whipped cream or custard.
You can also enjoy it with hot coffee or tea!!
If refrigerated, then make sure to get it to room temperature before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can. This base cake is light and dense and holds up buttercream really well. In fact, this is the cake base I used in my daughter's mermaid birthday cake frosted with condensed milk buttercream this year; the recipe will come out soon.
I would recommend using 50:50 plain flour and whole wheat. A whole wheat cake would be denser than the one we made with this recipe. If using 100 per cent whole wheat flour then you might need to adjust the consistency by adding little milk at a time.
What makes eggless cake fluffy?
To make a fluffy cake, you need to beat your butter and sugar together until they're light and fluffy. Then you add the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing gently using a spatula just until they're incorporated.
Remember: Do not overmix! You want to keep as much air in your batter as possible so that when it bakes, it'll rise and be soft and light.
Finally, preheat your oven to 360 degrees F before putting your cake to bake.
Yes, you can. Simply replace 20 gms of flour with cocoa powder to make the eggless version of chocolate cake.
Yes, you can the timings might vary though. Keep checking after the first 35 to 40 mins. The temperature remains the same.
This usually happens if you wrap the cake before allowing it to cool completely. Though some cake experts now claim that it is ideal to do that as the cake then traps the moisture content though I have never done that personally.
Another common cause of this is humidity. If you live in a humid place you cannot avoid this as the cake absorbs the moisture from the air and shows up as a sticky top.
This eggless vanilla cake with condensed milk is best enjoyed warm and fresh along with tea. If you want to use it as a base for layer cake then make sure you are soaking it well or else the cake will feel dry especially if you are refrigerating it for long.
Related Recipes:
- Best Buttercream Frosting to go along with this cake.
- Condensed Milk Buttercream
- Oil-Based Cake
- Condensed Milk cookies
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Eggless Condensed Milk Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 180 ml (3/4 cup) Milk warm
- 1 tsp Vinegar
- 2 tsp Vanilla Essence
- 180 gms (1.5 cup) Plain Flour/APF/Maida
- 2 tbsp Cornflour
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 113 gms (1/2 cup) Butter softened
- 55 gms (1/4 cup) Caster Sugar
- 160 ml (1/2 cup) Condensed Milk
Instructions
Preparatory Steps
- Preheat oven to 350 degree F or 180°C.
- Oil or Butter the base of the two, 6-inch cake pan, line it with parchment paper and dust the sides with some flour set aside.
- Add vinegar and vanilla essence (or vanilla extract) to warm milk. Mix and set it aside for 5 mins to curdle. This is your DIY Buttermilk.
- Sieve the dry ingredients (flour, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda and salt) and keep them ready.
Step 1 - Creaming the Butter
- In a large mixing bowl start by creaming the softened butter until creamy. Do remember to scrape the bowl every now and then for even creaming. This would take around 2-3 mins using a hand mixer depending upon how soft your butter was.
- Then add the caster sugar and beat along with the butter until light and fluffy for around 5-8 mins. Do this step well as this is what will incorporate air into the batter.
- Finally, add the condensed milk and beat it well.
Step 2 - Preparing Cake Batter
- Add 1/3 of the sieved dry ingredients and GENTLY mix using a spatula.
- When you can still see some bits of flour un-incorporated add half of the prepared buttermilk (milk+vinegar) mixture and mix that too.
- Repeat the above two steps until all the flour and buttermilk have been used up. You would add dry ingredients in 3 stages and wet ingredients (buttermilk) in 2 stages.
Step 3 - Baking
- Transfer the cake batter evenly to the prepared cake pans. Smooth the top and bake in the preheated oven of 180°C for 25 to 30 mins. If baking in one pan it would take a little longer to bake. The temperature remains the same, the time duration would be 30 to 40 mins.
Step 4 - Cooling
- Once the cake is baked (a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean) let it sit in the cake pan itself for another 3 mins and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Slice and store only when it is cooled completely.
Video
Notes
- Using this recipe you can make two, "6-inch cake layers" or one, "8 inch cake layer". You can also use the same recipe to make a square cake, loaf cake, bundt cake etc. The temperature remains the same. Timings might vary. Check constantly after the first 35 mins of baking time.
- This cake is best enjoyed warm with a cup of tea. Makes an excellent base recipe for all your travel cakes. Can also be used as a base for layer cakes just make sure to moisten it well and then stack.
- I would not recommend using 100% whole wheat flour to make this recipe. You can try 50:50 APF to whole wheat flour.
- Always cling wrap and then store the cake.
- Do not use melted butter it won't mix with the sugar to create air pockets. Butter must be soft to touch. Do check the video recipe to understand the consistency.
- Vegetable oil cannot be used in this recipe. Check out our Gulab Jamun Cake recipe which makes an excellent eggless sponge recipe using oil.
- Beat the butter and sugar well to create air pockets until the butter is visibly white and creamy. This would take around 10 to 13 mins depending upon the type of hand mixer you are using.
- Gently fold the dry and wet ingredients, ensuring you do not deflate the batter. And stop when you no longer see any dry flour left out. Over-mixing would result in a dry and tough cake.
- Add nuts or tutti-fruity to the cake batter to get a crunchy texture.
- Bake the cake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Over-baking would cause the cake to dry out faster.
- For best results allow the cake to cool completely before slicing.
- As a general rule of thumb, for an eggless cake recipe, do remember to preheat the oven, line the cake tin well and also remember to slice and store as mentioned in the post.
Nimisha Srivastava says
Cake turned out to be soft. Light and yummy.but I feel 2 tsp vanilla essence was too much. Can be replaced with 1 tsp.
sushma iyer says
Hi Nimisha.. thank you for sharing your feedback.. this would help many other readers going through it.. 🙂
Aakshi says
Excellent recipie and perfect cake....was looking for a condensed milk cake and u posted just in time...tried it and boom.....thanku
sushma iyer says
yay!!! thats fantastic.. so good to know.. thank you for sharing 🙂