A birthday party is never a proper birthday party without a cake! Unfortunately, I had just one egg to last me a whole week so I had to find a recipe that used NO eggs…Marguerite Patten came to the rescue (as always) and I found a suitable recipe to try so at least I could enjoy a 1940′s cake on Em’s birthday.
All went well and the cake smelled actually quite nice as it baked and I removed the tins and left them to cool when cooked. But then it came to removing the cakes from the tins and everything fell apart into a crumbly mound looking more like cous cous than a sweet delicious treat. It may have looked like a total disaster but the cake tasted really good and now being a modern day 1940′s cook with limited resources there was no way in hell I was going to throw it away…..so with no further delay here is the recipe
Eggless sponge gone wrong
- 6 oz wholewheat flour
- 3 teaspoons of baking powder
- 2.5 oz margarine
- 2 oz sugar
- 1 level tablespoon of table syrup (or Lyons Golden Syrup)
- 1/4 pint milk
- sultanas optional
- jam for filling optional
Method
Sift the flour and the baking powder together
Cream the margarine, sugar and syrup together until soft and light
Add a little flour and then a little liquid
Continue to do this until until you have a smooth mixture.
Grease and flour two 7 inch sandwich tins and divide mixture between them
Cook in centre of over at 200 celcius for 20-30 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes before removing from tins
I think you would have had better result if you had put paper on the bottom of your pans. Then when ready to remove them all you have to do is put a knife around the cake and the cake will easily be removed . Enjoy….. M
Thanks Margaret- not sure why I didn’t think of doing that!
C xx
I cant remember if it was allowed back then, but 1tbsp of vinegar can constitute as an egg
it wont have any impact on the flavour 
That would be worth trying to see- thanks for that tip Sophie!
I agree – I sometimes make eggless chocolate cake (I have vegan friends) and I find they’re much more fragile than their eggy cousins, so baking parchment in the bottom of the tin is essential. I see from further down your recipe list that you got a better result later, so I’ll have a peek at that next.
Really enjoying your blog, and it’s lovely to see real-life photos of the recipes in some of my rationing cookbooks!
My eggless cake recipe tells me to add vinegar – as it is a substitute for an egg
Vinegar isn’t exactly a replacement for egg. What happens is that the vinegar and baking powder, or bicarbonate of soda, react together and form carbon dioxide which gives the cake a lift. It makes it lighter.
WOW lol ha a a
my name is rhiana not hiana
I make an eggless cake, but i use silicone bakeware to get it out, mine uses the dried fruit to hold it together, 500g dried fruit, 1 cup fruit juice, 1 cup flour – soak fruit in juice overnight, mix in flour, bake for about an hour at 180, keep an eye on it, cool completely then remove.