Lemon Cake (No Baking Powder, No Baking Soda)

Sharing is caring!

A summer party or a picnic is incomplete without some cake. Agree? What is better than a perfect spongy, lemony, sweet, and refreshing lemon cake? This Lemon Cake without Leavening Agent, without any baking powder or baking soda, is very light, can be assembled within 15 minutes, and is definitely a crowd-pleaser.

One of our family favorites now. I actually never made a lemon cake earlier. I thought the tangy lemon taste would not be liked by my family. But I was surprised. My family wants more of this Lemon Cake.

My son a hardcore chocolate cake lover like me now loves this lemon cake. And he is correct, the cake leaves your palate with a lovely lemony, sweet, and refreshing taste. The tangy and the sweet combination is just awesome and you keep craving for more. You need to stop yourself from eating too much.

So surprised how a cake is made without a leavening agent and how it looks so soft and moist. Read on further to understand better.

The picture speaks for itself and believe me the cake is really soft and all that color is natural. The lemon and the eggs work their magic. I have not added a drop of any artificial color.

Eggs

The key ingredient for the rise of this Lemon cake without Leavening Agent is egg and there is no replacement of the same in this recipe. Eggs have a great ability to leaven or puff up foods when air is beaten to them. When you are beating eggs with a whisker or an electric mixer you are simply incorporating air into the mixture.

When you beat an egg in any mixture you would see that increases in volume. Egg whites are specially used for this purpose and egg whites expand up to 8 times their volume. Hence you can see that Soufflé, meringues all use egg whites, especially for this purpose. There is some science that when air is incorporated into the protein molecules it unwinds and stretches.

Tips for Beating Eggs

• If you are storing your eggs in the fridge it is always advisable to get them at room temperature for baking. They create the best volume and stability.
• Secondly for any recipe if you are just beating egg whites, make sure the vessel is clean and does not have any traces of egg yolk or fat at all.

The beating of the Butter & Sugar

Though this is the first step, I am adding it second here as many have asked me for the replacement for egg in this recipe which sadly is none. So I have mentioned the key ingredient egg in the first place.

So the first step of the recipe is beating the butter and the sugar. It has to be beaten thoroughly to almost a ribbon stage or when the mixture changes color. This will take around 3-4 minutes but is well worth the effort.

Always use room-temperature softened butter when you want to cream the butter and sugar together. The butter has to be softened but not melted. There is a difference. You will not get a creamy texture batter with melted butter and you will not able to even cream it. So keep that in mind.

Recipe process of this Lemon Cake

Next, you are adding the eggs one at a time and beat each of them slowly until well incorporated. After each addition, you would see the eggs adding some volume to the mixture and the mixture getting creamier.

Now we are adding the flour, finely grated lemon zest, and vanilla essence. One can skip the vanilla essence if required but at times I can smell the egg and hence I love to add it to mask the smell.
One can skip the vanilla essence if at all. The real flavor comes from Lemon Zest, the outer rind of a lemon. Be sure to take only the yellow part. Do not use the white skin or it will go bitter.

Do not Overmix

When one adds the dry ingredient to the wet do not overmix. What I mean by Overmixing is:

Well, many think the more you beat the cake batter the fluffier it is. That is not correct. The beating is done before mixing the wet and the dry. Once both are mixed they react and the leavening agents or in our case the mechanical raising agent here egg starts to work.

So it is best to just mix it until the dry ingredient is mixed into the wet and then put it in the oven as soon as to not release the air and let it further expand during baking. Of course, every recipe differs, and it depends.

Always make sure you are running the spatula up to the bottom. At times the dry flour remains and then it will not be an even mix.

I have shared this for the cookout week 2018, an annual event where bloggers share summer recipes. This Lemon Cake without Leavening Agent is tangy, light, and airy and hence a perfect treat for summers.

This recipe is adapted from here, with my changes. This cake is very simple and is without any baking powder or baking soda and with just a few ingredients. The original recipe calls for Self-raising flour which has baking powder and salt added to it. I simply used All-purpose flour / Maida without any leavening agent.

Lemon Drizzle

I have also drizzled this cake, with a lemon drizzle. That is a syrup made using lemon and sugar. This cake stays fresh for 4-5 days outside (if cold) or in the fridge. I have not frozen this cake, but you definitely can. Just cut into individual portions, and freeze. Try this cake and I am sure you are going to make this again and again.

Few more cake recipes on my blog :

• Eggless Chocolate Cooker Cake (Whole Wheat and Without Cocoa Powder)
• Eggless Lemon Drizzle Cake (Using Pressure Cooker and Induction Stove Top)
• Whole Wheat Classic Christmas Cake
• Whole Wheat Carrot Cake|Bread
• Egg-Less, Sugar-Less, Butter-Less Dates & Walnut Cake
• Zucchini chocolate Whole Wheat Bread
• Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Banana Bread
• Low Carb Chocolate Coconut Flour cake
• Orange Yeast Bundt Cake
• Vegan No Bake Avocado Cheese Cake
• Pumpkin Bundt Cake
• Eggless Whole Wheat Lemon Tutti Frutti Cake
• Easy Eggless Mango Cake
• Gluten-Free & Vegan Ragi Banana Cake (Processed Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free)

Baking in Air-fryer

I have baked this cake in an air fryer too. I will post the time and pics soon.

Update

I have not changed the recipe at all. I am just adding some descriptive content as to why eggs are required, how to cream butter and sugar and what is meant by overmixing etc.

Today 27th August 2024, I am updating the pics again. Not changing the recipe.

Tried this recipe? Please comment and rate the recipe. Share your pics and tag us.

Subscribe to my email list to get the new recipes straight into your mailbox.

Disclaimer & Privacy Policy

Sharing is caring!