Cider Spice Cake

Apple cider baked in a sweet & spiced treat

An original variation on a wacky cake – no eggs, no butter, no nuts

When my son was diagnosed with an allergy to egg whites, my first reaction was “Oh well, avoiding meringue won’t be that hard, right?” If only! It took me way too many minutes to register the full scope of his new dietary restrictions. Egg yolks exist in the same shell with the whites, meaning there is natural cross-contamination and all eggs are off limits. So much for my experimenting with quiche recipes, frittatas, stratas and the like. No more fried or scrambled eggs for a quick dinner. No more Eggs over My Hammy sammis and no more family dining trips to breakfast-all-day diners. Easter strangely took on a sinister undertone…. Surprising how many people still dye & hide actual eggs. And deviled eggs, once innocent but delicious, now seemed to leer from too many spring spreads. French toast, my fav indulgence for fancy breakfast, now banished. It seemed like every few hours I’d realize yet another lost taste. All these limitations were actually much worse for me than my already-wickedly-picky-eater son. He was pretty much unfazed. His downside was small, but the upside was tremendous. We solved the case of his “mystery” hives. For over a year he’d been breaking out in unexplained hives and freaky bright red ears. It turned out this was an airborne allergic reaction to eggs being cooked. No more eggs in the house and no more unexplained hives. Egg allergies can also exacerbate asthma symptoms (see Mayo Clinic info here); not the most common response for a food allergy, but yes, research does document that certain foods – including eggs – can bring on breathing problems or coughing in very sensitive patients. No more eggs in the house and I got to dial back on my son’s asthma meds as well. Not too high of a price to pay, I’d say.

But I was still left with the pressing question of how exactly does one bake cakes, cookies, scones, puddings and the like without utilizing eggs? The first option I stumbled on was the “Wacky Cake” recipe from Cook’s Country magazine. During WWII rationing, when eggs, butter and sugar were in short supply or temporarily unavailable, creative cooks came up with a workable and delicious solution. They used baking soda and vinegar to stand in for the leavening action of eggs.

Now, there are lots of different ways to replace eggs and I’ve been experimenting in my kitchen for several years at this point. But I’m going to share this way and this recipe because it is almost foolproof and very easy. And delicious. And once you’ve got the formula down for a wacky cake, you can mix up the flavors and come up with all kinds of new variations.

So here is my autumn variation to highlight apples and fall spices:

A corner piece of Cider Spice cake, this version w/dried cranberries sprinkled over top before baking

Cider Spice Cake

Ingredients:

Dry mix

1½ cups wholewheat pastry flour

¼ cup rolled oats

½ cup demerara sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cloves

Liquid mix

5 Tbsp safflower or vegetable oil

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup fresh Apple cider*

Optional add-ins to the batter

¼ - ½ cup raisins*

¼ - ½ cup craisins*

*NOTES:

(1) Do NOT use apple juice instead of cider; the name of this cake says it all. There are no substitutes for the cider and its flavor infuses the cake. Get farm fresh if possible.

(2) If choosing to use raisins or craisins, dust them lightly in flour before tossing into batter. This should keep them from sinking to the bottom of the pan. I put them in a plastic baggy and shake w/1-2 tsp of flour.*

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°. This is an important first step as you want to get the batter into the oven as quickly after mixing as possible for maximum rising.
  
  
• Set out an 8x8 nonstick, square pan. Measure out and dump in all your dry ingredients in this order: flour, oats, sugar, spices, salt & soda.
  
  
• Using a long tined plastic fork, a wooden fork, or a coated whisk, mix together well. (Don’t use metal utensils on nonstick surfaces)

 

•   Now make three craters in the dry mix – a large oval at top of pan, a medium circle at the lefthand bottom, and a small rectangle at the righthand bottom.

• In the largest crater, carefully measure out and pour in the oil.
• In the medium crater, carefully measure out and pour in the vinegar.
• In the small crater, carefully measure out and pour in the extract.
• Measure out the cider and pour it slowly but all at once into the pan.

• Mix briskly to form a bubbly batter, a tad thicker than pancake consistency. I prefer not to leave streaks of flour (uncooked flour = zero taste) but be careful not to get over zealous in stirring or the cake will be tough.

 

 

•  Quickly sprinkle any desired add-ins over the batter and lightly fold in.
• Pop into the hot oven and bake for ~ 30 minutes.
  
  
• Cake is done when it is set and toothpick comes out pretty clean – crumbs are OK, glob of batter is not.

I find this cake sweet enough to serve as is with coffee. I consider it more of a tea or snack cake, rather than a bakery-style dessert.

This recipe was inspired by the professional chefs at Cook’s Country kitchen. Their version for chocolate Wacky Cake can be found at here.

ALLERGEN INFO: Contains wheat and soy (if using vegetable oil)

ALLERGY ACCOMMODATIONS: Substitute gluten-free cake flour blend, use different oil