Betty Crocker’s Bonnie Butter cake was my stand-by in the pre- egg-free baking days. It’s moist, nearly infallible and you don’t have to mess with separating eggs.

Back then, I didn’t even use cake flour because all-purpose worked just fine. That’s how forgiving the original recipe is.

The egg-free version, not so much. I’ve never been able to get it to work with all-purpose, so I used Soft-A-Silk. But then an egg contamination warning started showing up on Soft-A-Silk, forcing a switch to   King Arthur’s Queen Guinevere Cake Flour, which is a little pricey at $100.

Not the flour itself — it’s only $3.95 for a three-pound bag. The rest of the cost is in my nasty King Arthur addiction. I order several bags at a time and freeze them in order to cut down on my King Arthur visits and the accompanying credit-card pain.

The egg-free version still is a little surly. I haven’t tried it in a pan any larger than 13×9 — the bigger the pan with egg-free baking, the more likely it is to give you trouble. And you have to treat the pan very carefully, because lower-fat egg-free baked goods are more likely to stick. I usually coat with Baker’s Joy, line the bottom with parchment paper and then spray the parchment paper as well.

It looks odd, too, since the yellow color in a traditional butter cake comes from the egg yolks. The egg-free version looks just like a traditional white cake.

You won’t be able to tort the cake either – it’s too moist and delicate. You can work around that, though, by baking smaller layers.

Disclaimers aside, though, this is a great tasting layer cake, sheet cake or cupcakes. Folks usually are shocked that it’s egg-free.

Egg-free  butter cake

• 1 3/4 c. sugar
• 2/3 c. butter or margarine, softened. Margarine works just fine
• 2 eggs’ equivalent of egg replacer, beaten in 1/4 c. warm water and cooled slightly. I’ve tested this with Ener-G egg only.
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. cake flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 c. milk

Mix sugar, margarine, egg replacer and vanilla until fluffy. It won’t be as fluffy as eggy versions, because it’s lacking the fat. Beat on high speed, scraping the bowl occasionally, for five minutes. Beat in dry ingredients alternately with milk on low speeds.

Pour into pans (cupcakes, 13×9, or two eight- or nine-inch layers) coated with Baker’s Joy, the bottom lined with parchment paper and the bottom sprayed again. Bake at 350 degrees, 45 to 50 minutes for 13×9, 30 to 35 minutes for layers and 20 minutes for cupcakes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to rack to finish cooling. Cool with parchment-paper side down or the cake will stick to the rack.

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More egg-replacer replaces in an online special event at egglesscooking.com

Copyright 2009 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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