Inexpensive Water Cake Recipe

Inexpensive water cake recipe – no milk, no eggs, no butter? No problem! Just like my “no eggs chocolate cake”, you can make the white cake version of this simple, crumby sweet treat. Minimal ingredients are typical during a Pandemic. Five ingredient cake recipe.

Minimal Ingredient Baking Recipes:

These recipes are perfect for quarantine baking and isolation.

While cooking all day long is nothing new to me, (because of my food blogging job), some of my readers are getting tired of seeing these delicious and fancy cakes and requested a simple recipe like this cake, made with water.

Some people have limited ingredients in their pantries and no time (if working from home and homeschooling) and desire (prefer to stay inside, instead of going out and being around other people) to purchase ingredients. This is why pantry staple recipes like this are essential.

We don’t know what the future is holding for us, but we can try to stay positive and survive.

My grandmother makes this cake and it is pretty delicious. She uses more oil than me and it turns out delicious. Also the more oil you put in cakes like this, the longer they will last at room temperature.

Now is the time to mention that there is a version of this cake without milk and butter, but there are eggs in it. I can definitely share it with you, if interested.

Minimal ingredient baked goods are possible and can be quite tasty.

Ingredients for this water cake recipe

You need five basic ingredients : all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, vegetable oil and water. These ingredients create a basic, budget friendly, relatively moist and crumbly water cake.

Now we need to add some flavor to out cake, right?

Adding vanilla extract is optional and I always do it. Other extracts that can be added are:

• rum extract
• lemon extract or lemon zest
• orange extract or orange zest
• strawberry extract
• almond extract
• orange liqueur

What kind of flour to use for water cake

I always use all purpose flour for this particular no eggs cake and it works well. You may see some recipes calling for the use of Italian Type 00 flour and this will work as well, if you decide to substitute it in equal amounts.

The problem is that I rarely have Type 00 flour and only buy it for Stone baked pizzas.  Most of the time this flour is marked “for pizza”. It is pricier than all purpose flour as well. I’ve heard form people that there is a Type 00 flour used for pastries and baked goods and other Type 00 flour marked to be used for pizzas.

I’m not going to get into too much detail about Italian flours here, because I use unbleached all purpose flour in the recipe.

How to make a cake without eggs, milk and butter

1. Line a 9×9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper. A round 9 inch pan will work in this recipe as well, it depends on your personal preference.
2. In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Add the water, oil and vanilla. Beat until just incorporated. Add citrus zest if using any and mix to combine.
3. Bake at 350 (180 C) for 45 minutes or in a fan oven at 160 for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
5. Cut into squares.
6. You can serve this cake with whipped cream, fresh fruit or fruit preserves.

How to store cake made with water

Keep wrapped in plastic at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days.

More cake recipes:

• No eggs chocolate cake
• Blueberries and Bavarian cream cake
• Keto chocolate cake

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5 from 1 vote

Water Cake

Water Cake - easy to make, flavorful, inexpensive. Great for quarantine baking. For a fancier version - add whipped cream and fresh fruit on top.

Servings: 16

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 3 1 /2 cups all purpose flour, unbleached is preferred, but bleached will work as well
• ▢ 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• ▢ 1/4 salt
• ▢ 2 tsp baking powder
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional
• ▢ 250 ml oil
• ▢ 400 ml water
• ▢ 1-2 tsp lemon or orange zest

Instructions 

• Preheat oven 350 F (180 C).
• Line a 9x9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
• In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Add the water, oil and vanilla. Beat until just incorporated. Add citrus zest if using any and mix to combine.
• Bake at 350 (180 C) for 45 minutes or in a fan oven at 160 for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.
• Cut into squares.
• A round 9 inch pan will work in this recipe as well.

Nutrition

Calories: 314kcal, Carbohydrates: 40g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 16g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 3mg, Potassium: 84mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 16g, Calcium: 27mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe?Mention @cookinglsl or tag #cookinglsl!