Are you like me, crazy about a cookbook? If you are interested in baking, want to include whole grains while doing so and also want the baked goods to be very tasty, then you will have to check King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking book and I'm sure you will become a fan like me.
It is not just a book with recipes but talks in detail about the different types of whole grain flours, their characteristics and how to use them effectively so the result is very delicious baked goods. It's a 600 pages cookbook, so you can understand the in-depth coverage of the subject matter.
You have abundant choice with recipes for breakfast, quick breads, yeast breads, cookies, cakes, desserts etc. It's like any other baking book when it comes to the huge collection of baking recipes but what makes it the best is that all these recipes are made with a variety of whole grain flours.
I had to bake a layer cake for for the final class of Course 1 of Wilton's Cake Decorating series. I decided to go with one of the cake recipes in the King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking book. Since I'm on the look out for a good egg free white cake recipe, I decided to try the butter cake recipe using whole wheat pastry flour. I made a couple of changes to that recipe to make it egg free and healthy.
Is this cake really healthy? The answer is both yes and no. Yes, because I have used trans fat free non hydrogenated margarine instead of butter in the original recipe, thereby reducing the fat and eliminating cholesterol. No, because I have frosted the cake and it is made with shortening. So if you really want a healthy cake either avoid frosting or make a simple vegan frosting or a low fat frosting.
We practiced the following in the final class:
- Roses (Please watch the video)
- Sweet Peas
- Bows
- Leaves
- Vines
Recipe
Eggless Whole Wheat Layer Cake
Ingredients
- 2 and ¼ cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 cup Margarine Soft Tub
- ¾ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
- ½ tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Plain Yogurt low fat
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Grease and flour two 8-inch round pans or line with parchment paper. Nowadays I prefer lining the pan with parchment paper in the bottom as well as on the sides. The cake comes out of the pan perfectly each and every time.
- Whisk together the flours, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.
- Cream together the margarine, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add ¼ cup of applesauce at a time, beating well after each addition and scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl once or twice. It curdles but don't worry.
- Add ⅓rd of the flour mixture, mixing until incorporated.
- Measure 1 cup of yogurt in a liquid measuring mug. To that add the vanilla and vinegar and whisk together well.
- Add half of this mixture to the large bowl, again beating until the mixture is very fluffy. Meanwhile scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl also.
- Then add another ⅓rd of the flour and beat well. Next add the remaining yogurt mixture, then the remaining ⅓rd cup of flour, mixing well after each addition. Stop once or twice to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pans. (It was not watery but more in a semi solid state). Bake the cake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done in about 32 minutes. The cake was in golden brown color and started to pull from the sides of the pan. If you are baking a 9x13 inch cake the baking time will vary, so do the toothpick test to find if the cake is done.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Then pull out the parchment paper from the side of the pan and invert the pan and the cake falls without sticking to the pan. Remove the parchment paper sticking to the bottom of the cake and transfer it to a cooling rack. The cake has to cool completely before frosting.
My Notes
- I used Fleischman's no salt added soft tub margarine instead of butter.
- If you don't find whole wheat pastry flour then use equal portion of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. If you are using traditional whole wheat flour add ¼ cup of freshly squeezed orange juice to reduce the bitterness and raw smell/taste. This is the tip given in the book, which I have not tried so far.
Taste & Texture
Nutrition
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Ruby says
Hi Madhu, cake looks really delicious. I was searching for cake decoration ideas and I got this site. This is really helpful as I didnot only get decoration ideas but also came to know that wheat flour can also be used for cake preparation.
I tried your eggless chocolate cake recipe with wheat flour and it turned good except the fact that it got little soggy at the bottom. But taste was awesome.
Thanks for the recipe.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Ruby.
Nithya says
Hi Madhu,
This recipe looks quite yummy n tempting for me to try. I am gonna try this over the weekend. However I have one query. Is this whole wheat pastry flour same as the wheat Atta which we get in India? I have tried many a times whole wheat cake with attached but never have been successful with the texture. Kindly let me know. If it is not the normal atta place let me know how do we make pastry flour. I don't think in India we get pastry flour so easily.
Thanks,
Nithya.
Madhuram says
Nithya you can use the chapati flour like Pillbury, Ashirwad etc, because this type of whole wheat flour is pretty much close to whole wheat pastry flour. Do not use hard wheat flour like buying the wheat and milling it. You won't get the desired taste and texture. If you have only that sort of whole wheat flour then use 50% of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour.
Gayathri says
hi can u say can i make this cake with usual wheat flour?like pillsbury ashirwad which we get in India?
pls advice thanks;;;;
Madhuram says
I think it should come out good, Gayathri.
Shreya says
Hii,
Since i don't get many ingredients for this cake in my area, please tell me what to use instead of-
1) margarine,
2) unsweetened applesauce,
3) apple cider vinegar.
And is it necessary to use salt & vanilla extract? If it is necessary to use vanilla extract what to use instead of it?
Please clear all my doubts & reply soon. Today my sis birthday is there. I want to prepare this for her birthday celebration.
Thanks.
Madhuram says
Butter, mashed bananas/yogurt, lemon juice twice the quantity of vinegar. Both salt and vanilla extract are used to enhance the flavor. Any cake recipe will have both the ingredients. You can still omit it if you don't want to use it.
Ekta says
Hii, I am loving your cake. U also give the substitute for the ingrediants, i want to ask my cake always little hard in base please suggest somthing for this
Madhuram says
Thanks Ekta. I'm guess you are baking it quite longer or setting the oven temperature too high.
Prachi says
I am loving the recipe seems to be simple and doable. I shall try it next weekend for my husband's birthday.
I had few questions before trying it out:
1. Can the apple cider vinegar be substituted with any other things which is easily available in house or in grocery stores in India? (As if i purchase the vinegar it wont be used later and we don't get it in small size bottles here. so it will be a waste.)
2. If at all i have to bake the cake in the pressure cooker will it turn out to be as good as the one seen in the picture?
Madhuram says
You can use lemon juice instead of vinegar. I don't have experience baking in pressure cooker, so don't know about the result.
shrutiks says
My cake remain a little moist towards the centre but crust well.What vould be yhe reason for this ? can you helo ?
Madhuram says
Maybe it needed a couple of minutes extra baking time.
Aarti says
Hi Madhuram,
Could you please guide me if I should use the same amount if I am baking in 9*13 inch pan because I have one 8' inch pan and 1 13*9 inch pan I am confused about the amounts. Also, Can I use canned pineapple in this recipe? Please guide, I want to bake this cake for a party tonight. I have whole wheat pastry flour.
Thanks in Advance!
Madhuram says
Yes you can use the 9x13 inch pan instead of the 2 round pans. Drain the pineapples before mixing it with the batter.
Moe says
What is that blue stuff in the middle of the cake? Also will that cake have a apple taste to it since you are using apple sauce and apple cider vinegar?
Madhuram says
That was the balance icing I made for some other cake. The cake will not taste anything like apple.
Nidhi says
Hi Madhu,
I am planning to bake this cake for my next week final class for Wilton. I have couple of questions. Can I use unsalted butter instead of Margarine? If yes, should it be same quantity as Margarine. Also, I don't have apple sauce. Can you use something else instead of apple sauce. Also, I need to make layer cake so if i split batter in to two it should make 2 layers in 9 inch round pan.
Madhuram says
Yes, you can use unsalted butter in the same quantity. Use this recipe to prepare Homemade Applesauce. I too have used the batter to prepare to cakes by splitting the batter into 2 pans.
Stephanie Relfe says
I am very sorry to say but margarine is VERY toxic. Salted butter is okay. (So long as it's organic and the cows have not been fed GMO alfalfa). When people ate butter and not margarie, we did not have all the heart disease we have now.
Margarine is solidified vegetable oil. Cockroaches won't eat it. And cockroaches can eat axle grease.
More information at my website.
Deepali says
I would love to try this cake but unfortunately my microwave does not have a convection mode so could help me with the temperature settings.
Madhuram says
I'm not proficient with baking in a microwave oven Deepali. Sorry!
Yojana says
One more question Madhu,
I am planning to use equal proportions of whole wheat flour and
APF, so will use orange juice as mentioned by you, so is it just
additional 1/4 cup or i have to reduce the quantity of liquid in the recipe?
i mean will the batter have the right consistency with that additional 1/4
cup juice?
Yojana says
Hi Madhu
I am taking the Wilton course 1 and need to bake a cake for the 2nd class.
I am planning to use this recipe mentioned above, have a couple of questions..
1. can I use normal unsalted butter instead of soft tub margarine
2. I have sweetened apple sauce in my pantry , so do you think i should reduece
the sugar to 1/2 cup.
Also, about the low fat yogurt, doea it play any role or i can use
just the home made whole milk yogurt I have...
Anuradha says
pl use common nd simple words so that we can also try.
Madhuram says
Anuradha, please let me know which one you are not able to follow and I'll be glad to clarify.
Yojana says
Hey madhu
Is whole wheat flour the same as regular chapati flour we use
everyday? I have to bake a cake for my friend's son's birthday..
Planning to make the white vegan cake from you blog but will use
normal butter and milk, however i dont have enr-g at hand, can i
just use all baking powder, and how much in that case? or what else
can i use instead of ener-g and how much? planning to bake the cake
tonight and decorate it tmrw following your buttercream icing recipe
please let me know
Madhuram says
Yojana, if the chapathi flour you are using is made from 100% whole wheat then it's one and the same. Reg. the cake, I wouldn't know if substituting EnerG with baking powder would work unless I try it myself. If I had to try it though, maybe I would use another teaspoon of baking powder.
Yojana says
hey Madhu
Wanted to post the feedback long back , but forgot..
I baked the white cake and used another teaspoon of baking powder
instead of ener-g.. The cake rose beautifully at first but then it flattened
also for the taste, it had an after taste of baking powder...
Yojana says
Hey Madhu
is whole wheat flour the same as the chapati flour we use to
make rotis? Also I have to bake a cake from my friend's son's birthday ,
which is tomorrow.. I will bake the cake tonight and decorate it tmrw..
I am planning to bake the vegan white cake from your blog, though
i will use normal milk and butter .. but i don't have ener-g at hand
can i use yougurt instead.. or anything else if you can suggest?
sheetal says
can u pls teach me simple metjod of icing and basic things required for icying
Madhuram says
Sheetal, type "cake decorating" in the search box and you will get a list of posts in the related topic. I have given a lot of information about icing and decorating in a couple of posts.
sheetal says
i just love u r deco i want to know to preare the roses u ve done thank u
Anamika Duwaragan says
What icing is this. Looks like Royal Icing. I miss it... 😥 😥 😥
It's simple buttercream icing Anamika.
Claire says
how many people will this cake serve?
Its an 8 inch cake, so 12-15 servings maybe.
vani says
you had mentioned about this this store
http://www.kadies.co.za/index.html
where is this store located in USA? i live in dallas texas.pls help me find this store in usa. as i could not find it in website. i found only in south africa????????????which store do u go to, i mean which location??????????????
Hi Vani, when you wrote Joann, I thought you lived in Johannesburg, South Africa and that's why I mentioned that website. I looked for "cake decorating supplies in Dallas" in Google and found a couple of results. Why don't you try that too. http://www.cakecarousel.com/
I live in Canada and the store I go to is Bulk Barn.
Sweta says
I tried making the eggless whole wheat cake with the mixture of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour.
As suggested I added orange juice to it to avoid the bitter taste and it blended very well.
It was a great and successful try.h
Oh! great. Thanks for trying it Sweta. I have not tried the orange juice trick.
sandhya says
wow!!!the whole office started craving for cakes after seeing this. we went to starbucks and got some brownies!!!do u guys sleep at all? where from do you have so much time and patience to keep going!! I am wonder struck.
Thanks Sandhya. It is very time consuming and for the past couple of weeks I have been so busy.
vani says
Also what are the white small things that u used on the cake and where is it available....thanks
vani says
hi,
wah the cake looks really beautiful. i am planning to take the course 1 and 2 of wilton class in joann next month or so. can u pls tell me where u got the whole wheat pastry flour? or is it the same flour where we make what we use for making rotis( whole wheat flour) also i want to know where u bought the apple cider vinegar ( or is it the white vinegar) pls let me know.thanks in advance and keep up the good work...will try it out as soon as u reply to me me....
also where do u buy the bottom cardborad for placing the cake and the cover to clost it... pls let me know...
Hi Vani, whole wheat pastry flour is available in the organic aisle of supermarkets here. I don't know the set up in your place, so check organic/health food stores. It is not the same as the whole wheat flour we use for rotis. WWPF is made from soft wheat whereas the other one is from hard wheat. Similarly apple cider vinegar is available next to the white vinegar itself. You could use white vinegar itself but sometimes I feel the presence of it in the baked goods, sort of after taste, but don't feel that with apple cider vinegar. If you don't find it, try adding almond extract or additional vanilla extract. I think this could mask the after taste but it's just a guess though.
The cardboard, the small silver beads everything was available in the place I took the class. Look for it in cake decorating supply stores. I don't know if you know about the following store already. I googled and found it.
http://www.kadies.co.za/index.html
meeso says
Wow, this is beautiful! I would love to copy if I had such baking/decorating talent!
Sushma Mallya says
Thats such a beautiful cake, perfectly baked,& surely must be yummy as well
vidhya says
Wow. Beautiful cake. Like someone said above, i wouldnt have cut the cake at all 🙂
Champa says
Madhuram, I wrote something up about cake decorating basics. I linked your website in that. Hope you don't mind. Meanwhile, keep up the good work.
Thanks Champa, no problem at all.
Aashi says
Madhu,
Simply beautiful cake! Fell in love at first sight. How did you level the frosting so evenly?
Aashi
Thanks Aashi. I guess I'm getting better or just luck maybe! Have a cup of hot water while frosting and dip the spatula in it every now and then to have a smooth finish.
Parita says
The cake looks gorgeous...love the color combination!
Graham says
Beautiful cake.. had no idea you could bake eggless. I love to bake and will be trying a few of these recipes
Jayasree says
Cake looks gorgeous. Your deco is very good. Way to go, Madhu.
Sunshinemom says
Very beautiful! Perfect X'Mas setting:).
Anu says
Looks awesome! Utterly delicious! I'm sure the healthiness in the cake will make up for some of that icing - but hey - its cake. You are allowed a little wiggle room in here! The texture looks fluffy and nicely aerated. I'm sure it was delicious to eat!
Sonia says
O gosh! What a beautiful cake! 🙂 Simply gorgeous! I loved your idea of using whole wheat pastry flour. I also checked ur notes. Thanks for that. Keep it up gal. 🙂
renuga says
Hi Your cake looks yummy,Your decorating ideas is awesome.
Thanks Renuga.
Cilantro says
Looks great Madhu, I have not been able to schedule a class yet.
P. Vasanthi says
Very nice cake. Photograph is too good
Soumya says
gorgeous cake....love the way u have kept simple and elegant.Love it that u have made a wheat cake,Now a days i am so hooked up using wheat flour in everything i bake so will check out the book for sure. 🙂 great work.
Thanks Soumya. I'm sure you would like that book.
Kay says
Girl, you really cut that cake?? I'd have sat vigil with a gun to ward off any tempted.
Its truly gorgeous!!
Thank you very much Kay.
Champa says
Nice cake. Just a tip. Probably the fat side of the petal tip was not down all the time you piped petals. Check that out.
You are absolutely right Champa. I realized it much later only.