1-2-3-4 CAKE with oil

This is the oil version of the 1-2-3-4 cake. I am in this phase of mindful baking. Come to think of it, if you are using eggs in baking, make use of its full potential. This recipe calls for 4 eggs. With 4 eggs, you can whip the egg whites really stiff which means you can reduce the amount of baking powder. That's exactly what I did here. Also, I have read that using pudding mix in the cake batter makes the cake moist. I tried to take a little proportion of flour, milk and sugar and cooking it into a pudding and adding it to the cake batter and it did turn out to be really moist. But making the pudding mix was an overhead. So I used hot milk in the batter. It was good enough. I have used the same recipe for marble cake.

INGREDIENTS

1. 12 Tbsp oil
2. 2 cups minus 2 Tbsp. sugar
3. 3 cups flour
4. 4 eggs
5. 1 cup hot milk
6. 2 tsp vanilla essence plus 1/2 tsp orange essence
7. 2 tsp baking powder or 1/2 tsp baking soda with 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
8. 1-1/2 tsp salt(next time 2 tsp)

METHOD

• Butter and dust a Bundt pan with flour.
• Whisk the flour, 1 cup sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Keep aside. This can be done ahead.
• Separate the eggs, whites in a big mixing bowl, yolks in a small bowl. Pour the essence over the yolks and keep aside. Take the milk in a cup and keep aside.
• Take the sugar in a bowl and keep aside.
  

•  Take the separated egg whites into a bowl big enough, because it is in that bowl that the rest of the ingredients will be combined. 

        

• Beat the egg whites using a cake mixer on high speed until frothy and the volume has increased, about a minute.

• Now on maximum speed beat the egg whites and while beating, gradually add the sugar (1 cup - 2 Tbsp), maybe 2 Tbsp at a time. Continur doing this till all the sugar is done.  The egg whites should be whipped till stiff peaks are formed.
• After the whites are whipped stiff, pre-heat the oven to 350-degree F for 15 minutes.

• Put in the egg yolks and essence all at once and beat on high speed for about 5 seconds.

• Add the oil and again beat for 5 seconds.

• Now we have the egg whites whipped up till stiff, added in the yolks and oil too. We have 3 cups of flour. Incorporating all of the flour at once will not work. We need to incorporate the flour in installments.
• Heat the milk until hot. This can be done in the microwave. 
• So, into the whipped egg-oil batter, add 1/2 cup of flour (whisked dry ingredients), mix on low speed with the beater just until incorporated.  Add the rest of the flour in 1/2 cup installments, add a little bit of milk and mix. Repeat this until the flour and milk is over.

                                     

• Keep the cake mixer away. Now using the spatula wipe around the sides and give the batter a light whisk making sure that everything is nicely mixed.
• Pour into the prepared pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.

        

      

      

      

• Invert the cake when the pan is cool enough to handle (about 30 minutes). See here for notes on cooling and releasing the Bundt.

NOTES

• For making a marble cake Mix 4 Tbsp cocoa powder with 6 Tbsp hot water and 1/8 tsp salt. Stir well and it will give a nice glossy finish. Mix this to 1/3 of the vanilla batter.
• Pour half of the vanilla batter in a prepared Bundt pan, top it with the cocoa batter. Then pour in the remaining vanilla batter. Bake as above.
• In Seattle weather, the cake will sit at room temperature for 5 days.