4 Ingredient Birthday Cake
This easy cake is just 4 ingredients and doesn't contain eggs, butter or milk. It makes a basic white cake but you can easily customize it to create other flavors. This cake is perfect for a birthday cake or any other occasion.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (230 g) self-rising flour, see note before starting
- 3/4 cup (148 g) granulated white sugar
- 1/3 cup (2.7 oz/72 g) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (8 oz) water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- Add flour and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Whisk until evenly combined. Sift mixture. To do this, move your whisk back and forth rapidly through the flour mixture until it becomes light and powdery and no clumps remain. It is important to do this before adding the wet ingredients because otherwise you will have little lumps of flour in your cake batter.
- Add in oil and half of the water. Whisk batter. Add in remaining water. Whisk until batter is smooth. Batter will be very thin. If you are adding in sprinkles, stir them in now.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The top of the cake will stay very light in color and will not brown. Let cake cool before decorating and cutting and serving.
Notes
- There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein flour (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving) and one that has a regular amount of protein or the same protein amount that is in all purpose flour (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Brands like King Arthur Flour and White Lily make the low protein flour. I used Lily's self-rising flour* to make this recipe.
- Please make sure to use a self-rising flour with low protein. If your self-rising flour does not have low protein, then use the following homemade version:
- To make your own homemade self-rising flour, whisk together 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 4 tbsp cornstarch, 3 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to a bowl. Measure out 1 3/4 cups for the recipe.
- Ounce measurements are liquid volume not weight.
- This recipe makes a basic white cake. You can use it as is, you can add a few ingredients to change the flavor, or you can also use it to make a layered cake.
- To make a vanilla version, add 1 tsp of vanilla when you add in the wet ingredients.
- To make a chocolate version, use the following dry ingredients: 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour, 1 cup sugar. Wet ingredients remain the same.
- To make a funfetti version, stir in 1/4 cup of sprinkles after you are done making the batter. You can also add 1 tsp of vanilla to the wet ingredients.
- Frosting: I frosted the cake with a simple whipped cream frosting. To make whipped cream frosting, add 1 cup of cold heavy cream and 3 tbsp of granular sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. If you need a dairy-free version, you can also make a coconut whipped cream using coconut cream.
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
Serving: 1slice, Calories: 161kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 205mg, Sugar: 12g, NET CARBS: 25
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!