Vegetarian Cake

This is a very simple egg-less cake, but not a vegan.  Due to the lack of egg, the texture of this sponge cake is different from a basic sponge - and hence may not please everyone's palate.  Butter being one of the main flavours, the cake is quite tasty and fulfilling even without any icing.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups white flour
- 115 gm butter
- 1 tin condensed milk (sweet)
- 2 teaspoon baking powder (level)
- 1/2 (half) teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 cup orange juice 
- a pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

Directions:
- Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda (and salt).
- Melt butter, and mix with condensed milk in a large bowl.
- Gradually add flour and keep folding the mixture; when thick, add orange juice little by little.
- When mixed well into a smooth batter, add vanilla essence and stir.
- Grease and flour a baking tin, and pour the cake batter into it.
- Preheat the oven at around 170 degrees C, and bake the cake for at least 45 minutes till done.

Tips:
- To melt butter, you can microwave it at the lowest power for 2 minutes.
- When mixing the batter, stick to a single direction, either clockwise or anti-clockwise.
- After removing tin from oven, let it 'sit' for 10 to 15 minutes, before removing the cake from the tin.
- Another baking variation is to let the cake bake at a higher 200 C for about 15-20 minutes, and then lowering the temp to 150 C till done.
- Use toothpick in the center of the cake to check if done (clean toothpick means cooked, while a wet battered one means raw).