Eggless Cake Rusk

Name: Eggless Cake Rusk
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 95 min
Ingredients: 1 cup all purpose flour (130 grams); 1.25 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; pinch salt; 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113 grams (1 stick), at room temperature ); 1/2 cup granulated white sugar (100 grams, can reduce for less sweetness); 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder; 1/2 cup plain yogurt (120 grams)

By Manali Singh

4.75 from 4 votes

Dec 03, 2020, Updated May 07, 2023

Eggless Cake Rusk made with basic pantry ingredients make the perfect crispy chai time treat! They are great to dunk in your coffee too!

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Crunchy & buttery, these eggless Cake Rusk and chai are a match made in heaven.

Made with only few pantry ingredients, these are so much better when homemade.

some rusk arranged on a tray with chai glasses in the background

I cannot have my chai plain, I mean I always need some munchies along with.

Whether it’s chivda, cookies or rusks. These eggless cake rusks are my current favorite, I just cannot stop eating them!

Many years ago, I had posted this cake rusk recipe on the blog, which is still quite loved and so many of you have made them.

I have been meaning to try an eggless version of the same but only got around it recently.

The first try resulted in not so crisp rusks, they were good on the day I baked them but the next day, they had cake like texture in the center and I didn’t like that at all.

After few attempts, I am sharing the version I love. It’s buttery, flaky, crispy and just perfect to dunk in chai.

What is a Rusk

Rusk is twice baked bread in simple words. Rusks are popular in south east Asia and I grew up eating them very often.

They are especially eaten with chai so in my home the evening chai time was always accompanied with a plate of rusks.

Rusks are very similar to biscotti- they are crispy and perfect to dunk in chai or coffee.

Types of Rusk

The more common one is the bread rusk, which basically in twice baked bread. I have shared the recipe on my blog before and it involves baking a bread with yeast first, then cutting into pieces and baking again until crisp.

The recipe that I am sharing today is cake rusk, which works differently. This one tastes like a crisp cake, it has more sugar and more butter than the traditional milk rusk.

I love both types and enjoy them with my chai!

Since I already had a cake rusk recipe with eggs on the blog, I thought of using the same recipe and replace the eggs with yogurt.

The basic recipe remains almost same except that I replaced the 2 eggs with 1/2 cup yogurt.

However, the baking time changed completely in this eggless cake rusk recipe when compared to the one with eggs.

The ones with egg crisped up very quickly where as the eggless ones took a long time.

Eggs create a lot of structure and stability on baked goods but when I replaced the eggs with yogurt, the resulting cake was comparatively weaker in structure and also took a very long time to crisp up.

For example, the cake rusk with egg, I only had to bake 10 minutes on each side (second bake) for it to achieve desired crispiness.

Where with these eggless cake rusk, I had to bake each side for around 25-30 minutes in order for it to really crisp up. That’s a lot of time difference.

For my first batch, I baked for less time, and my rusks were all soggy the next morning. They really need the extra time.

Ingredients

This recipe involves very few and basic pantry ingredients.

Flour: I have used regular all purpose flour here. Can you use whole wheat? I would suggest to replace 50% of all purpose with whole wheat and try and see how it works.

Sugar: granulated white sugar is what I have used here. The granulated white sugar in the US is quite fine compared to the white sugar in India.

So if you are in India, using caster sugar might be a better option here.

If you want, you can reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe.

Butter: unsalted butter is what’s used here. Can you use salted butter? You can, I would then not add the salt in the recipe.

Do not replace the butter with oil.

Yogurt: plain yogurt is used to replace the eggs in the recipe. Make sure the yogurt is whisked and is at room temperature before adding to the recipe.

Flavoring agents: I have used vanilla extract and cardamom powder to flavor these rusks.

You can skip the cardamom if you want. Crushed fennel seeds can also be added.

Baking temperature & time: so, these are baked twice-

First bake: 325 F degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Second bake: 300 F degrees for 25-30 minutes on each side. (total of 50-60 minutes).

Here’s an important thing: when you cut the slices, you have two sides that are browned and 2 sides that are whitish is color, as always is the case with cakes when you cut them.

You need to put the white side down on the pan while baking (and not the browned side). Once that side is baked, then flip and place the other white side down. Also, place them directly on a pan and don’t use parchment paper in this case.

Keep an eye of color, these white sides need to turn dark brown in color. If you oven runs hot, you might need to do the second baking at 275 F degrees.

Observe the color carefully because you don’t want to burn them. I actually baked each side for 30 minutes each. So yeah it takes time, and it’s best to do this while you are cooking something else in the kitchen.

Another important thing that I would like to mention here is that, the cake is super soft once baked and it breaks easily. Let it cool down for at least 15 minutes and only then try to cut it into slices.

Use a sharp knife while cutting slices and cut carefully without breaking the cake.

What if the rusks turn out soft? so suppose you bake them and next morning you notice that they are not as hard as you wanted them to be. This can happen as every oven is different and maybe they just needed more time.

Simply, pre-heat oven to 300 F degrees, and place the rusks in the oven, 10 minutes each side. Let them cool completely then, they will crisp up nicely!

Method

1- In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2- Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, or using your hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Then add the sugar and mix until well combined.

3- Add in the vanilla extract, cardamom powder and mix.

4- Then add in the whisked yogurt and mix. Mixture might look like it has curdled but that’s okay, don’t worry about it.

5- Add in the flour mixture and mix until well combined, for around 1 minute or so.

6- The batter is now done, this is a very thick batter.

7-Spray a 8-inch square pan with non-stick spray and transfer the batter into it. Since the batter is thick, you would need a spatula or knife to spread the batter into the pan.

8- Bake at 325 F degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven, let it sit for 5 minutes and then remove from the pan onto a wire rack. Let the cake cool for around 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, reduce the oven temperature to 300 F degrees (or 275 F degrees if your oven runs hot).

9- Once the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, cut the cake into two and then cut into slices, around 1 inch wide. You can cut either way, either length-wise and then divide each into 2 or width wise. You will get around 15-16 rusks.

10 & 11- Now arrange the cake slices on the pan with the white side of the cake rusks facing down (not the brown side). Don’t use any parchment paper here. Bake at 300 F for 25-30 minutes (check color at 20 minutes mark), take out of the oven, flip and bake the other white side for another 25-30 minutes.

12- When done, the color of the white part (on both sides) should completely change to dark brown (but not burn). It’s important to keep a check on the color. Check at around 20 minutes, every oven is different and your might get done quickly.

Let the rusks cool completely, they will harden as they cool. And then store in an air-tight container. Enjoy these eggless cake rusk with chai!

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