Heeelp - birthday cake but no sodding baking powder

[ItsNotAboutTheChocolate]

I need to make a birthday cake for tomorrow and just got out all the ingredients - only to discover my baking powder is almost finished. Any cake recipes that will work without baking powder ? I have no SR flour either. But I do have regular cake flour and bicarb.

I've googled but all I can find are American recipes for 'pound cakes', which seem to have no raising agents at all - how does THAT work? Or cakes that require other exotic ingredients like tons of blanched almonds.

Any ideas for me please MN? Feel so bad not to come up with a birthday cake as celebrations are already so constrained.

Do you have vinegar o lemon ice? If you have bicarb you can make a cake rise by combining it and an acid.

Lemon juice! Not ice.

Here’s a recipe for a vanilla one.

I’ve used it (and the other varieties she has on her blog - lemon, chocolate, carrot) a few times and they work really well.

I've made this cake before & it was lovely - no baking powder: www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_1/2006/FEB/6298.html
It's basically an Angel Food cake.

Use vinegar and bicarb, I had to do this last week as I’d run out. Google for the amounts.

Google Crazy Cake. Yum. No baking powder required.

Oh thank you all SO MUCH. I knew MN would know. I don't have cream of tartar either so I will give those crazy cakes a go. And I'll also google replacing baking powder with bicarb and vinegar. Thanks again.

You can use bicarbonate of soda instead of baking powder. You will need less bicarb than baking powder. If your recipe uses 3 teaspoons of baking powder you will only need one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.

A classic genoise sponge contains no raising agent it's raised by the egg. Will post a recipe

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pauls-genoise-sponge

Thank you! I didn't know any of these alternatives existed. Will investigate them all. Thanks again

Chocolate brownie with plain flour?

The genoise sponge is very light, it's what is used as the base of a cream gateaux. It is a little bit more tricky to make than an all in one Victoria sponge but not too bad.

I’ve made chiffon cake In a normal cake pan that turned out well. Very easy to make but have to be careful folding in the egg white. It’s a beautiful light cake