Sponge cake in a jiffy...no oven...with and without eggs

Maida (refined flour) 200 gm; sugar 200 gm; three eggs; sunflower oil 100ml; baking soda 1 tsp; soda bicarbonate (eating soda) a pinch; vanilla essence; some sand.

Powder the sugar in a mixer jar. Add maida to the same jar. Break the eggs and add the contents to the maida, sugar mix, in the jar. Then add the oil, baking soda, soda bicarbonate and three drops of Vanilla essence to it. Vanilla essence is available in super markets. Mix all the ingredients well and blend them by switching on the mixer once again. Grease the inside of a plate. Pour the contents of the jar in to it.

Take some sand at the bottom of the pressure cooker. Put it on the stove and switch it on. After the sand is heated, place the plate on it and close the cooker with its lid. Leave it on low flame for 20 to 30 minutes. The cake mix will harden and rise up. Once it is ready, take it out and cut it with a knife or spoon.

There is a slight difference between the cake that is made in microwave oven and that made in pressure cooker. When made in an oven, cake is much softer. But in the oven you must ensure right temperature level. In the pressure cooker, this headache can be avoided.

Tasty sponge cake can be made without eggs, easily at home. The method is similar to that of sponge cake with eggs. But eggs are not used.

Maida or refined flour one-and-half cups; sugar one cup, oil half-a-cup; vanilla essence few drops; baking powder one-and-a-half tsp; baking soda one tsp; yogurt one cup.

Take yogurt and sugar in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a ladle or churning stick. Air bubbles will appear. Then add baking powder and baking soda. Leave it aside for five minutes and watch the air bubbles float on top. Now take a plate that fits in the cooker and apply oil to the inside of it. Pour the sugar, yogurt mixture in to the plate. Leave it aside for five minutes before adding vanilla essence, oil and maida. Mix all the ingredients together again. Take sand up to one inch at the bottom of the cooker and place the plate on it. Keep the cooker on low flame, on a stove, for 30 to 40 minutes.