No Eggs, No Oil: Add One Soda To Lemon Cake Mix For A Flavorful And Moist Dessert

For lemon lovers out there, most cake mix companies have a lemon cake you can pick up that takes most of the grunt work out of baking, containing all the dry ingredients measured and mixed. All that's left is to add the wet ingredients. And while these generally include eggs, oil, and water, you can skip all of them and add a 12 ounce can of lemon lime soda instead.

Soda has long been an improved water swap in boxed cake mixes because it introduces air bubbles that give the crumb a nice fluffy texture, eliminating the need for eggs as a leavening agent. But lemon lime soda will also impart a stronger citrus flavor to further enhance the lemon notes in a boxed lemon cake mix. Lemon lime soda is also sweet, acting as a sweetening as well as a flavoring agent. An entire can of soda is more than enough moisture to substitute the oil as well. Plus, with no oil or eggs, this lemon lime soda cake is naturally lower in fat.

You can assemble the cake in the baking pan without so much as dirtying a mixing bowl. Simply add the cake mix to the baking pan, pour over the can of soda and whisk until a smooth batter forms. Put the cake into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Reducing a lemon boxed cake mix to two ingredients not only simplifies it, but it also plays up the lemon flavor. Of course, no cake is complete without frosting, and you can bring even more lemon flavor to the mix without a complicated topping. Make an easy lemon glaze by adding fresh lemon juice to powdered sugar. Or use a pudding mix like cream cheese or lemon pudding along with a cup of milk for a thick and creamy frosting that, like the cake and lemon glaze, has only 2 ingredients. Keep things even simpler by using Cool Whip as frosting. Just add lemon and lime zest to the batter or the frosting for a triple dose of citrus flavor. Lemon also pairs well with other fruits, so you could create a macerated strawberry or mixed berry blend to serve on top of your lemon cake. In fact, you'll get even more lemon flavor as macerated berries require lemon juice and sugar to soften into a juicy cake topping.

Whether you choose Sprite, 7-Up, or a store-brand lemon lime soda is up to you. You could even introduce even more fruity notes by using different flavors of Sprite like a Tropical Mix or a more pure lemon Sprite Lymonade. Serve the lemon cake with a lemon or berry sorbet or a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream brand for an aromatic and creamy complement to this bright citric lemon cake.