If you’ve only got one egg left in the fridge you can still make a delicious cake that’s worthy of a celebration. This one egg is a simple vanilla confection, but you could add lemon zest, candied orange peel, or almond extract to give it a different twist.

The basic recipe as written turns out a very pure and easy-to-love vanilla cake that’s ideal for company, birthdays, or just whenever you get struck with a craving for cake.

Because there’s only one egg in this cake the color is very pale, a true white cake if you will. This recipe does well as 2 8″ round cakes that are stacked, but you could experiment with other shapes and sizes.

You may need to adjust the bake time for other types of pans- just make sure a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. You’ll want to use cake flour if you can as it makes for a better texture. If you don’t have any on hand you can make your own by sifting together 2 tablespoons cornstarch into each cup of all-purpose flour.

For the cake in these photos I used cream cheese frosting, but you could use sour cream frosting instead or traditional buttercream.

Then I decorated the top with white chocolate shavings. I find this is such an easy way to dress up any cake. Plus it saves you having to “decorate” in a fussy way. You only need to run a y-peeler for vegetables along a white chocolate bar to make them yourself.

I could also see this cake with generous amounts of whipped cream and some mixed berries on top. Or you could coat the whole thing in dried coconut. The possibilities are wide open with this recipe.

And you won’t even have to run to the grocery to buy more eggs to make this light and airy cake!