This has been my
craziest mini-bake in a long time. I was recovering from a cold one day, and
lazing on the couch when I suddenly came to know that it was my neighbour’s
birthday the next day. Now, we’ve been neighbours for less than a year but have
gotten along so well that whoever said this generation does not care to know
who lives next door, would be put to utter shame!
I had less than 6
hours to come up with something. I had no formal equipment, not even measuring
cups! Duh! And I direly missed having a proper oven to bake a cake in. And the
hot weather was a torture to the cream that was refusing to get whipped. But my
determination when it comes to baking put all odds to an end. J I am so happy with the result!
This is my go to
recipe for a soft and moist vegetarian chocolate cake.
It is vegetarian.
It is low-cal.
And it is quick!
I got this recipe
from my friend T when we were in engineering college, and it has been with me
since then – been more than a decade! My husband got tired of searching for the
piece of paper every time I made this cake, so he made me a digital copy :P.
See footnotes for the photo of the ancient piece of paper smeared in cocoa* (Don't go by the measurements in the photo as there are some errors in there).
Here’s the recipe for
No butter, no egg chocolate cake!
Makes one 6 inch
cake, about 3 inches in height.
For the cake
- Sieve flour and keep aside
- Mix sugar and curd until the sugar dissolves
- Add baking powder, baking soda and mix. Let it stand for 2-3 minutes. You will see bubbles appearing.
- Add oil and vanilla essence and mix well.
- Add the flour and mix. The mixture should be of dropping consistency.
For the whipped cream
This was a big
challenge. I could not get hold of 40% fat cream. So I had to make do with 25% fat
Amul cream. What I did was – I bought two packs of 200ml Amul cream and
carefully scooped out the solidified part (the part that settles down in the
tetrapack).
I chilled the cream
I put all my utensils and tools in the freezer for a good 2-3 hours.
(This includes the whipping bowl and the whisk blades)
I used an ice and water bath with some salt while whipping the cream
with a hand blender.
Ingredients
2 packs 200ml Amul cream (ideally you should use 40% fat cream)
About 1 cup icing
sugar (I usually go by taste and add as I whip)
Steps
This will vary for
25% fat Amul cream vs. 40% fat cream. I am documenting my process for the 25%
fat cream that I used.
1.
Take a big bowl and fill with
ice and some water. Add a good pinch of salt in.
2.
Take another chilled bowl to
whip the cream in (smaller than the first bowl and which can sit in the above
created ice+water bath)
3.
Pour the solidified contents of
the cream in the chilled whipping bowl.
4.
Whip with a hand whisk at
medium speed till the cream is homogenized (2 minutes).
5.
Add half of the icing sugar in
and whip until the cream is soft and aerated (took about 8-10 minutes for me)
6.
Taste and add more sugar as
desired.
7.
Now whip until you get soft
peaks and the final test is – if you invert your bowl, the whipped cream should
stay set and not fall. (Be careful with this one and don’t invert the entire
bowl at once else you’ll end up with your entire cream on the floor if it’s not
set!)
NOTE: I made this
cake during early summers in India, about 28-30 degrees Celsius. If you live in
a colder region, it will take less time for you to reach the whipped stage.
Keep an eye out every couple of minutes and go by your instinct.
Stacking the cake for
the final look!
Ingredients (for decoration)
1 cup chocolate shavings
8 tbsps of flavoured syrup (cherry/raspberry/strawberry or any other of your choice)
Handful of cherries (fresh or canned)
Steps
1.
Slice your cake into two halves
horizontally with a long serrated knife so you end up with 2 layers of cake,
each 1.5 inches in height.
2.
Sprinkle some sugar syrup or a
flavored juice of your choice on the bottom layer– strawberry, raspberry,
cherry would be ideal for this cake. You can even use fruit preserves (thin
them a little with some water).
3.
Generously layer the bottom
slice with whipped cream.
4.
Now stack the second cake on top
and follow steps 2 and 3 again for this layer.
5. I have given it a slightly naked look to make the rich chocolate color stand out in contrast to the whipped cream, but if you'd like, you can cover the sides in whipped cream as well.
6. Sprinkle some chocolate
shavings on top and decorate with cherries. I did not have fresh cherries handy
so I have used these pseudo ones made from Papaya (they are easily available in
Indian grocery stores!)
I know this post is missing
step-by-step photos of the cake in making. But I promise to click some the next
time I bake this cake J
On a side note, I have convinced my husband for a Dorabjee outing this weekend! Dorabjee is this three (or four?) storied departmental store – a grocery heaven for exotic ingredients! Similar to Target in the US or Coles in Australia or Cold Storage in Singapore. So excited! Will post pics of my visit soon!
Hope you enjoy the cake! J
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