Vegan marble cake with non dairy cream frosting

This is the best vegan cake I have made so far. Its very moist and soft with the perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate flavours and above all it looks good too. :-) Preparation wise too its very simple, its just a plain vanilla and chocolate cake, but mixing them both gives it a rich, unique taste. I made this cake last weekend and did a non dairy cream frosting. Special thanks to Suma who posted in her blog about the availability of non dairy whipping cream in Fatima Bakery. I got the recipe for Marble cake from here and did not make any changes to it other than decreasing the quantity to half. Also I used 1 3/4 cups of milk for the whole batter and added around 2 to 3 tbsp of extra milk to the chocolate batter. Also to get the marble effect, I followed a slightly different technique that I saw somewhere.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients to make the marble cake
Soy milk: 1 3/4 cups + 3 tbsp for chocolate batter(I used plain unsweetened. The original called for 2 cups)
Apple cider vinegar: 1 tbsp
Granulated sugar: 1 1/3 cups(I felt it was a bit less, but with the cream frosting it was perfect)
Vegatable Oil: 1/2 cup(I used sunflower refined oil)
Vanilla essence: 1/2 tbsp 
All-purpose flour: 2 cups
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp 
Salt: 1/2 tsp 
Chocolate extract: 1/2 tbsp(optional) 
Almond extract: 1/2 tsp 
Cocoa powder: 1/4 cup 
Black cocoa powder: 1/6 cup(I did not add this)

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C.
2. Grease and flour the cake pan. I lined the bottom of the pan with butter paper.
3. Mix milk and vinegar together and allow to curdle for a couple of minutes. 
4. Whisk the milk mixture, oil, sugar, and vanilla together until well blended.(I did this with an electric blender) 
5. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
6. Add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time to the wet mixture.
7. Stir until everything is just incorporated. Do not overmix. 
8. Split the mixture in half – one for the vanilla part and the other for chocolate.
9. In one half of the mixture mix in the chocolate and almond extracts, followed by sifting in the cocoa powder. 
10. Mix until everything is just blended. 
11. Pour a ladle full of vanilla batter and chocolate batter alternately in a criss cross fashion across the pan. Repeat the same for the rest of the batter.
12. Using a knife, swirl the batter a bit to give a nice marble effect.
13. Bake for around 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy the cake with or without frosting

For the frosting, I whipped a cup of non dairy cream along with some icing sugar, till soft peaks formed. I then kept it in the freezer for some time(around 15 to minutes) till reached the right consistency. Applied it on the cake and topped with some sliced strawberries. After doing all this too, I faced some problem with the consistencey of the cream. I should have removed the cream from the freezer a bit late.  I also cut the cake into two layers and frosted. One cup of cream was too much for this cake. The rest of the cream, I used for the delicious strawberry fruit fool which I would post later.
This is my entry to Priya's Hearts For St.Valentine's Day event.

Vegan strawberry cupcakes

When I made the Bread Pudding with Strawberry Compote, the strawberries were too expensive. Few days back, I was pleasantly surprised to see vendors selling strawberries for half the price I paid before. It was not only cheap, but also of good quality. Later I realised, it was good looking but a bit more tart than the strawberries are supposed to be. Anyway, I adjusted it by adding more sugar.

So here is a recipe for strawberry cupcakes, which not only tastes good but also has a lovely color that makes it a perfect dessert for Valentine's day. The recipe is almost same as this Pineapple cupcake that I adapted from Vaishali's mango cupcake.

Ingredients to make around 12 medium sized cupcakes
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder: 2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Strawberry puree: 1 1/2 cups(I washed around 12 to 15 strawberries, cut into two pieces and pureed in a mixer.)
Canola oil: 1/3 cup(I used sunflower refined oil)
Granulated sugar: 2/3 cup(I added around 1/2 cup more as the strawberries were a bit tart)
Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to 170 degree C and place paper liners in the muffin tin or grease the tin with oil. 
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat together the puree, oil, sugar and vainlla until well mixed.(I did this with electric mixer)
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.(Do not over mix)
5. Pour a ladleful of batter into the muffin tin.
6. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Enjoy with strawberry sauce or chocolate sauce or as it is.

Vegan brownies

I made these brownies for my colleagues at work. They liked them very much and one of them who is a chocoholic just loved it....I adapted this recipe from allrecipes and made some changes to the original recipe based on one of the review comments.
Everince I started baking vegan foods, I stopped buying/using dairy products like butter, ghee and cheese. But there are still some non vegan items like dark chocolate, choco chips etc in my pantry which I bought before going vegan. I don't feel like throwing them away, so I use them whenever I get a chance. So in this recipe, I used some choco chips.
Here is the recipe as adapted from allrecipes and one of the review comments

Ingredients to make around 20 pieces
All Purpose flour: 1 cup
Granulated white sugar: 3/4 cup
Cocoa Powder: 6 tbsp
Baking powder: ½ tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Water: ½ cup
Vegetable oil: 2 tbsp(I used sunflower refined oil) 
Unsweetened applesauce: ½ cup 
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
chocolate chips: a handful(Optional)

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. 
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a large bowl.
3. Mix in sugar.
4. Pour in water, oil, applesauce and vanilla and mix until well blended.(I did the mixing with hand)
5. If using choco chip, pour half the batter in the greased or parchment lined pan, put in a layer of chocolate chips, and then pour in the rest of the batter, spreading to cover the chips. If not using choco chips, then pour in the batter to the pan.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
7. Allow it to cool for sometime before cutting into squares.

Vegan chocolate fudge cake with vegan icing

I have been baking something or the other every weekend, but could not post them, for no specific reason. Looks like sheer laziness. Finally got to post a vegan chocolate fudge cake recipe which I adapted from chefinyou. I made this cake for my husband's B'day. I doubled the quantity of the ingredients as there were 11 of us. It was kind of a family get together and we all had a nice time. And yes, everybody loved the cake. I felt the cake was a bit bitter, but it was good to eat with the icing.

I made vegan icing using cornstarch, icing sugar, water and cocoa powder. As the consistency was a bit thin, I added more icing sugar and freezed it for around 5 minutes. Then I could frost the cake without much trouble. I am not sure where I got the icing recipe.
Its better to keep ready the required amount of cold water before proceeding with the cake. Otherwise, there are chances of overlooking "cold" water in the recipe and mixing everything, only to see that cold water is needed to make the batter.(which has happened with me before for another recipe)

Ingredients
All purpose flour/Maida: 3 cups
Powdered sugar: 2 cups
Baking soda: 2 tsp 
Salt: 1tsp 
Cocoa powder: 6 tbsp 
Vegetable oil: 2/3 cup (I used sunflower refined oil)
Vinegar: 2 tbsp (I used apple cider vinegar)
Vanilla essence: 2 tsp 
Cold water: 2 cups

Procedure
1. Pre heat oven to 160 degree C.
2. Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. In another large bowl mix the wet ingredients and stir well.( I did this with a hand mixer)
4. Add the flour mixture 4 to 5 tbsp at a time to the wet mixture and combine slowly to form a lump free batter.
5. Pour the mixture into the greased(and dusted) cake pan and bake for around 30 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Cool the cake by leaving it aside for 1 minute or so. Then invert the pan over a rack and tap it gently to unmould the cake.
7. Apply the frosting and enjoy.

Vegan pineapple cupcake

This is one of the tastiest cupcakes I have ever had. Its so soft and flavourful that this is the first time I had a homemade cupcake without any icing or frosting. I adapted this recipe from Vaishali's mango cupcake.

Ingredients to make around 11 medium sized cupcakes
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder: 2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder: 1 tsp
Pineapple puree: 1 1/2 cups(I used homemade one. Peeled, cut the pineapple and microwaved for 7 minutes. Allowed it to cool down and then pureed it in a mixer.)
Canola oil: 1/3 cup(I used sunflower refined oil)
Granulated sugar: 2/3 cup
Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to and 170 degree C and place paper liners in the mmuffin tin or grease the tin with oil. 
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cardomom powder together and keep aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat together the puree, oil, sugar and vainlla until well mixed.
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until the batter is smooth.(Do not over mix)
5. Pour a ladleful of batter into the muffin tin.
6. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

The cup cake was so good that it got over within 10 minutes it came out of the oven. I will be trying this recipe with different pureed fruits.

Vegan fruit and nut cake/Christmas cake

This is kind of a practice cake for me to make few batches of it during Dec last week.My relatives are visitng us during that time and after that I would be visiting my native place. So I would be making atleast 4 loaves then. I planned to make a vegan cake and did not want to mess it up at the last moment. So made this cake to be sure that nothing goes wrong.

I adapted this recipe from three different sources...Jugalbandhi's fruit and nut war cake, Kitchen Mishmash's Fruit cake and JoyOfBaking's Boiled fruit cake. The cake turned out very good and I am going to use this recipe anytime I make fruit and nut cake.

I would also like to thank Vaishali whose writings inspired me to inculcate vegan habits into my diet.

I soaked the fruits and nuts for a week in orange juice. Raisins soaked in orange juice was a bit tart which I did not like, but others in the family just loved the cake as it was.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients to make a small sized loaf(around 12 slices)
All purpose flour/Maida: 1 1/2 cups
Brown Sugar/Demerra Sugar: 1 1/4 cup(I did not have that much brown sugar, I substiuted it with date syrup.)
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Water: 1/2 cup(if soaking the nuts in orange juice as you would get around 1/2 cup juice after removing the fruits and nuts. Otherwise use 1 cup water.)
Vegetable Oil or Applesauce: 3 tbsp(I used sunflower refined oil)

Fruits and Nuts (overal it should be 2 1/2 cups, any combination of it can be used)
Cashew: 1/2 cup(broken into pieces)
Badam/Almond: 1/2 cup(broken into pieces)
Raisins: 1/2 cup
Cherry: 1/2 cup(cut into small pieces)
Tutti fruiti: 1/2 cup
Orange juice: around 1 cup(I used freshly squeezed)

Soak the fruits and nuts in orange juice in a jar and refrigerate it for atleast a week. Its better to stir the fruits once daily. Next time I will not be soaking raisins.

Spice mixture
Powdered Caraway seeds/Shahjeera: 1 tsp
Powdered nutmeg: 1/4 tp
Powdered cinnamon: 1/4 tsp 
Powdered cloves: 1/4 tsp
Powdered cardamom: 1/4 tsp

Procedure
1. Pre heat the oven to 170 degree C and grease a cake pan or loaf pan with oil and dust with flour.
2. Sieve the flour, baking soda and salt together.
3. In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring to a boil the sugar, water, oil, spices, and raisins.( I did not boil raisins as I soaked them in orange juice. Next time I will not do this)
4. Boil for five minutes, remove from heat, and let cool till lukewarm.
5. Transfer the soaked fruits and nuts to a bowl and add vanilla extract and mix well. Keep the left over orange juice aside.
6. Transfer the lukewarm mixture to a large bowl and add the flour mixture 4 to 5 tbsp at a time and mix.
7. If the batter is too thick add the orange juice. Stir in the soaked fruits and nuts.
8. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and bake for around 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

The cake tastes best when eaten the next day.(if you have the patience. :-)) Its moist, dense and hard to resist.

Advanced wishes to all you for a fun filled holiday season.

Vegan chocolate cupcake

I made these vegan chocolate cupcakes sometime back. I saw it in Vaishali's blog and chocolate being my favourite flavour, I just had to try it. The cupcakes came out so well that people at home who are not big fans of chocolate cakes too loved them. The only addition I did was to add some walnuts to the cake.
Here is the recipe as adapted from Vaishali's.

Ingredients to make around 15 medium sized cupcakes
Almond milk: 1 cup (I used soy milk)
Vinegar: 1 tsp(I used apple cider vinegar)
Turbinado sugar: 3/4 cup(I used regular granulated sugar)
Canola or other flavorless vegetable oil: 1/3 cup(I used sunflower oil)
Vanilla extract: 2 tsp 
All-purpose flour/Maida: 1 cup
Cocoa powder: 1/3 cup
Baking soda: 3/4 tsp
Baking powder: 1/2 tsp 
A pinch of salt

Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degree C.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt and keep aside.
3. In a bowl, mix the soy milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes until it curdles.
4. Once the milk curdles, add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and beat togeter until it turns frothy.(Around 2 to3 minutes. I used a hand mixer for this)
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing well until the mixture is fairly smooth. Don't overbeat.
6. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Pour the batter into each liner, about 3/4 full. 
7. Bake for around 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
8. Frost the cupcake(optional) and enjoy.

Vegan vanilla cake with icing

Visit to native place, viral fever after the visit, followed by food allergy and workload at office kept me away from cooking, blogging and checking out other blogger's recipes. Made this vegan cake for my husband's niece's b'day this weekend. I came across lots of low fat vegan recipes. As it was for b'day, I did not want to take a chance. So I adapted the recipe from joyofbaking's vanilla cup cake recipe. I substituted 3 large eggs with 3/4 cup apple sauce, butter with nutralite and dairy milk with soymilk. For the icing too, I used nutralite. The cake was perfectly baked, soft, tasty and loved by all.

Here is the recipe as adapted from joyofbaking

Ingredients for the cake
Vegan butter at room temperature: 1/2 cup(113 gms) (I used nutralite)
Granulated white sugar: 2/3 cup (130 grams) 
Apple sauce: 3/4 cup(I used 1 apple to get 3/4 cup apple sauce)
Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp
All purpose flour: 1 1/2 cups(195 grams) 
Baking powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Soy milk: 1/4 cup (60 ml) 

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and grease the cake pan with vegan butter and dust with flour.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I used a hand mixer(around 2 minutes) 
3. Add the applesauce and beat well.(around 2 minutes)
4. Beat in the vanilla extract. 
5. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
6. Alternately add the flour mixture and soy milk to the butter-sugar mixture, in three additions.(I did this mixing with hand) 
7. Pour the batter in the cake pan and shake so that the batter is evenly distributed.(As this recipe is originally for cup cake, the batter was quite thick)
8. Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes or until the a fork inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean. 

Ingredients to make the icing 
Icing sugar: 2 cups (230 grams) 
Vegan butter at room temperature: 1/2 cup (113 grams) Vanilla extract/essence: 1 tsp 
Soy milk: 2 tbsp

Procedure
1. In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. 
2. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
3. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk or sugar, if needed. 

Once the cake is completely cooled, frost with icing.

Note: To make applesauce, peel the apple, cut into small pieces, put in a microwave safe bowl, add water until the apple is immersed and microwave for around 8 minutes. Allow it to cool. Remove the apple pieces and grind into a smooth mixture. I made the cake the previous day night and refrigerated it. After making the icing mixture, I kept it in the freezer for around 10 minutes for it to thicken. This way, it was easy to apply the icing on the cake.

Eggless whole wheat flour vanilla cake with dark chocolate frosting

Here is a small poem (if I may say so) as an introduction to this post that has the recipe for eggless whole wheat cake which is also my entry to Whole grain(Eggless)baking event hosted by the very talented Madhuram of egglesscooking.

Wheat flour I use only in dosa and roti,
So whole grain baking event made me jittery.

Whole grain I know is healthy,
Hence switched on the PC
And hunted for some recipe.
Saw a cake that looked spongy.

Baked the cake with some panic,
But the result made me euphoric.

Thanks to the event hostess Madhuram,
I got to bake a cake that was so yum.

---

Without any further harassment to the readers, here is the recipe as adapted from Recipes4US though I decided to bake the cake after seeing the picture in Sunita's blog.

Ingredients

Whole Wheat Flour: 1 1/2 cup(I used ashirvad aata)
Castor Sugar: 1 1/4 cup
Baking Powder: 2 tsp
Sunflower oil: 6 tbsp
Warm Water: 1 cup
Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp

Procedure

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degree C.
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the castor sugar.
3. Add oil, water and vanilla extract and mix well until the mixture is smooth.(I did this with hand for a few seconds)
4. Bake in a greased and parchment paper lined cake pan for 20 to 25 minutes or till the edges begin to brown slightly, and the centre of the cake is springy to the touch.
5. Remove from the oven and take out the parchement paper carefully.

I got 2 cakes. I cut each cake into 2 halves and applied chocolate frosting and layered the cake and applied the frosting all over the cake.

Dark chocolate and whipped cream frosting(adapted from joyofbaking)

Ingredients

Dark Chocolate: around 150 gms(chopped)
Heavy cream: 3/4 cup
Unsalted Butter: 1 tbsp(at room temperature)

Procedure

1. Place the dark chocolate in a bowl and keep aside.
2. Heat cream and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring just to boil.
3. Pour the boiling cream immediately over the chocolate and a;;ow it to stand for few minutes.
4. Stir the mixture until smooth.
5. Let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
6. Beat the mixture until creamy and smooth.
7. If the mixture is a bit loose, freeze it for few minutes so that it comes to applying consistency.
8. Apply on the cake.

Eggless wheat flour cake with dark chocolate frosting is ready.

Verdict: This is the first time I tried wheat flour baking. I should say the cake tasted good. But definitely not as good as its maida counterpart. Also since it does not use butter, the rich taste was missing. But the chocolate frosting helped the cake to taste better. I might not like to eat the cake without the frosting mainly because I got the raw smell of whole wheat in the baked cake. I really appreciate if somebody could suggest a way so that the baked cake does not have the raw wheat flour smell. Surprisingly, the raw smell had reduced a bit the next day when I tasted.(after refrigerating overnight) I would definitely bake whole wheat cake again as it is healthy and taste wise its not that bad..I think I would start liking it once I get used to the wheat flour taste.

Note: The cake was not spongy like Sunita's. I think I baked for a little longer time. If castor sugar is not there, ordinary granulated sugar can be used by reducing the quantity to 3/4 cup.

This is my entry to Whole Grain(Eggless) Baking event hosted by Madhuram.

Eggless chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting

I was googling this Sunday to get a good, moist eggless chocolate cake recipe that does not use condensed milk. I did not find anything interseting. I went to joyofbaking site to get a chocolate cake recipe and replace the eggs in the recipe with any of the usual substitutes. To my surprise and happiness, I came across a chocolate cake recipe which originally did not use eggs. What more can I ask for..

I baked the cake as per Stephanie's instructions, but with a slight modification with respect to the bowl in which I mixed the ingredients. Instead of mixing the ingredients in the cake pan itself as suggested by her, I did the mixing in a different bowl and then poured the batter in a greased cake pan. I was a bit scared that if I don't grease the pan, the baked cake might get stuck at the bottom.

The cake was real moist and chocolaty. I did the frosting too following her recipe for whipped cream frosting.

This cake is a must try for all eggless bakers..

Ingredients for the cake

All purpose flour: 195 gms
Granulated sugar: 200 gms
Unsalted Butter: 75 gms(melted)
Cocoa powder: 25 gms(I used Weikfield brand)
Warm water: 240 ml
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
Vinegar or lemon juice: 1 tbsp(I used vinegar)
Salt: less than a fourth tsp

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree C
2. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add butter, water, vinegar, lemon juice and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients
4. Mix well all the ingredients until blended. (I used my hand to do the mixing)
5. Pour the batter in a greased cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Ingredients for whipped cream frosting

Heavy whipping cream: 236 ml
Vanilla extract: 1/2 tsp
Granulated sugar: 1 tbsp (14 grams)

Procedure

1. In a large bowl add whipping cream, vanilla extract and sugar and stir to combine.
2. Refrigerate the mix for 30 minutes.
3. When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.
4. Apply the frosting on the cake.

Note: The original recipe clearly mentions to use unsweetened cocoa pwder and not Dutch processed cocoa. But here, as far as I have seen, we do not get different varieties of cocoa powder. I just used Weikfield brand's cocoa powder.

I tasted the cake immediatley after I baked. It was too bitter to eat. I tried after 2 hours, the top part of the cake which had broken a bit. That too tasted bitter. I was very much worried. The next day,when I had a piece from the cake, it just tasted like a perfect chocolate cake. There was no bitterness at all. I really do not know why it tasted bitter the previous day.

This recipe is adapted from joyofbaking.

Eggless chocolate brownie using yogurt

I made eggless chocolate brownies last weekend using yogurt as egg replacer. It did not come out well for various reasons. I forgot to add oil as mentioned in the recipe, added very less cocoa powder. I also did not follow the measurements correctly. The end results proved that my experiments were too bold for the recipe to come out well.

I again made the brownies today by following Stephanie's(joy of baking) recipe for chocolate brownies by replacing egg with yogurt. The brownies looked and tasted awesome. I can confidently send this recipe to Madhuram's egg replacer event-yogurt.

I have already made apple pie and chocolate cookies following Stephanie's recipes and both of them came out well. Her measurements are accurate and procedure covers every minute detail. Only if her recipes were eggless!!!!

The recipe used 2 eggs which I replaced with 1/2 cup(around 130 gms) yogurt

Here is the recipe for eggless chocolate brownies as adapted from Stephanie's chocolate brownies.

Ingredients

Unsweetened chocolate: 120 gms(coarsely chopped) I used dark chocolate
Unsalted butter: 113 gms(cut into pieces)
Granulated sugar: 200 gms
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp(I did not use this as I did not have it)
Yogurt: 130 gms(This is the replacer for 2 eggs used in the original recipe)
All purpose flour: 95 gms
Baking powder: 1/4 tsp(Original recipe did not use baking powder)
Salt: 1/4 tsp(I added less than 1/4th tsp)

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 160 degree C.
2. Mix flour, salt and baking powder.
3. Melt chocolate and butter by double boiler method.(Put butter and choclate in a stainless steel bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water.)
4. Once butter and chocolate melts, remove from heat and add sugar and mix well.
5. Add vanilla extract(if using) and whisk well.
6. Next add yogurt and whisk well.(I used a electric mixer for this)
7. Add flour mixture and mix well.(I mixed with hand).
8. Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake for around 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.(Mine came out clean but still the brownies tasted good.)

Note: I think I added a bit more yogurt(around 170 gms), so the batter was a bit watery. I would add a bit less(around 130 gms) yogurt next time. The brownies tasted really great.I should say, yogurt did a good job as an egg substitute..The picture might not be very appealing as I cut pieces and took snaps when the brownie was still hot.

I am sending this to Madhuram's egg replacer event-Yogurt.

"Strawberry jelly and cream" sandwiched eggless vanilla cake

I decided to participate in FIC-Pink event guest hosted by Priya (announced by Harini of Tongue Ticklers) as soon as I saw it. Pink being my favourite color, I did not want to miss this event. As soon as I saw pink as the color for the FIC event, only rose milk came to my mind. It was my co-sister who suggested using strawberries for the recipe.. The idea of combining jelly, cake and cream was given by her and I am obviously awe struck at her culinary skills.

So here is the recipe for Strawberry jelly and cream sandwiched eggless vanilla cake. The SJACS eggless vanilla cake consists of three individual recipes.

1. Strawberry jelly
2. Eggless vanilla cake
3. Strawberry cream(icing)seet

Strawberry Jelly

Ingredients

Strawberry Jelly mix: 1 packet or 100 gms(I used Weikfield brand)Powdered Sugar: 3 tbsp(Optional)

Procedure

1. Follow the instructions in the package to set the jelly.
2. Refrigerate the set jelly.

Note:

1. I did not add powdered sugar this time. But I will definitely add the next time as the sweetness was not sufficient for us.
2. I added some jelly mix to set in the glass in which I was going to make the sandwich. (A little less than 1/4th the glass)

Eggless Vanilla Cake

I have made this cake number of times and every time I get the same great texture and taste. To make this cake, I just followed Bharti’s recipe. This is one of the cake recipes that's a treasure.

Ingredients

All purpose flour/maida: 2 cups(260 gms)
Usalted butter: 5 tbsp at room temperature(ariubd 65 gms)
Sweetened condensed milk: 1 tin(400 gms)
Butter milk: around 1/2 cup(around 120 gms)(Butter milk quantity can be varied a bit based on the consistency of the cake batter)
Baking powder:  1 tsp
Baking Soda: 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence: 2 tsp

Procedure

1. Pre heat oven to 150 degree C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly.
3. Cream the butter and condensed milk using an electric hand mixer until soft. (I generally mix/beat with an egg beater. I recently bought a electric hand mixer, hence used that.)
4. Add butter milk and vanilla essence and beat again for few seconds.
5. Add the dry ingredients 3 tbsp at a time to the wet mixture and mix well in one direction. (Need not beat. I generally do this with hand)
6. Pour the batter in a greased cake pan and bake for around 30 to 35 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.

Note:

I made some cup cakes too using muffin tin which was very useful for making the sandwich cake. See more on it in Putting Everything Together Section.

Strawberry Cream

Ingredients

Unsalted Butter: 3 tbsp(butter should be at room temperature)Icing sugar: 10 tbsp
Strawberry Essence: 2 tbsp
Milk: 1 tbsp(Optional)

Procedure

1. Beat butter, strawberry essence/puree/powder and icing sugar using a hand mixer or egg beater.
2. If the mixture is very thick, add a little milk to bring it to a spreadable consistency.

Note:

I did not have Strawberry Essence. So I saved some powder(2 tbsp) from Strawberry Jelly mix and used it in the cream instead of essence.
Since I wanted to pour the cream over the cake, I made it a bit thin by adding more milk.

Putting everything together

I used a juice glass to make the sandwich cake.

1. If the jelly is already set in the glass, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, cut a small piece of jelly using a cookie cutter and put in the glass.
2. Cut 2 pieces of cake using a cookie cutter and place one piece on top of the jelly in the glass. Instead of cutting the big cake, I cut the cup cake using the cookie cutter as that was easier. Also I did not want to disturb the big cake
3. Pour some cream on top of the cake and place the other piece too. Again pour some cream. Decorate with some cherries.

I did this sandwich especially for the event. So the last step(Putting everything together) can be modified according to one's one creativity. I thought the jelly would also be in light pink in color, but it was dark pink or rather red. But the cream is still pink in color and I am sending this recipe to Priya’s FIC-Pink event

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Eggless fruit and nut cake/Plum cake

I tried making a Christmas cake last December when I had just developed interest in baking (I know, wanting to bake this cake is asking for too much for a beginner) and I did not have an OTG. Got a recipe from the net and off I set to bake this cake in a cooker!!! I just followed the recipe as it is….and to everybody’s horror, the cake was completely burnt, the vessel had become black beyond recognition. I was very upset as I had put lots and lots of fruits and nuts into the cake. I had decided that I would never bake a cake ever again.. But as it turned out, I baked a cake the very next week. :-)

So, baking a fruit and nut cake was always behind my mind though I did not dare to try it once again..Yesterday, as my son had gone out with his grand parents, I was pretty much free. The baker in me raised her head again..and to keep her calm, I asked my husband if I can bake a fruit and nut cake..(I was pretty sure that he would say no..) But to my surprise, he gave a big YES.. I immediately sat in front of the PC and started searching for the recipe.

That’s when I came across Shilpa’s eggless fruit and nut cake in Aayi’s recipe. I had all the ingredients that the recipe called for except for orange juice. This is were Madhuram’s egg substitutes come handy.. I assumed that orange juice is used just to give softness to this cake.(as the recipe did not call for soaking the fruits in orange juice) So instead of orange juice, I used apple sauce as I had a lonely apple in my refrigerator. I also added as many different types of nuts and dried fruits that I had.

The cake was very delicious and my husband just loved it.. He is a big fan of fruit and nut cake and he was really waiting restlessly for the cake to be baked. And once he tasted, he said SUPERB. This is the first time, I felt so satisfied after baking a cake…All credit goes to shilpa for coming up with such a great eggless

I am posting this recipe for my reference with the modifications that I made. Please click here for the original recipe.

Ingredients

All purpose flour/Maida:  1 cup(125 gms)
Powdered Sugar:  1/2 cup(100gms) + 1/4 cup(50gms)
Butter:  7 tbl spn(100gms)
Spice powder:  1/8th tsp cinnamon powder, 1/8th tsp nutmeg powder, 3elaichis powdered Apple sauce:  3/4th cup(Peel the apple, cut into small pieces, put it in a bowl of water and boil in the microwave oven for 10 minutes. Once it is cool, grind it in a mixer into a smooth paste)
Vanilla extract:  1 tsp
Baking powder:  1/2 tsp
Baking soda:  1 tsp
Kissan Jam(mixed fruit):  1 tbsp
Salt:  ¼ tsp
Dry fruits and nuts:  I used a mixture of cashew, raisins, dates, cherries, tutti fruiti(red, yellow and green colors), walnuts and almonds. (peel the skin from almonds before chopping, by heating the almonds in a bowl of water in microwave for 2 minutes. Otherwise, almonds can be soaked in water for an hour and then can be peeled)

I just saw to it that all the fruits and nuts together weighed 300 gms.

Procedure

1. Mix all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Pre heat oven to 150 degrees C for 10 minutes.
3. Melt butter and mix the chopped fruits and nuts with it.
4. Heat 1/2 cup sugar with 1 tbsp water in a thick bottomed pan till it becomes dark brown in color . This process is called caramelization (If you burn this, the cake become bitter, so be careful).
5. Add the caramelized sugar to the fruits and mix well. When I did this, the mixture formed some hard lumps due to the caramelized sugar. But there is no need to panic and can go to the next step.
6. When it is cooled a bit, add the spices, jam, vanilla extract and apple sauce and mix well.
7. Add the dry ingredients, 2 tbsp at a time to the fruits mixture and combine well. 8. Pour the batter in a greased baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes..

Allow it to cool for sometime before gorging on it. :-)

Eggless chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting

I am a regular visitor to Madhuram’s eggless cooking site. I saw her Egg replacement event-Vinegar and was really excited about it..I am very new to blogging(though I have been reading other food blogs for quite sometime) and have never participated in any event..Seeing her event, I felt, what else could be a better debut than to participate in one of my favourite food.

At this point I would like to say that, I have baked eggless cake using vinegar and oil a couple of times(by seeing some recipes in the net) and both the times, it was a disaster..It did not taste good at all.Also I have failed attempts of baking eggless chocolate cake as the end product turned out to be very bitter..I came to know that cocoa powder is the culprit..So I bought a different brand recently...Seeing Madhuram’s event I thought I can bake a chocolate cake using vinegar as a substitue but without including oil..To everybody’s surprise and relief, the chocolate cake this time turned out really great..I made chocolate ganache frosting following another of my favourite blogger's(passionateaboutbaking) recipe. As I said in my previous post, my parents have come to visit me. They tasted the cake and they liked it very much.. Nobody could say that vinegar was added.Even I could not feel the taste.(may be none of us really know how vinegar tastes. :-) )

Ingredients 


All purpose flour Maida: 200gms
Sweetened condensed milk: 1 tin(400 gms)(I used Nestle milkmaid)
Unsalted Butter: 100 gms
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Vinegar: 1 tbsp
Cocoa powder: 3 tbsp
Milk: 4 tbsp(if required)

Procedure

1. Mix all the dry ingredients.
2. In a separate bowl cream the butter. Add milkmaid and beat well until it is soft.(I use a hand beater for this)
3. Add vinegar and mix well.
4. Now add the mixed dry ingredients 4 tablespoons at a time and mix well in one direction.
5. If the batter is very thick add some milk.(I added around 4 tablespoons of milk)
6. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C.
7. Pour the cake batter in a greased cake pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Chocolate ganache frosting

Though I followed Deeba's recipe for the frosting, I am documenting the same below by making some changes not because I wanted to make but because I was forced to make those changes as I did not have those/get those ingredients.

Ingredients

Fresh Cream: 200ml(I used Amul Fresh Cream, but the original recipe called for heavy cream
Chocolate: 90 gms(The original recipe called for 100 gms, I think and it was dark chocolate
cocoa powder: 1 tbsp(I added this)
Icing sugar: 2 tbsp

Procedure

1. In a bowl mix fresh cream, chocolate and icing sugar and boil it until the chocolate melts.
2. Remove from heat and add the cocoa powder and mix well.If it is too thin melt some more chocolate and add.If it is too thick add some more fresh cream.
3. Refrigerate so that it thickens.(I generally keep in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes till the consistencey is right for spreading.)

Applying the frosting

1. Allow the cake to cool completely and cut the cake horizontaly into two halves.
2. Apply ganache on the lower part and keep the other cake piece on top of it.
3. Now apply the ganache all over the cake and refrigerate the cake so that the ganache thickens.(I generally keep in the freezer for 10 minutes)This step is optional. 

Though I am not good at writing on cakes, I tried it out with, the result of which can be seen on the cake.

Eggless chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting is ready.

This is my entry to Madhuram's Egg substitue event-Vinegar.