Wacky Cake ~ Vegan Chocolate Cake ~ Chocolate Cake without eggs, butter or milk

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A couple of weeks back, I wanted to bake a cake for my neighbor. When I was going through the options, I was pretty sure that chocolate cake would be a good choice, since her little boy seems to have a decided partiality to all things chocolate. And I have to admit I completely understand the partiality, since I feel the same about all things chocolate :) Since I have a lot of chocolate desserts among my pinned posts, I decided to chose one of those recipes to try. Finally I settled on wacky cake. I have come across many versions of wacky cake or crazy cake as some people refer to it. If you are wondering what is wacky cake, it a cake that is made with no eggs, butter or milk or even bowls, the cake is entirely mixed directly in the baking pan, making for an easy cleanup as well :)

After reading up on wacky cakes, I learned that this cake seems to have existed as early as World war II when there were shortages of things like butter and eggs etc.Here is an interesting article in the LA Times about this cake and its origin if you would like to read up on it. This cake was super easy to make and it turned out moist and delicious. Surprisingly the cake tasted even more delicious the next day. This one's a keeper and I cannot wait to try more variations of this kind of cake :)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Wacky cake  (adapted from this recipe)

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)

2 and 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp white vinegar 

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 Tbsp oil + a little extra for greasing the dish

1 cup water

Pre heat oven @ 350 deg F ( approx 180 deg C) 

Grease a 8 inch square baking dish and keep aside.

In the same baking dish, add the first five dry ingredients and mix well. Make three depressions in the dry mix, two small and one larger one.

Add vinegar and vanilla extract separately to the two smaller depressions and oil to the larger depression. 

Add water and mix everything together gently, make sure to scrape the corners in order to include any flour in the corners.

Place the dish in the middle rack and bake for 32 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove, cool a little, glaze the cake or top with a little powdered sugar , slice and enjoy. 

I used glaze this time, the recipe for the glaze is given below

For the glaze

1 cup powdered sugar / confectioners sugar

2 and 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder ( see notes)

2 Tbsp milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl , drizzle on top of the cake when it cools a little and spread evenly.  Slice and enjoy. This quantity was just right to cover this entire cake.

Notes: 

With 2 and 1/2 Tbsp of cocoa powder the glaze tasted slightly chocolatey, if you want a more pronounced chocolate taste increase the cocoa powder to 3 Tbsp or even 3 and 1/2 Tbsp of cocoa powder or to taste. 

If you are not comfortable with mixing ingredients directly in the baking pan, mix everything in another bowl and pour into pre greased baking pan.

If you are looking for other egg free / eggless bakes with chocolate, here are few more,

Oat Banana Brownie ~ Egg Free

Chocolate Cupcake with  Ganache

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bar

2 Min Egg Free Brownie in a mug

Egg Free Avocado Brownies

Low fat Egg Free Black Bean Brownie

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Oat Banana Brownie ~ Egg Free

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The temperatures in our neck of the woods have plunged considerably in the last few weeks. In addition to the cold, some days are cold and wet. A combination that always makes me want to switch on the oven and start baking. On one such cold and wet day, I had a sudden craving to make brownies and ended up making this oat banana brownie. I first started trying out oat brownies when I was working on this 2 min brownie  in a mug. But since then, throughout summer, I've hardly baked and even when I did, I ended up making muffins and such, not brownies.

Once the cold got here and I developed a serious craving for brownies, I decided to not wait any longer and got baking. Only this time I tweaked my earlier oat brownie recipe and added bananas to it. Bananas, I think was just what the brownie needed and it added a wonderful texture to the brownie. In addition, I always love bakes with a combination of chocolate and banana, so this brownie was definitely a winner in my book. This is also very quick to put together and requires a minimum of ingredients making it easy to make on the spur of the moment. If you like the banana choco chip combination too, give this easy brownie a try and enjoy it just on its own or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream :)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Oat Banana Brownie

1 cup oat flour ( see notes)

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup sugar ( see notes)

1/2 cup mashed banana ( approx 1 large banana)

1/2 cup milk (use dairy free milk for a vegan version)

2 Tbsp oil + a few extra drops to grease the brownie pan.

3 Tbsp semi sweet mini chocolate chips (use vegan chocolate chips for a vegan version)

Pre heat oven to 350 deg F ( approx 180 deg C ). Grease an 8 inch square pan and keep aside. 

Add oat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and sugar and mix well. 

Mix mashed banana, milk and oil in another small bowl and add to the dry ingredients and mix gently until all the ingredients are mixed well. Add chocolate chips and mix into the mixture.

Pour the entire mixture into pre greased brownie pan, place in the oven and bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until toothpick/ cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, cool, slice and enjoy:)

Notes :

I just powder my quick oats in my spice grinder until it turns into a fine powder, then measure and use in this recipe. You can use store bought oat flour too here.

With this quantity of sugar the brownie is mildly sweet, if you like a more pronounced sweetness, increase the quantity of sugar to 1/2 cup. Also if your sugar is more granular like Indian sugar/ turbinado sugar, powder it in a mixer/ blender 

If you are looking for brownie recipes, here are a few more

2 Min Egg Free Brownie in a mug

Egg Free Avocado Brownies

Low fat Egg Free Black Bean Brownie

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Chocolate Cupcake with chocolate ganache ~ Egg Free

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Its been a long while since I baked any kind of cake. These days, whenever I bake, I usually bake muffins and quick breads. But the other day I was browsing the net and I came across a few cakes that gave me serious cake cravings.  So I decided to bake one.  After browsing some more, I narrowed down on a couple of recipes that I wanted to try, one a carrot cake that I have been wanting to try for a long while, the other a chocolate cake that also looked equally delicious. Finally my chocoholic side won out and I decided to bake chocolate cake.

Usually most cake recipes I come across tend to have both butter and eggs. But this one did not have either, making it easy for me to adapt the recipe. I did not have to figure out which egg substitute would work best, etc:)  Also since I don't do this often, I decided to go all out and make a ganache to frost the cake as well. The cake turned out very well, with a nice chocolatey taste that we enjoyed. I made these in a mini muffin tray, just so that it would be easier to do portion control, plus I wanted to share some with my friends. But you could just as easily bake these in a regular muffin pan for regular cup cakes:)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and method to make chocolate cupcakes with ganache (Cake adapted from this recipe)

For the cake

Dry ingredients

I cup unbleached all purpose flour ( maida)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

A pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Wet ingredients

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt + 1/2 cup water whisked together or 1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips 

For the chocolate ganache ( see notes, ganache adapted from this recipe)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Pre heat oven @ 350 deg F. Pre line a muffin pans with muffin liners and keep aside. 

In a large bowl,  sift all the dry ingredients twice. Make a well in the center and keep aside.

It you are using yogurt, whisk together yogurt and water and keep aside. 

Whisk together sugar and oil. Then add buttermilk to it and mix well. 

Pour this mixture in well in the center of the dry ingredients and mix slowly until the wet and dry and fully mixed.  Add vanilla extract and semi sweet chocolate chips and mix gently. 

Spoon the mixture into muffin pans until 3/4th full. Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until toothpick / cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. I made it as mini cupcakes, if you make these as regular sized cupcakes it might take a min or two more, do check if done from around the 15th minute. I used a mini muffin tray and it yielded me about 24 mini cup cakes + 1 regular sized one, you could easily make this in a regular muffin tray as well.

For the ganache

Heat cream on the stove top or the microwave until it is scalding hot. Place the semi sweet chocolate chips in a small bowl. Add chocolate chips to this cream and mix well until well blended.  Allow the ganache to cool and firm, and frost the cake as desired.

Notes:

I did not want to frost all the cupcakes so did not make too much ganache. With this quantity I was able to frost half the cupcakes. If you want to make enough frosting for all the cakes, you might need double the quantity of ganache.

If you are looking egg free bakes, here are a few more

Mocha Choco Chip Muffins

Apple Wheat Muffins

Apple Banana Choco Chip Muffin

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Mocha Chocolate chip Wheat Muffins ~ Egg Free ~ With Stepwise pictures

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I think I have mentioned in the past that I am not much of a coffee drinker even though I enjoy an occasional cup, especially when I travel. But the oddest thing is that I really like coffee flavor in my bakes and in other treats like this frozen yogurt. I started playing around with coffee flavor in my bakes last summer, when my in laws were here with us and we were doing a fair bit of traveling. I thought since both of them loved coffee so much, coffee flavored muffins and bakes might be just the thing for them to enjoy on the road :)

I tried a couple of coffee flavored muffins then that never made it into this space, but we all enjoyed them quite a bit and I have been meaning to make something similar again. This version like my earlier versions is egg free and butter free, but this one does have some chocolate chips that definitely makes this muffins much more delicious :) These muffins are great to have at coffee time or tea time, they also work great as a breakfast muffin or for travel. 

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Mocha chocolate chip muffins (adapted from this recipe)
Dry Ingredients
1 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta/ godumai maavu)
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 tsp salt
2 and 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Wet Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cup fine sugar
1 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup oil 
1 tsp instant coffee (see notes)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Pre heat oven @ 350 deg F (approx 180 deg C) Line standard size muffin tray with muffin liners

Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk or sift together. Make a well in the center and keep aside.

In a separate bowl mix together all the wet ingredients. Pour gently to the dry ingredients and mix together.

Finally add chocolate chips and mix gently. Spoon into pre lined muffin cups until 3/4 th full. Place in oven and bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven, cool a little, peel liner and enjoy :)

Notes:
The original recipe called for 1 Tbsp of instant coffee, but I was using Nescafe instant coffee that I got from the Indian grocery and it calls for just 1 tsp for 1 cup of coffee. So I used just 1 tsp in this recipe too and it was perfect, the coffee flavor was just right for me. If you are using a different brand of instant coffee do check if the flavor is right while making the batter so you can adjust to taste if needed.

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Brownie in a mug ~ Egg Free ~ Butter free ~ In under 2 minutes ~ With Stepwise Pictures

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Sometime last year, my cousin Sandhya mentioned that she has begun to try some of the single serving desserts that she has bookmarked from various sites. She went on and on about how easy it is and how convenient to make just the right sized dessert that I was kind of hooked into the idea before our conversation ended. I kind of liked the idea of a single serving dessert, just a little bit of indulgence without the chance to go overboard. I figured if I split that with R too, then I would end up having a taste of the sweet without having to worry too much about the calories.

The first recipe I tried was a brownie recipe, sadly though it did not work out for me. Not sure why but I found it a tad bit too dry for my taste. That kind of dampened my enthusiasm to try any other single serving dessert for quite a while. After a bit though, I began to think maybe I needed to try experimenting on my own and see if I could come up with something that was moist and fudgy, the way I love my brownies :)  This brownie is the result of my experimentation :) I have played around with the proportions of this recipe many times, increasing and decreasing the almond meal and the quantities of the other ingredients too. But this version is the one that I love the most. It has everything I want from a brownie, its moist, fudgy, chocolatey and delicious. A perfect indulgence :) And the best part this can be ready in just a couple of minutes, and cleanup is a breeze too :)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make brownie in a mug
Dry ingredients
2 Tbsp almond meal (powdered almonds/badam) (see notes)
2 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
1 Tbsp Cocoa powder
3 Tbsp fine sugar (shakkar) (see notes)
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Wet ingredients
2 Tbsp plain yogurt (curds/dahi/thayir)
2 Tbsp milk (Doodh/paal)
1 Tbsp oil
2 tsp semi sweet chocolate chips

In a large mug add all the dry ingredients one by one and mix well. I usually add in the order of almond meal, apf, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, pinch of salt.

Add yogurt, milk, mix well. Add oil and mix again. Scrape the corners to make sure all the flour mixture has gotten mixed. Add semi sweet chocolate chips and mix gently.

Place in microwave and cook for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Here is how it looked at the end of 1 minute

 and at the end of 1 min and 30 seconds

My microwave strength is 1000 watts, so if yours is more powerful you will need to microwave it for lesser time and if yours has less strength it will take a little more time. I like my brownies a bit fudgy and soft and moist, if you like yours a bit drier microwave for an additional 15 seconds to 20 seconds.

Remove, cool for a minute or so and dig in. Enjoy this brownie just as is or with some vanilla ice cream on top:)

Notes:
For the almond meal, you can powder a little bit of almonds in a mixer/blender with short bursts of powder until it is powdered fine. Do not over blend as the nut butter in will cause clumping. If you have store bought almond meal you can use that too in this recipe. I usually powder about 1/4 cup of almonds at one time and store the rest in an airtight container and use it in this or other recipes like this almond cashew cookies.

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