Eggless Ginger Orange chocolate cake – #CaLbakes

For 5 months beginning November 2015, I am hosting a guided baking session on the Facebook foodie group called Chef At Large. The aim is to present baking recipes as simply as possible with the most commonly available ingredients, so it is easier for people to take that step into baking.

While testing recipes and documenting it so that everyone understands, I have learnt so much myself. And when people respond with pictures and feedback of something they made following this recipe, it feels quite good.

I hope I am doing justice to the initiative by offering as much as I know.

This eggless chocolate cake is for the month of November. With loads of pictures showing each step. Let me know what you think.

Eggless Ginger Orange chocolate cake

What you will need:

1. one slab of 100 grams Amul butter, softened
2. 20 grams of castor sugar
3. 1/2 can of condensed milk (200 grams)
4. 125 ml whole milk
5. 125 all-purpose flour or maida
6. 1 teaspoon baking powder
7. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8. 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (or orange zest)
9. 2 teaspoon orange juice
10. 150 grams dark chocolate – melted completely

What to do :

• In a big mixing bowl, take softened (but not melted) Amul butter. Add sugar to it and whisk.
• Then to this add the condensed milk and whole milk and whisk well. Let it form a smooth mixture.

• In a separate bowl, take flour +baking soda + baking powder and first mix it with a spoon to distribute baking soda and powder throughout the flour. Then sift this once through a regular kitchen sieve.
• Melt the chopped chocolate over a double boiler or in a microwave in 30 second intervals, whisking well at each interval.

• Now, to the butter mixture add the melted chocolate and whisk well till fully incorporated.
• Then add the grated ginger or orange zest and orange or apple juice and mix.
• Remove the whisk. Now with a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients in two batches. Always move the spatula in one direction and the bowl in the other while folding. Me being right-handed, move the spatula from right to left with the right hand and the bowl from left to right with the left hand.

• Now pre-heat the oven to 180 C for 10 minutes and meanwhile prepare your pan.
• Lightly butter and line your 6-8 inch baking pan with parchment paper at the bottom as well as the sides. Alternately you can line the bottom with a parchment paper and grease and flour the sides.
• Pour the batter in the prepared pan.

• Now bake the cake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Insert a skewer or a knife in the cake to check if it’s done.
• Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
• Take it out and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
• There are several ways of making 2 layers of a cake. But the one I prefer the most is this desi jugaad style. For it, all you need is a steel plate, which has a side and covers about half the height of the cake and you also need a knife with serrated edges.

• Once the cake is completely cool, place it in the plate and taking that as an aid, cut the cake horizontally into two. Be careful to have your knife touching the edge of the steel plate at all times so that you get an even cut.

• Once cut from all sides, take a cake board or a simple cardboard will do and slide it between the two layers of the cake and separate them.
• Now use the frosting or the ganache recipe and frost the cake or decorate it as you like.

Decorate the cake with a chocolate ganache and/or buttercream.

I have used the buttercream to sandwich between the cakes and frost the sides and ganache for decoration.

This post first appeared here.