Category Archives: Cakes

Easy Ladle Cup Cake – No Eggs/No Butter

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ladle cup cake (eggless)


  

Necessity is the mother of inventions… Any gender bias here?? But that doesn’t matter – as inventions in Indian kitchens can be attributed to mothers – mostly. So, when the urge to create something quick to be consumed quick, without left overs to cling on to the waist or bulging tummy -this ladle cake came up.

It’s certainly not my invention, it’s just a discovery and learning from various other bloggers who have done easy microwave mug cakes and brownies. I’ve followed their expertise with the slightest changes according to my needs and my family’s. As I don’t believe in microwave cooking, I opted for oven baking, to make just 6 quick cup cakes with minimum work load, no eggs and no butter too. As usual all my cakes are whole wheat cakes and this one too is.

Why I call this Ladle Cake is that the measurement used here for the basic ingredients is a ladle. Quick, easy, minimal effort and no left overs is a boon for those days of unsustainable sweet craving.
  

Ladle Cup Cake (whole wheat, eggless, butterless)

the ladle I used

  


  

Ingredients (makes 6-7 cup cakes or a small cake))

  • whole wheat flour – 3 ladles
  • Sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar) – 2 ladles
  • Olive oil – 1 1/2 ladles
  • Thick yogurt – 1 1/2 ladles
  • Cocoa powder – 1 ladle
  • Baking powder – 1/4 tsp
  • Baking soda – 1/4 tsp
  • Water – enough to make right consistency of the batter – 3 ladles appr.
  • Choco chip – 2 tsp (optional)

  
Method of Preparation


  

  1. In a bowl, start by mixing sugar and yoghurt
  2. Mix olive oil to sugar and yoghurt
  3. Mix 2 ladles of wheat flour little by little

  

  

4. Add little water to make the batter thinner to accommodate the other ladle of flour
5. To the other one ladle of flour, add baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder- and mix to the batter
6. Add more water to bring batter to consistency
  


 

  

7. Mix the chocolate chip at the end if using. Choco chips give a moisturous texture to the cake.
8. Pour batter into greased cup cake moulds or non-greased cup cake paper moulds.
9. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 15-20 minutes, till a tooth pick comes out clean.
10.Sprinkle powdered sugar and enjoy.
  


  

Or enjoy with chocolate ganache.
  

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The French Macaroon Workshop – Coconut Macaroons

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My interest in Macaroons is not only because of my sweet tooth; but my maternal connection to the Pearl City of India – Thoothukudi, which is famous for its cashew-nut macaroon biscuits. The macaroons of Thoothukudi and its relation to macaron and maringue have been discussed in dosaikal previously.  That post was based on a Bakery Visit and learning the process of making macaroons in bulk. Recently, I had this wonderful opportunity to learn the process of making French Macaroons, from a Sous Chef. The Hotel that offers wonderful coconut macaroons to its guests in their Dinner Buffet or Breakfasts/Brunches allowed us to peep into their baking counter. That turned out to be a great workshop on my favourite Macaroons.

What else do I know best, than sharing the episode with my friends through this channel… I chose to do it as a pictoral tour.. come along!
  

The ingredients – as written on the white board for easy reference

  • egg whites – 400 gms
  • breakfast sugar – 1 kg
  • coconut powder – 600 gms
  • icing sugar – 300 gms

  


  

in display


  

the machine


  

Making Macaroons

1. Beat egg whites


  

2. Add breakfast sugar – which is supposed to render a sticky texture to the mixture unlike normal granulated sugar. The chef mentioned, the stores sell ‘breakfast sugar‘ which is not the same as normal sugar.


  

3. When the mixture reaches soft peak consistency,


  

mix coconut powder and icing sugar


  

4. Gently fold the coconut powder-icing sugar into the beaten egg whites with hands


  

5. Remove the mixture into a bowl


  

6. Drop slowly into piping bags


 


  

7. Pipe into beautiful macaroons on a silicon baking sheet


 

 

  

8. Macaroons made by my little chef


 

  

9. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 15 to 20 minutes


  

10. Coconut Macaroons are ready. You could serve these as cream filled double macaroons too.


 

 
Those macaroons by my little one made my day…truly awesome.

Cake in an hour – Whole Wheat Walnut Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Walnuts

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That was a busy afternoon, with normal after school snack, home work and other activities of the young one at home. When there was news of sudden guests, I started thinking of quick and easy sweets to serve them. With just a couple of hours in hand and a desire to serve something good, if not exotic, I started surfing my brain for quick goodies. I opened the fridge to find a box full of walnuts and decided to bake a walnut cake. What started as a quick bake, turned out to be a perfect cake with additional chocolate ganache and walnut topping too.  As always, the cake is 100% whole wheat with olive oil and no butter. To reduce more, I mixed the whole batter in a blender, without any stress on hands.

Quick recipe for the quick cake…..

  
Whole Wheat Walnut Cake with Walnut Coated Chocolate Ganache

  

  
Ingredients

  • whole wheat flour – 2 cups
  • sugar – 1 1/2 cups
  • olive oil – 1 cup
  • eggs – 3 no.s
  • baking powder – 1/2 tsp
  • baking soda – 1/2 tsp
  • milk – 1 cup
  • vanilla essence – 1 tsp
  • walnuts (finely chopped) – 1 cup

  

Method of Preparation

  

  

  1. In a blender, beat 3 eggs – white and yolks combined
  2. Add sugar, olive oil and blend. You would arrive at a mayonnaise consistency
  3. Add 1 cup whole wheat flour and beat well in the blender
  4. Add baking powder and the rest 1 cup flour and blend well. Now, the mixture would be quite thick
  5. Boil milk in a pan and pour into a bowl with baking soda. The soda added milk would bubble-up into a frothy fluid
  6. Pour this frothy milk into the mixer jar and blend till well incorporated
  7. If one feels the mixture is still thick, add little water to make the batter a bit thinner
  8. At this point, preheat oven at 180 deg. C.
  9. While oven is getting heated up, transfer the batter into a wide jar and fold in the finely chopped walnuts
  10. Pour into greased tin. I used small loaf tins to bake tea cakes. One can bake a whole round or rectangular cake as preferred
  11. Bake the batter for 25-30 minutes or till a tooth pick comes out clean.

  

  

Chocolate Ganache with walnut topping

  • 70% dark chocolate – 150 gms
  • full cream – 150 gms
  • hersheys unsweetened cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
  • walnuts – 1 1/2 cups – little more or less – very finely chopped

 

 

  

  1. For the ganache, keep a double boiler on stove and place any good quality dark chocolate, preferably 70% cocoa. I prefer 70% here as there is no extra sugar needed and it is not too bitter.
  2. 70%-80% also gives me the freedom to use unsweetened cocoa powder to make it more chocolatty and slightly bitter as per my taste buds. 90% is truly bitter and adding sugar solidifies it more and that ends up in more cream for the texture of ganache.
  3. So go in for your own favorite good quality dark chocolate and combine with unsweetened cocoa powder and cream, and make your own very bitter/moderately bitter/less bitter ganache as preferred.
  4. Once the chocolate starts to melt, add cream and cocoa powder and stir well till it becomes thick enough to spread with ease. We don’t need pourable consistency here nor a thicker version to apply over the cake.
  5. Spread the ganache on the cake with ease and sprinkle the very finely chopped walnuts on top.
  6. Keep in freezer for 10 minutes to set.
  7. Cut and serve.
  8. The cake is equally good without the ganache too.

  

Eggless Whole Wheat Date and Walnut Cake

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IMG_4757

Merry Christmas to one and all!!

Next on the list is an eggless date and walnut cake. This was requested by one of my readers quite some time back. I know this is a very late response, my heartfelt regrets on that… yet better late than never!

This can also be an excellent substitute to a fruity Christmas Cake. There is no need for the caramel syrup in the Christmas Cake, this cake has the true goodness and color of dates. With no empty calories, it is surely a healthy snack or dessert for kids and adults alike.
100% Whole Wheat Eggless (No Butter) Dates and Walnut Cake

 

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Ingredients

 

heaped cup of flour

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dates and walnuts

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  • whole wheat flour – 1 heaped cup – 175 gms
  • brown cane sugar – packed 1/2 cup – 90 gms
  • refined oil – little more than 1/2 cup – 90 ml
  • yoghurt – 4 tsp
  • baking soda – 1 1/2 tsp
  • chopped dates – 1 cup – 175 gms
  • chopped walnuts – 1/2 cup – 50 gms
  • boiling hot water – 3/4 cup – 120 ml extra water – 1/2 cup (if needed to add in the end to make the batter thinner)

 

soaked dates in water

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Method of Preparation

  1. Preheat oven at 160 degrees C
  2. Grease a baking tray and keep ready
  3. In a wide bowl, place chopped dates, sugar and hot water; Close and let it soften for 10 minutes
  4. In another bowl, add baking soda and chopped walnuts to the whole wheat flour
  5. After 10 minutes, the dates would have become soft; add refined oil to the date, water, sugar mixture
  6. To this liquid mixture, add flour – walnut mixture little by little
  7. Now, the batter would be a thick one, add 4 tsp yoghurt and mix well
  8. Use the reserved 1/2 cup water if the cake batter is very thick or use as little water as possible to bring the batter to spoonable consistency
  9. Bake for 50 mins to an hour till a tooth pick comes out clean
  10. Cool and serve the cake.

 

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Butter and Egg Wheat Cake

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Ms. Vanitha asked for the Basic Wheat Cake (https://dosaikal.com/basic-wheat-cake) with butter and eggs instead of oil and omission of eggs. So, I tried the cake this weekend. It came out really well, not to mention the guilt of having butter in the cake. My daughter was very happy to beat the eggs and I went back to my younger days when I used to blend butter and sugar for amma. Truly a lick of butter and sugar beaten together is a joy forever….So, I decided to indulge the previous weekend!

The cake came out very good – soft but intact; with the flavour of butter and eggs and perfectly moist.

Butter and Egg Wheat Cake

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Ingredients

  • wheat flour – 100 gms
  • sugar (I used brown cane sugar) – 75 gms
  • butter– 100 gms
  • egg – 2 nos.
  • yoghurt/curds – 3 tblsp
  • water – 3 tblsp
  • baking powder – 1/2 tsp
  • baking soda – 1/2 tsp
  • vanilla extract – 1 tsp

 

Method of Preparation

  1. In a wide bowl, beat butter and sugar – enough to melt sugar
  2. Whisk eggs separately and add to the blended butter and sugar
  3. Powdered sugar can also be used for easier melting
  4. Add vanilla extract and mix
  5. Mix baking soda and baking powder with gothumai maavu/wheat flour/atta
  6. Start adding flour little by little to egg, sugar, butter mixture
  7. When the batter has become a bit thick, add yoghurt to set right the consistency
  8. Add all the flour and if needed add water to bring batter to thinner consistency
  9. The yoghurt I used was full cream yoghurt. So I added water to the batter to make it thinner.
  10. Grease a baking pan and dust it with a light coating of flour
  11. Pour the batter into the pan
  12. Preheat oven at 200 degrees centigrade and bake for 25 minutes
  13. Check at 20 minutes with a tooth pick – if it comes out clean, cake is ready
  14. Baking time might vary, depending upon the oven. So, it is better to check at 20 minutes
  15. Remove from oven and let it cool to serve.

Basic Wheat Cake/Atta Cake

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This is another cake with just the basic ingredients. Flour, sugar, butter and eggs are the basic ingredients in any cake. Here again, the all purpose flour is substituted with wheat flour; brown cane sugar in place of white sugar and  cooking oil is used instead of butter. I wanted to bake this cake without eggs – but my daughter who loves the beating part in cake making, insisted using egg. So, egg is used.

This cake does not need much beating. Just mixing one ingredient after the other is enough. It is very quickly done.

  

 

Ingredients

  • wheat flour – 1 cup/100 gms
  • sugar – 3/4 cup/75 gms
  • oil – 1/2 cup – 50 ml
  • egg – 1 no.
  • yoghurt/curds – 3/4 cup
  • baking powder – 1/2 tsp
  • baking soda – 1/2 tsp
  • vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Method of Preparation

  1. In a wide bowl, beat egg and sugar – enough to melt sugar
  2. Powdered sugar can also be used for easier melting
  3. Add oil and vanilla extract and mix
  4. Mix baking soda and baking powder with gothumai maavu/wheat flour/atta
  5. Start adding flour little by little to egg, sugar, oil mixture
  6. The batter would be thick half way – now add little yoghurt to set right the consistency
  7. Add all the flour and yoghurt to bring batter to thinner consistency
  8. Grease a baking pan and dust it with a light coating of flour
  9. Pour the batter into the pan
  10. Preheat oven at 200 degrees centigrade and bake for 30 minutes
  11. Check at 30 minutes with a tooth pick – if it comes out clean, cake is ready
  12. Depending upon the oven, it might take another 10 minutes too – so it is better to check at 30 minute point
  13. Remove from oven and let it cool to serve.

 Note:

  1. It is again a small cake with less sugar
  2. Double it for a bigger cake and quantity of sugar can be added if needed.