Eggless Healthy Cake

What do you do when one side of the brain tells you Flour( and processed food of any type)  is not good for health and, the other side pinching the hunger zone, telling you to somehow have the healthy cake, linking it to the picture you saw on social media a couple of days ago? 
Well to cut the long sentence short, what I did was I baked that cake! 


I am an aware and healthy eater. And, no, I am not choosy or picky to the bone, but I know I will be what I eat. So I choose to eat healthy. Simple. 

This wheat flour cake was inspired by a social networking picture bosted by a member on a group. And it was enough to let my imagination take over. Offcourse, this friend was kind to share what she had used. And once you enjoy cooking/baking, you are sure to try out different combinations all by yourself. And sometimes, kitchen experiments do give out reasonably good results! Definitely satisfying ones :-) This cake was one of them :-) 

Let me share how I made this healthy cake. I was trying out with a small quantity. I would recommend you too first try out a small quantity. This recipe is for a small 6" baking pan. 

What went in:

Over ripe Bananas - 3 ( I used the small elaichi variety) 
Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Thick curd - 1/4 cup ( a little sour is better) 
1/4 - 1/2 cup powdered jaggery ( you may want to add a little more)
flax meal - 1 tbsp ( mixed with 3 tbsp water and kept aside) 
Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp 
Oats - 2 tbsp 
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp 
Cinnammon powder - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch 
Chopped dry fruits - 3/4 cup ( Figs, dates, raisins) 
Water - 4-5 tbsp 

(For a vegan option, add 3 tbsp oil and 3 tbsp water) 

How I made it: 

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees, grease and dust the pan.  
2. Take some warm water in a bowl and soak the chopped dry fruits for some time.
3. In a bowl take the wheat flour, baking soda, cinnammon powder and sift once. Then mix the oats and salt. Mix thoroughly Keep aside.
4. In a big mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Add the curd, jaggery, the flaxmeal- water mix, oil and mix all this well till it is smooth and even. You might want to add more jaggery if you prefer this sweet. If you are fine with using white sugar in this recipe, you may use it. 
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in batches of 3 tbsp each, at a time. Mix the contents well wit a gentle folding motion till you do not see any traces of dry ingredients. Repeat till all the contents are mixed well. Do not overmix. 
6.  Strain the soaked contents and keep the water aside. Add the soaked raisins to the cake batter. If you find the batter too thick, add some water. 
7. Pour this in the greased pan, tap the pan, and bake for 40 minutes. 
8. You might want to cover the top with an aluminium foil with slits on the top to prevent the top from burning. 
9. Bake till the cake passes the skewer/tootpick test. Once its done, turn off the oven and let it be in the oven for 10 mins. 
10. Let it cool for another 5 minutes after you take it out. Invert and let it cool on a wire rack. Enjoy.

Additional Gyaan: 

• Curd + Baking Soda is an egg replacer, 1 tbsp flaxmeal in 3 tbsp of water is an egg replacer for one egg, 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar is an egg substitute. 
• I have also read that mashed ripe bananas work great as egg substitutes. 
• I used three of the known egg substitutes. This made the cake too crumbly, nevertheless the taste was great. You might try with any one only. In other substitute, make sure you add 1/2 tsp baking powder. 
• You might add walnuts in the batter for a nutty flavour. ( will be trying this one soon ) 
• Cutting out curd makes this a vegan recipe. 

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

It was Sunday afternoon, and I wanted to bake! Just to bask in the joys of baking! As I am no sweet-tooth. 
I also had been looking up YouTube videos for Cake Frosting. So there it was! A perfect reason to sum up the baking itch that didn't let me give in to the ritual Sunday afternoon siesta! But, no regrets, the Cupcakes were yum, and the frosting was just okay. But, I'm learning, and this is just the start! Did you read between the lines... that this means I will bake often, meaning I will sin often, to polish those frosting skills..., which honestly, need improvement! ;-)

Here is the recipe I adapted from a Facebook group friend. 

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup fine sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water/1 cup coffee(room temperature)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar/malt vinegar (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and sieve twice.
2. Combine wet ingredients very well.
3. Gently fold in the flours in three separate batches and mix till all ingredients mix well. You can use a spoon/spatula/hand whisk to mix, a beater is not needed. Do not overmix.
4. Pour mixture into a cupcake tray lined with liners. Bake at 170°C for 12-15 mins.
5. The cupcakes are ready when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. 
6. Cool the cupcake completely before frosting.

For all the vegans out there, this is a yum chocolate cupcake to soothe the sugary pangs!

Notes

- Overmixing is not good for cake and cupcakes. So, do not overmix.
- After all ingredients are combined, the mixture becomes a bit thin and certainly doesn't look the ribbon-like consistency. Do not worry with this, the end results are a super moist and soft cake.
- The same ingredients, with a little less of the water, might work well for a microwave recipe too. 
- 


For the Frosting

( I needed to frost 6 cupcakes, and this was my first attempt, so I have used a minimal quantity. For larger quantities, just double the ingredients) 

1/4 cup butter (at room temperature) [I used home-made butter]
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Cocoa for chocolate frosting (you can take more if you want the frosting to be more chocolatey)

Method

1. Beat the butter well until light and creamy. 
2. Add the vanilla essence and the powdered sugar. Beat this well with an electric beater. 
3. Buttercream is ready. 

Notes:
- I found the Buttercream too sweet.(I am not a sweet-tooth) I could have added some salt, which may have given the buttercream a better taste
- I am looking for a less sweet recipe, and instinct tells me that adding cornflour might help, though I do not know the exact proportion and the resultant taste. Will try it out someday. 
- I used home-made butter as it is unsalted and white in colour, ideal for vanilla frosting. Maybe market butter would have worked well too, considering that the amount of sugar needed is double, and would not leave any trace of the yellow tinge. 
- Adding cocoa for chocolate frosting certainly reduces the sweetness quotient. 

If Buttercream isn't for you, Chocolate Ganache Icing with sprinkels would be the best! Well, leaving out Chocolate was never an option, was it? ;)