_________________I am Mrs. Kalpana Mhaske, a Home-Maker, from the city of 52-Gates, one of the famous heritage- destination of the world- Ajanta - Ellora Caves, Bibi-Ka- Maqbara (The Taj of Deccan) and Deogiri Fort. i.e. AURANGABAD. I admire cooking - tryout and innovate different cuisines. Basically, both of my gorgeous daughters are foodie, they have always encouraged me in the kitchen and forced to carve a Food Blog, that’s why, I am happy to share the makings with you. I am an artist too. Painting – especially, Canvas-Painting is my one more hobby. In total - Ours is an ART-FAMILY, my husband is an Architect. In the end, I keep the same belief with Louise Fresco - “ Food, in the end, in our own tradition, is something holy. It's not about nutrients and calories. It's about sharing. It’s about honesty. it’s about identity ”

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE WALNUT CAKE

 Baking is an amazing therapy. Nothing is better than moist chocolate cake. It helps you de-stress. This nutty cake is the best bet for parties where you have a mixed bunch of guests - vegetarians and those with special needs. I love the combination of chocolate and walnut and added a teaspoon of instant coffee to the batter to pep up the flavor and the resulting cake's a winner.The recipe is quite easy to put together. It uses oil in place of butter (no waiting for butter to soften) and chopped walnuts and chocolate chips (my addition) as a natural  topping. Fudgy and chocolatey with the crunch of walnuts, this one's truly a chocoholics treat for her. I randomly tried this cake and it turned out very delicious. Since my family loves chocolate in any form especially dark chocolate, it was an instant hit in my house. So , to this cake, if you have guests coming over for a house party or a birthday party which needs a ‘different’ kind of a cake or expect guests with special needs you can bake this cake as it makes no use of eggs and the best of all is it does not need butter. I baked this cake for my daughter who is going to travel for her interview and needs something chocolaty with lots of nuts and but homemade. It works like a stress buster for her. I once thought to buy some from supermarket but they are either too creamy  or totally dry. So skipped that plan.


When I searched for the perfect recipe, I’ve been drooling over images on the social media,  just waiting for the perfect recipe to pop up. And when I mean perfect recipe I usually mean quick and easy. You see I love to cook but I like the recipes to be simple too.

This is the most delicious chocolate walnut cake – snack cake sized! It’s covered with the crumble prepared with dreamiest dark chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. It only takes very less time to prepare this cake, plus no mixer required for the cake!

When you need a tasty chocolate cake in a hurry you can’t go past this moist Chocolate Walnut Cake. Topped with walnuts this cake doesn’t even need icing! The addition of walnuts in this cake gives a different flavor to the cake. The taste is similar to chocolate walnut brownies but as this is a cake, the texture is soft and moist. This cake is a perfect tea time cake (because it is delicately sweet) and also a dessert (try serving it warm with some vanilla ice cream!), the toasted walnuts and the sugar ( I used honey) give that extra crunch! For this cake, firstly chop the required amount of walnuts. I want the cake to be a bit chunky, so used roughly chopped walnuts. But you can use finely chopped walnuts if you want. I definitely believe that this cake would become one of your favorite eggless cakes. The cake is moist, fluffy and soft and fully satisfied my daughter's cravings for chocolates and nuts. The combination of chocolate and walnuts is amazing. This easy chocolate walnut cake recipe would surely become your one of the favorite eggless cake recipes. So if you love chocolate cakes but want to bake something different from the simple chocolate cake, then this recipe is a good option for you.


Make your own using this below recipe. You will not be disappointed. Tried my recipe? Do leave a comment on this post down below and don’t forget to give it a star rating! It will really help more readers discover my recipes! Do share a picture on Instagram and tag me @kalpanaslacucina and I will feature your post in my stories! Don’t forget to check out my latest videos on my YouTube channel. If you like what you see, do give me a thumbs-up (like), share and comment and subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

INGREDIENTS : 

1 Cup /120 gms All Purpose Flour

1/2 Cup/ 30 gms Cocoa Powder 

1 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder 

1 Cup / 225 gms thick Curd 

3/4 Cup / 85 gms Brown Sugar or white Caster Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1-1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 Cup / 120ml any odourless Oil

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

For the Topping /Crumble - 

1/2 Cup chopped Walnut 

1-1/2 tablespoons Brown Sugar / White Sugar / Honey 

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 tablespoon Chocolate Chips 

METHOD :

STEP 1 - Preheat oven to 200 degree C. Grease a 7" or 8" round/ square tin with oil or butter. Line it with baking paper or  parchment paper.


STEP 2 - Now prepare the crumble by mixing the chopped walnuts, sugar/ honey, chocolate chips  and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Keep aside


STEP 3 - In a big mixing bowl sift all purpose flour, coffee powder and cocoa powder 2-3 times. Keep aside.


STEP 4 - Take another mixing bowl and add curd and sugar. Beat the curd and  sugar until sugar dissolves completely.


STEP 5 -  Add the baking powder & baking soda and whisk it lightly.


STEP 6 - Add vanilla essence/ extract and mix it.

STEP 7 -  Allow to stand for 2-3 minutes and you will notice that the mixture has turned a little frothy and bubbles starts to appear on the top.


 

STEP 8 - Add the oil and mix well.


STEP 9 - Add this wet mixture in the flour mixture in 3-4 parts mixing until all the flour is well incorporated. 


STEP 10 - Whisk it well until you get a smooth and flowing consistency batter. 


STEP 11 - Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. 


STEP 12 - Cover the surface evenly with the walnut crumble.


STEP 13 - Tap the cake tin once or twice on your kitchen counter.


STEP 14 - Bake at 200°C for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 175 °C and continue to bake for 30-35 minutes or till the skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.


STEP 15 - When done, remove and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning over a wire rack to cool further. 


STEP 16 - Then turn on to a wire rack, remove the parchment paper carefully and cool it.


STEP 17 - Now cut into pieces and ready to serve


Serve it on its own or pair it up with some vanilla ice-cream or even some chilled coffee.


NOTES : * I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way. It makes a huge difference to your baking and is the most accurate way to bake!

* Make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you start the recipe, so pull out all of the ingredients before you start baking.

* Make sure your walnuts are finely chopped.  I placed them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. If the walnuts are too large, they might sink in the chocolate walnut cake.

* I baked it in square tin but you can bake it in a 7"/8" inch round pan and bake for the same amount of time.

* Cool the cake completely before cutting.


* Keep it wrapped in the fridge for up to 5 days. When ready to eat, let it sit at room temperature or microwave for few seconds.

* Even after refrigerating, the cake remains soft.