Eggless Chocolate Cake - Vegan

This ( the search for the recipe ) started when we were to have some guests from US....one of T's cousin and her family...which included a granddaughter who was allergic to diary...

I had a couple of favourite cakes - one date, and the other chocolate - but both had milk, butter, or eggs or yogurt....so checked the net ...and found this one in all-recipes site...

It is such a simple recipe and yet it turns out into an amazingly delish cake - it is a little chewy sort of brownie type...really liked it...after which I have made it many times - even for regular ( i.e. non allergic ) folks...and everyone has loved it too...

There are some changes that I have made to the original recipe....one is to reduce the sugar...we like ours to be just sweet...not too sweet...sometimes I replace a quarter cup of sugar with brown sugar - that gives it a more caramelised taste...
I also like to reduce the oil - so my standard substitution for that is to skin and grate an apple ( small ) - and then micro it for about 4-5 minutes with a few drops of water till it becomes soft and pulpy...cool and use in the cake batter...this increases the taste, nutritional value besides making it more healthy by reducing the oil...and of course cannot do without some nuts, so chopped walnuts it is...( this is optional and can be omitted )



This cake is so light that it can be had for a snack or at tea time, and yet with some icing can be used for any celebration be it a birthday or anniversary....
The water in this recipe can be substituted by milk for a more creamier taste in case you do not need it to be totally vegan.

So here goes the modified version...


Ingredients:

3/4 cup white sugar ( if you like sub. 1/4 with brown sugar )

1 and half cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup of water

1 Tblspn of distilled white vinegar ( I used apple cider vinegar )

1/4 cup vegetable oil ( I used olive oil )

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 small or medium apple
a little oil for greasing baking dish ( no butter to be used )

Method:

1) Pre heat oven to 360 F or 180 degree C.
2) Skin the apple, grate it in a microwave safe bowl, add a few drops of water and microwave it till it becomes soft, mash with a fork.

3) After the apple cools, add the sugar, 3/4 cup of water, the oil, vinegar, and mix till sugar dissolves. Add the vanilla essence.
4) Take another bowl, add the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder & mix well.
5) Add all the dry ingredients to the wet, mix, beat by hand until smooth. At this stage, while mixing, if required add the balance 1/4 cup of water...sometimes the apple releases it's own moisture so if all the dough has been moistened then you may not need the entire 1 cup of water.
6) Add some of the chopped nuts into the batter, keeping some aside for the topping.

7) Pour into a greased(greased with oil) 8 inch baking dish, top with the balance of the chopped walnuts,  and bake approx. 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

8) Cool on wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Then remove cake from dish and cool on the rack for another 15 minutes, then serve.

Enjoy !!!
Note: Do not forget to grease the baking dish with oil in case you are making a vegan version.

Recently I made this again a couple of times and had to send the recipe to a friend, thought I would send her a link...and then realised that though I have made it countless no. of times I had never put it down....so decided to rectify that...and so here it is finally...
Hope you get a chance to make it ...and that you too will enjoy it like we do...