Sri - Lankan Chocolate Cake

Can anybody say no to a Chocolate Cake which is Super Moist ,Chocolaty and Delicious .. I don't mind having chocolate cakes for all my meals . ( he he he ) . I do not know who invented this recipe but we all Srilankans will say this is a Sri-Lankan Chocolate Cake Recipe. Trust me ..If you are using this recipe nothing can go wrong and you will never go back to the box mix or for a store bought cake. 

Last month i had worked with Quite a  few Chocolate Cakes . I really loved making each and every cakes .

                                     

The face was made with Icing sugar

( I will be writing another post on how i made the face on the cake)

So here comes the recipe for the Cake . 

• All Purpose Flour - 200 g
• Cocoa Powder - 50 g
• Butter - 250 g 
• Sugar- 250 g
• Vanilla Essence - 1 TBLS
• Milk - 1/2 Cup
• Eggs - 5 ( Small ) if the eggs are medium - use 4 
• Baking Powder  - 2 TSP
• Baking Soda - 1/2 TSP
• Salt - Pinch

But i do not have a particular formula for the Chocolate butter cream frosting . I normally follow 2:3 formula for butter cream ( which is for 100g butter i use 150g icing sugar ) . 

For the Chocolate butter cream  i use

•  Butter - 1 Stick
•  Icing Sugar - 1 1/3 Cup + 2 TBL
• Cocoa Powder - 1/4 Cup
• Vanilla Essence - 1 TSP
• Milk - 1- 2 TBLS

                                  

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Butter cream topped with chocolate Ganache and Homemade Caramel sauce , decorated with chopped roasted pecans and  Strawberries

Instructions :

For the Cake:

• Grease and align 2 * 8" Cake pans with the parchment paper .
• Pre- heat the oven at 350F.
• Sieve all the dry ingredients to make sure there is no lumps  
• In a bowl , cream the butter and sugar till the butter turns fluffy .
• Now add eggs one by one and beat till they are so well incorporated.
• Add the vanilla essence and beat .
• At this stage make sure the sugar is totally dissolved and the batter will be light yellow in color and creamy in texture.
• Divide the dry ingredients into 3 portions.
• Add the dry ingredients and milk alternatively and fold.
• Make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed well .
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 30 - 35 Minutes .
• Mine was done in 30 Minutes .
• You could check the cake by inserting a tooth pick if it comes out clean it is done .
• Once the cake is done , Put it in the Cooling rack and allow it to cool down .

For the Chocolate Butter Cream:

• Cream the butter really well . 
• Add the icing sugar and beat till it is creamy.
• Add the Cocoa powder and Vanilla essence and beat well
• Lastly add milk and beat till the icing is fluffy.
• If you want the icing to be in spreading consistence you could add another 1-2 TBLS milk and mix .

Notes :

For the Cake:

This recipe  would make a 1 Kg Cake. ( without the frosting )
I used 2 x 8" Cake pans.
Make sure to weigh the ingredients including eggs .
Make sure  Butter , Milk and eggs should be in room temperature.
Never over beat the batter , it tends to make the texture of the cake harder.
Do not over fold / over mix .
Completely Cool down the cake before frosting it.

For the Icing:

Make sure butter is in the room temperature.
If you want a darker chocolate shade you should change the Cocoa powder and Icing sugar measurements  because i prefer the icing  to be the color which is in the pictures ).

Linking it to Cake Mela

Continental Recipes 

Homemade Egg Replacer

Isn't it wonderful to do your own egg replacer ? You could save some dollars in here. I had done some research online finding homemade egg replacer and found one in the Internet , I had made some quantity changes in it .

 

I am not a big fan of egg replacers  and no body at home has any allergies but I had to use egg replacer for a recipe ,so I thought let me buy one . When I went to the store I didn't find it there. That's the point I thought I'll make it from scratch .

 

The egg replacer has Potato Starch , Tapioca Starch , Baking powder , Baking Soda in it . When I went to the Asian market I bought some tapioca's and Potatoes.   I made both the starches from scratch at home . It took some time making them and drying the starches. ( You could buy the starches from store ) But I preferred making them :) .

 

Il make a another post on how to make tapioca starch and potato starch.

 

 

Recipe for the Homemade Egg Replacer:

 

Method :

• Mix all the ingredients together .
• Once it is combined well store it in the air tight container.

 

Notes:

• For 1 egg , use 1 rounded 1/2 TBL egg replacer powder and 2 TBL water.

• For egg yolks , use 1 rounded 1/2 TBL egg replacer powder with 1 TBL water.

• What ever you are making with the egg replacer should go into the oven as soon as it has been mixed . The longer you wait it loses its effectiveness.

• Tapioca starch can be substituted with cornstarch or arrowroot starch .

 

 

 

Eggles Tiramisu with Homemade Crunchy Almonds Saviordi Biscuits ( Lady Fingers) and homemade Mascarpone Cheese ...

This is my favorite Italian Dessert , it means "Pick me up" , which is made with coffee dipped lady fingers layered with Custard which is made of egg yolks and Mascarpone Cheese . I was planning to make tiramisu for a long time luckily to see Sowmya had suggested Tirmisu for this months Eggless Baking challenge.

I had a hard time searching for Mascarpone Cheese in the area i live . Gayathri sent me a link how to make home made Mascapone Cheese . That was really helpful. 

Looking at the dessert we think it is really hard to make it home. Not at all. It is really simple if we organise our selves well. I made the Lady fingers and Mascarpone Cheese one day ahead and the next day i assembled them and allowed it to refregirate  for 24 hours.

The Ingredients i used , are the things we always have it in our pantry. The only thing i bought was a pint of Fresh Cream . I managed to divide the Fresh Cream to make Mascarpone Cheese and for the custard.

 

How I make Mascarpone Cheese:                              Recipe Source :Baking Obsession

Fresh Cream : 1 1/2 Cup

Lime juice : 1- 2 TBLSP

- Double Boil the Fresh Cream.

- Once you start seeing the bubbles in the fresh cream add the lime juice and keep stiring it.

- Obviously you will not be seeing the curdling process like milk.

- Line a Cotton Cloth in a sieve .

- Remove it from the flame , and pour it in the aligned sieve.

- Place the sieve in a bowl , so that the water from the cream does not mess the kitchen.
- Allow it to cool , Know the cloth , Cover it with a cling wrap ( with the sieve).
- Place it in the Fridge . It takes 24 to hours to set.
-  Next day you have awesome Creamy Mascarpone cheese.

How to make Eggless Saviordy Biscuits:

At first i thought , i shall use Grounded almonds on the layers . Then i was not sure whether it will set properly , so i used it in the biscuits. It was crunchy and gave a good flavor to the biscuits.

APF - 1 Cup
Coarsly Grounded Almonds- 1/2 Cup
Salted Butter - 1 Stick ( Room Tempreture)
Condence Milk - 9 TBLSP ( used it upto my taste :P )
Milk- 1/4 to 1/2 Cup
Almond Essence - 1 TSPN

-  Beat and combine well the Butter and Condensemilk . Do not over beat them.
-  Add the Almond Essence and mix
-  Add APF and milk alternatively give it a quick mix with the beater .
- Once everything is half mixed use a spatula and fold .
- Add the Corsly grounded Almonds and Fold
- Using a piping bag , Pipe the batter in a greaced tray like we do eclairs.
- Bake it in a preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes @ 350F.

                                                   

Once it is baked . Allow it to cool in the wire wrack and store it in the air tight box.

How i made the Custard:

Ingredients:
Mascarpone Cheese - Made with 1 1/2 Cups of  Whipping Cream
Fresh Cream - 1/2 Cup
Condense Milk - ( 200 gm ) Depending on the sweetness you want


- Whip up the fresh Cream , to soft peaks.
- Keep it a side.
- Combine the remaining Condensemilk ( which i used for lady fingers) and Mascarpone Cheese .
   Give it a quick mix with the beater.
- Fold the Fresh Cream and condensemilk mixture

Now you are ready to assemble the Tiramisu

Note - Do not over beat the condensemilk and Cheese , It might go watery.
           Do not think it is too much of condensemilk , It was perfect sugar for me.


 For Soaking :

 Water - 1 1/2 Cups
 Coffee Powder - 3 TBLSP ( If you want a lighter flavor reduce the amount of coffee)

Boil the water and add 3 TBSP of Coffee.
Strain it as you dont get any coffee Granules.
When soaking use warm coffee.

I did not use sugar on cofee , Because i had enough sugar in my Biscuits and Custard.

How to Assemble:

- Dip the Biscuits in the coffee and assemble it in the Tin.
- Pour the Custard Mixture , spread it evnly and do the layering again till the Biscuits are over.
- Refridgerate it for 24 Hours or till it is firm.

Dust some Unsweetened Coco Powder and Garnish with some chopped Almonds.

I had 3 layers in my Tiramisu and Served 4 Big Pieces

Linking it to Shruti's Sweet Creations