Eggless Fudgy Brownies

Brownies..! I first tasted these beauties at cafe-coffee-day in India. They were served with scoop of ice-cream on top.. Yummm was the feeling when I'd eat that.. This was more than a decade ago and i had zero knowledge/experience of baking back then (I had never imagined I'd be able to re-create it in my own kitchen!!) But here I am, experimenting and trying to create recipes that are simple to make but delicious to eat! I get lazy when I read about cumbersome procedures and I try to simplify the process for my myself and my readers! :)

So presenting this eggless fudgy brownie recipe which is easy to put together and with valentine's day around the corner, do give this a try! My family & I loved this and I'm sure you and your family (or that special someone ;).. would too!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 5 tbsp Unsalted Butter
• ¹/₂ cup Sugar
• ²/₃ cup All Purpose Flour
• ¹/₂ cup Plain Yogurt
• 1¹/₂ tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• ¹/₈ tsp Baking Soda
• ¹/₄ tsp Baking Powder
• ¹/₈ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Instant Coffee Powder (I used Bru)
• 2 tbsp Warm Water

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F; line an 8x8 square pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Make sure the foil extends beyond the sides of the pan, this will ensure easy removal of the brownie.
• Mix instant coffee in warm water and set it aside. 
• Mix all purpose flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set it aside. Make sure you sift the cocoa powder if it has lumps before mixing in. 
• In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer or a wire whisk, beat sugar and butter until nicely combined.
• Add yogurt and beat again.
• Add instant coffee mixture and vanilla extract and beat again.
• Now mix all the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated.
• Melt chocolate over double boiler and let it cool down a bit. Combine it with the mixture and pour it in the pan and even it out using the back of a spoon or a small angled spatula.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Wet crumbs lingering onto the toothpick is ok but there shouldn't be any wet batter.
• Let it cool down and dig right into it!!

Serving Suggestion:

• Serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce on top
• You can also omit the ice cream and just drizzle chocolate sauce over it...
• You can also add toasted cashew nuts (or any other nuts of your choice) as a topping on either of the options above! Possibilities are endless...

Eggless Pineapple Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Ever since I was first successful and satisfied with my eggless cake, I've been excited to try other recipes as well. The base remains the same and with simple modifications, we can create so many different varieties!

After the great success of Mother's Day came the occasion of Father's Day and below are the pictures of the cake I baked then (I know I'm too late to post here but well better late than never right?) which was a super hit as well.. Everybody absolutely loved it! Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to take a good cross sectional picture! But I atleast got one this time!!

This is also an incredibly simple recipe and I hope you guys give this a try.. Do let me know your feedback in the comments section below.. Happy cooking

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 cup hung Yogurt
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 ¹/₂ tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp Pineapple Extract
• ¹/₂ cup Oil
• 1 ¹/₂ cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
• 2 tbsp Semolina/Sooji
• ¹/₄ cup Warm Milk (I used half and half; regular milk can be used as well)
• 3-5 drops of Yellow Food Color (Optional)

Whipped-cream Frosting:

• 1 ¹/₂  cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• ¹/₄ cup confectioners sugar
• ¹/₂ Pineapple Extract

Cake Assembly:

• 1 can of sweetened Pineapple - Chunks

Method:

Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.
• In a mixing bowl, mix the hung yogurt and sugar; beat well.
• Add baking powder n baking soda, mix well and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. The mixture will bubble up.
• Add pineapple extract and if using food color, add it as well and mix well.
• Add oil and mix well.
• Add the sieved all purpose flour and Sooji and mix to combine; do not over mix.
• Finally add 1/4c warm milk (I used half and half; regular milk can be used as well) and mix well.
• The mixture should be of dropping consistency.
• Pour in the prepared tin. (I split the batter into two tins for the sake of incorporating more layers..)
• If you are splitting into two tins, bake for 20-25 minutes - or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• In case you decide to choose the single tin method, the baking time will increase by about 10 minutes; total bake time of 30-35 minutes (or of course until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean).

Whipped-cream Frosting:

• Before starting with this process, I'd like to share a few tips that'll help you get perfect frosting each time:
• Try to work during cooler times of the day (either early mornings or evenings).
• For best results, use a stainless steel bowl.
• Keep the beaters, the bowl and the whipped cream in the freezer for 15 minutes just before beginning to make the frosting.
• Your heavy cream should have atleast 35% butter-fat content. The frosting wouldn't hold well if the fat content is less.
• Add the whipping cream in the mixing bowl and using either a stand mixer or an electric beater, start at medium speed and gradually increase to high speed.
• Keep beating continuously until you reach soft peak consistency. Soft peak stage is when the cream is no longer in a liquid state and when you lift your beater, it would form a peak but it wouldn't hold its shape well. It should NOT be dripping at all.
• Stop beating and add the sugar & pineapple extract. 
• Now, start beating again on low speed (until the sugar is incorporated) and gradually increase to high speed until the cream has reached stiff peaks consistency. Stiff peak stage is when you lift the beater, a stiff peak is formed and it holds its shape.

Cake Assembly:

• You can use the cake from the two cake tins as-is or you can split them into halves (if more layers is what your heart desires!). I did not split the cakes any further
• Drain the pineapple can (reserve the sugar syrupy water). 
• If the chunks are big, chop them into smaller chunks.
• Apply the sugar syrup (from that reserved from the pineapple can) on each layer and frost the layer with the fresh cream frosting.
• Now add few pineapple chunks (as evenly as possible to cover the entire layer).
• Cover with the next layer. Repeat this process if you have more than two layers.
• Now frost the cake to just make a crumb coat (yes crumb coat because we are going to cover the entire cake with rosettes the coating doesn't need to be perfect!!..).
• I used Wilton star tip and used a swirl motion to create the rosettes. I worked my way from edges to the center.

Enjoy!!

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Buttercream Frosting

Eggless cake is something that has been so frequently requested and it prompted me to try the eggless cake. There are so many different recipes that are available on the Internet and so vividly different from one another making the hunt even more difficult

Finally after a few attempts that I wasn't very happy about, I am finally satisfied with this recipe that I'd like to share with you all..

Below are the pictures of the cake I baked on the occasion of Mother's Day and it was a super hit.. Everybody absolutely loved it! Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to take a cross sectional picture!

It is very simple and I hope you guys give this a try.. Do let me know your feedback in the comments section below.. Happy cooking

Ingredients:

• Cake:
• 1 cup hung yogurt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ¹/₂ tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ¹/₂ cup oil
• 1 ¹/₂ cup all purpose flour (Maida)
• 2 tbsp Semolina/Sooji
• ¹/₄ cup warm milk (I used half and half; regular milk can be used as well)

• Butter-cream Frosting:
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup shortening
• 5 cup confectioners sugar
• ¹/₄ cup half and half milk (you can use regular milk but I feel half and half adds to the creaminess)

Method:

• Cake:
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius.
• In a mixing bowl, mix the hung yogurt and sugar; beat well.
• Add baking powder n baking soda, mix well and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. The mixture will bubble up.
• Add vanilla extract and mix well.
• Add oil and mix well.
• Add the sieved all purpose flour and Sooji and mix to combine; do not over mix.
• Finally add 1/4c warm milk (I used half and half; regular milk can be used as well) and mix well.
• The mixture should be of dropping consistency.
• Pour in the prepared tin. (I split the batter into two tins for the sake of incorporating more layers..)
• If you are splitting into two tins, bake for 20-25 minutes - or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• In case you decide to choose the single tin method, the baking time will increase by about 10 minutes; total bake time of 30-35 minutes (or of course until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean).

• Butter-cream Frosting:
• Cream butter and shortening together
• Add the sugar half cup at a time Remember to sift the sugar if you see it has lumps in it.
• Add the milk towards the end about a tbsp at a time; stop when you feel you've reached the desired consistency.
• Now add the color of your choice and give it one last mix. For the rosettes, I added 5 drops of red and 2 drops of blue.
• Frost the layers (if you have them) and the cake to just make a crumb coat (yes crumb coat because we are going to cover the entire cake with rosettes the coating doesn't need to be perfect!!..).
• I used white colored frosting for layers and the crumb coat and then colored for the rosettes (unfortunately this is not visible in the pictures). You can go with whatever your heart desires :)
• I used Wilton 2D tip and used a swirl motion to create the rosettes. I worked my way from edges to the center.

Enjoy!!