Back when I was in college, I used to bake a lot of cookies, cakes and brownies. Can’t believe that was about ten years back… college was horrible, it wasn’t fun enough. You know how it is when you have all these ideas of how college life is supposed to be, and then when you finally enter college you are rudely shaken out of your senses. Yeah, that’s cause I studied in a rural college, wouldn’t have made much difference if I studied in Madras though. The colleges here are worse than the ones back home. Here in Madras it’s as though they are forcing the students to become gay & lesbians with their homo glorying rules like boys should not talk/look at/or breathe the same air girls breathe in the campus. How absurd is that, doesn’t that go completely against science! It’s only normal for boys and girls to be attracted to each other… and if an educational institute cannot understand that, how lame is the whole education system here.
Anyway, getting back to focus… over the past ten years, I gradually cut down on all the cakes and cookies, for one simple reason: I still wanted to fit into my jeans. Before I got married, I used to work in a special school with special children and that was a blissful period. At school, we (the staff) were always running around… there was always some commotion happening somewhere with some kid. And weekends were pretty hectic too with doctor’s visiting to check these kids and awareness classes for college students, and preparing special evaluation reports. After work I would go walking in the colony everyday and the air was always so clean and the place so beautiful, you could walk forever. Point is, it was pretty easy to stay in shape there… didn’t really have to work for it. Now that I’m in a city that is bursting at its seams with vehicles and people, there isn’t any place to go walking… which led to me giving up on ice cream, chocolates and the cake/cookies/brownie baking. But a few days back I was craving something sweet, so I made this cake. It’s called guilt free, cause I cut down on the sugar & butter and substituted milk instead, to the original recipe… I would have given a link to the original recipe, but it’s a recipe I wrote down in my book, under the heading ‘This is some deadly recipe, it can bring about world peace… it’s that awesome!‘ Yeah, I crack myself up…
Anyway, getting started, you will need…
Maida : 1 1/2 cup
Baking powder : 2 teaspoons
Baking Soda : 1/2 teaspoon
Salt : a pinch
Eggs : 3
Sugar : 1 cup
Cocoa: 1 cup
Butter : 100 gms
Vanilla Essence : 3 teaspoons
Milk : 3/4th cup
Chocolate pieces (preferably the fruit and nut variety, if you happen to be like me)
First lets work on the dry ingredients, sieve together the maida, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Set it aside.
In another vessel put in the butter and powdered sugar.
Drop three eggs into it, and beat it up.
You’ll get a nice creamy batter, add the vanilla essence and give it a whirl.
Sieve cocoa onto the maida and mix all the dry ingredients together.
Add batches of maida to the creamy batter and blend it in.
You’ll get something like this, its kinda thick… not the right consistency for cake.
So drop in some milk and keep mixing till you get the desired cake consistency.
I had some chocolate at home, I love this fruit and nut variety. Roughly chop up the chocolate pieces.
Drop them into the batter and fold it in.
Lightly grease and flour your baking pan.
Pour the batter into it and stick it in the oven for 20 minutes or so till a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Well, here it is…. just out of the oven.
Now, this is not a cake you bake for others… it’s not sweet enough, and that’s the first thing they will point out. But if you want to eat a nice cake without feeling guilt, this is it. I think the sugar was enough, and those chocolate pieces you bite into… lends that element of surprise, you never know when you’re gonna get one and then when you do it’s lovely. I loved this cake, it was a pleasure to eat it, knowing that you are not contributing to clogging up your arteries. So if you are like me, then this is the cake for you… and if you happen to be like Kareena Kapoor or Kate Middleton then please check out Nigella’s recipes, they are sinfully good and with a size zero body you don’t have to worry about gaining weight. But Kate Middleton really has to eat… she needs some flesh on her cheeks to give her a softer look, she’s starting to look scary when she smiles.
I seem to have rambled a lot today…
Hi Karen..
This is Nausheen.. I kinda hope u remember me, but jus to refresh, I stayed in the same hostel with u, when u were doing ur PG Dip course in CIT.. Hw u doin?? [Dont try to read it in Joey's style…lol]
Was going through ur recipe, u didn mention the oven temperature for this guilt free Chocolate Cake.. Let me know the temperature..
Thanks.
Naush
Hi Nausheen, of course I remember you! Saw that you were following my blog too, I am thankful for the followers I have… been trying to find you on facebook. Listen, send a mail to [email protected], we'll chat there. Bout the oven temperature, I always use one setting on my oven, 210 degree Celsius. Seems to work for me…
Karen, if I have to use the Prestige oven, grill and toaster, what temperature should I set it to.
Joy always,
Susan
The cake is set into the oven. Now waiting for it to be done.
Thanks Karen. I owe the first cake-making of my life to you 🙂
Joy always,
Susan
The cake is done and my, my, it tastes yummm and I'm on top of the world . . .
Thanks again.
Joy always,
Susan
wow, susan… that's great! You're a born baker..
So glad that you stumbled across me, love your recipes especially this cake. Don't think I can get Maida but I will try another flour. I am now your latest follower. I will be back Diane
Thanks Karen you have solved the Maida problem LOL. Diane
I'm so glad you found my site so that I could find yours! I really like this recipe, simple yet sure to please! I don't like overly sweet desserts, so this sounds right up my alley! Thanks for sharing!
the cake looks amazing and so light and moist. I love that is is guilt free. that means i can eat the whole thing right? LOL!
Hi Karen, I like the honesty of your thought and what a nice blog you have! Glad you bake a cake to pamper yourself, sometime we just need that little bit of fat and sugar to make us to feel alive again. Cheers!
Your chocolate cake looks fabulous. Very nicely done! I invite you to visit my cooking blog at http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com/.
Diane, thanks for stopping by.
Farmer's Wife, thanks for dropping by… hope you come by often 🙂
Kitchen Belleicious, sure you can… I ate close to half of it, more or less.
Veronica's Kitchen, yeah we sure need to bake something deadly sweet once in a while… otherwise what's the point in living 😉
Spoon and Chopsticks, I did visit your blog and am following it, I will stop by often .
Thanks for your lovely comment on my blog…this cake looks wonderful. Do you cut it into slices or simply scoop out big wedges? I'd be inclined to do the latter – a big spoonful with a dollop of thick cream or scoop of ice cream and a slick of chocolate sauce…yum!
I always seem to burn chocolate cakes..
The little loaf, 🙂 you really know how to enjoy food.
Gibsy, well you better start getting the hang of it then. Kids seem to love them 🙂