Madhuram's EgglessCooking.com | Eggless Recipes | Egg Free Baking

I Can’t Believe It’s Eggless Chocolate Cake!

August 25th, 2008 Madhuram Posted in Cakes, Egg Free, Vegan Friendly | | 117 Comments »

My son turned 3 yesterday. For his birthday I wanted to bake an eggless layered cake with frosting and all. Earlier I have baked an eggless carrot cake and also a chocolate cake using soy milk. This eggless chocolate cake was way before I started the blog and for some reason I did not save the recipe. It had a soy milk ganache for the frosting and it also came out very well. I wish I had saved the recipe.

I wanted to bake a chocolate layered cake, because he loves it and was going through various resources to find a good eggless recipe. Earlier this month I had bought the EnerG, egg replacer from the grocery store. I thought that I would buy a ready made cake mix from the store and use the egg replacer instead of the eggs and bake the cake. Then only I found that EnerG does not give desired results with store bought mixes. So I dropped that idea. I have read in so many books/sites that tofu is a very good egg substitute in baked goods. I also had silken tofu sitting in the refrigerator and decided to use it for baking the cake.

Some of the chocolate cake recipes I was looking for had a minimum of 3 eggs. Then I found a chocolate cake recipe which required only 2 eggs, in my “Baking for Dummies” book. So I decided to proceed with that recipe and use pureed tofu instead of eggs. The rule is adding 1/4 cup of tofu per egg to be replaced.

Even though I proceeded with the recipe, I was skeptical about the taste and texture until I cut the cake on Sunday and tasted it. I baked the cake on Saturday and let it cool off until Sunday afternoon and then frosted it. I was anxious than my son to taste the cake. We were also talking about running to the grocery store on Sunday evening to buy a readymade cake, if this one flops.

But I need not have worried so much after all! The cake turned out so moist and together with the icing it was no different than the usual cakes. We did not taste/smell the tofu at all. More than anything I was so happy that my son liked the cake very much.

• Ingredients
• Cake Preparation
• Frosting
• Decorating
• My Notes

Ingredients For the Cake:

All Purpose Flour – 2 cups

Salt – 1 teaspoon

Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon

Baking Soda – 2 teaspoons

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – 3/4 cup

Granulated Sugar – 2 cups (See My Notes)

Vegetable Oil – 1 cup (I used Canola Oil)

Hot Coffee – 1 cup (I mixed 1.25 teaspoons of instant coffee powder with 1 cup of hot water)

Milk – 1 cup (I used 2% milk)

Silken Tofu, pureed – 1/2 cup (I used Nasoya Brand Silken Tofu)

Vanilla Extract – 1 teaspoon

Vegan Option: Use soy milk instead of regular milk and you have your decadent vegan chocolate cake!

For the Frosting:

Dr Oetker’s Organic Chocolate Icing Mix – 1 packet

Hot Milk/Hot Water – 1/4 cup (heat it in the microwave oven for 15 seconds)

Butter, at room temperature – 1/3 cup (which is 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon)

Vanilla Extract – 1/4 teaspoon

Baking Soda – a pinch

Yield: One 9-inch layer cake or 8-inch layer cake and 6 cupcakes

Cake Preparation >>

Cake Preparation

(Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view)

1. Preheat the oven to 325F (160C).
2. Grease and flour (I used cocoa powder to flour the base of the pan because it’s a chocolate cake) two 9-inch cake pans.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
4. Make a well. Add the canola oil. Then the hot coffee decoction.

5. Add milk.
6. Add the pureed tofu. (Remove the silken tofu from the packet using a spoon add it to the blender and puree it to a creamy mixture)
7. And a couple of drops of vanilla essence.

8. With an electric mixer, beat at medium speed for 2-3 minutes. (At first I did not use the hand mixer to combine the batter, because I remembered reading somewhere that while using egg substitutes, in this case tofu, beating the batter is not recommended and was so worried to see such a diluted batter and it was also having a lot of small lumps. So anyhow I decided to use my hand mixer to get rid of the lumps, but still the batter was considerably thin).

9. Pour the batter evenly into both 9-inch cake pans. (or fill the 6 muffin cups halfway with batter and divide the remaining batter between both 8-inch pans).

10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a wooden tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (Check the cupcakes after 15 minutes). I placed 1 pan in the middle shelf and the another in the bottom shelf and set the timer for 25 minutes and switched the pans around 12 minutes. Switching the pan means moving the pan from the middle shelf to the bottom and the bottom shelf pan to the top. This is done to ensure even baking of both the cakes. One of my make was done exactly at 25 minutes and the other one took 30 minutes.

11. Let the cakes cool completely before removing them from the pans. The time mentioned in the original recipe was 15 minutes and so I tried to transfer the cake to a wire rack after 20 minutes and it was little messy. So I left the other cake in the pan itself for quite some time. Maybe after an hour I touched the bottom of that pan and found that it had cooled completely and so transferred it to the wire rack.

12. The cake should cool completely on the wire rack before frosting. I baked the cakes on Saturday and frosted them on Sunday. I left it out on the kitchen counter and covered it with a bamboo basket. You could also refrigerate the cake to cool it off.

<< IngredientsFrosting >>

Frosting

(Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view)

1. Sift the mix.
2. Add the butter, hot milk, vanilla and baking soda. (I read in the same book that adding a pinch of baking soda to icings prevents hardening and cracking so icing stays moist)
3. Beat the mix using a hand mixer at medium-high speed. Add few drops of water/milk if required.

Frosting the Cake:
This was my first experience with frosting a cake, so I simply followed the steps listed in the book.
1. First I placed the bottom layer upside down, so the rounded side (top of the cake will be on the serving plate). If you have dome top on the cake, even it out by slicing it with a serrated knife and then place it upside-down.
2. Spread about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of frosting on top of the bottom layer. Don’t use hard strokes, but spread it gently using an offset metal spatula or plastic spatula.
3. Now place the second layer on the first, cut or domed side up.
4. Frost the sides of the cake first with another 1/2 cup of frosting.
5. Finally frost the top of the second layer.

It was slightly difficult for me, but somehow I managed to frost the entire cake. Before and while frosting the cake I was not sure about the consistency of the frosting. Later after seeing quite a few cake pictures I realised that my frosting was definitely thick and that’s why was I having hard time spreading it. I should have added a few more drops of water to thin it and frosting would have been a breeze.

<< Cake PreparationDecorating >>

Decorating

(Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view)

As you all know the options are endless. Being a rookie that I am, and because my son loves M&M’s I used them to line the cake. I also used the ready made CakeMate decorating pens which are available in the grocery store in the baking aisle to write the birthday message and draw some flowers.

<< FrostingMy Notes >>

My Notes As a whole the cake was excellent. But considering healthy eating I would modify the recipe a little bit the next time. Like reducing the quantity of sugar in the cake recipe from 2 cups to 1.5 cups. Since the frosting is also sweet enough, we don’t need that much sugar in the cake too. Next reducing the quantity of oil too. Instead of 1 cup of oil, 1/2 cup can be replaced with unsweetened applesauce.

<< Decorating

I would like to send this cake to the following events:

1. Sia is hosting this month’s JFI – Soya. JFI originally started by Indira.
2. Hima’s Sunday Snacks – Bake It.

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Tags: all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, Canola Oil, Cocoa powder, Coffee, granulated sugar, Instant Coffee Powder, milk, Pureed Tofu, salt, Silken Tofu, Soy Milk, Vanilla Extract, vegetable oil

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117 Responses to “I Can’t Believe It’s Eggless Chocolate Cake!”

Pages: [12] 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 … 1 » Show All

1. 117
   Bonnie W. Says:
   August 28th, 2010 at 3:20 pm

   I’ve served this cake at my son’s birthday parties for the last two years. He is egg allergic and is so happy to have such a delicious cake. It is loved by everyone and I am always asked for your recipe. This year, for my daughter’s 1st birthday I am going to try cupcakes with the recipe. Even though she has no egg allergies it is still my first choice in cakes. I don’t even consider making a chocolate cake with eggs anymore! A huge thanks for sharing this recipe!

   Thank you so much for your comment Bonnie. You made my day. I wish I had stuck to the same old recipe for my son’s bday last week. I tried another tofu chocolate cake and I was not satisfied at all.

2. 116
   anupama Says:
   August 26th, 2010 at 9:27 pm

   thank you so much madhu, this was my first cake baking and it has really come out nice, i skipped the tofu and did not add it, since i was in a hurry to try the recipe,thanx once again….

3. 115
   anupama Says:
   August 25th, 2010 at 9:09 pm

   hello, i want to try this cake today, just a question can i use firm tofu pureed instead of silken tofu..

   Anupama, I’m pretty sure that firm tofu will not be right for this recipe. It has to be at least soft tofu if not silken.

4. 114
   Naisha Says:
   August 20th, 2010 at 6:43 pm

   I tried this cake yesterday. It came out very nice, soft and moist. Yum!
   Later, i realized that while scaling down the recipe i added double amount of tofu by mistake. Still the cake was well-baked and wonderful. Lucky me

   Its really fun and exciting to bake eggless. Thanks you!!

   That’s interesting to know Naisha. Thanks for trying the recipe.

5. 113
   Rupa Says:
   August 16th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

   Hi Vijaya and Madhu

   I made this cake and it came out excellent.

   - Rupa

   Thanks Rupa.

6. 112
   Vijaya Says:
   August 16th, 2010 at 11:59 am

   Hi Madhuram,
   I tried this cake yesterday and it didnt come out as well yesterday. For one, it was too soft. So when I filled it and iced it, it just broke (I took it to my Wilton decorating class yesterday). The layers came apart and the cake broke into pieces). Two, it was very sticky. I used the recipe as is (exact ingredients and measurements, to the extent of buying Nasoya brand silken tofu). I greased the pan, removed it after toothpick test, cooled it on wirerack…. everything. Any thoughts?
   Vijaya

   Sorry to hear about your cake mishap Vijaya. From what you have written I guess that the cake was not cooked/baked through completely. Alongwith the toothpick test, you may also want to check if the cake starts pulling apart from the sides of the cake tin. Again you should not wait too long because it will get burnt quickly. Sometimes cooling it in the pan for a long time also renders for excess moisture and hence stickiness. Only after attending the Wilton’s classes I came to know about the cool method of lining the cake tins with parchment paper and how easy it is to remove the cake from the tin just after 10-15 minutes. Until then I used to leave the cake tin on the wire rack for like an hour and some of the cakes would start secreting water in the bottom due to condensation.

7. 111
   Janhavi Sharma Says:
   June 21st, 2010 at 3:43 am

   I love you!!!!
   thank you thank you thank you thank you sooo much, for sharing this wonderful recipe.
   I baked my first cake last night, and it was wow!
   I did not do the icing, as i did not get the icing mixture. but still decorated it. surprised dad, on his b’day…!!
   I am just feeling so yay!!! thank you
   here’s a picture of what my cake looked like.
   http://img576.imageshack.us/i/image0104.jpg/

   Oh! Thanks Janhavi. You made my day.

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