1. Preheat the oven to 325F (160C) for 15 minutes.
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 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 few 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 I 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 this cake for 25 to 30 minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (Check the cupcakes after 15 minutes). I placed 1 pan on the middle shelf and then another on the bottom shelf 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 the even baking of both 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, so I tried to transfer the cake to a wire rack after 20 minutes, which was a little messy. So I left the other cake in the pan for quite some time. Maybe after an hour, I touched the bottom of that pan and found that it had cooled completely, so I 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 on the kitchen counter and covered it with a bamboo basket. You could also refrigerate the cake to cool it off.

1. Sift the mix.
2. Add the melted 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 a few drops of water/milk if required.

1. This was my first experience frosting an eggless chocolate cake, so I followed the steps in the book.
2. First, I placed the bottom layer upside down so the rounded side (top of the cake would be on the serving plate). If you have a dome top on the cake, even it out by slicing it with a serrated knife and then place it upside-down.
3. Spread about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of frosting on top of the bottom layer. Don't use hard strokes; spread it gently using an offset metal spatula or plastic spatula.
4. Place the second layer on the first, cut, or domed side up.
5. Frost the sides of the cake first with another 1/2 cup of frosting.
6. 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 realized that my frosting was thick, so I had a hard time spreading it. I should have added more drops of water to thin it, and frosting would have been a breeze.

1. As you all know, the options are endless. Being the rookie I am, and because my son loves M&M's, I used them to line the cake. I also used the ready-made Cake Mate decorating pens in the grocery store in the baking aisle to write birthday messages and draw some flowers.