Eggless whole wheat raagi chocolate cake

Name: Whole wheat raagi chocolate cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1.5 cups whole wheat flour; 3/4 cup Raagi/ Finger millet flour; 1.5 cups brown sugar (or 1 cup white sugar); 1.25 tsp baking powder; 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder; a pinch salt; 3/4+1/3 cup thick yogurt; 3/4 cup regular milk; 1/3 cup vegetable oil; 1.5 tsp vanilla essence; 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips; 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Published March 17, 2019 · Updated March 19, 2019

Hola after a very long time peeps. This is the longest break I have taken from the blogging world ever since I started blogging :). I was mostly busy :). However, people always remind me that you really what you want to do no matter what. So if I were to look at it from that stand point, then I guess I low prioritized blogging :D. What I realise though with this long break is that, I somehow kept procrastinating blogging even more by the day. The worst part – it wasn’t like I was not collecting data for blogging. I was still creating recipes, taking photos of those creations. I was just not transferring those photos onto my computer to proceed with the following steps :D. My school friend Divya Bharathi with whom I have gotten back in touch with thanks to the world of instagram sent me a message yesterday with a link to her personal blog which she has just kick started. She, just like me & many others love to cook & experiment and has finally taken the plunge into the blogging world. Congratulations Divs & all the very best. Also, that message was enough for me to get inspired & get back on track with respect to my blog. This is precisely what I am loving about the whole insta & blogging community. You can totally use it to get & feel empowered. With this post, I am kinda hoping that I get my mojo back wrt blogging & don’t get back into my laziness :D.

I have multiple recipes to be blogged. However, I am choosing to start this one since it’s a 1) dessert 2) happy b’day cake I made for my baby 3) I had gotten this particular recipe idea from Divya’s insta post.

I am someone who loves photos because it preserves memories. Hence, I decided to preserve some of Adya’s 3rd year memories along with the below photo. What you see in the background (right hand side) of the below photo is Adya’s happy to you shirt we got for him. A shirt with some cycle on it. He is currenty in the ‘big chattai’ aka shirt phase. Wants to wear a shirt & a full pant (preferrably jeans) every single day. So D & I decided we will buy him shirts & pants for his b’day. This here in the pic was one of those we bought for him & he was very very happy on seeing it.

Finally a bit about the cake 😀 – Below is a healthy-ish cake made using whole wheat flour & raagi. Raagi has some amazing health benefits & is brilliant to be included in our regular diet. Of course, making it into a dessert might kinda defeat its purpose but for kids who don’t wanna eat raagi, this is a nice way to mask this ingredient & give them :D. Adya has raagi everyday in the form of his kanji (porridge milk). It’s nutrient dense & a complex carb. Whole wheat flour because I have never used maida/ all purpose flour to make a cake ever (I should try sometime to probably know the difference but for now, happy this way). This cake is dense but truly tasted amazing. One of the best cakes I have ever made. I am not saying this because of the super awesome chocolate ganache on top & in the centre. It tasted amazing even without it. But of course, dousing it with excess chocolate surely made it extra wonderful :D.

Whole wheat raagi chocolate cake

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: International

Servings: 1 kg cake

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup Raagi/ Finger millet flour
1.5 cups brown sugar or 1 cup white sugar
1.25 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
a pinch salt

Wet Ingredients

3/4+1/3 cup thick yogurt
3/4 cup regular milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1.5 tsp vanilla essence

Frosting

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Cake

Sift the whole wheat flour, raagi/ finger millet flour, baking powder using a sieve onto a large bowl.
To this, add brown sugar & cocoa powder. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients - thick yogurt, milk, vanilla essence & vegetable oil.
Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture & fold the mixture gently & well. Make sure there are no lumps & make sure you are not beating/ whisking hard.
Pour this mixture into a greased 8x8 or 7x7 cake mould.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 30-35 minutes. Keep an eye on it the last few minutes. Use a tooth pick to check if the cake is cooked - when you insert a tooth pick into the centre of the cake, it should come out clean.
Take the cake out of the oven & let it cool down.

Cake frosting

Take the semi sweet chocolate chips onto a bowl.
Heat heavy whipping cream on a stove top or a microwave. Once it comes to a boil, turn off the heat.
Pour this mixture onto the chocolate chips & cover it with a lid or a cling wrap. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, gently mix the cream & the chocolate chips. If you think the chocolate chips hasn't been melted fully then use a double boiler method to melt the chocolate chips fully. Do not over stir/ whisk the mixture too much. Just do it gently.
Once the mixture is fully incorporated & the chocolate chips melted, set it aside for a few minutes to cool down & thicken.
Meanwhile, cut the cake into 2 halves (horizontal). Pour 1/3 of the gooey ganache onto the bottom half of the cake & spread using the backside of a spoon or a butter knife.
Place the rest half of the cake and pour the remainder of the ganache, spread using a butter knife or the back of a spatula.
Let it rest for 30 minutes for the ganache to thicken further.
Sing happy to you, blow your bday candle, cut & enjoy!

Recipe Notes

You can totally use all purpose flour/ maida if you want a more soft & fluffy cake. Just use 1 cup yogurt & add a little extra if needed.
Double boiler method -
Ganache thickness -

Step by step pictures

Sift the whole wheat flour, raagi/ finger millet flour, baking soda using a sieve into a large bowl.

This step will help eliminate especially the slightly grainy part of the raagi/ finger millet flour.

To this add brown sugar & cocoa powder.

Mix well using a spatula/ whisk.

In a separate bowl, add yogurt, milk, vanilla essence & vegetable oil.

Whisk well to ensure there are no lumps.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

Fold well & gently to ensure the whole mixture is well incorporated. (don’t whisk too hard)

Pour it into a greased 8×8 (or 7×7) cake mould.

Just lift & tap the cake mould gently onto it’s underyling table/ surface. This will let out any excess air bubbles trapped in.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 30-35 minutes. Use a toothpick to find out if the cake is cooked completely or not (the tooth pick should come out clean when you stick it in). Once done, take it out of the oven & let it cool.

While the cake is cooling down, take some chocolate chips & place it in a bowl.

Heat heavy whipping cream on a stove top or in a microwave. If heating on a stove top, let the mixture come to a boil. Turn off the heat.

Pour this hot mixture on the chocolate chips & close the bowl with a lid or cling wrap. Set it aside for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, stir the chocolate chips & cream gently with a spoon. If you think the chocolate hasn’t melted yet, then use a double boiler method to melt the remainder of the chocolate chips.

Do not over mix/ stir since you’ll end up creating a lot of tiny air bubbles in the mixture. What you will have in the end is a shiny chocolate ganache. Let it cool down for a bit which will help thicken up the ganache.

Meanwhile, cut the chocolate cake into a half (horizontal half :)). Once the ganache thickens up into a gooey mass, pour 1/3 of the ganache onto the bottom half of the cake & spread it.