Saturday, September 3, 2011

Eggless Zebra Cake

Now that I had a perfect eggless sponge cake recipe, I wanted to tweak it myself to make something else... something that is more special and different. Agree that the Zebra cake is doing rounds in the blog world for quite sometime now, but I hardly found an eggless version! That made me try it out myself, and here is the outcome.

It has a lovely texture, is very easy to make, is butter-less, has very few easily available ingredients, and most of all, is Eggless! And it has a nice contrast of vanilla and chocolate flavors and colors making it awesomely appealing!

I baked it with little niece Hima around and told her it was a Zebra Cake. She hesitated for a moment and replied, ‘No, atte!! It is a tiger cake - it is not black and white, it is brown and yellow’! Ohh right!! It is a tiger cake, isn’t it? ;) Had you ever thought of this?!

Preparation time
: 20 min
Baking time : 35-40 min

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour/Maida – 1 1/2 cups
Sugar – 3/4 cup (The original called for 1 cup)
Baking powder – 1 1/4 tsps
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Thick curd – 1 cup (I used set curd)
Cooking oil – 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence – 2 tsps

Additionally:
Coffee decoction - 2 Tbsp
Cocoa powder - 2 tsp
Milk - 2 Tbsp

Procedure:
• Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F. Grease a round pan and set aside.
• Powder the sugar and in a bowl, mix the curd and sugar till the sugar dissolves.
• Stir-in the baking powder and baking soda into the curd mixture. Mix well and set aside for 2-3 minutes. The curd will turn frothy and start rising and increasing in volume.
• In the meanwhile, sieve the flour thrice and set aside.
• Add the oil and vanilla essence to the curd mixture. Stir gently so that the air in the mixture is not lost.
• Next, gently fold in the flour. Don’t stir very vigorously; do it gently. The batter should have a dropping consistency. (Since I used set curd, the batter was a little thick still)
• Divide the batter into 2 equal parts
• Mix the cocoa powder and coffee decoction without any lumps
• To one part of the cake batter mix this coffee-cocoa mixture and stir to incorporate
• To the other part, mix in 2 Tbsp of milk to adjust the consistency

Assembly:
• Place the greased pan on a flat surface
• Pour 1 Tbsp of plain batter in the middle of the pan;
• Without shaking the pan, pour the brown batter over the first
• Repeat with the two batters alternately till the entire batter is used up
• Do not even touch the pan in the whole process; the batter will spread by itself and reach the circumference
• Lower the temperature to 180C/350F, and bake for 35-40 minutes, till the toothpick inserted comes out clean
• Once done, remove from oven and let the tin cool on a wire-rack for 10 minutes. Run a serrated knife around the edges and upturn the cake from the tin and let it cool on the wire-rack for a good amount of time before you can slice it.
• Once fully cooled, slice the cake with a serrated knife and enjoy it with a cup of tea or as is!

(I can NEVER wait for the cake to cool!! So always, my first piece would crumble since it would be barely warm when cut!!)

Notes:
• Do the measurements of the ingredients accurately - Oil can be reduced by a Tbsp or so


25 comments:

  1. Hi Sum
    Zebra cake looks so nice. Perfectly done. I love eggless baking. Will definitely try this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea Sumana, looks really good! I shall try this sometime...And yes, it certainly looks very much a Zebra Cake :))

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi dear first visit on your lovely blog- what a perfect zebra cake - - what's awesome is it's eggless! Love the pictures and bookmarking to try - following you :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks from the bottom of my heart, as I don't eat egg. I don't have much to experiment with cakes. I will bake it and let you know...:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Woww cake looks extremely irresistible..

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cake looks lovely.. super soft and moist. The article is very well written... it was a good read..:)
    First time here and enjoyed browsing through your space..:) I don't know how I missed your blog for such a long time.. my loss:(
    Glad to follow u for more recipe updates .. Happy blogging..
    Reva

    ReplyDelete
  7. first time here..you have a wonderful space here..lovely cake and looks delicious!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, that zebra -- oops tiger! -- cake looks amazing. Love the technique you used to make the stripes.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tiger cake...how true. Would love a piece of that. Oh by the way tried doddipatre soppu tambuli.(in place of brahmi) and it came out yummy. (Your recipe gets all the credit as I am no expert cook :P)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks buddies! Esp comments from first timers :) Made my day.. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow !! the stripes have come out perfectly....I tried it once but mine was not even 10% beautiful like your's. Superb !!
    Thanks a ton for wishing me on my 200th post.

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

    ReplyDelete
  12. Such neat layers/patterns you got ~ great work!
    USMasala

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey some awards are waiting for you at my space. Pls check.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi! great cake! Can you please tell me how big your cup is, how many grams of flour is that? Do you use the same cup to measure the sugar, yoghurt and oil? Shar

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks pals!
    @Shar,
    I use standars measuring cup - don't have scales to weigh the ingredients. For this particular cake, an approximate sized cup works too, but make sure you use the same for all measurements.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The first time I saw your blog I tried it on the same day,
    Today I am going to make it again..my kids love it a lot..
    And it comes out so well.
    Thanks for sharing.Keep blogging more

    regards with smiles
    Bhuvana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Bhuvana, for letting me know :)

      Delete
  17. hi lovely cake. love your blog. can you please tell me the cake pan size used for this batter. thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oops! Sorry to have missed that out!! I have used an 8" floral shaped pan. An 8" round would work fine... Thanks for ur comment :)

      Delete
  18. Is curd like yogurt? Sorry never heard of curd before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohh yes!! We in India usually call yogurt as curds :)

      Delete
  19. Your cake looks lovely and taste good. Very simple and your detailed write up is so simple everyone will be able to make it. Cheers!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your cake looks lovely and taste good. Very simple and your detailed write up is so simple everyone will be able to make it. Cheers!!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by! And Thank you more for choosing to drop a line for me! Your comments are a source of inspiration to me :)