My Version of Basic No-oven Eggless Cake. Slightly spiced. Nutty. Crusty yet moist!

Nutty. Crusty yet moist!

The cake batter before baking

Golden crust. Nutty. Spiced.

My Version of Basic No-oven Eggless Cake. Slightly spiced. Nutty. Crusty yet moist!

My Version of Basic No-oven Eggless Cake. Slightly spiced. Nutty. Crusty yet moist!

#MerryChristmas Sprinkle love and garnish with compassion

Sweet memories of Nostalgia and childhood

So, its Christmas today. Wasn’t particularly chirpy. Rather depressing. I am just trying to distract myself from some disturbing thoughts.

So thought of baking a cake. Turned out absolutely fantastic. Had tried in the past, couple of times with great disastrous results.

And wait, this was baked in a cooker (pressure cooker) and tasted no different than.. infact better than… a convection oven/ microwave version. Though its perfect for an oven too.

You got to trust my recipe because I am a novice. Hence would give detailed basic recipe with in-hand experience tips.

Thanks for host of recipes available online on basic sponge cakes. I have added my twist to suit my taste for a nutty crusty moist non-creamy feel to my mouth.

Great for beginners!

Note The Ingredients

All Purpose Flour (Maida) : 1/2 cup

Whole Wheat Flour (Aata) : 1/4th cup

Semolina (Suji/rawa) : 1/8th cup

Milk : 1/4th cup

Condensed Milk : 1/2 cup

Ghee/Clarified Butter : 1/2 cup

Curd/Yoghurt : 1/2 cup

Sugar/ powdered sugar  : 1/4th cup

Salt : a small pinch

Baking Powder : 1 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda : 1/2 tsp

Cocoa Powder : 3 tsp

Vanilla Essence: 1/2 tsp

Lemon zest : 1/2 tsp

Garam masala/ or just cinnamon powder : Just a pinch

Almonds, Raisins, Cashews : 1/2 cup

Cake Garnish Sprinkles: Optional : 2 tsp

1. Take a big bowl. Sieve into it the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, semolina, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder all together

2. In another bowl, mix/lightly whisk the milk, condensed milk, yoghurt/curd, vanilla essence, lemon zest. Keep aside.

3. Melt the clarified butter/ghee separately

4. Now, blend/whisk the sugar into the melted clarified butter/ ghee well. Keep aside

5. In to the big bowl of dry ingredients (i.e. the mix in point no.1)… add the mix from point no. 4 ( clarified butter + sugar) and mix from point no. 2 (milk, condensed milk, yoghurt/curd, vanilla essence, lemon zest )

6. Whisk/fold  it all together. Never over whisk or over blend a cake mix. The bubbles and the fluffiness are good.

7. The batter shouldn’t be runny. It should be thick yet velvety. (not too tight when you try to run a whisk through it)

8. Taste this batter to check if you want more sweetness

9. Top it up with the nuts and raisins

10. Sprinkle pinch of Garam Masala or Cinnamon powder

Baking/Cooking method

1. Take a container that fits inside an aluminum cooker

2. Grease this entire container with clarified butter by applying it with a greasing brush or hand

3. Add 1 tbsp semolina/flour to it and dust/coat the entire container for a dry layer. This helps the cake come out easily once ready. Tap out the excess.

4. Add the cake batter mix into this container gently with a flat ladle/spoon

5. Remove the circular rubber/ gasket  and the whistle lid from the pressure cooker

Aluminum Pressure Cooker

6. Add one to two cups of salt in the bottom of the cooker

7. Close the lid and let heat for 5 to 6 minutes. (Just like we need to preheat too when baking in an oven)

8. Now open the lid

9. On this base of the salt carefully keep a small steel bowl or some kind of separator

10. Carefully place the container with batter on top of the separator

11. Close the lid

12. Heat on high  for 5 minutes.  Then lower the heat

13. Relax. Set an alarm of 40 minutes

14. After 40 minutes check by carefully opening the lid

15. The cake should have risen by now with a beautiful brown crust and aroma

16. Insert a fork. It should come out clean. If not cook for few more minutes.

17. Let cool slightly once ready.

18. Take the container out and invert/flip it upside out down into a big flat plate by tapping to unmould . Flip again on a different plate so that the garnished top is visible.

19. Garnish the top with sprinklers

20. Go eat!

Important Tips

1. You can use the same recipe and bake in an oven as well.

• You can bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºc (360ºf) for 30 minutes

2. You can vary the amount of cocoa powder depending on how chocolaty you want it

3. You can add more of all purpose flour if you do not have semolina. Semolina adds crispiness though

4. If you do not have condensed milk, replace with full cream milk

5. Almonds add great nutty flavour. You can add or decrease the nuts as per your wish. Don’t go overboard though else it will get too rich too handle! Atleast I like my cake simpler.

6. Greasing the container and coating it with flour is important to help the final cake come out of it beautifully and avoid sticking it to the container

7. Powdered sugar is recommended however I used simple sugar and it was just fine

8. never over-beat a cake mixture batter

9. Pre-prep is crucial while baking. Measure accurately and proportionately to avoid disasters and wastage. You can always vary the ingredients once the batter is ready before baking it

10. Though strongly recommended to use the same, however if you do not have clarified butter, replace it with unsalted butter or oil if you want. Don’t compromise on the quantity of fat though for this cake

11. Don’t add water to pressure cooker. Salt at the base helps create a oven like environment.

12. Let the cake container not stick to the sides of the cooker