January 5th, 2009
Eggless Chocolate Cake
There are certain things in life that give immense pleasure, satisfaction and joy to you and those around you as well. Baking is one such activity. It is one of my favourite pastimes, something that I can never tire of or get bored with. I love the look of surprise and delight in people’s eyes when they hear the words “home made “.
Going down memory lane, after having completed my 10 standard, my mother got me enrolled in an eggless cake making class. I met up some old friends there and we ended up having a good chat without paying much attention to the class. But the notes and memories remained and years down the line, making cakes is my most favoured baking indulgence. I have made, tested and developed many cakes and cake recipes, some of them failing me at times, but most of them always a success.
Taste, texture and presentation are vital to good cakes. The texture of the cake poses to be a challenge, when one is into eggless baking. Over a period of time I have found suitable substitutes to eggs that do not compromise the taste and texture of the cake. A few basic cakes, particularly sponge cake recipes, can be a treasure to possess since you can play around with the presentation by embellishing and beautifying them in a number of ways, with cream, butter, fruits, nuts, dry fruits and chocolates, each time presenting them in different ways that are always a delight to the human sensory faculties.
Eggless Chocolate Cake Recipe
This cake is quite simple to make. It can be dressed in a number of ways over the chocolate covering, with fresh seasonal fruits, flaked almonds, chopped pistachios, etc. Mangoes, berries and peaches combine well with chocolate.
Ingredients:
For the chocolate sponge:
200 gm plain flour
50 gm good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate
1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk
150 gm butter melted
2 tsp good quality vanilla essence
150 ml waterFor the chocolate icing:
225 gm cooking chocolate
100 gm unsalted butterMethod:
Grease and line the bottom of a 9” round cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment/butter paper. In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a spoon and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. Preheat the oven at about 100 to 120 degrees centigrade. Add in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla essence and water. Beat with an electric hand mixer, whisk or spoon just until the mixture is uniform and smooth and there are no lumps. This shouldn’t take more than a minute with an electric hand mixer/beater. Be careful not to over beat as this tends to stiffen the batter which might result into a harder textured cake. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for an hour at 150 degree centigrade.
For the icing, break the chocolate into chunks and melt it slowly in a bowl over a pan of hot water (a double boiler). Mix in the butter and stir until the icing has the consistency of thick pouring cream. Place the cake on a cooling rack and over the icing, smoothening the top and sides with a palette knife. Allow to set and decorate as desired or savour it as it is.P.S. Since this is an eggless cake, you might find the batter on the looser side, but it comes out alright, soft and spongy out of the oven. I have topped the cake pictures above with freshly cut mangoes, when they were in season.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Seems very yummy… I think eggless products are very popular in India!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Anu, I just love the way the three strawberries are so precariously poised on the edge of the chocolate cake.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
My 23rd birthday was memorable for more reasons than one. You got me to call my friends to your place and treated 10 of us to that splendid Chinese lunch u made. But the one that strikes me the most and the one that they remember the most is the out-of-this-world strawberry cake u baked!
I cant wait to try this one out. But am afraid i’ll short of patience! Mihir, are u listening?
January 6th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Rustoo: I think Mumbai is the only place where eggless cakes/products are easily available off the shelves in India. There are people all over, maybe the percentage is minute in the western countries who prefer eggless stuff either out of choice, allergies, religious or other concerns.
Simi: This is not one of those elaborate cakes of mine. I’m sure it wont take much of your patience.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Hi Anu, I had set google alert for eggless cakes and through that found your site just now. The cake looks very good and love the presentation and pictures as well. I have baked an eggless chocolate cake before using silken tofu. I’ve not tried it with condensed milk. Will try that too sometime soon.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Hi Anu
This looks divine, specially the fruit combination. I think chocolate makes a great pair with fruits.
Hey - a question. Are you still in Mumbai? I have a list of all Mumbai bloggers up on my site and wanted to add you.
January 8th, 2009 at 12:50 am
This cake looks really fantastic, I have yet to try baking using condensed milk, will try soon
January 8th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Anushruti, Thanks for visiting Holy Cow! What a lovely site you have, and I am so glad to have found it. The cake looks perfect. Hope to see many more wonderful recipes from you.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
lovely pictures anu!!! The cake looks fabulous!!
January 9th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Gorgeous cake! Lovely pics…
January 10th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Madhuram: Eggless cakes with condensed milk turn out very well. I use it whenever I need a deep flavour, taste and good texture. Condensed milk does a great job for eggless sponge cakes.
Simran: Yes, fruits and chocolate pair well especially certain fruits like mangoes, berries and peaches.
Usha: Let me know how you like the cake.
Vaishali, Sangeeta and Soma: Thanks
January 11th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
I’ve never had chocolate sponge cake but it looks great! I love your photos.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
I’ve been waiting for this recipe for so long now but looks like i’ve visited last
……. can’t wait to try this out though 
‘Chocolate cake with mango topping’ i would never have guessed that combination… looks so very inviting….. hey Anu i’ve noticed in other eggless cake recipes they use soda water instead of water to make it fluffy, not sure if its a good idea…. wanted to check with you…what do you think?
January 12th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Preethi: I did try using soda water for cakes initially when I got into baking, but have used it only once. I prefer not to use it as the fluffiness can be got with alternative ingredients.
January 17th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Mangoes and chocolate cake!! very unique!!!! both are my favourites..and amazing pics..will try this out.. I bake chocolate cake with orange flavour (liqueor, rind, fresh orange juice and orange flavoured chocolates).. let me know if you have any other recipes of chocolate cakes with a unique fruit combination. Have tried plums, pineapple, strawberries and orange with chocolate cakes.
January 17th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Soumya I still remember the wonderful cake you had baked when I think we were in high school. Those were the days when I had still not gone eggless.
Chocolate and orange make a delightful combination!
January 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Very proffessional photos and cake looks yummy. I appreciate your efforts and time for a such good work. I am sure many will switch over to eggless cakes and more people will ask for eggless cakes in cake shops.
I shall try to bake this cake and offer it to my guests and before all that offerings to Lord Krishna !
dattu mama joins me in applauding your work !
January 25th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Anu, i’m going to try this today, but just realised that the recipe doesn’t mention sugar, will the sugar in the condensed milk do? waiting for your reply to start on it…..
January 25th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Yes Preethi…there is no need to add additional sugar, if you are using sweetened condensed milk for this recipe, besides there is also a certain amount of sugar in the cooking chocolate for the icing if you plan to ice your cake with the above icing.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Thanks
i’m about to start…
February 14th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I finally made the cake last weekend… it was yummy. Tanya loved it and her friends in her school too
All those kids who were allergic to egg, devoured the home-made chocolate cake 
But more questions though, the vanilla flavor was stronger than the cocoa flavor?? Why was that? i used the exact measurements.
February 15th, 2009 at 4:45 am
Preethi: I’m so happy Tanya enjoyed the cake. As far as the vanilla flavour overpowering that of cocoa goes, it depends on the quality of vanilla and cocoa powder. I use natural vanilla essence and have not experienced this so far. What vanilla essence did you use?
March 6th, 2009 at 6:52 am
[...] Divinetaste Eggless Chocolate Cake [...]
March 22nd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
[...] week I tried out the DivineTaste Eggless Chocolate Cake. It was certainly very easy to make and the batter was a much better consistency than the last [...]
April 14th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
hi..
i am plannin 2 make a cake fr my daughter’s 2nd b’day!! have never made a cake at sucha large scale. could u pls let me knw how gud is pouring sugar syrup on the cake?? does it soften the cake… also wich wud b a better option, condense milk cake or silken tofu cake??
April 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Pria:
Adding sugar syrup to cakes is good for decorative and festive cakes, especially when there is elaborate icing on the cake. It does not necessarily make the cake softer, what it does is wets the cake. The texture is totally different from cakes to which sugar syrup is not added. Also, it is best served and eaten with a spoon.
In my opinion, for a children’s birthday party its best that you dont wet the cake with the sugar syrup. Unless you plan to bake separate cakes for children and adults.
I personally feel that condensed milk cakes are great for parties. They are rich, taste great and have a wonderful aroma and texture. It is ofcourse a personal choice.
You can bake eggless cakes with condensed milk, like the recipe given here based on the number of people and your serving size and ice them with cream, butter or glace icing.
Have a great birthday party and wishes to your 2 year old.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
I made this chocolate cake. And it came out brilliantly well. I’ve seen u bake cakes, and have eaten them, so i can tell.
But i did a very stupid thing!
I tried making a wet cake out of this with hot chocolate syrup. I’ve seen u make wet cakes, so went ahead and tried that. Hmm. The cakes sits pretty in the fridge though, with mango chunks highlighting it. No idea how its going to taste. Hope the Mr. loves it, and nothing has gone so badly wrong
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Hi Anushruti,
I’ve been using the same recipe for chocolate cake since forever and it always works well. Only mine has a dome at times or develops cracks. What do you do to get them so perfectly ready to be frosted?!?
Congratulations. U have a wonderful blog.
Cheers!
Nilambara
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Nilambara:
I’m glad you like divinetaste.
Getting a dome shaped cake or a cracked surface is almost always due to over heating or uneven heating. Do you place your cake in the centre of the oven and bake for an hour at 150 degree centigrade?
Make sure your cake is not near the hot sides of your oven.
September 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Hey!Amazing amazing pics. I am a certified chocoholic so I love ur cake. Do check my event and win a chance to take away gift!
September 9th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Thanks anu, for the input. Could be because my oven is pretty small. Btw, which brand of vanilla extract do you use?
September 12th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Nilambara: I use a natural alcohol free vanilla extract which I source from the US. Planning to make my own version of vanilla extract sans alcohol soon. Will post the recipe, if the attempt is successful.
September 17th, 2009 at 10:15 am
wonderful website! wonderful recipes ! wonderful presentation!
Pls help me make a EGGLESS & SUGAR-FREE Brownie or Chocolate Fudge.
Keep up the good work, Warm Regards. Sheetal.
October 9th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
hi i just wanna ask here d flour is maida aur simple chapati flour n also will d above reciepe make the cake fluffy or i have to use the soda water for that
October 9th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Deepika: You can use plain flour (maida) along with the other ingredients for this recipe. You should be able to get a soft and fluffy cake with the above recipe. I never use soda water to make cakes and have never felt the need either.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
thanx yar..n pics are so mouth watering….mmmmmmmmyummy
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:42 am
Can I try to bake this cake in a Micro wave oven..?
December 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Hello Bharat: You could try making it in a microwave oven but I’m sorry I wont be able to give you any inputs on baking in a microwave. Unfortunately or fotunately I belong to the category of microwave despisers.
December 25th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Hi Anu,
I came across your website very recently. My cooking also belongs to the category of eggless n meatless..
I tried your vanilla cake+choc frosting recipe as a Chrismas cake and too glad to let you know that it came out well.It was my first cake using condensed milk. I would definitely give a try to all the yummy fare you have posted here.
Thank you so much for the easy and lovely recipe
Seasons Greetings
Regds
Poornima
April 29th, 2010 at 3:08 am
Hey Anu, thanks for the recipe. Have made this cake twice now and love the taste. The only problem is, it seems to sink in the middle while its in the oven.
Can you please give me some suggestions on how to avoid this? Also, please confirm 400gm of condensed milk is same as 400ml.
Thank you
Krupa
May 3rd, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Krupa: Your cake sinking in the middle could be because of uneven heating in the oven. Are you placing your cake tin right in the centre of your oven? Also make sure that you don’t open the oven door after you place the cake in the oven. This would introduce air inside the oven and disturb the temperature inside the oven and interfere with the cake batter rising to a well baked cake.
One entire tin of condensed milk weighs 400 gm. Hope this helps.
May 12th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I think my search for perfect eggless cake have ended here. In the family with veg/non-veg cooking preferences, it becomes practically imposible to please everyone with good cakes without eggs. THanks a lot for posting such beautiful recipe.
July 12th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Hi Anu,
I tried your eggless chocolate cake recipe today and it came out very well. I have tried a few recipes using soda water before but this is the best .can u give me any tips to make the cake rise well.(I filled my pan a little below the 1/2 way mark).I used good quality cocoa but felt my cake dint have rich chocolate taste and it had some maida taste. pls suggest the changes I have to make to get these results. Thanks a lot for this beautiful eggless cake.
July 13th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Hello Gayathri,
This recipe gives a lovely eggless chocolate cake and personally I’m not a fan of adding soda water to eggless cakes. Using the correct pan and filling it a little more than half way mark and generally following the recipe to the tee should give great results. Using good quality ingredients that include cocoa (which you said you have) and vanilla are essential. If the batter is mixed properly, baked at the correct temperature for the specified time you should be able to avoid the flour (maida) taste. You could also try to increase your vanilla to get a more pronounced flavour.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
hi anushruti,
do you still stay in mumbai? can u please give me the brand name of ‘good cocoa’?
thanks..
i really like your blog
July 20th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
char: Waitrose or Hintz available in Hypercity are good brands. If not Weikfield is also not bad.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
hi anushruti!!
once againasking for a brand name…. can u help me with a good cooking chocolate brand? and where will i be able to find it here in bombay? also…
will adding orange zest and orange juice be ok to this cake composition? are they compatible?
August 13th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Char: As I have said above Waitrose or Hintz available in Hypercity are good brands. If not Weikfield (available in most stores) is also not a bad idea.
Chocolate and Orange pair well. But I havent tried it for this recipe. You could add the orange zest but adding orange juice will require other changes in the recipe. Until I test it I’m unable to give you inputs on this. If you do try it, then let me know about it.