Eggless chocolate cherry cake - an easy and generic crowd pleaser

Baking is such a therapeutic activity. I wasn't ever a baking fanatic, but off late seems like I'm baking more often and also enjoying the process. Growing up, cake was always a treat; best reserved for occasions of achievement as simple as turning a year older. I feel there was quite an appropriate reason why we reserved our opportunities to consume a thick slice of chocolate cake - it wasn't the healthiest thing to serve as a frequent companion by our dinners. I have been quite thrifty with using the fatty ingredients in my cakes the last weeks. There are so many ways in which we can have a light and airy cake and not feel guilty every day about eating it! I was almost certain that I'd bake my family a few when I visit India, if the opportunity is presented to me, but something caught my attention. While we grew up with cakes, make of them were eggless. Yes, cakes baked without egg. Many of my family and friends are vegetarians, and you see, in India, fish and eggs are not considered vegetarian unlike the west.

Thus, I set off to develop a version that might work as a more generic crowd pleaser. I'm happy with what we ended up with, and I'm just as much, or even more excited about the opportunities that I see in making cakes healthier, and more plant based - bit by bit. Enjoy!

Time to prepare - 15 minutes

Time to cook - 30 minutes

Ingredients

1. 3 cups Multipurpose flour 
2. 3 tsp Baking powder 
3. 1.5 tsp Baking soda 
4. 100gms Confectioners sugar
5. 100gms Cocoa powder
6. 400ml milk
7. 200ml Cooking oil
8. 125ml Hot water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius
2. Sieve all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
3. Add all the wet ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined
4. Distribute the batter across two medium sized baking tins
5. Bake at 160 degrees for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out dry
6. Cool the cakes and use any type of topping of choice. I used chopped pistachio for the layer on top and de-seeded fresh cherries in between the two sponges. A quick ricotta and cocoa icing can also work wonders!
7. Enjoy!