Egg less Red Velvet Cake

Past few days in India has been hectic. I had been hoping to be able to blog from here, but was caught up with so many different things that, in the end blogging took a back seat. Today, I decided to give my blog a visit and found there are a few drafts which could be posted with a little effort. Of course, I do not want you guys to forget me while I am away from this space.

While I know I am posting two decadent sweets one after another, I really cant help it. The cake I am sharing today is the one I baked for my DH's birthday last month. I was hoping I would be able to post it sooner, but couldn't. I decided to post it on my birthday which was a couple of days back but, couldn't.really manage to do even that. So, today to break my long absence from blogging, I want to virtually treat you all with this Red Velvet Cake!

Birthdays are special. So, I like to bake something special. This Egg less Red Velvet Cake is also a result of such efforts. The cake was not as red as I would have like and I later felt I could another table spoon of the red colour. But, after it was iced and cut, the red looked reasonably good in contrast with the white icing. I actually forget to take a picture of a slice, so pardon me for that.

This article on wiki gives a synopsis of the history of this special cake. Since this cake is egg less I have deviated a lot from the way that cake is traditionally make. But for an egg less cake, the results were pretty good. Lets see how I made it.

Ingredients:

11/2 cup + 2tbsp plain flour +1tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1tin condensed milk
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup yogurt + 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp red colour (add another tbsp for a brighter red colour)
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp apple cider vinegar

Process:

1. Preheat the oven at 160 C. Line a 9" round tin. Please note that baking time may vary if you choose a smaller or larger tin. So, adjust accordingly.

2. Shift the flour, baking powder and baking soda twice. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl whip the condensed milk and butter till the mixture is creamy. Add the red food colour and whisk again.

4. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture in 2-3 parts. Keep stirring while adding flour mixture. Add butter milk, vinegar and whisk for another 2 minutes. The batter will have a pouring consistency. Don't over do it

5. Pour the batter in the prepared tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes at 160 C. Then lower the temperature to 150 C and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

6. The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for at least 15 minutes before turning the cake out of the tin.Cool completely before icing the cake.

Mascarpone Cream Icing:

280 gm mascarpone cream
225 gm whipping cream
3/4 cup icing sugar

Pour all the ingredients in a large bowl and whip it till it is creamy and has a soft peak consistency. Chill it in the fridge for half an hour.

Assembling the cake:

Slice the cake in 3 layers. In a cake plate place the top most layer and spread the prepared icing in an even layer. Top it with the second and third layer in the same way and cover the whole cake with rest of the icing. Get creative with decorating the cake. I used piped border, glace cherries and chocolate hearts. You can do it the way you fancy!

I will definitely try to blog more often. I have read a few books and I will post the reviews soon. Stay tuned.
Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!