Monday, August 20, 2012

Healthy Steamed Chocolate Cake - my guest post on Shinsveganlovin




Ooooo what do we have here? It's a ridiculously healthy and incredibly tasty vegan chocolate cake. It has no oil, no white flour and here's the kicker... it's not baked, it's STEAMED! *gasp*

Wanna know what went into it and how my friend Arun (one of the awesome guys behind Samabhava) is responsible for it? Of course you do! :D

Well, you can find all the details in my guest post on my friend Bou Shin's blog - Shin's Vegan Lovin'.

You won't be able to resist trying it out. When you do, come back here and let me know how you like it. I'm sure Arun will be very happy to hear the results.

Arun got the original recipe from another of our vegan friends, Sneha. She is also a great vegan chef and comes up with all kinds of yummy concoctions while experimenting in her kitchen.



The recipe on Bou's blog is a modified version by me with ingredients I had on hand. If you'd like the original recipe that Arun sent me, here it is, directly copy/pasted:

Dry Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour: 1.5 cups,
Sugar: 1 cup, (I use white)
Cocoa Powder: 1/3 cup,
Baking Soda: 1 teaspoon (tsp)
Salt: 1/2 tsp

Wet Ingredients:
Apple Sauce: 1/3 cup
Apple Cider Vinegar/Lime Juice: 3 tsp,
Vanilla Flavour/Essence: 1 tsp
Water: 0.8 cup

Put some water in a cooker and allow it to come to a boil.
Grease a container for the cake.
Mix dry and wet ingredients separately well, and then combine them and quickly transfer to the greased container.
Immerse a plate inside the boiling water in the cooker, place the container containing cake mixture inside the cooker, cover it, and allow it to get cooked like idly (don't put weight).
After 30-45 mins, check for done-ness of the cake by inserting a toothpick at the center, and checking if it comes out clean.

Notes:
- We can keep the cooker open after 30 mins or so, if we feel that the mixture is still wet. Opening the cooker will let the steam go, and can reduce the moisture of the cooking environment (but keep cooking).
- Original recipe for oven calls for 1 cup of water, but since there will be a lot of moisture inside cooker, I added less water (convection mode blows dry air; steam is wet and hot).
- Apple sauce: Peel apple (eat skin), chop into fine pieces, add 1/4 volume water, and blend it. If we are using it just for cake, we can use just this juice. If we want sauce, we need to heat the juice in low flame for 10 mins.

12 comments:

  1. Looks absolutely delicious! I would so love to try some. I love a good cake and I just know this recipe will taste great!

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  2. Now this is totally amazing. Ive never thought of a cake as something you could steam but I have to give this a go.
    Will post back shortly once I have tried it.
    Keep them coming & thanks

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    1. Thanks for visiting Mark. I'd be very happy to hear the results after you try it out. It tastes best with melted chocolate poured over it. :D

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  3. I just read your post at Shin's. What a great cake! Thanks for submitting it.

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  4. Oh my, I love chocolate so much! With that being said, this cake is like a dream come true for me! :O
    I have to make this soon!

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    1. Haha Adi, when I made it I kept eating slice after slice because I knew it was guilt-free. Whole wheat chocolate bread fortified with flax and nuts. :D

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  5. That looks absolutely superb - I need more friends with cake recipes like that!

    We used to make steamed puddings at home on the hob, usually big heavy ones with fruit and veggie suet. This looks so much lighter - can't wait to give this a try...

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  6. I especially like this recipe because you *directly copied and pasted it*. Tee hee. What's a cooker? Great recipe. Now if I only a cooker.

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  7. its my son's birthday and Im going to steam it!

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