Bakeathon 2016, Day 7 

I have a few basic cakes that I repeat again and again for all my baking needs. I use this eggless chocolate cake as my base for a lot of recipes. The best part of this recipe is that it is kid friendly. That means if you are planning on a baking session with your kids or their friends, its the perfect recipe. This cake here, a small variation of the base cake, was baked by a 6 year old.

You don’t need any fancy equipment for this cake. A big bowl to mix everything in, a whisk and a sifter is all you need. Since the recipe calls for yogurt instead of eggs, its a lot easier on the kids. But the best part is the oreos of course. We have to taste test it multiple times to ensure good quality  ;-).

For decorations, we went with a small batch of buttercream. We made some zigzag lines on top by adding some buttercream in a ziploc bag and cutting a small opening to pipe it out. Some fondant decorations and oreos also went in to make it colorful.

Read on for the recipe.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt (or 1/4 cup each of milk and yogurt)
• 1/3 cup hot coffee (1 tsp instant coffee pwd+1/3 cup hot water)
• 4 oreo cookies, crumbled roughly with hands
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Buttercream recipe(small batch):

• 1/2 stick or 50 gms butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method: 

1. Pre heat the oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease a 6″ pan with oil or butter and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a big bowl to get rid of any lumps. Whisk well.
3. Add the oil, yogurt (and milk if you are using yogurt and milk combination) , vanilla and hot coffee. Mix using a wire whisk so that no lumps remain. If the batter is too thick, add a couple of tablespoons of milk to thin it out.
4. Crush 4 oreo cookies roughly with your hands. Add it to the batter and whisk it in carefully.
5. Transfer the batter to the greased and lined pan. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out free of crumbs when inserted in the middle of the cake. Take the cake out of the oven, let it rest in the pan for about 5-10 minutes. Carefully, flip it over, take off the parchment paper. Cover it with 2 rounds of cling wrap. Return the wrapped cake back into the pan and let it sit undisturbed until its completely cool.
6. If you wish, make a small batch of buttercream and decorate it with some cookies and candies. I have used fondant here for some color.
7. For the buttercream, add the softened butter and cocoa powder in a bowl. Using a spoon, mix the butter and cocoa powder to get a smooth paste, adding 1-2 teaspoons of hot water. Now add 1 cup sifted powdered sugar and mix it in using the spoon, again using the hot water to help mix it. The buttercream should be smooth when you are done. Taste test and add half cup more if you need it. You can check out step wise pictures in this post. The recipe here is halved.

This is part of the Bake-a-thon 2016