Egg Less Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Butter Cream Icing
By Harini
This strawberry butter cream has been in my mind for long,to be precise right from the beginning of strawberry season here.Personally not a big fan of frosted cakes,I always end up making coffee cakes,which we enjoy warm right from the oven,but stunning pics of decorated cakes I see every now and then took over me and I decided to try my hands on butter cream.Once I knew I am going to make butter cream,I also knew that I will be making it with strawberry.Who can resist that lovely color and divine flavor right.Next what else pairs well with strawberry other than chocolate after all,so with this match made in heaven I was all set this morning to make my cake :). Well this baking episode turned out to be a cakewalk for me,a simple chocolate sponge adorned with butter cream made with fresh strawberries pleased every one who tasted and right now as I am posting this there smiles happy empty plate :),I actually wanted to layer the cake with strawberry butter cream and decorate with chocolate butter cream,but I had only 2 1/2 cups icing sugar in stock so I had to let go the idea of decorating it with chocolate butter cream.After frosting the cake with strawberry butter cream,I grated a chocolate bar and topped it on the cake,perfect!. Apart from tasting delicious it formed a beautiful non-intended layer on the top and strawberry butter cream was like sandwiched between chocolate layers,I really loved the way this cake turned out,I know way to go with cake decorating,still I am happy with this first one :)Please lemme know your thoughts
Egg less chocolate cake with strawberry butter cream icing recipe
Star ingredients:Cocoa powder,butter,strawberries & condensed milk
Time:4 hrs(baking,cooling and frosting time)
Yield:1 9" round cake
Chocolate sponge
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
100 grams butter (room temperature)
1 tin(400gms) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup curd
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Method:
1.Cream butter and condensed milk until well mixed and light.Add curd,milk,vanilla and mix well.
2.Preheat oven to 180C.Prepare a 9" round tin by greasing and dusting/butter paper.
3.Sift all the dry ingredients together.
4.Now add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture,1/2 cup at a time incorporating well.Repeat till the whole batter is uniform.
5.Pour the batter to the prepared tin and bake for 30-35 minutes
6.Once a tester comes out clean in the middle of the cake,remove rom oven and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.
7.At this stage you can choose to cut the cake into 2-3 horizontally or frost the single cake.
Strawberry butter cream:
Ingredients:
3-4 pulp juicy strawberries hulled and pureed
1 cup softened butter
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons water
Vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
Method:
1.whisk the butter with icing sugar,starting with 1 cup at a time.Beat well till the mix turns light and fluffy.
2.Add 2-3 tablespoons water if needed.Add the strawberry puree and beat well till the color turns to pale pink.Add salt and mix well.
3.Icing is ready to decorate the cake now.
Assembling the cake:
1.Invert the cooled cake on a plate.Trim the edges if needed.
2.First take a small amount of icing and apply on the sides and spread well.
3.Now apply the butter cream all over the sides,top ans spread with a spatula.
4.Grate a chocolate bar and spread it over the top.Decorate with fresh strawberries if needed.
Notes:
1.For the given amount of sugar it is mildly sweet.You can increase icing sugar by another 1 cup.
2.Do not add more than 4 strawberries,your butter cream may turn sour.