Basic Eggless Chocolate Cake

I wonder what would have come of me if those several inspirational blogs (not food alone) around the web didn’t exist. Things wouldn’t have been so stimulating. Ideas novel and fresh, drawing verves to my relentless motivation and fueling enthusiasm to my ever fretful blogger’s mind. There are many I hop on, read through, admire and pass over. Then there are some that etch me to a point that I desire going back to them time and again. That element of ingenuity, a sense of magnetism, their charismatic aura draws me to them and leaves me awestruck every time I’m there. I applaud them for several aspects that speak uniquely for themselves; some for their splendid writing, others for their stupendous photography, some for their beautiful styling, some for being able to connect with common perceptions, many others for their superb repertoire of stories, food, recipes and travel. If I had to jot down the list of these influential blogs, I would end up running them in pages and not justify the right due to many unexplored too. So I stay put to that for now.

Apart from regular cooking and baking, these blogs that have paved way to my influences in photography too. Indeed, my foray into food photography came through this blog. Ever since I have been living the life of a food blogger, being behind a camera has become quite instinctive. Though being a creative person myself, exploring the depths of photography came to me only with time. I always loved styling and even on a personal level, looking neat and stylish is something I enjoy. I admire folks who carry off themselves well. My perspective for food is not any different.

I am no pro with photography and have come to terms with the fact that I can’t digest photoshop with ease. I love that I am still a home cook, do blogging and photography as a hobby, yet, I would love to master the intricacies and techniques involved in a good photography. My personal woes have been my limitations with time, while setting up a table for styling has been yet another constraint, so doing all of that and waiting for the perfect lighting to shoot photographs becomes one of my greatest challenge.

Well, it’s no excuse I know, neither it helps lamenting. But then blog hopping gives me a whole lot of inspiration. I dance happy feet when I come across sites where the photographs are moody, lighting imperfect, but the food shots as decadent as ever. This Sunday morning I spent time doing just that. I gazed at them, gawked in contemplation, soaked in every bit of their moody darkness. It’s time I kicked off my comfort zone of shooting bright buoyant shots and hover over to some dull moody snaps till I get over them. So here they come, at least for an attempt.

Although there isn’t much fancy to flaunt about this chocolate loaf, since it’s essentially a basic eggless chocolate cake that was baked in a loaf tin to break the monotony of a Saturday noon’s tea break, I will certainly emphasize on the couple of hours I slogged (read enjoyed) to get some lovely moody shots of these slices. On the bright sunny afternoon, before lunch I set this cake in my oven to be baked for our tea time snack. An hour later, our home smelt like heaven of heady chocolaty aromas gracing my kitchen. My daughter’s sharp wits sensed the cake being baked and we fed her some warm bites as she wailed for more of them. Not surprising enough, one among the first words that my daughter learnt to say was a cake! Yes, witty I said! The husband and daughter snapped away with their share of slices for the zillion photographs that followed of the remaining few, mostly underexposed to deliberation. I had no forethought to post the recipe here, after all its just a basic eggless chocolate cake. The clicks though made me happy and I thought this made a good beginning.

Basic Eggless Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 cup thick Curd/yogurt
1 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C for 10 mins. Grease a butter paper and layer it in the loaf pan.

Sieve all-purpose flour along with cocoa powder twice and keep aside. Cream the vanilla sugar and curd until sugar completely dissolves. Add baking powder, baking soda to the creamed mixture and mix well. Leave aside for 5 mins and till bubbles appear on the mixture. Now add in softened butter and beat well. Next slowly add all-purpose flour in portions at a time and blend with wet ingredients. Beat well till creamy and thick.

Pour the batter to the loaf tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Then reduce the temperature to 180 deg. C and bake it further for 30-35 mins. Check using a fork inserted into the center of the cake. It should come out clean. Allow the cake to cool down for 10 mins, then invert and remove the butter paper. Slice them and enjoy with a cup of milk, tea or coffee.