Eggless Dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting (Pressure cooker cake ) – Virtual party for Divya pramil

Hi friends !! Today we friends are celebrating a lovely blogger and dearest friend of mine’s Birthday day !!
She is well know, kind hearted person and a wonderful blogger 🙂 Today we are giving a virtual treat  to are dearest pal +Divya Pramil  author of  “You too can cook- indian recipes” . I got to know her Via Snc challenge and she a was a great support in encouraging my work every time :). So today on her b’day we friends decided to give her a virtual treat and a party as a surprise for her 🙂 

So lets move on to the surprise treat i got for her today 🙂 This recipe must be her memorable one … As this was made by her for her 1st blog anniversary 🙂 To relive the moment i made this delicious “Dark chocolate  cake with chocolate ganache frosting” for her on her b’day. B’days are incomplete without celebrating and a piece of cake right 🙂 So here is your special cake on this special day +Divya Pramil  🙂 I know you love to have NV but u have to manage with veg recipe from me for today 😛  

Coming to the recipe 🙂 Here is the eggless version of dark chocolate cake i followed +Divya Pramil ‘s recipe from here and converted to eggless version 🙂 This an rich delicious and sinful cake with loads of chocolate goodness in it :)I enjoyed having cake thanks for the lovely recipe divs 🙂 The pressure cooker method, does yield soft cakes and this one was a great hit at my  home too divs. My h didn’teven believe that it was made in pressure cooker. He loved it so much and shared with office pals too. they loved and lot and showered great compliments for my cake all credits goes to you for a well explained post. In this cake as divya did i too sandwiched my cake with pink cream and frosted  the cake with dark chocolate ganache that makes the cake an sinfull goodness, very rich and chocolaty. Ganache is  a yummy  creamy chocolate glaze or frosting that just makes any cake a superstar 🙂  i just licked all the extra ganache sticking to my bowl it felt so good 😛 .The cake was so so moist and spongy and every bite was a like a party in my mouth and I thought this will the best virtual treat and memorable one for Divya for her B’day 🙂

Ingredients

Total Preparation Time – 1 hour 45 minutes
Dark chocolate – 1 bar  (I used cadbury’s royal dark )
Maida / All purpose flour – 1 1/4 cup
Butter (unsalted butter) – 5 1/2 tbsp 
Boiled milk – 2 tsp (optional)
Condensed Milk – 3/4 cup
Coco powder – 2 tbsp (unsweetened) 
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp 
Soda bi-carb – 1/2 tsp
Baking Pd – 1 1/2 tsp
Salt – a pinch 

For Chocolate Ganache Frosting


Dark chocolate – 2 cup (i took dark chocolate chips)
Fresh cream or whipping cream – 1 cup 
Milk – 2 spoons (optional) 

For garnish


Cherries -3-4
Strawberries – 2-3 
For the middle layer: (optional)
Whipped cream / Double cream – As required 

 Method

• Preheat the pressure cooker if you are using an aluminum pressure cooker just keep a idli tray or cooker plate in the cooker close the lid and preheat it in a low flame for 10 minutes . As i used a steel cooker i didn’t preheat it as steel is a good conductor of heat.
• Grease a  cake pan with butter and line with parchment or butter paper or simply spread some butter or ghee all over the pan and dust some plain flour in to the pan and tap out the extra flour from the pan.
• Sift all purpose flour (maida), baking powder, salt and cocoa powder together and set aside. 

How to melt the chocolate ?

Microwave Method

• You can melt the chocolates by making them in to pieces and putting them in dry bowl . 
• Microwave them for 30 Sec and stir to see if the chocolate is completely melted with out any lumps. 
• If you find lumps then again microwave it for 30 sec and again stir and see if the chocolate is completely melted. 

Double boiler Method

• Double boil the chocolate pieces to melt it. To do this, break the dark chocolate into smaller pieces and add into a bowl. 
• Take a pan add water into it and place on flame, then inside this pan add the bowl with dark chocolate pieces and leave undisturbed. 
• When it melts well and there are no lumps remove from flame and set aside until it cools.

Note: Don’t over heat the chocolate else it may get burn and it will be of no use any more.

To proceed :
  

• Add the condensed milk, butter, vanilla essence and 4 tbsp of water and mix well. The batter should be of dropping consistency.
• Now add the sifted all purpose flour mixture and fold in gently using a wooden ladle or spoon. Do not use a beater here. 
• Now add the melted dark chocolate and stir well until the chocolate blends well with the batter.
• Then pour the prepared batter into the greased and lined cake tin ( Here i didn’t use any cake tin i use a steel bowl or a vessel in which the corner of vessel overlapped the corner of my pressure cooker and i removed the gasket of my pressure cooker before closing it ) . 
• Now place the tin inside the pre-heated pressure cooker over the separator plate ( as i used a vessel i didn’t use a seperator plate) and close with the cooker’s lid ( Remember to remove the gasket. Do not place the regulator or whistle. (you will not need it throughout the process) 
• Then switch the flame to low and cook for 45 minutes or until done (It took 1 hour for my cake to raise and cook) , check after 30 minutes whether the cake is done, just insert a knife into the cake’s center. If the knife comes out clean, then it means the cake is cooked, if not cook for some more minutes. 
• Once the cake is done remove the cooker from flame, close the cooker and set aside for few minutes. Open after 5 minutes. 
• Now take the cake pan  or the vessel outside, slide a knife around the sides of the cake and turn the pan upside down and slowly remove the parchment paper, then transfer to a cooling wire rack and set aside until it completely cools down. It may take 30 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the cake. 
• Then slice the cake into two halves by running a knife through the center. Be careful to slice into perfect halves for a better look.
• Set the cake aside and prepare the Ganache frosting now. 

Chocolate Ganache Frosting 

Double boiler method :

• To a bowl add cream and double boil it. To do this place the cream filled bowl in a pan containing water and place on flame. (Do not use plastic bowls)
• Now after a minute add the dark chocolate pieces into it and leave undisturbed. 
• After it starts melting, stir well with a spoon and mix well until it blends well and there are no lumps. Then add 2 spoons of milk and stir well.
• Then remove from flame and set aside until it cools down. 
• After it cools down using a beater beat well for 2 to 3 minutes and set aside. (The ganache should not be runny, it should be smooth and thick, but not too thick) .

Microwave Method

• In a microwave safe dry bowl add cream and chocolate and microwave it for 1 minute and stir after every 30 sec .
•  If you chocolate and cream mixture is well blended and lump free you ganache is ready else microwave them for 30 more minutes till they are nice and smooth.

Middle Layer:

• Use whipped cream (i used pink whipped cream ) to sandwich the cakes. 
• This step is purely optional. If you don’t get whipped cream whip the double cream well until it turns stiff and forms a peak then use it. 

Assembling the cake: 

• Now place one of the cake slice on a wire rack and spread the whipped cream on it. You can spread as much as you want. I just spread a thin layer. 
• Now place the other half over this, by placing the sliced side facing the cream. Press gently. 
• Now pour the chocolate ganache icing over the cake and spread well and evenly all over the cake. Even it with a knife or a flat spatula. 
• Then decorate with strawberry slices if you wish and spread some grated chocolate over the icing. 
• Refrigerate until it sets well and then serve.  

Note

• The cream layering or sandwiching cake slices is completely optional you can just make the ganache icing and serve!! You can use any kind of dark chocolate or chocolate for making the cake and ganache. 
•  You can also add some orange zest to the cake. The ganache sets well after refrigeration or after some time. You can just pour over the cake and allow it to smooth-en well if not you can just spread well with a flat spatula.
• Be careful not to place the whistle or regulator, here we are not using water to cook the cake, so if you place the whistle or regulator the pressure cooker may explode. 
•  Do not forget to line the pan or  dust the the pan with flour else the cake might stick to the pan or the vessel you are using .
• I have a steel cooker so wanted to try it in steel cooker . It turned out good and i would recommend to cook cake in steel cooker in very low flame. If using an aluminium one you can keep them at medium flame at cook them. But i know aluminum is easy to clean after making the cake steel will need a little scrubbing.
• I removed the gasket as i didn’t wanted the heat to damage the gasket.

Hope you like this delicious surprise from us +Divya Pramil  🙂 Have lots of fun on your b’day and wish you lots a fun ahead  🙂 🙂

Dont forget to check out +Sangeetha M  +Priya Suresh +Divya Prakash +VIJAYALAKSHMI DHARMARAJ +Preeti Tamilarasan +Shama Nagarajan  +Priya R  and @prethika the other bloggers who all are a part this virtual party 🙂