Egg Free Chocolate Cake -Lady Bird Cake

"Chocolate is the Answer, Who cares what the Question is?"

That is what I need as of right now!

Chocolate, how simple it makes your life.

And cakes need no explanation if they are chocolate.

Chocolate makes me happy, chocolate makes me melancholic, chocolate makes me verbose ,chocolate makes me taciturn...

Chocolate brings me joy!

Weird analogies...its raining and I've got the oldest of the songs on my play list. 

Right now "Seasons in the Sun" playing ...a lot of adieus on...

Let me make it happier.

We HAVE joy,we HAVE fun, We HAVE seasons  in the sun...

By all means ...let the wine come!

Lets live in the moment and let us live with chocolate!

Words of wisdom , while communicating with a bug!
And a two year old.
This post is about the lady bird cake that I made in the terracotta dish, to spread as much happiness as in my power.
Totally egg free and pure.
The chocolate melted inside your mouth,just as this bug is trying to make your heart melt!

I made this in the oven preheated to 190C/375F only because this was a terracotta pot, for a regular aluminium cake pan use the normal 180C/350F.
This recipe will make a  2 pound cake.you can use two  8 inch pans or one  9 inch cake tin.
Now Madonna's on...with "Crazy for you" I was back in school when she came out with this song, and same weather, me and my friends used to be singing along side her and mooning about our latest crush'...whoever it was at that time.
How ever , when i heard this song recently...my heart did not skip a beat...so settled in domestic bliss I am...No, Chocolate does that to me now.

Why don't you let chocolate do that to you too. your heart will be happier and will thank you for it.

So lets down to it.

for the


Egg Free Chocolate Cake -Lady Bird Cake...

you need

2  cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda/ soda bi carb
1 1/2 cup sugar
6 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup neutral vegetable oil
1/2 cup coffee
3/4 cup yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence

Start with greasing and flouring your baking dish. I had no Idea what would happen here, so I played safe and used Al Foil AND greased the foil.

That is the dry stuff, flour, baking powder, soda bicarb and the cocoa powder to be sifted well.
In the ideal world one would sift twice.AND  flour would never settle on one's clothes.
Hmmph!

Coffee liquid...Bru lite(my current fave!) 2 spoons coffee into 1/2 cup warm water. You can use espresso or filter coffee decoction or whichever coffee you choose.

Wet stuff together, whisk the curd and the oil together.

The flour mix sifted and accompanied by the coffee liquid.

I used icing sugar to make my work quick. Blend , blend and blend.

The flour mix and the coffee alternately in.

And don't forget the vanilla essence, I almost did.If the batter feels a little thick , just add some warm milk.

Into the terracotta pot. A small muffin cup...sweet child was glowering.

Played it by the ear here. Normal cakes should take only 35 to 40 minutes. But hello, things are not normal where Shalini Digvijay passes through. This one took almost 55 minutes. The last 10 minutes, I reduced the temperature to 170C/335F.

Waited 15 minutes and then turned the cake over. Voila...
A perfect hemisphere!
Even Homer Simpson could not have had such a perfect skull.

I sliced the uneven top off and then slathered it in butter cream. I did not want to slice the cake from the center, egg free cakes tend to be more crumbly and less cakey. I like egg, only friends here , for the moment are abstaining. So...
For the frosting and other instructions go here.

A little love and a lot of dressing...and this lady bird is ready to party!
And be eaten!

Ideas...what else can you do with a hemisphere...a ball cake?? A UFO ???A baby shower cake...what could represent a pregnant lady's tummy than half a football??

Who do you want to share your happiness with???

So what are you baking today???