Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Eggless Milkless Chocolate Cake, Yuck or Yum?


Eggless? Milkless? Ewwwww! Ew! Ew! Ew!
You'd probably think...why don't you just make it non fat, chocolateless, sugarless, thus, pointless.

Why, why, why? Why did I have to inflict such a cake to humanity?
Ehm, the reason is...sous chef has been recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. While waiting for his radioactive iodine therapy, he has to be on a super strict low iodine diet. That means, no seafood, no dairy products, no egg yolk, no seasalt/salt that contains iodine, no soy related products, no products with red food coloring (E127). Hence, no dining out, no baked goods from bakeries and no packed snacks. Everything has to be home made to make sure that no iodine-rich ingredient is being used.

Oh, my...

Actually, the diet isn't so bad. It has even brought some good things for us. Such as...
I've learnt how to produce things I would never even imagine I could, such as: baking my own bread, making my own peanut butter, and jam! Oh, Gosh! The closest I got to baking my own bread was watching the famous video of NY Times' "No Knead Bread"! Fortunately, there's a downloadable cookbook available at
www.thyca.org, which helps me dealing with this low iodine cooking a great deal. Plus, the restrictions drove me to cook healthier food...and I am amazed to learn that healthier food can taste pretty fantastic! (She is saying this now, but she will probably run to KFC later. Haha!)

I thought sous chef was probably missing chocolates...so I searched for an eggless chocolate cake and found this recipe.
Eggless Milkless Chocolate Cake

I have been trying to bake the perfect chocolate cake for the longest time...with egg, milk, butter, and super rich chocolate bars...and so far, it has never been perfect. It has always been too dry/too wet/not sweet enough/too sweet/not chocolatey enough/blablabla. It has always been wrong.

I thought an eggless and milkless cake was gonna suck...but I was so pleasantly surprised by this one. It's really moist and chocolatey. I can even say that this is the best textured chocolate cake I've baked so far! I was totally amazed!

Recipe
(serves 6)
Dry Ingredients

- 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (non iodized)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Van Houten)
Wet Ingredients
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 175C. Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, make a well in the middle. Mix all wet ingredients in a bowl, pour into dry ingredients, mix well. Pour batter into greased pan or muffin tray lined with paper cups until almost full. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

When sous chef's done with his therapy, I'll probably replace water with milk and add loads of dark chocolate chips. Hehe. So much for trying to bake healthier.

So the cake wasn't a yuck at all. It's a yum, but I guess more sinful ingredients could've made it yummier (as always). ^_*

27 comments:

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

So sorry to hear about sous chef. You have my best wishes.

The Peanut Butter Boy said...

I'm impressed this worked out so much, but it looks yum to me! Oatmeal though? I never would have thought of that, good job on making it healthy!

Jo said...

I would have thought YUCKS and surprised that it better than chocolate cakes that you've baked in the past! Guess never judge a recipe by it's name only!

Sharon said...

Rita, sorry to hear about sous chef but you're a sweetie to be making all these yummy treats! I'll be thinking about you both.

Anonymous said...

:( Sous chef, fight-o fight-o! Woooww these looks amazing indeed.

Anonymous said...

Truly sorry to hear about sous chef! You're such a sweet, loving person to do all the research and preparing healthy food. Who would have thought that an eggless and milkless chocolate cake would taste yummy? Great discovery!

Peter M said...

This is a pleasant surprise and if you say it tastes great - then it's the law!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear this. It seems like a healthy diet though. You will both be in my prayers.

Beachlover said...

sorry to hear about sous chef ,yes,life is short.A friend of mine just left us due to colon cancer at aged 38.Btw you baking look great! It's nothing wrong with milkess and eggless cake.

Jagungmanis said...

jd pengen gawe...

eh Rit,due ide gak..aku due cream flavored noodles sko HK.enake dgawe opo yo?

Tangled Noodle said...

Best well wishes to sous chef! Anytime you can say 'chocolate cake' and 'healthy' in the same breath, it's got my vote.

jesse said...

I'm sorry to hear about sous chef. If there's anything you need, I'm here... albeit a few thousand miles away. But always ready to listen! You're such a sweetheart for making all these delicious yummies... your own peanut butter? OH YEA, you go girl!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Sorry to hear about sous chef, ask him to keep on Fighting! This lacking chocolate cake did turn out looking great, rise very well too.

Dwiana P said...

all the best wishes and pray for the sous chef dear. May he will be cancer survivor.

Anonymous said...

So sorry to hear about sous chef, I wish you all the best. This recipe would be good for a friend of mine whose children have food allergies, thanks for sharing.

daphne said...

oh rita! What a tropper you are. Great cupcakes and I hope sous chef will be all better soon!

tigerfish said...

Luckily, you did not say chocolate-less chocolate cake! :O

TS of eatingclub vancouver said...

Sorry about sous chef. Best wishes to you both!

(Wow, making everything from scratch now!)

Unknown said...

Hi guys, so sweet of you all to offer your support...sous chef was really happy, touched and grateful when he saw all the best wishes.

Thank you again, so very much.

I'll continue to bore you guys with more low iodine dishes ^_^ (no worries, modifications can always be made)

Unknown said...

definitely a yum!!! will have to try this soon... thanks for sharing... :)

Foni said...

im sorry bout sous chef
semoga tidak terlalu bahaya ya rit..
nanti aku coba resep ini.kdg suka males bikin yg ber-egg.. tunggu mood dulu, yg brownies oreo masih antri juga ...
.

Noob Cook said...

Sorry to hear about sous chef, wishing him a speedy recovery. You are so thoughtful to whip this up for him. Of coz it looks yum!

Mama Mia said...

Poor sous chef! At least he has his wonderful Rita to watch his diet for him. :) My dad had thyroid cancer and beat it! I know sous chef will too.

Unknown said...

OH this recipe sounds so good. pengen coba but the only thing is oatmeal. ga terlalu suka. bisa diganti atau di skip ga ya Rit?

so sorry to hear about sous chef.

Lisa said...

I'm sorry to hear about sous chef's thyroid cancer. I have a friend who had that a couple of years ago, and I went through some of the low-iodine blues with her, so I know what you're dealing with to some extent. She also made bread and all the rest of it! Good news is that she had the treatment, recovered fully, and is now cancer-free and having a baby! So, it was pretty hellish at times, but turned out fine in the end. All best wishes for the same kind of outcome (well, maybe minus the baby part?!?!?).

Babe_KL said...

awww sorry to hear about sous chef. am sure he would be able to fight it ;-)

Anonymous said...

Will certainly try your eggless, milkless chocolate cake food.