Simple Chocolate Cake
Sandipa says “Have loved bakery products, especially cakes since childhood but somehow never managed to get any formal 
training to attempt it at home. Any complicated recipe would put me off. I was always on the lookout for a simple recipe that would make baking a pleasure and not a pain, whether in terms of procuring the ingredients or the procedure itself. Finally, chanced upon a recipe that was not only easy to attempt, it also used WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR instead of Maida and VEGETABLE OIL instead of Butter. And believe me, Chocolate cakes made with ATTA tastes as yum as when made with Maida”
Ingredients :
Dry ingredients (to be sieved three times):
2½ Cups of Flour ( ATTA )
¾ Cups of Cocoa powder( one can also use same quantity of melted cooking chocolate )
1 tsp Salt
1¼ tsp Baking powder
¼ tsp Soda bicarbonate
Other ingredients:
1 2/3 Cups of ground sugar( even our normal granulated sugar can be used)
¾ Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs
1¼ Cups water ( I rarely use water, I always use either a strong cup of black coffee for that extra taste or Coffee Liqueur )
1 tsp Vanilla essence
10 -15 Cashew nuts
Method:
Sieve all dry ingredients 3 times
Put eggs, sugar, vanilla essence, oil and the liquid in a bowl and mix well with a hand blender.
Add dry ingredients slowly
Fold all ingredients well for about 3-4 minutes with a spoon
Rub oil / ghee on baking tin and dust it with dry Atta. Pour the mixture and decorate with the cashew nuts.
Bake at 180 degrees for 30-45 mins or even longer if need be but do keep checking on it to avoid burning.
Test with wooden matchstick/toothpick to see if it has baked properly– should be poked in the centre and it should come out dry.
Note : For those of you who do not want to use Cashew nuts, you can dust the cake with castor sugar(powdered sugar) and decorate it with pieces of Strawberries, Plums, Cherries etc .
– Recipe by Sandipa Nitin Tombat