WHOLE MEAL CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH FLAX SEEDS & CHOCOLATE GANACHE- HEALTHY BUT HEAVENLY on Cardamom Hill’s 3rd B’Day!!

So finally, I did some real baking for you guys J….Yes! For those of you who have known me…I have not yet posted cakes or any real baked goodies...though I do make ‘em sometimes....I usually don’t come up with anything of my own while baking, just follow the recipe! But this cake is especially  to celebrate the 3rd birthday of "Cardamom Hills" and a big thank you to all my foodie friends n family who came along and always motivated me to keep going!

BUT this recipe is all mine…only mine J I can’t believe I actually came up with a good cake of my own…lol….actually, I always felt I made a terrible baker….the first time I tried to make a cake…it all went horribly wrong…..I was not aware of the basic ratios and rules of the art….Since, then I always kept away.

The next time I did try was for my baby’s first birthday (after pre-ordering another cake, I dint want to risk her not having a birthday cake)…that turned out well and then I realized, it’s all about the book…lol…n ever since, I always stuck to the book. Now, after few years, I have learnt quite some of the rules and hows n whys….thanks to the www world of baking J and all the friends I made here…special mention….thoma from the Junkie Book….she always made it sound so easy J thanks girl!

The big driving force behind this recipe is to create a healthy but yummy lunch menu for my daughter who just started schooling….the funny part is a day after I made this cake, I got a mail from her nursery that we cant sent them anything that has chocolate in it...not even muffins L lol….but I found my way around that …I’ll explain as we talk about the cake J.

Now about our cake….it’s the healthiest of combinations without absolutely no compromise in taste….there is whole meal for fibre, banana for minerals, flax for omega 3, egg whites for protein, canola oil to avoid butter and lots of chocolate for taste J. I won’t call it a low-cal meal but a comparatively low cal and healthy cake compared to the regular chocolate cakes. The best part being - there is absolutely not compromise in the taste…. it’s light and moist. I made 2 loaves. One on the same day, I made the batter (the one with the coffee mug was made first) and second a week after. So, the batter can be frozen, no issues with that. The funny part is the 2nd cake form the frozen batter was more moist than the first one...while i was thinking that the freezing will made the cake dense....there was absolutely no issues! I left the frozen batter outside for an hour before baking. It was slightly cold while going into the oven.

Substitution suggestions are provided in the tips n tricks section, so don’t forget to go there before you try the recipe.

Ingredients: (for 2 regular size loaves)

Whole meal flour- 1¾ cup

cacao powder- 3 tbsp

baking soda- 1¾ tsp

dark brown sugar – 1½cup

skimmed yogurt- ¾cup

Butter – ½cup (1stick) melted and cooled 

canola or vegetable oil – 1/3 cup

salt – 1 tsp

egg- 1 whole large

egg white – from 3 large eggs

vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Ripe bananas- 6 mashed

flax seeds- ½cup

semi sweet chocolate chips- ½ cup

For Ganache:

semi sweet chocolate chips- 1 cup

light cream- 1 tbsp

water- 1 tsp

Method:

1.     Pre heat oven to 175°C (350°F) for 15mins.

2.     Sieve cacao powder, baking soda and whole meal flour into a large bowl. Once the flour all gone, bran will be left in the sieve. Mix it in until incorporated evenly.

3.     Whisk butter, oil, eggs, brown sugar and salt in a medium size bowl till it is a creamy texture and mixed well.

4.     Now add yogurt, vanilla extract and banana. Again whisk till all ingredients are evenly mixed.

5.     Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mix in, while whisking gently on a low speed.

6.     Once evenly mixed, fold in the chocolate chips using a spatula

7.     Divide batter into 2 halves. (You can freeze the batter at this point for using later)

8.     Lightly butter and flour a loaf pan. Pour in one portion of batter.

9.     Bake at 175°C (350°F) for 45mins to 1 hour depending on the size of your over.

10.  Keep a check on the cake after 30mins of baking. If a skewer/knife/toothpick inserted in the middle of cake comes clean (check again elsewhere if it comes with a light coating of melted chocolate from the chipsJ)

11.  Once ready remove from oven and cool in pan for 20mins.

12.  Meanwhile prepare the ganache.

13.  Melt chocolate chips with water in a double boiler.

14.  Once fully melted add cream and stir till thick spread texture is obtained. (2-3mins)

15.  Remove from heat.

16.  Transfer cake onto wire rack. Spread the ganache on the top and let it cool for 2-3 hours before slicing. Store in airtight container.

Tips n Tricks:

·       If you don’t want chocolate flavour- remove all chocolate ingredients and make following changes to recipe: Add 3tbsp flour instead of cacao powder, 1 extra tbsp canola oil, 1 extra tsp vanilla extract. While preparing batter, you can add fruit peels or anything for flavouring to your choice instead of chocolate chips.

·       To omit butter – add a total of 1cup canola.

·       This cake is not overtly sweet, so if you want more sweetness replace ½cup brown sugar with refined sugar.

·       You are lazy to prepare the ganache, just spread a generous coating of nutella J

Cheers!!

Mj J

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