Eggless Ragi Dark Chocolate & Orange cake

It was my birthday a few days back and since it came during the Covid lockdown period, it was low-key. For the first time, I baked a cake for my birthday. I have always favored getting cakes from the local bakeries on birthday and anniversaries, why toil in the kitchen on your special day. However, this year was different and hence I baked this Gorgeous Ragi Dark Chocolate and Orange Bundt Cake.

It turned out to be sinfully delicious and yummy. I would not have bothered to make a chocolate sauce if I had baked it on any regular day. Since I wanted it to be special, I decided to make a rich dark chocolate sauce and spread it across the cake with some salted pistachios and Orange zest for some additional goodness to balance the bitterness of the dark chocolate in the cake and sauce.

If you are fond of chocolate like me, do check out some of these equally sinful desserts:

1. Ragi chocolate brownies with Salty Caramel Sauce
2. Eggless Lamington Cupcakes
3. Dark chocolate and cherry mud cake

NOTES:

Since I control the quantity of refined sugar I consume and try to eat healthier overall, I made the following changes to any regular chocolate cake recipe:

1. I substituted regular sugar with 90% dark chocolate
2. Used a 50:50 ratio of all-purpose flour and ragi flour
3. Replaced butter with olive oil
4. Added brown sugar instead of white processed sugar
5. Naturally squeezed orange juice instead of packaged orange juice
6. I have used unsweetened milk powder in the cake since that is what was available with me, but you can totally use the sweetened variety. Make sure you adjust the sugar content based on that.

Feel free to replace the ingredients based on your preferences and availability of ingredients.

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
COOKING TIME: 45 minutes
SERVINGS: 15 slices
DIFFICULTY SCALE: Medium

INGREDIENTS:  

For the dark chocolate and orange cake –

1. Ragi/Finger Millet flour – 1 cup
2. Maida/All – purpose flour – 1 cup
3. Brown Sugar (unsweetened) – 1.5 cups
4. Milk powder – ½ cup
5. Fresh Orange juice – 1 cup
6. Curd – 1 cup
7. Olive oil – ½ cup
8. Dark chocolate – ¼ cup, grated
9. Cocoa powder – 2 tablespoons
10. Salt – a pinch
11. Baking powder – 1 tablespoon
12. Baking soda – ½ tablespoon
13. Vanilla essence – 4-5 drops

For the chocolate sauce –

14. Dark chocolate – 4 bites/blocks
15. Heavy cream – ½ cup
16. Sugar – 2 tablespoons
17. Butter – 1 tablespoon

For the topping –

18. Salted pistachios – 10-12
19. Orange zest – 1 orange

UTENSILS/EQUIPMENT:

1. Sieve
2. Mixing bowl
3. Whisk
4. Grater
5. Grinder
6. Bundt mould/any other cake mould
7. OTG

 RECIPE:

For the dark chocolate and orange cake –

1. Set the OTG to pre-heat at 180 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.
2. Take a big mixing bowl and place a sieve on it.
3. Sieve the all-purpose flour, ragi flour, salt, milk powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda through it.
4. Mix everything well.

5. In a mixer jar, add the brown sugar and curd and blend them.
6. Wash an orange and zest the peel with a grater. Keep aside.
7. Now squeeze the juice of about two oranges to get a cup of orange juice.
8. Grate the dark chocolate with a fine grater and add it to the dry ingredients.
9. Add in the orange juice, the sugar – curd mix to the dry ingredients, and mix everything with a whisk.
10. Next, add a few drops of vanilla essence and olive oil and fold into the cake batter with light hands.

11. Grease the bundt mould with a little oil and dust it with a little flour.
12. Pour in the batter and tap twice to remove any air bubbles.
13. Place it in the preheated OTG/oven for about 20 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius and then at about 140 degrees for another 20 minutes. I also turned on only a single top rod for the last 20 minutes to reduce the heat.
14. Let it cool inside for some time and then prick it with a toothpick to see if it has baked properly.

For the dark chocolate sauce –

15. Take a heavy bottom pan and pour a little heavy cream on low heat.
16. Add 4 small blocks of dark chocolate and keep stirring continuously.
17. Add in a little sugar and butter as well and take it off the heat once the chocolate has melted well.
18. Let it cool for about 4-5 minutes before pouring on the cake.

For the toppings and final assembly –

19. Place the cake on a plate or serving tray and pour the chocolate sauce generously.
20. Add some crushed salted pistachios and orange zest (from before) to garnish the cake.

Serve fresh and enjoy.