Sunday’s surprise – Eggless Chocolate Cake With Hazelnut Topping
I forget a lot of things but I rarely forget to buy eggs. If you have eggs at home, you always have a meal and you can make a lot of nice sweet things if you just add a few staple ingredients. So I felt almost upset Sunday when I realized that I had no eggs. And on Sundays I need my eggs because I always bake something for us to gorge on and sometimes more than one thing. I felt lost but then I remembered something from my past, I once had a short fling with a young man who was allergic to eggs and his ex-girlfriend made him eggless cakes all the time. No, not true, not all the time but probably so, our fling was too short to include more than one cake you see. Remembering that did not make me sentimental but made me google and yes and sure, there they were: eggless cakes a gogo! After spending some time reading different recipes I decided to make my own eggless chocolate cake and here it is. I have to confess that I didn’t really expect much of it but I was wrong – it is moist, it is rich and it tastes great! And best of all, there are no eggs so it is vegan friendly if you substitute with soya milk or oat milk or something like that as well as perfect for people allergic to eggs (obviously) and people who forgot to buy eggs! I hope you like it!
EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH HAZELNUT TOPPING
240 ml/1 cup milk
240 ml/1 cup water
350 ml/1,5 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt
120 ml/0,5 cup vegetable oil
6 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon, very optional, I just have this chocolate and cinnamon thing going right now
2 tsp baking powder
480 ml/2 cups ap flour
240 ml/1 cup wholewheat flour
75 g/2.6 oz hazelnuts, toasted and chopped for the topping
Mix milk, water, salt and sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add oil. (I think it is smart to dissolve the sugar before mixing it with the dry ingredients because I have this idea that the sugar gets ‘anchored’ with the eggs but without them, I am afraid that it will sink to the bottom. Just my personal theory)
Sift all the dry ingredients apart from the chopped nuts and then add them to the liquid while you whisk. Stop when you have a nice, smooth batter.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured oven proof form, mine was 24x32cm and sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts evenly over the top. Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) 30 minutes or until ready, i.e. the wooden stick you gently press into it comes up dry. Though I bet it is nice if it is a little bit goey too…
A wonderful cake! I’d love to have a slice with a good cuppa… ;-P
Lovely pictures as always!
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Rosa, always so nice to see you here! xox
My world that looks good!! I’m going to give it a go this morning.
Oh Bron xoxo
Golly for an eggless Sunday, you really did yourself proud! Now, if I could make that without gluten, I could be a hero!
Tell me when you manage that and I will crown you the Queen of Bread Baking Babes!
Your recipe is great, the picture also, I enjoy reading your blog.
I make a similar cake, but in the cake I put 3 tablespoons apricote jam. When the cake is baked, pour over cake 3 tablespoons of jam, return to the oven for 3 minutes and put it over the cake melted chocolate.
bye-bye…
Thank you Svetlana! I will try your suggestion next time I make it, it sounds very good!
Vegans can replace the milk with soya milk. I find that eggless cakes stay moister than cakes with eggs. I’d like to know if this is because of the lack of eggs or some other reason.
Looks a great cake. Beautiful photos as usual.
Thanks, you are so right, I forgot about the milk (how could I?) and have now added your suggestion! And yes I think you are right, this cake was moist to its last crumb!
Mmmm these look more luscious than cake, more like brownies! I once made an eggless chocolate cake and, like you, was surprised at how rich and gooey it was. Now I have to try your wonderful recipe!
Thanks baby, ok so I make you cake and you make mine? Deal?
Holy moly, that IS moist looking!! Gorgeous. Love the draped white backdrop too – dreamy
aww thanks Jeanne!
Never made an eggless cake, but of course with you backing this recipe up, it would be my choice to include in my repertoire. Beautiful shots, as usual…
Thank you Sally, that is truly a beautiful compliment!
I forgot eggs this weekend too – but borrowed some from the neighbors – I guess I need the eggs in my cake as Like you I feared the cakes would not be moist. I rather have yours with a cup of tea and hear more about your fling and the girlfriend who baked ;o)
nonono no more about that fling, he’s now a psychiatrist I think. But do remember this cake next time you forget to get eggs!
This looks AMAZING! I wish I had a piece right now to enjoy:)
Lovely photos, as usual. I was just lamenting the presence of only a single egg in the house–what a coincidence that I then read about your eggless predicament. Yes, cakes can be made without eggs. (I was introduced to this concept by Lorna Sass, whose excellent “Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen” I’ve been using for many years; it’s a vegan cookbook–published long before that became so trendy–and she substitutes ground flaxseeds, whipped with water, for egg in cake and muffin recipes.) Anyway, your cake (and the recipe for it) looks good. I imagine much of the cake’s moistness is owing to its sugar content, however. It would be interesting to halve the sugar quantity and taste the difference. I love Svetlana’s suggestion to top the cake with apricot jam and melted chocolate! –Reminds me of a wonderful Sachertorte I ate not long ago…
Nice to see you here Lilian! Yes there are a lot of sugar but it is a huge cake really. Thanks for the title, I’ll look that up. I do have a few vegetarian/vegan cookbooks from my time as a vegetarian so I think I will take a look in them and see if there are any recipes of eggless cakes in them, thank for the idea!
The cakes look wonderful. I love the hazelnut and chocolate combination.
Thank you Joy!
I made this the other day and we really loved the addition of cinnamon and would really recommend it if anyone wasn’t sure whether or not to add it. In hindsight I wished I’d chopped the hazelnuts finer, with the soft cake the large bits of hard hazelnut can hurt the top of your mouth and gum… lol but maybe that was because I was noshing on it too fast like an iggy piggy! :@)
Bron, I’m so happy you made it and liked it too!
Good to run out of things sometimes just to challenge yourself. You did well. Maybe even better than if you had eggs! cheers…x wendy
I love the hazelnut topping!
Beautiful photography! Makes me want to run to the kitchen and make something with hazelnuts.