Eggless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Whipped Cream Frosting

I baked two layers of eggless chocolate cake with raspberry whipped cream frosting for a special occasion recently. I decided not to cover the cake with a rich and heavy frosting or icing, because my family is not a fan of heavy frosting. So I chose to decorate the cake with some light, fluffy whipped cream flavored with raspberry jam. 

I baked two layers of 9" by 13" cakes, and sandwiched the two layers by smearing 1/2 cup of raspberry jam. Overall, the cake was not heavy or cloyingly sweet or buttery. It was also moist and tender inside, much to my relief. The only thing I wasn't satisfied with was the crust, but given that I didn't cover the entire cake with icing, and I had to tweak the recipe to keep it eggless, I guess it was inevitable. 

After all my research on eggless baking, this is what I found out:

• If you are baking without eggs, oil is a better substitute for fat than butter. It keeps the cake moist and fluffy for a long time. And it's true. We had left over cake for almost a week, and even the refrigerated cake was moist. The inside of the cake never dried out.
• If you are using oil instead of butter, the cake's crust will be slightly coarse and dry (especially the four edges). Butter helps to form a light, airy crust. Hence, the compromise if you choose oil. An easy solution is to slice off the crust and edges before decorating the cake.
• Butter constitutes 80% fat and 20% milk solids and water. So if you are not using butter to bake, then introduce some water and milk solids to make up for the lack of milk solids & liquid that butter brings to the cake

Therefore, I used oil to keep the cake moist. And the cake was moist (if you ignored the crusty edges)

Since I used oil, I introduced some milk and water to make up for the loss of milk solids and water due to not using butter.

Why use hot water and not just room temperature water? I don't know. Cake experts in cake forums recommend hot water, even boiling water. Even Hershey's recommends it.

Here's how I made it.

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients for one 9" by 13" cake:

1. 4.5 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3 cups sugar
3. 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4. 2 cups hot water
5. 1 cup milk (at room temperature)
6. 1 cup vegetable oil
7. 3 teaspoons baking soda
8. 1/2 teaspoon salt
9. 2.5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
10. 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (intensifies the flavor of chocolate)
11. 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Butter and flour a 9 by 13 cake pan. Please use a metal pan if possible. I think the cake's crust gets drier when baked in a glass pan. Maybe I am imagining it, but one layer of cake baked in a glass pan turned out dry on the top, but was still moist inside. The other layer of cake baked in a metal pan had a much lighter crust and was moist inside too.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix well. Add sugar and mix.
3. Melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals in the microwave until smooth and lump-free. Add the coffee granules to the melted chocolate and mix well. 
4. Prepare the wet ingredients: Whisk together the milk, melted chocolate & coffee, and vanilla extract. Finally add the oil and whisk well.
5. Now slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently fold until just combined
6. Finally add the hot water and give a final mix until everything is combined. Do not over mix or vigorously mix. It's okay if there are a few small lumps of flour. Over mixing will result in a tough, dense cake.
7. Pour the batter in the cake pan and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour in a 350 F preheated oven until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Place the cake pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Then gently loosen the cake around the edges and carefully invert onto a plate.

Raspberry Whipped Cream Frosting:

1. 1 cup cold whipping cream
2. 1/2 cup raspberry jam or raspberry sauce 
3. 1 teaspoon raspberry extract

Whip the cream till it forms soft-peaks. Add the raspberry jam and raspberry extract, and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks. That's it! Either transfer to a piping bag to pipe out the frosting, or  just slather it on the cake. 

A word of caution: Do not use this frosting if the weather is hot and you expect the cake to be out or at a warm room-temperature for a while. The frosting will melt. Like parts of mine did.

Enjoy!