Eggless Microwave Chocolate Cake

So you always wanted to bake a cake, but do not have a convection oven. You do have a microwave oven but you never thought of making a cake in it. Wait. Look at this cake.

Soft, spongy and super-easy to make. Take a deep breath. And get started.

Ingredients :
 1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾  tsp baking soda
½  cup oil
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk (room temperature)
2 tbsp water

Method:

In a small bowl, add all purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and mix well. [Make sure the flour and cocoa powder do not have lumps. If they do, then using a large sieve, sift them first].

In a large bowl, with a manual whisk or large fork, mix oil, sugar and vanilla. Add milk and whisk thoroughly into  a smooth solution [get rid of all the lumps. Scrape the sides as well].

To this, add the flour mixture little by little whisking as you add. Add water and mix thoroughly (scraping the sides) for 10 to 15 seconds to form a smooth cake batter.

Grease the insides of a large microwave safe round bowl with oil or cooking spray liberally. Pour the cake batter into the bowl. The cake batter should fill half (or less than half) of the bowl. Otherwise it will spill out.

Microwave for 6 to 7 minutes in regular microwave mode (NOT convection mode).
You will see moist spots in the center and sides of the cake. No worries.
Switch the microwave off and let the cake remain untouched for another 10 to 15 minutes. This is the standing time where the cake will continue to cook even after you turn the microwave off, with the heat generated within it.
[If you wait for the cake to cook completely before you turn the microwave off, the cake will continue to cook during the standing time and will become rubbery].

If you plan to invert the cake, allow to cool for another 20 to 25 minutes. [The bottom of the bowl should not be hot.] Then place a large plate or cake board on top of the cake bowl. Turn the bowl upside down and tap the bottom (which is now on top). The cake will slowly slide onto your cake board/ plate. Remove the bowl carefully.

You will not get beautiful neat sides like oven baked cakes. You can cover this up with a chocolate glaze. A quicker solution would be to frost the cake with Nutella like I have done here.


Chocolate Glaze :
In a saucepan or microwave, melt 2oz (57g) chopped baking chocolate (or chocolate chips) with 1 tbsp milk. Remove, mix well and add 4 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp water and 3/4 tsp vanilla essence. Mix well.
[Amount of sugar depends on whether you use semi-sweet or milk chocolate (I used semi-sweet), so adjust accordingly. Add more water if you prefer a thinner glaze.].
[I actually used 3 oz chocolate, which gave me too much glaze, so I scaled down the proportion in the recipe. Feel free to adjust your glaze the way you like it]. Cool.

Pour the glaze on top of the cake and watch it as it slides down the sides and oozes onto the bottom.
Refrigerate the cake for an hour or two to let the glaze set.

So what did I do with the extra glaze? See for yourself.

Go ahead, give it a try. Who knows, for the next birthday in your family, your cake may be sitting at the centre-table!

Check my Eggless Microwave Coffee Cake.