Chocolate Garam Masala Cake with Garam Masala Orange Vanilla Whipped Frosting …& Garam Masala Gingerbread House #GetSmartWithAlexa

Chocolate Garam Masala Cake with Garam Masala Orange Vanilla Whipped Frosting and Garam Masala Gingerbread House. The holiday season always gets me into a fast track mode of baking. Of late I have been getting numerous requests both on the blog and on social media for baking recipes, especially cakes and cookies that don’t use eggs.

So, I decided to make a fun Christmas bake and tried to go eggless. After much thought, I figured a chocolate cake might be a good place to begin. Do you know how to make life simpler when you have a million and more things to do?

SIMPLE! Turn to the Echo Spot {or Alexa} of course! Since I had so much more to do that morning, I let Alexa find an eggless chocolate cake recipe for me. #GetSmartWithAlexa… and this is what I got!!

From asking Alexa for an eggless chocolate cake recipe, to deciding what to make, I took about 30 minutes. That included quickly checking the pantry, reading out a list which was quickly jotted down by the smart device.

Amazingly enough, on asking it to shop the list, it got onto Amazon and scanned the store for items I needed. Alexa first looked up Prime listed items, just what I always do. I was sorted. Coconut sugar, flour, cocoa powder, parchment paper!

The cake was soon in the oven, from this recipe for an Eggless Chocolate Cake found by Alexa. I made  a few changes of course which is quintessential me. I added garam masala to spice the cake, used some whole wheat flour, coconut sugar instead of normal, and threw in a handful of chopped walnuts! The Echo Spot has a snappy digital touchscreen that works great in the kitchen. Simple to figure out and most handy too.

The timer was set, songs were played, the timer went off, cake was done! What a breeze!

And then, what’s Christmas without carols. Good old Alexa belted out some of my favourite Christmas music that is making our home so warm and fun this holiday season. White Christmas , Hallelujah, Last Christmas, Joy to the World, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, This Christmas, I’ll be home for Christmas. Thanks to the touch screen, I constantly replayed Hallelujah till I knew every lyric by heart ... 

I worked the poor Echo Spot to the bone! Decided to get the sourdough going as well, which meant a second timer as it needed to be proofed for 2 hours. Loved how easy this is to do, and so clear on the screen. I even named this  timer ♥! Multiple timers are the best thing ever!

That barely took any time, so I decided to make an eggless version of my own Christmas Wholewheat Gingerbread Cookies for good measure. Turn to Alexa for substitutes/alternative ingredients.   “Alexa, what is a substitute for eggs in baking?

Such a great resource, and SO CONVENIENT especially when you are knee deep in batter! So much you can ask too. Spot on!

“Alexa, how many calories in a banana?”
“Alexa, add atta to my shopping list.”
“Alexa, can you buy chocolate chips on Amazon?”

Also leaves you time for so much more.  Like adding a sweet gingerbread house to top my cake!

Think of how handy this little device can be! Packs quite a punch …and is happy to sing all the time too! Whaaaaaat???

I decided to push my luck further. Since I’ve been baking for years, I’ve done some complicated baking, so more often than never, my recipes are in grams. Cut to now, some people have limited time, want hassle free quick to make recipes.

I jotted down the recipe telling Alexa what I was doing, then remembered later that might as well ask Alexa to convert it to cup measures! So here you go, an eggless Christmas Garam Masala Gingerbread recipe! #AskAlexa

Oh and if you’d like to know about the frosting, it’s a whipped cream Filling & frosting and you should try it for sure. I added orange extract, a scraped vanilla bean and 1 tsp of garam masala with about 3-4 tbsp icing sugar to a cup of whipping cream. The flavours screamed Christmas!

Chocolate Garam Masala Cake with Garam Masala Orange Vanilla Whipped Frosting ...& Garam Masala Gingerbread House #GetSmartWithAlexa

These 100% Whole Wheat Garam Masala Gingerbread Men bring cheer to the cookie platter and make for great gifts. They are crisp, sweet, spicy and keep well in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks in a cool place. Garam Masala adds great unexpected addictive flavour to these!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 30 cookies

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup whole wheat flour/aata
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 cup ghee/room temperature
• 1/2 cup, scant brown sugar
• 3-4 tsp Greek yogurt as required to bring the dough together

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Sift the whole wheat flour, garam masala powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
• In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour mix to the clarified butter & pulse briefly to mix.
• Tip in the sugar, pulse. Then add the Greek yogurt, a spoon at a time, and pulse briefly to make a firm yet pliable dough. Allow to rest for 30 minutes wrapped in cling wrap.
• Roll out to ¼” thickness & cut with desired cookie cutters.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes till they smell done and the edges start turning golden-brown.
• Cool on cookie racks.

Keyword baking, chocolate, dessert, eggless, homemade, sweet