Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake … a nostalgic favourite with jaggery & ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’

“Food is a gift and should be treated reverentially,
romanced and ritualized and seasoned with memory”
Chris Bohialian

Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake … a nostalgic favourite with ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’. It brings back memories of  the quintessential ‘malai’ or ‘top of the milk cream’ cakes from yesteryear. Decades ago, every Indian household use to boil milk, collect the top of the milk cream, use some as is and  make sweet butter of the rest. The more adventurous ones used to bake a delicious homey comforting cake with ‘malai’. This is my rendition of those good old days!

I am possibly among the few who still boil milk everyday, collect the ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’ and religiously make sweet butter at home. Some butter finds itself being clarified into ghee, while some cream escapes into cakes like these. I first made this cake for Saffola Fit Foodie, and loved the way it turned out.

Just a few days back, the very large hearted Cookaroo shared some fabulous Danish cocoa powder with me. How generous can generous be, but she is! So is the very sweet Amrita who gave the boxes of cocoa to her! One look at my stash, and it was time to bake. I did the Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake first, this time using gur {jaggery} instead of sugar, and adding walnuts too. {Gur/jaggery is a type of unrefined, solid brown sugar made from boiling sugar cane juice until dry. It has deep, earthy undertones}.

I also experimented with some cookies, wholegrain and oats, and hopefully they will see light of day on the blog soon. I know the poor blog is being neglected, but believe you me, it is just too cold up here in the North to do anything. Hopefully this too shall pass, the weather will become a little bearable and I shall begin typing sweet nothings again! That’s not to say I am not baking. I am. Loads!

[print_this]Recipe: Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake

Summary: Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake … a nostalgic favourite with ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’. It brings back memories of  the quintessential ‘malai’ or ‘top of the milk cream’ cakes from yesteryear. This is my rendition of those good old days!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1hour, 15minutes
Ingredients:

• 130g top of the milk cream / malai
• 175g gur/jaggery {or brown sugar}
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175g whole wheat flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 150ml plain buttermilk
• 75g dark chocolate chips
• 75g walnuts, chopped fine

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
2. Grease lightly a 9 X 5” loaf tin. Line the bottom with baking parchment.
3. Sift the whole wheat flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt twice. Reserve in a bowl.
4. In a large bowl, with an electric beater, beat the malai and gur until light. Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the vanilla extract.
5. Add 1/3 of the dry mix. Fold in with a spatula. Add 1/3 of the buttermilk, fold in. Then add another ⅓ of the dry mix, fold in. Fold in remaining buttermilk, followed with the remaining dry mix.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts, reserving 1tbsp of walnuts for the top.
7. Turn into prepared tin, sprinkle with reserved walnuts and bake for about an hour/ until tester comes out clean.
8. Cool in tin for about 20 minutes, then gently take out of tin and place on cooling rack.
9. Slice warm or serve at room temperature.

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