Petite Eggless Triple Chocolate Orange Cakes ... and a virtual walk through Old Delhi

Petite Eggless Triple Chocolate Orange Cakes … every bit as delicious as they sound. Deep, moist, chocolaty and quite pretty, these were such fun to bring together. A small pastry experiment of sorts, the chocolate orange pairing really shines here.

I found these eclair molds while sorting out my bakeware the other day, pretty dessert molds I had bought from Old Delhi almost 10 years ago, asking to be used. Old Delhi with all its madness and mayhem, the crowds and cacophony, the dusty old buildings, the colour and the energy has always pulled me in.

I love walking the streets of the old city, picking odd bits and bobs from here and there, props and bakeware I often never end up using. Heavy on the wallet too as temptation always gets the better of me, yet I just can’t get enough. I long to go back every now and then, but haven’t for over a year now because of the pandemic.

The steel baking molds were from my first visit to Old Delhi, a little shop I found tucked away behind a banyan tree. I returned to that shop in Lal Kuan several times over the years picking up more bakeware, each time making better choices I think!

Baking tins, dessert rings, bread knives, bread molds, muffin trays, icing sets, pastry bags … and lots more in a little shop in Old Delhi. Take the Metro to Chawri Bazaar, and a rickshaw from there. {They seem to have a website too now.}
Matchless Machine Tools, 1730/B, Bazar Lal Kuan, Delhi 110006. Mohd Kashif, Ctc 011 4909 8499 | 093111 50022 | 098213 41808
{Deals in bakery ware, cake mould, bread mould, muffin tray, pizza tray, cake stand, halwai ware, kitchen ware}

Ten years of storage and no care whatsoever shows how good the quality of the steel is. They are almost as good as new and are suddenly seeing light of day. The lockdown, pandemic, restricted outings, more time on hand can work wonders!

Looking at these eclair molds inspired me to bake pastry though I didn’t want to do a choux. I find eggs quite smelly these days, and have developed a leaning towards eggless bakes. To cut a long story short, these little cakes happened!

There’s always room to experiment a little more when you have a jar of Nutella staring you in the face, so in went a couple of spoons of Nutella as well. I experimented twice and the second time was really nice. A few tweaks later, some berries to garnish, here you are. These Petite Eggless Triple Chocolate Orange Cakes as delightful and flavourful as can be.

The portion is quite generous too. One pastry feeds two, maybe three even! I also like that it slices really well, so baked as a larger cake it might make for a good tea cake. Sounds like an idea for the future, but for now, do try these Petite Eggless Triple Chocolate Orange Cakes. We really enjoyed them, and hopefully you will too.

Petite Eggless Triple Chocolate Orange Cakes

Petite Eggless Triple Chocolate Orange Cakes ... every bit as delicious as they sound. Deep, moist, chocolaty and quite pretty, these turned out to be such fun to bring together,

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 1 10

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

Chocolate cake

Dry Mix
100 g all purpose flour {maida}
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
Wet Mix
120 ml milk room temperature
50 g Ghee/ clarified butter melted, tepid
70 g Nutella
50 g brown sugar
10 g cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp Cointreau {or steeped coffee, orange marmalade thinned with water/strained}

Light chocolate ganache

75 g cream
50 g dark chocolate, 54% chopped fine
1 tbsp Cointreau

Chocolate topping

100 g dark chocolate, 54%
30 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup
Few drops vanilla extract

Instructions

Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 170C
Line 2 oval eclair shaped dessert molds with parchment paper, and wrap the bottoms firmly with foil. Place on a baking tray. You could bake these in a small loaf pan or round tin too though it might take longer to bake.
Mix together all the ingredients for the dry mix in a bowl.
Heat the clarified butter/ghee and milk in the microwave or in a saucepan.
Whisk in the Nutella, brown sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla, then fold in the dry mix just until there are no dry bits left.
Transfer to prepared molds and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes/until the tester comes out dry.
Take out of the oven and immediately steep the hot cakes with a few spoons of Cointreau. Alternatively, strong brewed coffee will work. You could also heat some marmalade with a little water, then strain and use.
Leave the cakes to cool completely, then frost.
{I left the cakes in the same molds to get the ganache to take the same shaped}

Light chocolate ganache

Place the chocolate in a bowl, Heat the cream to almost boiling and pour over. Allow to stand for 5-7 minutes, then stir until smooth. Whisk in 1 tbsp of Cointreau {optional}, else add some orange zest.
If you are steeping the cakes with brewed coffee, you could add 1 tsp instant coffee to the ganache to tie in the flavours.
Top the cooled cakes with ganache and refrigerate until set

Chocolate topping

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and gently melt over a double boiler until smooth and satiny. Whisk with a spoon now and then until cool.
Once cool and still flowing, pour over the set ganache.
Garnish as required and leave to set for about 10 minutes.

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