T O N G U E T I C K L E R S......: Rich moist almost vegan chocolate cake

This was a vegan recipe until I realized that the bar of chocolate I used had milk solids, and because I could not resist a generous dollop of cream on the 'model' cake piece.

What I really like about vegan recipes is that you almost always have the ingredients at home which saves the trouble of writing down the few missing ingredients, the waiting to get them, or sometimes the part where one forgets the recipe because the ingredients are not available at that 'motivating moment'. This cake was made early in the morning at a truly 'm.m' and served as the 'short break snack' for the kids, and a lovely snack it was! I carried some with me to office, and almost every person who tasted asked for the recipe. I felt so tempted to say its all mine but the 'Satyavadi Harishchandra' in me jolted me and I credited Suanne of Chowtimes for it - Suanne, you truly deserve a trophy for this creation!! Half the credit also goes to Priya of Priya's kitchen because I saw her version of Suanne's cake before I saw the original recipe - God bless you Priya for introducing this to me - my kids, husband and I finished the whole cake in a day and a half (Well, not so bad, we did share about 10 pieces with others!!).

I have been on the search for the perfect eggless cake ever since I have banned eggs from my diet, and it had been futile until I came across this. Unlike the earlier eggless cakes that usually turned out dry or tough this one remained moist and soft. The trick is to remove when just done and the middle is still a little sticky. I visited Suanne's beautiful site and drooled over that beautiful creation for sometime. The next morning, I woke up with visions of the cake and decided to make it immediately though it was a working day. Happily for me the ingredients were available in my kitchen, and I could easily substitute those that weren't available.

If you have not yet moved to Priya's or Suanne's site for the recipe, I have reproduced Suanne's recipe here and shown my substitutions in brackets in italics. In the method I have shown mine which is not very different from theirs except for the 'adding the chocolate bit'.

Rich moist chocolate cake

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler adding the 2tbsp. of butter( which is why I reduced the oil).

Whisk the sugar and wet ingredients, i.e hot water, vanilla, vinegar oil and melted chocolate in a large bowl until the sugar is dissolved. It is a pretty runny liquid.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. The resultant batter is runnier than my usual cake batters.

I Poured the batter into three small brownie moulds (of which one is shown here),

and an 8x8 inch prepared pan (I used non-stick so I just poured). Sprinkle the chopped walnuts and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake will be slightly moist when tested with a tooth pick at the centre but on cooling it was just perfect.

The children carried some to school for "short-break" and I took some for my colleagues in office. It was a major hit even with my Rajasthani neighbour - M. Aunty! In fact one of my friends told me to get more if it was left. Sadly by next morning we only a few crumbs left!!