Everyday Musings: Chocolate Snake Cake

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Double Chocolate Coconut Frosting

Recently I have taken to baking in a big way, generally because its a lot of fun and its a great excercise in patience that I oh! so lack. I must however credit much of the interest to my room mate. My interest started when I first saw her make a chocolate cake . Since then I have taken baby steps in making cakes and cookies. I am no where close to being awesome like some of my friends. However I want to think I am getting better. I recently made a vanilla cake with chocolate coconut frosting in the shape of a cake for a birthday party. Here is the receipe.

Egg-less Vanilla Cake:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp - Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tin (400 gm) Condensed Milk
1 stick Butter
3/4 cup Milk
4 tbsp Yogurt
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix it well. In another bowl, mix butter, condensed milk, yogurt, vanilla extract and milk. Mix it well to make sure there are no lumps. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture little by little. Each time beating it well to make sure there are no lumps.

I used a 9 inch cake pan, it however was a little small. So I suggest using a 10 inch cake pan . It is generally suggested to fill the cake pan 3/4th full, so that there is enough space for the cake to rise.Grease the cake pan well. This is important to make sure the cake does not stick to the pan. Grease it well and you can also use waxing paper after greasing. Pour the cake mix in to it. Set the over to 150C and bake for one hour.
Your cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake.

Let the cake cool for 10 -15 minutes. Turn it over in to a turntable or a flat surface.Let the cake cool for 10-15 minutes.

Snake Shape:

To get the snake shape, make a circle in the cake using any container top.Press it in to form the impression. Using a knife dipped in hot water, cut along the impression you made. Once this is done. Make horizontal cuts on the hollow cake to get two semi circles. Now you have all the pieces needed for the cake. Refrigerate the cake before you frost it. This is important so that the frosting sticks to the cake.

Thin layer of chocolate frosting:

You can totally skip this if you want to go for just one layer of frosting.

Ingredients
2 pints low fat whipping cream
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract

Mix the whipping cream and cocoa powder and sugar together. Beat to make sure there aren't any lumps. Use less whipping cream and add more depending on the consistency. The recipe i followed suggested three pints whipping cream and my frosting became too thin. Once your frosting becomes thin, adding more sugar does not thicken it. So add less whipping cream and add more if the frosting is too thick. Add more/less cocoa and sugar based on how the frosting tastes. Skip the coconut extract if you don't like coconut.

Take the cake out from the refrigerator and after making sure that is not warm anymore, apply the frosting on top of it. Keep the cake in the snake formation and apply frosting all over the cake.Use a spatula for ease. Else use anything that has a flat surface that you can use to spread the frosting. Spread the frosting all over the cake. Refrigerate again. I actually let it stay overnight. You don't have to.

Second layer of chocolate frosting

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
2-3 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp evaporated milk
3 tbsp butter

Mix them well together to avoid lumps. Mix until you get a creamy mixture. Add more sugar and cocoa to make the frosting thicker if needed. Like the previous time, spread the frosting evenly over the entire cake with a spatula. Use M and M's , jelly beans, gummy worms to complete the look.