Chocolate Cake, Have A Healthier Valentine's Day

Love is not finding someone to live with; it's finding someone you can't live without. I find this statement to be 100% true, as there can be many many people with whom you can live but there can only be one special without whom you can’t. A lot of people have tried defining love, however, I don’t understand how love can be defined into words. Love is way more than words- right???

The countdown for Valentine’s Day has begun.  Markets are loaded with greeting cards, themed chocolates, exclusive jewelry- what you are buying for that someone special? When it comes to gifts I am not very feminine; I mean I don’t like teddy bears, balloons or flowers; I find them waste of money, I would rather prefer something that I can use in my day to day life. Example a piece of jewellery, watch, dress, shoes, gadget....anything that I can use; I hope my husband reads this *wink* *wink*

Before moving ahead I will like to share some facts about Valentine’s Day.

• More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold for Valentine's Day each year.
• About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in USA alone each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
• 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
• Every Valentine's Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.
•  About 3 percent of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
• The most fantastic gift of love is the Taj Mahal in India. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife.

So some exchange gifts, some plan for holidays...I have the simple formula- A way to man’s heart is through his stomach.  We both are not huge Valentine’s Day celebrator; who needs ONLY one day to celebrate love. We both never go out on Valentine’s Day, not even for dinner. Reason??? Well, all the restaurants are overcrowded and way too pricey. Instead we have fun at home with some red mulled wine, food and a movie. And we will carry on with the same ritual even this year.

I prepare the whole menu in such way that I am not in the kitchen half of the time. I choose dishes that I can make beforehand and just have to heat it up before serving. As far the dessert goes, we equally love chocolate. So it has to be a chocolate dish but this time I hunted to give it some healthy twist.That is why I experimented making a healthier cake before 14^th Feb. There are two healthy variations in this recipe, one- it is made with whole wheat flour and secondly, I used only milk instead of butter, cream or condensed milk with 90% dark chocolate for making ganache.

The cake was super moist and even chocolate ganche tasted scrumptious. I completed with colourful sprinkles and two red hearts. Taken as a whole, the cake looked cute with luscious chocolate around. Over all, I think everyone must bake this cake for Valentine’s Day because it is very important to keep the heart of that someone special healthy. Love cannot be measured in things, but I tried anyway.

Ingredients:

For cake

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour/Atta

1/4 cup Sugar

2 large eggs

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder

1/4 teaspoon Instant Coffee

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

1/4 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

2-3 teaspoon hot water

1/4 cup butter

100 grams

For Chocolate Ganache:

100 grams 80-90% chocolate

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Method:

For cake:

Start with the oven. Pre heat to 180C/350F.

Greece the cake pan and keep it ready

Mix the cocoa powder with the coffee with the hot water

Next mix sugar, butter and eggs till sugar dissolves. Then add vanilla essence to it.

Sift the bicarbonate soda and salt with the flour twice.

Now fold the sifted dry ingredients into the wet (eggs and cocoa powder mixture). Do not over mix.

Put the batter in the loaf tin and bake at 180C till 15-20 minutes or till when knife inserted it comes out clean.

For Chocolate Ganache:

Chop the chocolate bars into very small pieces. (This will help it to melt fast)

On a low heat, boil the milk and mix cocoa powder in it.

When milk comes to boil, add in the chopped chocolate and mix. Mix till it becomes smooth and no lumps are remains.

Notes:

Make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature.

For eggless version, omit eggs and use ¼ cup of yogurt/curd.

I used whole wheat flour; same recipe can be followed with all purpose flour as well.

Double the recipe if you want to make larger cake.

Mixture or only milk, white or dark chocolate can be use to make the sauce. Even chocolate chips can be used.

Decoration ideas:

Fresh cream can also be topped on cake. Like HERE

Or cover this cake with mango mousse. Like HERE

Grated chocolate, fresh fruits, candied dry fruits can also be chosen for decoration.

Taste:

Chocolaty, moist and healthy

“You are my best friend as well as my lover, and I do not know which side of you I enjoy the most. I treasure each side, just as I have treasured our life together.” These are the lines from the most romantic novel- The Notebook