Ragi Chocolate Cake with chocolate ganache - A decadent treat to celebrate....

Ragi chocolate cake was made for the husband's birthday ! As with every happy occasion, t demands a celebration & a healthy one at that. Knowing his preference for non-maida / refined products I referenced Padhu's recipe which had a decadent looking cake with ragi (finger Millet) & wholewheat .. 

I even substituted sugar with jaggery and it was a hit ! Guess it couldn't get any healthier than this for the special day. This is my go-to cake for any celebration and every time people have been stunned when i told them it had a finger Millet base. So go on, and make it a healthy celebration with this luscious looking and very tasty chocolate cake.

Baking Marathon Day 18 : Ragi Chocolate Cake

Recipe type : Cakes 

Course: Dessert / Snack

Serves : 6

Prep time - 15 mins | bake time - 30-32 mins | Standing time : 1 hour (to set the cake for frosting) 

Makes :  one 7 inch cake 

What you would need:

• Ragi flour (finger millet flour) – ¾ cup
• Wholewheat flour – ¾ cup
• Powdered jaggery – 3/4 cup
• Baking Soda – ¾ tsp
• Cocoa powder – 3 TBSP ( I used dutch processed)
• Salt – a pinch
• Yoghurt – ¾ cup
• Milk – approx. ¼ cup (I actually used about 1/3 cup)
• flavourless oil – ¼ cup (I used Canola)
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
• Chopped nuts – ¼ cup (optional)

Topping / Chocolate Sauce

• Milk-1 cup 
• Cocoa powder-4 tbsp 
• Instant coffee powder – ½ tsp
• Sugar –2 TBSP
• Butter - 2 TBSP
• Oil - 2 tsp

How to:

1. Sieve the flours, baking soda , cocoa powder. In another bowl, mix powdered jaggery and curd well. Add Milk, oil, essence and mix well. Let both the mixtures be lump free.
2. Add the sieved flour mixture into the liquid little by little, without beating a lot, gently fold to a smooth batter free of any lumps. If adding nuts, roll them in a tsp of flour and mix now.
3. Meanwhile preheat oven to 180 C. Pour this into a greased 7 inch round pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-32 mins (original recipe used 45 mins but my oven heats up pretty fast, so it was done in 32 mins flat).
4. Let the cake cool completely, then invert to a cooling rack and let it cool till your frosting / sauce is ready. Chill the cake for 1 hour with a cling wrap on.

For the frosting :

1. In a pan, mix all ingredients for the sauce till lump free. Once it starts boiling, reduce it to simmer and let it reach a sauce like consistency. Let this also cool down to room temperature. 
2. Slowly spoon the sauce over the cake and let it drip down on all sides (My kids were very impatient and didn’t let the cake cool completely, but we licked off the dripping frosting off the cake J)
3. Top with any sugar pearls and serve

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

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