Ingredients:
5 eggs (separated to yolks and whites)
75 g all-purpose flour or maida
35 g unsweetened cocoa powder
140 g milk (I used full fat milk)
65 g flavourless vegetable oil
120 g caster sugar or superfine sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
First separate the eggs with all the whites in a large bowl and the yolks in a small bowl, keep in the refrigerator till needed. Ensure that no yolk gets into the whites or else they will not whip up.
Line a 10- or 11-inch loaf pan or a 9-inch square or round pan. You can also choose to not line it if you are accustomed to making sponge cakes, but I would advice beginners to line the pan with parchment, do not oil or butter the pan. (Baking in a water bath: this is not absolutely necessary but if you wish to not have cracks, baking in a water bath helps to prevent them to a certain extent, however, I do it as per my mood/convenience as cracks do not affect the taste of the cake.) Preheat the oven to 150C.
In a saucepan, heat the oil just till it is mildly hot then add the cocoa powder and stir well to combine.
Now add the flour and continue to mix till smooth.
Pour the milk little by little and mix to combine (if the mixture appears grainy, it’s probably because it is cold milk but it will be fine do not try to mix too much).
Now add the egg yolks (ensure that the oil is no longer hot or else you will cook and scramble the eggs and we do not want that). Whisk the yolks in, the batter will be smooth. Set it aside.
Take the bowl containing egg whites, add the salt and start whipping them at a low speed. When you start to see bubbles (like soap) add half of the sugar and whip for a few minutes, then add the remaining sugar. Keep whipping till the whites have tripled in volume and are white and glossy and just reached stiff peak stage (see the YouTube video for reference).
Now add two or three spoonfuls of this meringue to the chocolate batter and whisk well to combine, you can be a bit vigorous here. Once the chocolate batter looks lighter and the whites are well incorporated, pour it to the bowl containing the remaining whipped egg whites.
This step is crucial, refer to the video for folding method. Gently start folding the chocolate batter with the meringue, be gentle as we need all the air. Once it is well combined and you do not see any white streaks, pour this into the prepared pan.
Gently tap the pan on the counter to remove larger air bubbles and smoothen the top.
Bake at 150 C for 55-50 minutes, if you are baking in a water bath, it might take longer.
You know the cake is done when it has domed up beautifully and increased in volume, it will definitely take a minimum of 55 minutes to bake since we set it at a low temperature of 150 C (assuming that your oven is running at that temperature, using an oven thermometer).
Once baked, take it out of the oven and gently tap the pan on your counter one or two times and then let it cool for a little bit before you take it out of the pan while warm (if you used parchment paper it should be fairly easy to remove, if you haven’t lined the pan, you need to let the cake cool completely upside down: illustrated drawing below)
Enjoy! If you live in a hot and humid place, consume the cake in 2 days and refrigerate it.
Bakesalotlady™ 