Black Forest Cake - Egg Less

Thanks to the "Cherry Tree" in front of our apartment for the inspiration, also for reminding us our childhood when we used to pick fruits during its season, mostly its Mango's in my place.

My Achachen/Dad was very much interested in planting fruit - trees & vegetable's and I remember each time he enjoys a fruit he would throw its seeds to the soil saying let it be fruitful, I never understood what it means then but now with age and maturity , I realize what my dad valued was not just enjoying a home -grown fruit but to show an example be fruitful to the best of our abilities in the midst of constraints.
We still have the mango trees @ our home and I can proudly tell my kids and my Grand kids if am lucky to see them, that it was planted by my Dad , not sure if they will value it as I do but still that will make me happy for sure  :)

Though we could  pick a hand full of cherries, it vanished within minutes so I had to use canned cherries to make this cake.
Heard my friend saying that she loves Black forest cake while we were picking the cherries and so I decided to make the same for her, because she's a vegetarian, tried Egg Less Black Forest Cake.
Haven't tried much Egg less cake recipes , so wanted to experiment different recipes,this is the second time that I am trying to make an egg less Black Forest cake , first time it came out well but I forgot to take its pictures,
this time I made it with a different recipe but the cake came out too soft to handle.
I was determined to put up this in my blog today hence I managed to take some click's  of today's cake which I have posted here.

However the recipe given here  is what I tried initially which came out good.
Slightly Adapted from Here - that's a you-tube link , do check the same if you are planning to make this cake.

Ingredients 

All Purpose flour - 1 and 1/4 cup
Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
Coffee Powder - 1/2 tsp (I used instant coffee powder)
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup
Butter Milk - 1 and 1/4 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

For the Frosting and the filling -

* Cherries - a hand full
* Sugar syrup or orange juice - 1/4 cup Approx ( use the sugar syrup in which the cherries are preserved) or else use juice from 1 small orange with 1 Tb Sp sugar added to it)
* Whipping cream - 1 cup
* Confectioner's Sugar - 1/4 cup
* May use shaved chocolate pieces -(I didn't use)

Method - for the cake 

* Preheat the Oven to 350 Degree F / 180 C

* Sift together All purpose flour + Baking Powder + Baking Soda + Cocoa Powder + Coffee Powder + Salt - Keep aside

* In a bowl beat butter + Condensed Milk + Sugar till well blended , add in the vanilla essence and continue beating.

* Add the sifted flour mixture and Buttermilk alternatively to the above mixture (Butter and sugar mixture) use a spoon to mix all ingredients well.

* Pour this batter to 2 nicely greased  6 inch round cake pans , I used foil pan's.
(makes 2 small round cakes)

* Bake in 350 F for 1/2 an hour (Plus or Minus 5 minutes depending on the Oven) / Insert a tooth pick or a fork to check if done before taking'em out.

Cool the cake completely before spreading the cream as other wise it may melt over the cake and you'll spoil your day :)

For the Frosting 

Beat the Whipping cream with confectioner's sugar till it holds stiff peaks , keep aside.

May Cut each cakes in to 2 (for more layers), mash and crumble lightly 1 thin layer of the cake or use the cake crust (for Decoration - use this crushed layer to decorate the outside of the cake, may omit this step and use shaved chocolate pieces to instead )

If its difficult to cut/layer each cake , leave it as it is as anyways you'll get a two layered cake , brush sugar syrup or orange juice on one side of a cake , then spread the whipped cream over and top it with the cherries , place the other cake over this and spread the sugar syrup or orange juice over the next layer. when all 3 layers are done , cover the whole cake with the whipped cream and place the crushed cake pieces or the shaved chocolate on the sides. Decorate with cherries and enjoy !

Watching Team USA play against Belgium now
Hope they wins :)

Notes :
          Watch All Recipes YouTube Link Here to make Black Forest cake with Egg's.
           It was from their idea of frosting that I adapted here  (as they have used the cake crust itself to decorate the cake instead of shaved chocolates)