Vegan Upside Down Apple Cake

I avoid eating apples as I feel they constipate. Since,   I had some apples at home , I decided to make this  upside down apple cake.I have borrowed generously from recipe of Apple cinnamon coffee cake & upside down wholewheat apple cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup atta + 1/ 4 cup maida, 1/2 cup sugar + 2 tbsp sugar , 2 medium apples peeled , de seeded & thinly sliced after 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp coffee powder,1 tsp cinnmon powder, 1/4 tsp clove powder, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder, 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 2 tbsp oil, a pinch of salt.

Method : Take a baking vessel.Line it with butter paper. Arrange the wedges on the bottom of the vessel over the butter paper.Mix clove powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, cardamom powder & sugar nicely with a fork.Sprinkle this powder on the apple slices so that all slices are covered with this powder. Bake these apple slices at 180 degrees  centigrade  for 8-10 minutes.Keep aside.

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients namely atta, maida, sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, baking powder, baking soda & alt.Mix with a whisk or fork or spoon many times over, so that, ll dry ingredients are nicely mixed.Keep aside.

Add 3-4 tbsp water to 1 tbsp coffee powder. Mix nicely so that no lumps of coffee remain undissolved. This is the coffee decoction. Keep aside.

In another bowl, mix wet ingredients....applesauce, oil, coffee decoction nicely with spoon or whisk.

Pour this wet ingredient mix into a well made in the dry ingredient mix. Mix all nicely so that a batter is formed. It must have just drop down consistency like idli batter.

Pour this batter over the apple slices which have sprinkled with sugar-clove-cardamom-cinnamon powder. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade or till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

I always bake in microwave mode for 2-4 minutes, even 5 minutes. after this convection baking to make sure that all batter has got cooked.

Put off oven. Let it cool in the oven for half an hour. Remove cake from oven after half am hour. Cool the cake outside oven for another half an hour.

Take a plate & invert the baking vessel on the plate. The cake will drop down. I felt the apple slices were too moist . So I put the cake in vessel & baked in microwave mode for 2.5 minutes.Let it cool for 5 more minutes. Take out the cake on the plate.Cut it into desired shapes & serve.

Tips : I sliced apples into very thin pieces. Apple wedges can be cut instead of slicing apple.After cutting apples into slices or wedges, sprinkle lemon juice to prevent darkening of apple pieces.

The coffee powder used is Nescafe classic. The coffee powder that was remaining in bottle was less than 1 tbsp. Maybe 3/4 tbsp.I used up the whole thing. Since it was less than 1 tbsp, the coffee flavour was there & yet, not pronounced.

I used white granulated sugar to sprinkle on apple slices. In the cake batter, I used nearly 1/4 cup white sugar & the remaining 1/4 cup jaggery sugar. Simply because jaggery sugar that remained to be used was just 1/4 cup.

Kiwi top cake

I had a kiwi in the refrigerator.It was ripe & firm as well.So decided to google a recipe for kiwi cake.

I saw this recipe for an eggless kiwi cake.I tweaked it a little & made a vegan kiwi top cake.

Ingredients, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 1 tbsp flaxseed meal , 1/2 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup jaggery  sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, a kiwi , 3-4 tsps white sugar for sprinkling on kiwi slices .

Method : Pre  heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

.Mix whole wheat flour, maida, baking soda & baking powder nicely many times over .Keep aside.

Make apple sauce by pressure cooking an apple.Peel the apple. Remove the seeds.The apple can be cut into 4 slices or more.  Pressure cook it upto one whistle. Mash the apple pieces by hand or pav bhaji masher or mixer . Keep aside.

Alternatively, simply cut the apple into pieces. Pressure cook to 1 whistle. After it cools, de peel the apple pieces & de seed them.Mash the apples by hand or mixer or pav bhaji masher.

Soak flaxseed meal in 1/ 4 cup warm water for 15 minutes Keep aside.

Mix apple sauce, flaxseed meal soaked in water together. Add brown sugar.Mix all nicely.

Make a well in the dry ingredients mix & pour the wet mix into it. Blend all, such that,
no lumps remain in the cake batter.I had to add 1/4 cup water as the liquid content was less. Even 1 tbsp oil ( optional ) can be added & then some water drop by drop.Batter consistency must be liked idli batter.

Line a baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the cake batter into the baking vessel.Smoothen top of the cake batter with backside of spoon. Arrange kiwi slices on the top of the cake batter.Sprinkle white sugar generously  on the kiwi slices. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

I bake in microwave mode for 5-10 minutes after the aforesaid convection baking of 45 minutes.

Cools the cake for 45 minutes-( 15 minutes in the oven ) & later outside the oven.Turn the baking vessel upside down on to a plate. Remove the butter paper sticking to the bottom & sides of the cake gently.Then turn the cake up. Cut into desired shapes & serve.



My cake turned out good.The texture was good. Sugar was just apt. Kiwi pieces taste tangy & it gives a nice flavour to the sweetness of the cake.

Vegan mango cake

I had already made an eggless  mango cake earlier.This time around,I wanted to try a vegan version of the mango cake. I googled & came across this recipe by chefinyou.I did not have all ingredients listed in the recipe.I used whole wheat flour & that's how I made my version of this vegan cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup atta, 1/2 cup maida , 1.5 cups mango puree ( mango pulp from two kesar mangoes ) , 1 tsp baking powder, 1tsp baking soda, 1-2  tbsp brown sugar ,1/4 cup oil, a pinch of salt & 1/4-1/3 cup water ( optional -if needed ).

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Mix atta, maida, baking powder, baking soda & salt nicely man times over with whisk or fork.This is dry mix.Keep aside.

 Mix oil ,mango puree & sugar nicely. This is wet mix.

Pour wet mix into dry mix & make a batter.Please  take care that no lumps remain in batter. I had to add some water ( approximately 1/4 cup to make a lump less batter ) .

Line a baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the batter into the vessel on to the butter paper. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade till cake is done.This can be tested by piercing a fork into the cake .If it comes out clean , cake is done.Otherwise bake for 5-10 minutes more.




I baked in microwave mode for 5 more minutes as I found that the fork had some batter sticking to it.Then Cool it for 10-15 minutes by switching off oven.Then take out cake & cool it outside oven for half an hour & more. The sides of the cake would have parted ways from sides of baking vessel.Put it upside down on to a plate.Remove the butter paper sticking to the bottom of the cake.Turn the cake upside down Cut into desired shapes & serve.

Please  test with fork .If batter is found sticking ,  bake in microwave mode for 5 minutes. That  settles it generally. That bakes it completely.

I begin baking by covering the top of baking vessel in which batter is going to be baked with aluminium foil .This is to prevent burning of the cake top .Just when last 10-15 minutes of baking is left, put off baking by switching off oven.Remove the aluminum foil & resume baking.This will give a nice crust to the cake top.

I found that this cake was dense.The baker at chefinyou has stated the reasons why cake could have come dense & not light towards the end of the recipe of vegan mango cake. It had risen when it was warm & then it settled down.This happened when I had baked it & even when I baked it again in microwave mode for 5 minutes. I was afraid that my cake had failed. And surprise of surprise, it was moist .I was able to cut with a butter knife.I found sweetness wanting .So I  generously sprayed powdered sugar on it before serving it to my neighbours & maids.One of may maids remarked that there was no need of the sprinkled sugar.My husband also ate it like that, without the sugar !

Almond milk banana cake

I was planning to bake a cake.I thought about making a coffee & even a date cake.Then ,I realised that the bananas were going to get overripe soon.My kid will eat banans when they are just ripe not over ripe.So ,I had to make a banana cake.My kid broght some berries ( assorted in a packet worth Rs 160 /- ) .As any mom, I saw red. Then ,she proceeded to make a smoothie with a handful of those berries & almond milk.The berries just got a little crushed & stayed at the bottom.They were not blending with the almond  milk.She then strained the berries.And she realised that she will not be able to either drink the strained almond milk ,collected in a glass nor able to gulp down the berry mix that lay in the strainer. She left them  like that on the kitchen platform.I was cross as almond milk is too steeply priced just like the berries.This is because she liked the appearance of neither the strained almond milk nor that of the strained berries .So much so, that she left without tasting either of them ! So,I thought ,it would be a good idea to use both the almond milk as also the strained berry mix in banana cake.Otherwise,I would have used yoghurt, in place of almond milk  as it gives good results.

I googled & got many vegan cake recipes. I mixed up the many recipes .

Ingredients : 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup oil, 4 medium to small bananas ( the over ripe they are ,better for the cake ) , 1 -2 tbsp berry mix ( optional ) , 1 cup almond milk, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, salt to taste, a handful of almonds for garnish,water if needed.

Method : Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Add 1 tsp apple cider vinegar to the 1 cup almond milk to curdle it.Keep aside.

In a bowl, mix whole wheat flour, maida, baking powder, baking soda, salt & sugar.Mix all many times over with whisk or fork.Keep aside.This is the dry mix.

Blend the berry mix with the bananas. Add oil & curdled almond milk to banana berry mix. Mix nicely.This is the wet mix.

 Make a well in the centre of the dry mix.Add the wet mix slowly into the dry mix well.Blend the dry & wet mix. Blend till you get a batter.If , it is getting very dry or not blending as wet mix is insufficient, add water spoon by spoon. A smooth batter must be obtained without any lumps.

Line a baking vessel with butter paper. Pour the batter into the baking vessel on the butter paper. Arrange the almonds on the batter in any pattern .Bake at 180 degrees  in oven for 45-50 minutes or till  a toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

Mine was wet when 50 minutes were over. Actually,I baked for 50 minutes.Next,I went out for my evening walk.I returned after one & half hours.I inserted a knife & it came out wet.I was horrified. I baked it at 180 degrees for another 10 minutes.I then put the oven in microwave mode & baked in microwave mode for 4-5 minutes.Then ,allowed it to cool inside the oven for 15-20 minutes.I again inserted a knife & this time it came out clean. I was relieved.I kept the cake out of the oven to cool .After half an hour, I put the baking vessel upside down on to a plate.Tap the bottom of the baking vessel.The cake will drop down on to the plate. Cut into desired shapes & serve.

I found it crumbly. The cake was breaking.And yet, the texture was superb ! It was yumm !

The almonds were making it very difficult to cut the cake into thin slices.I was forced to cut the cake into thick slices ( size of slice equalled the almond length  ).A food blogger blogs that almonds need to be chopped & toasted before being used in cakes & breads .I need to keep that in mind.Perhaps toasted almonds would make cutting thin slices easier !

I cover the baking vessel with aluminum foil so that top of cake does not get burnt. In this instance, I forgot to do so.I realised it when 29 minutes were over. I switched off oven & covered the top of baking vessel with foil & then continued baking. Usually,I cover with foil during the first thirty minutes or more.Last ten minutes, I switch off , remove foil & continue baking.

Vegan Apple cake

I had always admired this one cake on Madhuram's blog .I love the texture of the cake.And yet, the quantity of grating many apples put me off always.This time around, since the refrigerator was overflowing with apples ,I decided it was high time, I made this cake.

I replaced some ingredients & got a nice cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 1 tbsp flax seed meal, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup apple sauce, 1 + 3/4 cup tightly packed peeled, deseeded & grated apple, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder, a pinch of salt.

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Mix dry ingredients together except sugar & flaxseed meal .  Mix whole wheat flour, maida, baking soda, cinnamon & salt.Mix nicely many times over with a whisk.Keep aside.

Add flaxseed meal to apple sauce & mix.Keep aside .

Add sugar to grated apple.It will release lot of water. Add applesauce flax seed meal mix to this apple sugar mix.Mix nicely. Make a well in the centre of the dry atta-maida-soda-cinnamon -salt  mix .Into this well ,pour the dry mix. Make a batter by mixing dry & wet ingredients nicely.If ,needed add water drop by drop.I had to add almost 1/4 - 1/2 cup water . This batter turns out thick unlike other cake batters as there is too much apple in it.Keep aside.

Take a baking vessel.Line the inside of the baking vessel with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel on to the butter paper. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade for 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

I have started baking the cake for 2-4 minutes in microwave mode after convection baking is over to remove all doubts about batter remaining uncooked.

I got a dry cake.Of course, I was able to cut it into nice shapes. So many apples had gone into it & yet, I was unable to detect taste of any apples .Even cinnamon for that matter.So maybe 1/2 tsp cinnamon needs to be added in place of 1/4 tsp.

Flaxseed meal provides the good fat.Yet, since , this cake was dry ( though not crumbly ) , I should have used 2-4 tbsps of oil .It would have turned out moist & nicer, perhaps.Those are the tips for the next time.

Vegan chocolate cake.

I wanted to make a chocolate cake after my friend posted her vegan chocolate cake on whatsapp.Her recipe used warm water & vinegar.I googled & came across this vegan chocolate cake recipe using applesauce. I thought, this was a brilliant idea to sneak in an apple into the cake !

I have posted an eggless chocolate cake which was baked in microwave, earlier on the blog.

I made just an alteration or two & my cake turned out super ! Except that it hardly tasted sweet.Because ,I used jaggery sugar & white sugar in 1 :1 ratio.So , I sprinkled powdered sugar on the cake & then rubbed fingers all over the sprinkled sugar.so it looks as if it is smeared over the cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup whole wheat atta, 1 tbsp maida ( In the original recipe,there was corn starch .I googled to learn that corn starch could be replaced by flour, flax seed meal etal ) ,1/2 cup sugar ( I used part jaggery sugar & part white sugar  as jaggery sugar got over) , 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp Coffee powder, 1 tsp baking soda,1/3 cup apple sauce, 1/2 to 1  cup warm water ,a pinch of salt.

Method  Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Meanwhile as oven pre heats, mix all dry ingredients that is whole wheat flour, maida,sugar, cocoa powder, coffee powder, 1 tsp baking soda & salt. Mix all ingredients many times over so that all are thoroughly mixed with each other. Keep aside.

Cut an apple into 4-5 pieces.Deseed them.Pressure cook to 1 whistle. Cool. Deskin the apple pieces & mash them up.This mashed up apple mix is unsweetened applesauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredients mix.Add the apple sauce & mix thoroughly.I found that applesauce was less. The batter was dry...in fact not all flour had got wet even.So , I warmed some water & added to dry ingredients applesauce mix till I got a cake batter. Add water drop by drop or rather spoonful by spoonful.Add water carefully so that the batter does not get runny. If apple sauce amount is enough for cake batter , then ,there is no need to add warm water. Cake batter must have idli batter like consistency.

Take a bake able dish & line the insides of the dish with butter paper. Pour the batter into the vessel on the butter paper. Bake in oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 30-40 minutes. My cake was baked in 30 minutes.

Do the toothpick test. If toothpick comes out wet, bake in microwave mode for 2 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes.Take out the cake & cool outside oven for 15-20 minutes. Cut into desired shapes & serve.

My cake was not sweet at all....so please add more sugar.If adding white sugar, maybe a little more than 1/2 cup sugar would suffice.In case brown sugar or jaggery sugar is used, 3/4 cup sugar may be needed. I think ,even amount of coffee powder should be reduced .Maybe 1/4 tsp coffee powder can be used. Coffee powder can be skipped as some recipes use it & some recipes don't.

Vegan Strawberry cake

I had some strawberries . I was itching to make a cake using strawberries. I had made a bread & an eggless cake earlier.This time, I was keen on making a cake & icing it with strawberry sugar mix.Finally, decided to make a cake decorated with strawberries & without icing.I feel ,that I may be unable to do icing.Maybe another time, on another cake !

I loved this recipe .I tweaked it & made it vegan.I discovered that I have made a vegan version of strawberry earlier though the recipe is different.

Ingredients : 1 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup maida, 1 tbsp oil, 1/ 2 cup leftover gulab jamun syrup , 1/2 cup jaggery sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup apple sauce, 16 -20 strawberries diced into four pieces each, , 1/2 tbsp flaxseed powder , a pinch of salt.

This is jaggery sugar...available in Sahakari Bhandar at BARC colony,Mumbai.Above is the packet photograph.And on this side is the actual jaggery sugar snap...it is dark brown. That's why my cakes are all dark in colour .Also due to whole wheat flour being used.


Method : Add 3 tbs water to flaxseed powder in a bowl.Mix nicely.Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Mean while , pressure cook for 1 whistle.an apple after dicing it into 4 -5 pieces.Cool the cooker.Remove the apple pieces.Deskin the pieces & deseed the pieces as well.Mash the apple pices.The pallesauce is ready.This is a good egg replacer for cakes & breads.Add oil & gulab jamun syrup to the applesauce .Mix nicely.

Take whole wheat flour.Add maida, salt, baking powder  & sugar.Mix all nicely with a whisk many times over. Keep aside.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade. By now , flax seed soaking is over as 15 minutes are over.Mix the flaxseed water mixture to the wet mix of syrup-oil-apple sauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredient mix. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix.Fold all nicely till a batter is formed without lumps.Line a baking vessel with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Tap it on sides so that air bubbles are released. Add water to batter if any lumps are there.  Add the strawberry pieces on the batter in any pattern as per wish.Bake the cake at 200 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.Thereafter bake it for 180 degrees centigrade for 1 hour.With a toothpick ,check if cake is completely baked.Bake it in microwave mode for 2-3 minutes. Let it cool.

After it cools, let it drop down upside on plate.Turn it over.Cut into desired pieces & serve.

This cake turned out a bit too dry. It was not crumbly & yet it felt dry. I felt it was too sweet though my parents disagreed.I used leftover gulab jamun syrup.One can use white sugar as well.White sugar is more sweeter than this jaggery sugar and brown sugar.Hence , use accordingly.