Steamed Chocolate Cake

I tried my hand at steamed chocolate cake today, and it came out looking really good! This steamed cake is essentially just bourbons and milk, and I have topped it and created a dressing according to my own choice and preferences. Here's the simple recipe! The amounts mentioned here give a dessert for four people. 

What you need: Two twenty-rupees Bourbon packets, milk at room temperature,  almonds, any biscuit of your choice.

How to make:

1. Take the bourbons, and separate the cream from the biscuit part for all the biscuits.

2. Grind the biscuits to a fine powder.

3. Slowly, add milk to the Bourbon powder, and whisk it continuously till it reaches the consistency of a flowing batter. 

4. Take the cooker, or any thick bottomed vessel, and add some water in the base of the vessel. Keep a stand, or a cup inside the vessel on top of the water. Turn on your gas, and pre heat the vessel for a couple of minutes till it starts steaming. 

5. Take an aluminium tray or a cake tin, and grease the insides of the tray with cooking oil. Make sure to grease it generously so that there is no trouble later while removing the cake. Now, add half the quantity of the cake batter into the greased tray. Tap the tray firmly to spread the batter into an even thickness.

6. Keep the tray on top of the cup inside the steaming vessel. Cover the top of the steaming vessel with a cloth, and then put a lid over it. Make sure that the cloth is not flowing down to the gas as it can catch fire. The purpose of the cloth is to absorb the water while steaming, so that the cake doesn't come out soggy. Steam it for around 5-10 minutes. 

7. Meanwhile, take a few almonds and crush them. You can also take a biscuit of your choice and crumble it. I used a Gooday choco chip cookie. This step is optional, and only for additional taste. 

8. Take a little part of the bourbon cream and smash them together. When they are smashed up, add a few drops of milk and whisk them fast to get a creamy chocolate syrup-like texture. Keep it aside. 

9.  After 5-10 minutes of steaming, open the lid and check. When it has been steamed, arrange the rest of the cream, that wasn't used to make the syrup-like liquid, on top of the steamed batter. You can also sprinkle part of the almond-cookie crushed mixture along with the cream. 

10.  Pour the rest half of the cake batter on top of this cream arrangement and spread it equally. Sprinkle some more almond-cookie crushed mixture on top of this final layer of batter. Follow step 6 and steam again for 10-15 minutes. You can open and check after steaming it for 15 minutes. 

11.  Insert a toothpick, or the edge of your knife, to check if it has steamed completely. The final cake will not stick to the toothpick when inserted. This means, that the cake is done. Let it cool down. 

12. After the cake completely cools down, take it out carefully and transfer it to a plate. Add the syrup-like chocolate sauce that you made using the bourbon cream and spread it out nicely on top of the cake. Sprinkle all the rest of the crushed almonds and cookies. I had a KitKat at home, so I just put it on top for a better look and tastier cake! Give it a couple of minutes for it all to set. 

The cake is ready!

It was tasty, and very, very chocolaty. The top dressing was sweet, and the bottom steamed cake made of biscuits balanced the sweetness. The cream that we put in between the two batter layers made sure there's a little gooey cream between the steamed layers! The almonds and the crushed cookies add very nicely to both the aesthetics and the taste! 

One line of warning: this is a steamed cake, not a baked one. So, it will not be fluffy and spongy, don't expect what we usually have in mind as a 'cake'. What it really feels like is a sweet, chocolaty dessert. 

It came out well! Do check it out!