Fat Free Vegan Coconut Chai Cake

I was surprised just as you (by the way,were you surprised? ) when I saw the title of the recipe. I had never heard chai (tea) being used as an ingredient to bake a cake. I chanced upon this recipe when I was looking for some fat-free recipes for cakes. When Srivalli announced my selected theme 'Butterless Bakes for Diet' for Blogging Marathon #7, I read it as Fat Free baking :)


I was wondering if there can be any bakes (often loaded with sugar, flour and fat) which can be used while you are dieting. Portion control, portion control and portion control is the way to go, I reminded myself. But then a whole world of fat free baking opened up and then there were some which were not cakes per se, then some savory bakes too. I guess there is no limit to our imagination, is there?


Coming to the cake in question, after we had this for a snack with coffee/tea (I don't like coffee while my better half has a selective liking to some varieties of coffee!) , we liked the combo but found it a tad dry when we tried eating the cake as is. So feel free to substitute some oil/butter in place of apple sauce for a moist feel and indulge. 


Disclaimer - After S had this cake with coffee, he said he would love to have such guilt free cakes with coffee everyday! OMG, where have I landed myself? :) So be prepared for a situation like this and don't blame me (just kidding)!!

Recipe Source - here
Ingredients -


Dry Ingredients -  
Rolled Oats 1/3 cup
Wheat Flour 3/4 cup
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp
Ginger Powder 1/4 tsp (or more if preferred)
Sugar 1/2 cup (I used 2 Tbsp less than 1/2 cup)


Wet Ingredients - 
Tea Decoction - 1/2 cup (cooled to room temperature)
Applesauce 1/2 cup (I used 2 Tbsp less than 1/2 cup)
Apple Cider Vinegar 1/2 Tbsp (Plain Vinegar can be used too)
Vanilla Extract 1/2 tsp
Dry Coconut 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp for topping (I used powdered coconut but grated one would look good)


Method Of Preparation - 


Prepare the tea decoction ahead of time as we need it cooled. [Boil 1/2 cup water with a teaspoon of tea powder or steep a tea bag in hot water for a couple minutes. Strain to get a clear decoction.]


Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease 3 ramekins and keep aside. [I used 1 cup capacity ramekins]

In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and set aside.


Mix in the wet ingredients in a different bowl and pour into the dry ingredients and mix until uniformly moistened. Do not over mix.


Pour the batter uniformly in 3 ramekins and sprinkle the remaining coconut on each of them. 


Place them in the middle rack and bake for 27 min.


Let them cool for a few minutes and let the demolition begin!!


Serve it along with tea/coffee.


Also peep into my friends's spaces to check what they are cooking in this edition of BM #7.


Sending these to Pari's 'Only Baked' guest hosted by me.

Preparation Time 10 min + Baking Time 27 min + Cooling Time 10 min 
Makes 3 cakes in 3 ramekins