Egg-less Ragi Banana Chocolate Bundt Cake / Cooking with Millets

Ragi Banana Chocolate cake is a delicious, soft and moist bundt cake made from healthy goodness of Ragi (Finger Millet) and whole wheat flour. An egg-less, butter-less cake which is also refined sugar free as jaggery powder substitutes sugar in this recipe. Added walnuts give a nice nutty flavor and bite to the cake. A perfect guilt free treat to all the chocolate lovers. Serve it as dessert or pack in kids snack box or pair it with your evening tea, this healthy ragi chocolate cake is sure to win you praise ! 

  I had some over ripe bananas with no takers at home, which easily found a hiding place in this cake , making it all the more flavorful and moist. And trust me, if you do not disclose, no one would ever make out that you have used ragi in this cake. Whole wheat cake are usually a bit dense compared to the maida ones, but this cake turned out light and fluffy. I have used ragi flour and whole wheat flour in equal quantities, you may make the cake entirely with ragi flour to make it gluten free or substitute whole wheat flour with powdered oats. You can go ahead and top the cake with a chocolate frosting if desired, we did not feel the need at all and the cake vanished within no time !

My son usually asks for some snack along with milk in the evening. And instead of giving him maida and sugar laden biscuits i prefer to keep some healthy home-made snack handy . So yesterday i baked this cake in the afternoon and treated ourselves with it after we came back from swimming. All 3 of us enjoyed every bit of it. If you too are chocolate lovers , do give this recipe a try.

#Millet is the theme for #143rd week on #FoodieMondayBlogHop and this healthy egg-less ragi (finger millet) banana chocolate bundt cake is my contribution towards the theme. Do check out my fellow bloggers posts as well for some wonderful ideas on this theme.

Ragi is a great source of Iron, making it beneficial for the individuals with low haemoglobin levels. Millets also contains B vitamins, especially niacin, B6 and folic acid.  Due to its high content of poly phenols and dietary fibre Ragi exhibits anti-diabetic and antioxidant and antimicrobial properties; it protects against tumours and atherosclerosis (narrowing and hardening of blood vessels). Being low in fat and gluten free, Ragi is easy to digest. It is therefore, given as first foods to babies in the form of Ragi Porridge. The bulkiness of the fibres and the slower digestion rate makes one feel fuller on fewer calories and therefore helps prevent excess caloric consumption. Ragi is the richest source of calcium among plant foods. Calcium along with vitamin D helps to strengthen bones. It is also  a remarkable source of protein making it perfect for Vegetarian diets. source

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients: Measurements used- 1 cup = 200 ml

• 3/4 cup ragi (finger millet ) flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup jaggery powder
• 2 large over ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup curd
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. You can use sprouted ragi flour if you have. I had plain ragi at home so just powdered it in my grinder. I used 1/2 cup ragi which gave 3/4 cup flour.

2. In a bowl sift the whole wheat flour, ragi flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt thrice. Our dry ingredients are ready.

3. In another bowl, mash the bananas using a potato masher. Add jaggery powder to it and mix well. To this mixture add curd, oil and vanilla extract. Mix everything very well.

4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients. Blend well with a spatula. Do not over beat. Lastly add the chopped walnuts and give a quick stir.

5. Pour the batter in the bundt pan. I have used a silicon bundt pan and since it is very wobbly, have placed it over my baking tray , so that it is easy to handle.

6. Tap the pan once or twice and place it in a preheated oven and bake for about 35 minutes at 180 Degree Celsius. Keep an eye after 30 minutes as temperature may very from oven to oven.

 17. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick in the center of the cake. The cake is baked properly if the tester toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool down completely before inverting it over a plate. Slice the cake and serve !

Recipe Notes:

• To make the cake gluten free, you may entirely make it using ragi(finger millet) flour or replace the whole wheat flour with oatmeal (powdered oats).
• You may reduce the quantity of jaggery powder as per taste .
• A chocolate frosting may be done on the cake.
• Sprouted ragi flour can be used in the recipe.
• Walnuts can be replaced with almonds of desired.

I hope you would love to try out this egg-less butter-less ragi cake for yourself. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us. Follow me on #Facebook , #Instagram , #Twitter and #Google+ for more recipes and new updates.

For more millet recipes, do check my posts on :

• Bajra Khichdi

                                        

• Healthy Gingerbread Cookies with Ragi Flour

                                        

• Barnyard Millet Upma

    

• Ragi Chocolate Milkshake 

    

• Bajra Roti

• Baked Finger millet Crackers