Before I enlighten you about this cake, I would first like to tell you how I happened to name this cake. I am hugely inspired by Tina’s blog on baking. Not only are her baked creations awesome but the names she confers on them are equally interesting and creative. She has a fertile imagination and names her baked stuff very thoughtfully mostly using logic. Taking a cue from her, I wondered what name I could possibly give to this cake. The cake is dark in colour and the white portions look like several moons. For the darkish cake, ‘midnight’ sounded apt to me.Jupiter and Saturn are two planets with plenty of moons. So it had to be either Jupiter Midnight Moon Cake or Saturn Midnight Moon Cake. Saturn somehow sounded better and sort of rhymed well with the other part – Midnight – of the name. So Saturn Midnight Moon Cake it was. 
Now about the cake. This eggless cake is a family recipe and I remember my Masi, my maternal aunty, baking this cake in a pressure cooker!! However, this time around I prepared it with a slight change. I saw a similar recipe by Nita Mehta and decided to try it her way. But I didn’t find much difference in the texture of the cake. It was nearly similar to the way I bake it my way. Actually there are two differences. She has used baking soda and baking powder while I use only baking soda (2 level tsp). The other difference is her method involves mixing the soda/BP in the liquid batter while I mix mine in the flour.
Did I mention this is a chocolate yogurt cake? I added coconut ladoos to it. It started as an experiment but it turned out so good that it found its way to become my next post 😀
Rich dark chocolate cake with mouthfuls of sweet coconut was an amazing treat for the eyes and the palate. I highly recommend it 🙂
I use the following measurements,
For Coconut Ladoos:
½ tin/ 200 gm Sweetened Condensed Milk
120 gm Desiccated Coconut
For Chocolate Cake:
1 cup natural Yogurt (Dahi), I used home made
1½ cup All Purpose Flour
2½ tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Instant Coffee
¾ cups Caster Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
¾ tsp Baking Soda
½ Cup plus 1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
MAKING LADOO:
In a mixing bowl, add the sweetened condensed milk and the desiccated coconut. Mix everything well ensuring that there are no dry bits of desiccated coconut. Keep the mixture in refrigerator for 20 minutes so that it becomes a little firm to handle. (I feel the need to do this when I make the cake during summers, else proceed with making the ladoos immediately)
Taking two heaped tea spoons full of the coconut mixture and squeezing it gently into your hand begin to shape the ladoo. Once the mixture comes together, roll it to give it a round shape, between your palms. (Make ladoos about the size of a walnut) Keep them on a greased plate and place them, covered, in the refrigerator till them begin firm. Once they are firm, cut the in halves to use for the cake.
Note – You may not need to use all the ladoos for the cake.
Note – I always slice the ladoo in halves before I begin making the batter coz once the dry ingredients hit the wet ingredients, the batter needs to immediately go in the oven and cutting the ladoos in halves in advance helps save time.
Note – Feel free to use whole ladoos if you wish to but I prefer adding them halved.
Yield – 10 – 11 Ladoo
MAKING CAKE:
For the cake, prepare a square an 8X8 inch baking tin by lining it with parchment paper or butter paper.
Set the oven to heat at 180 degrees C.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and coffee.
In a mixing bowl mix the sugar with yogurt till it is nearly dissolved.
Add the vanilla extract and oil and whisk it, to incorporate it well.
Mix in the baking powder and baking soda (I made this cake Nita Mehta’s way. Normally I sift the soda with flour and then mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones)
Mix well and let the batter sit for 5 minutes.
Add the flour in two batches and mix the batter till everything just comes together.
Pour the batter in the baking tin and even it out using a spatula or the back of a spoon.
To assemble the cake, randomly place the halved ladoos (or whole ladoos if you wish to) over the cake and push them gently into the batter ensuring that one third of the ladoo remains above the level of batter (they will automatically sink a bit as the batter will rise on baking in the oven).
Bake in the oven till a skewer inserted comes out clean. It should take approximately forty minutes but the time will depend on your oven’s thermostat.
Once the cake is done, take the pan out of the oven and let it side for five minutes.
Remove the cake gently from the pan and remove the parchment paper, if using.
Allow the cake to cool completely before you slice it.
Serve it with your choice of beverage and enjoy!
Note – I mostly add six ladoos, cut in two halves (with cut side up) to the cake. However, this time I had only five laddus with me (the rest got gobbled up on their own while I was prepping them, by the family 😛 )
Serves – 9 – 12
Thanks for visiting and see you soon again!
Post linked to Nancy’s YBR February event 
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