Choco-Vanilla Zebra Cake [Egg-less] | Birthday cake for my Grandpa's 100th year!!

My grandpa entered his 100th year on Saturday, the 23rd of August. Yes, his centenary year!! At the age of 99, Abu (that is 'Grandpa' in Konkani) is one of the fittest persons I know! He walks around, with the help of a walker, he reads the newspaper, watches television and keeps himself abreast with the latest happenings. He can strike a conversation with just about any generation and keep it going!

Ever smiling and living life to the fullest, my grandpa is a jovial person. Having had a successful career life, a hugely generous heart and a determination like I have not seen in anyone else, my grandpa is definitely an inspiration to anyone who meets him.

Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post with pictures overload!! :)

So as a celebration of his centenary year, our family decided to throw him birthday bash. It is not everyday that you have someone reach a 100 and that too in such a fine health condition! It does call for celebrations, right? :) Though, he was aware of the get-together being planned, we kept him away from several little surprises we had thought up for him. I made a picture collage with photographs of all his kids and grand kids with him, we made a scrapbook with wishes from near and dear ones and.... I baked this zebra cake for him!! 

Before we jump into the recipe, let me fill you in on the other surprises and the party. Here is a sneak peek at the scrapbook that we put together for him......and the poem that I had penned in his scrapbook of wishes.

Those moments…

When you threw me into the air,

And caught me, as I squealed in childish glee.

When you bounced me on your legs,

As I giggled, till it tickled my belly.

When you lauded me,

For my achievements, however big or small.

When you motivated me,

To reach for the stars, and give it my all.

I shall treasure these and many more,

As my fondest memories with you.

Blessed… I feel,

To have grown up with a Grandpa like you!

Abu, you are inspiration personified,

Living life to the fullest… everyday, you show us how!

As you majestically stride into the big 100,

I wish you abundance of laughter, happiness and love!

Happy Birthday dear Abu! J

My heart was full of joy when I penned those lovely memories of growing up with a Grandpa like him and I was only too glad I was able to put those feeling in words for him. 

I always wanted to bake him a cake for his birthday. Considering the fact that this was going to be the first cake I baked, that he was going to taste, I wanted it to be special. Considering his age, I had to keep the cake simple. Suited me just fine, since simple cake are just my kind of cakes! I had to refrain from adding in nuts, in order to make it easy for him to eat it. Also, not being a huge fan of icing and more importantly, having to carry the cake from Bangalore where I live to Chennai, where my Grandpa stays, I couldn't think of carrying a cake with icing! So sponge cake it was. But no ordinary one.. something pretty and special to suit the occasion.

After sorting through several options in my head, I finally settled for this Zebra cake which I was meaning to try for a long time. I have a trusted Vanilla cake recipe and a Chocolate cake recipe. Both egg-less. So I just put together the two and made a Zebra cake, all the while keeping my fingers crossed, as this was the first time am attempting this type of a cake! Well, it does need a little care, to get the layers perfect. And I am proud of my first attempt at it! :)

Now, not making a cake with icing posed a problem. How am I decorate it? I had to write 'Happy Birthday' somewhere!! Well, so that was when the thought of making a pretty little paper banner pinned to skewers came to my mind. I have seen these on the Internet earlier and felt it was time I tried my hands at it! 

Grandpa was delighted when he saw this and was even more so when I told him I made it!!! How proud he was of me, that he told everyone that I baked a cake for him. Aww, some feelings cannot be put into words! When he blew the candle and sliced into the cake, my heart skipped a beat in anticipation of how the swirls turned out.... and they were beautifully perfect!!! Oh my... was I delighted by the way it turned out!! :) I was grinning ear to ear by the way the final look of the cake came together... I certify this as my best cake till date!!

Ingredients

Vanilla Batter

Maida | All Purpose Flour - 1.5 cups

Curd - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Oil - 1/2 cup

Baking Powder - 1 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Chocolate Batter

Maida | All Purpose Flour - 1 cups

Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup

Instant Coffee Powder - 1 tsp

Curd - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Oil - 1/2 cup

Baking Powder - 1 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Method

First, grease or line a baking tray and keep it ready before you proceed to make the batters. 

Take two mixing bowls. In one we will make the vanilla batter and in the second, the chocolate batter.

How to make the Vanilla batter?

• Beat the yogurt and ensure all lumps are removed. Add in the sugar and mix well.
• Add baking powder and baking soda to this mixture and mix well.
• Set aside this mixture for 5 mins until small bubbles appear on the surface.
• Add vanilla extract and oil to this mixture and mix all the ingredients well.
• Add the flour in parts and gently fold in the batter until no more dry flour is seen.

How to make the Chocolate batter?

• Beat the yogurt and ensure all lumps are removed. Add in the sugar and mix well.
• Add baking powder and baking soda to this mixture and mix well.
• Set aside this mixture for 5 mins until small bubbles appear on the surface.
• Add vanilla extract and oil to this mixture and mix all the ingredients well.
• Add the flour, cocoa powder and coffee powder in parts and gently fold in the batter until no more dry flour is seen.

--> You can prepare both the batters simultaneously, if that suits you. I did that.

While you are almost done making the batter, pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees.

How to layer the Zebra cake?

• Take the greased bowl and drop a dollop of vanilla batter right in the centre.
• Now, take a scoop of the chocolate batter and gently drop it exactly over the vanilla batter ensuring it does not bleed into the vanilla batter but gently flattens and pushes it outwards.
• Now, take another scoop of the vanilla batter and drop it right over the chocolate batter, again ensuring that it does not smudge into the previous two layers, but gently pushes it outwards.
• Repeat this until you can you get pretty symmetric circles of alternate colours and until the center layer is no bigger than a little dot. The first layer that you poured, would reach outwards and touch the sides of the cake pan.
• I added in a teeny bit of walnuts right in the middle just to enhance the pretty-factor :)
• Bake in pre-heated oven for 40-35 mins until the top of the vanilla layers turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow it to cool for 10 minutes and then transfer on to a wire rack to completely cool!

How to decorate it using colour paper and skewers?

• Cut colour paper into diamonds such that when they fold in half, they form triangles. 
• Take a fancy thread, (I couldn't find one, so used regular thread!) and cut the desired length (slightly more than the diameter of the cake).
• Tie the thread on two skewers allowing for at least 3-4 inches of space from the bottom.
• Place the colour paper diamonds on the thread such that they fold over the thread and form little triangles, stick the two sides together.
• Write little birthday messages on them.
• Insert the skewers into the cake such that it forms a cute little banner holding the personalised birthday message :)

Though, I have seen this banner idea before, it was new to my entire family. They all LOVED it and found it extremely cute! I was delighted to see what a huge hit this cake and the simple decorations turned out to be :) Now, I cannot wait to make another zebra cake!! 

Leaving you with a collage of my favourite pictures of the cake. Enjoy!