Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Cakes...sorry no ale...



My husband says it is raining cakes at home. Suddenly there is this frenzied activity around the once forgotten oven( was being used only to make Bhapa Doi).

Raindrop's cake has triggered this renewed interest. So much so that I have tried making Raindrop's cake minus the chocolate powder and with Olive oil( quite nice- though using Olive oil makes it an " expensive cake"), I also tried a variation with less chocolate and more vanilla, written to all my foodie friends to send me their cake recipes ans share their baking secrets...

My friend G( I must tell you that some of the best cakes I have sampled have been made by G, she even inspired me enough to make batches of Christmas cakes one Winter) recently attended a microwave cookery class where she has learnt some nice, new dishes. She sent me this recipe for an eggless chocolate cake. G claims gets the cake gets done in under 10 minutes in a microwave. I have however made this in the conventional oven.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Maida: 1.5 cups
Powdered sugar: 1.25 cups
Drinking chocolate/cocoa powder: 7 tsps
Curd: 1 cup
Oil: 1/2 cup
Milk:1/2 cup
Baking Soda: 1 tsp( In case you are making it in the conventional oven you could add a tsp of baking powder, I think it would make the cake fluffier)
Vanilla essence : 1 tsp

Method

Sieve the Maida, chocolate powder and baking soda( it is important that they mix well else the cake might not get done evenly). Mix the sugar and oil. Add curd, sugar and vanilla essence to the same. Next add the Maida to this mixture, slowly little by little, mixing well as you do so.

Transfer into a greased baking dish and microwave on HIGH for 9 minutes or bake at 220 degrees for about an hour( Initially with only lower coil and last 15 minutes with both upper and lower coils).

Serve hot with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Makes for a really quick and easy dessert. In case you are making it well before your guests arrive make sure to microwave the cake for 30 seconds before you serve. Store in the refrigerator.

As Satarupa says in her book " The Workaholics' cookbook(Heavens bless her for that one), Ideas come to you once you get started. What seems so commonsensical now at one stage seemed very laboured. You slowly imbibe the tricks of the trade and let your nose/tongue lead you in kitchen. You learn to dress up an ordinary sponge cake with ice cream and if feeling really indulgent top it up with fresh fruits. You start tweaking recipes to suit your family's palate, in the process you usually better the recipe. You start eating simple but satisfying meals/desserts while actually spending less time in the kitchen.

Bon Apetit and Happy Cooking!


3 comments:

  1. ohhh this looks so yum yum yum :)
    u r toooooooo good to your family....cooking n baking wise :) must learn from u :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! Raindrop. You back in action. Great! There is one more recipe that G has shared( her mother's recipe for a Christmas cake, made with pure ghee and very yumm!).

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's some words of praise i must say and thanks dear friend :))) now i am beginning to get a complex.... u are feeding the family with so much variety i am now ashamed of myself.....but reading about your baking brings back a lot of nostalgia.....when vijay was young i used to bake a cake every week cos that was the easiest and relatively healthier one for his evening snack and it would be polished off in two days!!!
    and hey i happened to see a cookery show (they are so theraupetic i must say) where the lady demonstrated meat pie with indian masala.... i don't remember the proportions but will try and put the ingredients and process together and u being the superb cook - can adjust to suit your phamily's palate....

    ReplyDelete